Perry Blackshearis a different kind of filmmaker, and the actors in his films have to be a different kind of cast as a result. Blackshear makes independent movies that exist completely outside the studio structure, and he has a small group of people he likes to work with. His college buddies,Evan Dumoucheland MacLeod Andrews, work with him on every feature film, as does the extremely underrated Margaret Ying Drake. The cast is sometimes the crew in Blackshear’s films, and always end up producing them alongside the filmmaker.
Everyone wears a lot of hats on his sets, as the team gather for brief but intense productions. Blackshear himself serves as writer, director, cinematographer, producer, and editor; as incredibly impressive as that is, the filmmaker is not a controlling auteur, instead working alongside a handful of talented people in his cast and crew members, fostering an extremely collaborative atmosphere in the process. As a result, Dumouchel, Andrews, and Blackshear madeThey Look Like PeopleandThe Siren, two acclaimed movies that defy traditional genre classifications but are often considered to behorror.
Their new film,When I Consume You, is their most horror-centric yet, and also brings a new face into the Blackshear collective withLibby Ewing, who more than holds her own amongstthe ensemble castand crew. Ewing, Dumouchel, and Blackshear spoke to MovieWeb about their process and where they find hope in the dark horrors ofWhen I Consume You.
Evan Dumouchel and Libby Ewing Star as Suffering Siblings
When I Consume Youchronicles the difficulties of Will and Daphne Shaw (Dumouchel and Ewing), a brother and sister who are not living their best life despite their constant struggles and efforts. Daphne spent her 20s in self-destructive oblivion, using alcohol and drugs to cope with her childhood trauma; the film finds her five years sober but still unable to outrun her personal demons, which will take a very literal form. Occupying much of her time is the care she gives Will, who may either have a learning disability or just be very stunted from their shared childhood traumas (he has difficulty following instructions to tie a necktie, and shows up at his sister’s doorstep at three in the morning with a panic attack, wanting to play cards).
As supernatural occurrencesand demonic manifestationsof their emotional and mental troubles take shape, the film relies upon that sibling relationship to tell a raw and painful story about self-sacrifice, maturity, and the everyday struggle of living with trauma, guilt, and suffering. “I see it as our job to try to find the personal and then make it universal,” said Dumouchel, discussing his brutal performance and the darkest film he’s ever made with Blackshear.
Dumouchel elaborated:
I’ve certainly been through things, or people I love have been through things, that are approximations or similar to what we see [inWhen I Consume You], but I also wanted to make sure that it was unique and specific to what was going on with our characters. Because weirdly, if you make it specific enough, it can become universal for everybody. So I really just looked at Libby, and Daphne, as my lifeline, you know, the life raft that will keep me safe and sane going through the experience of making the movie, and also the character going through his own moment to moment experiences.
Related:When I Consume You Review: A Wonderfully Authentic Movie About Suffering
“I think that’s that’s absolutely true,” added Ewing, “the specificity is everything. My hook into the story wasthe siblings' love. I have a younger sibling, I have an older sibling, and I’m obsessed with them, but was definitely drawing from some personal experience dealing with addiction within my family, and those sorts of thematic elements certainly resonated with me. And I think I was able to explore, in such a beautifully safe environment, some really tough personal questions, and kind of come out the other side with just a better understanding of myself through the work.”
The Recurring Cast of Perry Blackshear’s Movies
That “beautifully safe environment” Ewing mentions is certainly no accident. A Blackshear production seems tough, with the cast often needing to pitch in (or completely take on) the crew work that alower-budget indie filmcan’t afford, but it’s also creatively liberating and intimate. Much of that is the result of longevity and the trusting relationships developed by people over the years;frequent actor-director collaborationsexist for this reason.
“I remember watching Bergman’s films in college,” said Blackshear, “and I love P.T. Anderson and how he worked with the same actors over and over again. And Mike Flanagan does this now, he works with the same crew over and over again. The building of a company, a sort of troupe, that’s been the dream […] having this creative family.”
Growing up withthe movies of Ingmar Bergman, Blackshear was struck by the creative passion and dedication of a small crew who did the work he dreamed of doing. “I remember thinking, ‘Bergman goes and shoots movies on some island with like his eight best friends, basically, and he gets to do that a few times a year?’ I thought, yes, that sounds like heaven to me.” So that’s what Blackshear ended up doing (even if his films sound more hellish than the heaven he mentions). He elaborated:
It’s more than just loving working together and them being amazing actors. I think that there’s a shared vision for what kinds of things in movies really matter and also, how the experience of making the movie and how supportive the environment is, and how much you throw yourself into it. It felt very rare. I think it’s its wonderful meeting people like Mike Flanagan and others that care about the same things, but it’s a shared vision, I think, and caring about the same kinds of things, in addition to them being amazing friends and amazing actors and producers.
