Do you think there will ever be an end of the world experience while you are alive?

Well…I sure hope not. But if the human species disappeared off this planet tomorrow we would leave behind us some serious evidence of our often irresponsible nature: radioactive waste, plastic, chemicals in the air, an iron statue on a beach with Charlton Heston screaming and so on. So when I think of the end of the world, I always start to think more of “the end of the world as we know it.”

Art is reflecting the world around us through the imagination of often one soul. So we see this surge in the popularity of zombie films and shows over the past decade and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that as a species we’re grappling with issues like nuclear warfare threats, and climate change. Horror film, to me, has always been this “comfortable way” for audiences to confront their existential fears around death. So I think especially with zombie films there is this direct conversation with this mirroring of both our fears around death and then our fears surrounding aspects of our more nefarious, putrid and “unnatural” nature. I mean as humans we have become unnatural. We are no longer existing within an ecosystem of nature, we are outside of it, we are not symbiotic, we are almost parasitic. I don’t think this is what humans are meant to be. I do believe that humans can exist as one with the natural world, but we are at the moment not doing this. I mean, what I’m saying in plain terms is that we are essentially the zombies we are watching on screen. Of course.

And I think that fight against the unconscious insatiable and indiscriminate creature is of course ultimately the fight we wage within ourselves. So zombie films are ultimately a humanitarian, eco-friendly, ethical discussion with ourselves. Right? Yup.

(Note: I am ultimately a positive person who believes humans are ascending to greater versions of ourselves and not headed towards international zombie-dom. )

Where is the best place to go during an apocalypse?

I’d need to understand what kind of apocalypse? Nuclear disaster? Zombie invasion? Alien takeover? Comet collision? Invasion of giant other-worldly bugs (love you Stephen King)? But even in the best case scenario, I always feel like it rarely comes down to the place, but it always comes down to the character. You can put the most well intended but uninventive character in the best location and something is still going to go wrong and they’re not going to handle it well. But if you put your underdog with aspirations of greatness in the worst location, they just might have a chance.

So I’m going to hope I’m the underdog and I’m going to take my changes in the worst location. Lock me in an abandoned high-school gym, injured and tangled in a volleyball net, with a football team of zombies trying to punch through the locker room door, with the other half of the school on fire. I’d like to have a challenge if I’m going to survive or at least a really good death scene.

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How is this production different from all the other productions you were involved in?

Firstly, I had never worked on a project of this scale that went from pre-production into production so quickly. And this was my first series I had ever directed. Caine Chow, the EP, had originally directed a short called Forgotten Corpses in 2016 and was really eager to produce a series based around the world of that short, and hire on a new director. So when I signed onto the project around July of 2017, Caine was excited to get to work on the series almost immediately and so I dove in—we were writing the script less than a month after. We wrote the script for the full series within one month (Jake Wilkins is a talent). We cast within 2 weeks. Rehearsed with the actors once. Crewed up in 2 weeks. And shot the following week for 13 days straight. All on a very indy budget. This was bare-bones and I can’t say enough wonderful things about the whole team but I’m going to try. I have seen proof of this again and again on different projects, and its true, a project is only as good as its people. And we really lucked out with some wonderful talent, hardworking, and kind people of the set of The Confinement.

So for me this project was so unique because of this really great synergy between the people working together and making every situation work. It wasn’t easy. The time we were shooting there was a heat wave in Toronto. And there were a few days we were shooting outside as well. But there was never a moment I saw that anyone, the crew and the actors, wasn’t pushing for their best. I was really grateful for this. I could see we were making something people were investing in. Seeing this everyday gave me such continued support to push myself, and make sure I was giving the project my all.

And I am truly grateful that Caine brought the project to me and we were able to work together as first time collaborators so well to create something really cool. He had a lot of passion for the project from the start and it felt good to work with someone who wanted to create something from a place of pure love for the genre. Both of us are huge horror fans and so it’s just fun to be able to geek out a bit with a collaborator and then turn those interests into a project you’re both proud of and share that with people.

