Interview: Will Wernick on ‘Safer at Home’
Safer at Home, the latest film from director Will Wernick (No Escape), is set in 2022, where the COVID-19 pandemic has created mass chaos in Los Angeles and turned the city into a police state. The film centers on a group of friends attending an online party via Zoom for a night of video games, drinking, and drugs. After taking an ecstasy pill, life at home becomes more terrifying than it is outside for the group as they find themselves desperately fighting for their lives after a tragic accident. Safer at Home is an intriguing, highly engaging micro-thriller that will keep audiences firmly on the edge of their seats without resorting to any exploitative measures or brash creative decisions that have sunk other recent pandemic-set movies, such as last year’s Songbird. We spoke to Wernick, who also co-wrote the project alongside Lia Bozonelis, about everything from the inspiration behind the film to filming in the age of COVID-19 to his long list of future projects.
When and how did you get the idea for the movie?
The idea for the movie came on pretty early in the pandemic. Like a lot of other people, I was having a lot of the same conversations over and over again about how we were feeling being inside and whatnot. One of the other producers, John [Ierardi], and I came up with a sort of broad stroke, mechanical outline for the story. We pitched that and it got picked up pretty quickly. But I think we all just wanted to explore what would happen if this wasn’t taken care of appropriately, and it was kind of scary because a lot of the things that we wrote hadn’t happened yet and ended up happening in the real world. So hopefully not all the stuff that happens in this movie keeps happening [in the real world].
How did you decide how big of a role the pandemic would play in a movie? How did you determine how far you’d go in showing the effects of the pandemic and how big of an impact it would play on the characters?
I think it was important to all of us that we portrayed it as the danger lurking in the background as opposed to seeing the sickness right up front, which has been done a lot of times. I don’t think that would have felt very fresh. It was just important for us to feel the interpersonal dynamics that are going on and how the pandemic outside affects them as opposed to the other way around. I actually sat down to write the script taking a lot of our own personal experience and all the very strange things that were happening and thinking what would happen after two years of this. How on edge would you be? How much would you be talking about the pandemic still versus just accepting that it’s sort of outside lurking waiting to get you?
The film also touches on a lot of different factors and elements that feel so relevant especially today. Was it important for you to also explore other issues outside of the pandemic? You also mentioned a lot of things that you wrote in the script didn’t happen at the time when you were writing it so can you give examples of things that did end up happening?
All the protests that were happening, as well as the lockdowns that happened in Los Angeles. When we were writing, there was a stay-at-home order but there were no curfews. Right as we started shooting, the first LA curfew started, which was crazy. We didn’t know if we were going to be able to continue shooting. Luckily, we were shooting in contained spaces with everyone linked together over Zoom so we managed to keep filming but the social impact is very important. We were watching politicians not handle what was happening not only not in the correct way, but in really not great ways. We also kept thinking about how the pandemic was affecting these deep social issues that were already there and how it amplified them. That definitely fueled how we went about constructing the narrative.
The dynamic between all the characters felt so natural. It really seemed like they’ve known each other for years. How did you assemble such an amazing cast, especially in such a difficult time?
That started with the writing process. I had already written one feature with Lia and one of the things that I like about writing with her is that we have a very conversational writing style. So figuring out the twists and turns of how the group dynamics worked came relatively easy to us. But in terms of the casting, we knew we didn’t want to hold casting sessions. So these were all actors that we had either worked with before or were good friends with. Living in Los Angeles, you obviously know a lot of actors, and then figuring out how the jigsaw puzzle of all these people that we already know are so talented would fit together was really fun. That makes me very happy to hear you say, too, because the most important thing when you’re doing a an ensemble movie is that it feels like they might actually be friends in real life.
This movie was obviously filmed during the pandemic so what was that experience like for you? Did you face any challenges while you were filming the movie?
Absolutely. We did ourselves a favor in that it was written from the beginning to be shot in lockdown and away from each other so the biggest hurdles were technological hurdles. The satellite time code that linked all these cameras together so that they were timecode accurate to each other worked pretty well, but it didn’t always work, just like the Zoom feeds didn’t always stay stable and whatnot. The actors also had to wire themselves up because no one could touch them. They were wearing little ear pieces that have to be hidden and all kinds of little funny technical hurdles. That was the main stuff, and then I think the biggest hurdle to overcome for me was, if I wanted to give a note, everyone could hear it, which was a very new experience. Directing remotely is way different than directing a normal movie. It’s something I care to do again. I don’t think that you can give the actors everything they need the way you would want to not being in the same room with them, but we made it work and they were really good sports in dealing with it.
Your movie No Escape was released last year. Would you ever revisit that universe or those characters again?
I’m not sure. There have been a lot of questions as of whether there could be a sequel to No Escape, which I wouldn’t rule out but I don’t think it would take place in it or even be about an escape room [like the first one was].
There’s a movie on your IMDb page called The Bend that has Ronen Rubinstein, who also starred in No Escape, attached. What is the story behind that movie? Is it still in the cards?
We tentatively are looking at shooting that in June. Rainy Qualley, who is a wonderful actress, is also attached. The project is being put together right now. That’s an exciting one for me because that’s sort of the first time I’ll be able to do a drama, and the script is near and dear [to me]. So I’m really looking forward to making that movie. Ronen’s going to do a great job. He’s super talented, which was very obvious from the first day that I worked with him on No Escape.
Safer at Home is now out on VOD via Vertical Entertainment.