Libby Ewing Consumes Blackshear’s Method
“I can second that emotion,” added Dumouchel. “The conversations we want to have in our films and the themes we want to explore align with the conversations that we’ve had with one another for a long time. And Libby is a part of that too, it feels like she’s been on the team for forever. I’ve always, for a long time, had a deep admiration for Perry’s abilities as a filmmaker and also as a craftsman. I’ve always thought that his ability to create with his hands and make the thing was something that I admired from a very young age, and I knew that I wanted to work alongside him for a long time.”
“Libby’s new, but she doesn’t feel like it. It’s like that season ofBuffywhere she suddenly had a sister, and it’s supposed to be like, she’s always had a sister,” joked Blackshear. “It feels like Libby has been in all the movies because she’s been such a powerful presence and was a producer on this one, but it’s like she’s been working with us for so long.” Ewing, for her part, was already more than familiar with Blackshear’s work, admitting, “I was a huge fan ofThey Look Like People,and thenThe Siren,” said Ewing, who describes the hands-on, intensely collaborative approach ofWhen I Consume Youas her “happy place.”
It just makes sense to me. It’s the way that I like to like roll up my sleeves and be like, “All hands on deck, let’s make this story! Let’s touch every aspect I can of the storytelling.” And then I think that only feeds into the character work as an actor, so it all just became this cycle of artistry.
Tolstoy and the Darkness of When I Consume You
Ewing entered Blackshear’s oeuvre at an interesting time, when the filmmaker and his troupe wanted to try something a little different. Dumouchel and Andrews essentially switch roles from the character types that they played in the previous films, proving their massively underrated talent. Not only that, butWhen I Consume Youis resolutely darker and more physical than Blackshear’s admittedly creepy but more cerebral andemotional horror films. Seeing as it does concern suffering and mortality, the film often turns to textual references of great political, spiritual, and artistic thinkers to complement its characters' search for meaning and contentment. A great deal of that stems from Blackshear’s own quest.
“About a decade ago, there was a big health scare,” said Blackshear, “and I think, as a lifelong atheist […] it just sort of upended everything. So I really did read a lot of primary texts and drew a lot of strength from that. I think, in relationship to the film, there’s a Tolstoy book, hisConfession, that talks about five years when he was so close to suicide.” Blackshear continued:
I’ve never gone through this, it’s a very extreme version of it […] But it was his journey through that, all the way out to finding faith and family and coming back to the world again, fully. But what I loved about the book is how convincing he is as a nihilist. I mean, any argument you have against him in the first half of the book [about the meaninglessness of life], he just sort of slaps it away, and I think that’s what makes it so cathartic at the end, is having gone through something so difficult. I wanted this movie to feel harrowing in that way that loneliness can make you feel, so that by the time the ending comes, it feels really earned.
Related:These Are Some of the Most Nihilistic Movies Ever Made
Tolstoy’s text is a kind of modern Ecclesiastes, in which he lays out the meaninglessness of existence and his lack of hope but ultimately arrives at a place of hard-earned contentment and even a bit of faith.When I Consume Youis very similar in many ways, an often painful film about suffering that earns the slight silver lining of hope which shines at the end of its horizon. That was something Blackshear didn’t intend when making the film, but the hope came together for him in the edit room, and it’s palpable.
The Hard-Earned Hope of When I Consume You
“I see a lot of hope for my character in the film,” said Dumouchel. “So, sometimes Perry and I will talk, and oftentimes we’re talking about going through experiences, where the process of making a movie is like walking up this gigantic mountain, but then you’re in a field, and you realize that you’re at the bottom of another gigantic mountain. You know, life is a series of challenges and obstacles, and I feel like, without getting too heady about it, for [his character] Wilson, this is a chapter in his life in which he learns that he has the strength to take on some pretty insane challenges presented to him. And so there’s a path forward and a couple more tools to handle the things that will be in his way. So I see it is very hopeful, regardless of the hard times that he goes through.”
“This film doesn’t hand you any sort of answers on a platter,” added Ewing. “I hope that it’s a cathartic experience for people, sort of recognizing themselves within these two characters. And the hope for me is coming away, potentially, with not only a softness for another person and an understanding of what they’re going through, but for oneself. So that’s what I’m hoping.”
“I think that’s what I cared the most about,” concluded Blackshear, “is that in a monstrous world, there are still people trying to fight back.“When I Consume Youundoubtedly keeps up the good fight. From 1091 Pictures,When I Consume Youis an Ahab and the Dark film produced by its Perry Blackshear, MacLeod Andrews, Evan Dumouchel, and Libby Ewing, and is now available to stream through VOD platforms.