How did you prepare for this production in such a short period of time?

A lot less sleep than I like to get. That’s for sure. But in the most practical sense, I’d say that I had to make a lot of decisions quickly, without the opportunity for a lot of hum and haw. Jake, myself and Caine, had a bit of back and forth with the script but truly there was something a bit invigorating about the speed we were doing everything at. It was a challenge. We were having fun with it. There was a lot less opportunity to take everything too seriously. We were pushing our creativity and also our ability to bring a project together within a very short period of pre-production time.

We had so many wonderful actors we auditioned for the roles and it was a tough decision in the end. But there was an energy during auditions between Aleksandra Maslenni and Matthew Suave especially that made me see the characters breath. They, along with Carmel Warman and Azfar Tahir, brought life to the story. And it was also their preparation and devotion to the roles that was at the spine of the production once we began to film.

Also, the project had support from some amazing equipment rental houses in Toronto— Ontario Camera, Habibi Film Rentals, and Charles Street Video—the project couldn’t have been completed to the same level without them. We were really grateful. And Josh MacDonald, the director of photography on the project, was truly my rock. We worked really well together, as first time collaborators, and I always felt like we were in a flow. He’s such a knowledgeable creative and, man, does he ever have the best dad jokes on set.

Can you explain to us what we’ll expect to experience while watching the series?

I can only hope that audiences will enjoy seeing the unraveling of some interesting characters and revel in a few good scares. I was playing with tropes in the series. I love horror. And I love  psychological drama. So I had some fun directing this. And I couldn’t be more excited to share the amazing performances of all the actors we were worked with. They’re incredible.

What is your next plan in life?

I’d like to take some time pushing this series out to audiences and seeing where we can take it. But as for other projects, I’m looking for the right script and to begin developing my first narrative feature next year. So I’m still on the hunt for what that next project will be. I’m currently developing a documentary project as well. Beyond my profession, I really want to continue to travel and experience more cultures across this planet, and continue to learn from my unplanned experiences in this life, and the beautiful strangers I get to meet along the way. I’d also love to take life a little less seriously and play a bit more. Hard work is great, but play is divine. And I just want to continue to love, a lot.

If you were to write a book about yourself, what will the title be?

“I Wanted To Be a Nun”. As a young child I always wanted to be a nun. There was a very strong calling for me towards anything spiritual. I think maybe it was more the mysticism of it all, the ideologies, ethics, rites, myths, legends, and the magic. I don’t consider myself a religious person at all now, but when I was younger I filtered all my existential questions through the lens of my catholic upbringing. I was enchanted with the stories from the bible because they aroused my imagination and sense of curiosity beyond my corporal senses. When I was a bit older this curiosity extended to any story or insight into anything I saw as beyond the realm of reality I could experience day to day. As a child I adored books about ghosts, aliens, monsters, unicorns, spirits, super-powered humans and other creations I could only find within my own imagination. To this day, I am a deeply spiritual person, and I’ve come to accept this about myself, and so this title still feels fitting. I feel like it articulates a deep desire I have always had to understand existence and for me storytelling is the perfect medium for these meditations. Also it’s funny to me because I now understand i would have been the WORST pious person in practice.

Think quick questions:

Will the below be Forgotten or not Forgotten. Will you forget the fortitude it took to put this production together?

• Not forgotten. And wouldn’t want to. I learned so much working together with everyone on this project. I’m grateful.

The team that came together to make this possible?

• Impossible. And I can’t wait to see everyone together again at the premiere in 2019.

The number of birthdays that happened during the production?

• January is a cold time in Toronto. Couples need to keep warm. Babies are born in September and many of them were eating cake on set during production. What’s life if not to have many reasons to eat cake and make a horror series?

www.jessemann.com • Jesse Mann Instagram

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