Interviews
‘Dear David’ – Director John McPhail on Parallels Between Haunting and Online Trolling [Interview]
Lionsgate and BuzzFeed are bringing the creepy viral story Dear David to the big screen this Friday the 13th, with Anna and the Apocalypse director John McPhail at the helm.
Dear David adapts the viral 2017 Twitter thread in which then Buzzfeed cartoonist Adam Ellis chronicled the child haunting his apartment. Mike Van Waes wrote the screenplay, and Augustus Prew stars as the fictionalized version of Ellis.
Director John McPhail spoke with Bloody Disgusting ahead of the film’s release in theaters, On Demand, and Digital on October 13, 2023, where he discussed his horror influences, online trolling, and emphasis on character arcs.
For McPhail, good stories always begin and end with great characters.
“Essentially, I make films for people,” he tells Bloody Disgusting. “I make them for an audience. For me, what I’ve always loved is just following the character’s journey. It doesn’t matter what adventure you take me on or what genre; if I’m behind you and rooting for you and projecting on you, then I’m all in. It’s that experience I want people to have. And having fun characters that take you through something that could be traumatic or ridiculous or silly, that it doesn’t matter how ridiculous or silly it is or how out there it can feel; because you’re behind them, you’re off on that adventure regardless.”
Augustus Prew as Adam Ellis in Dear David. Photo Credit: Stephanie Montani
In the case of Dear David, the central protagonist is based on a real person. But just how close to reality is McPhail’s vision, mainly where Augustus Prew’s iteration of Adam Ellis is concerned?
McPhail explains, “Well, I wanted it to feel a little bit larger than life in the film, be a little bit more funny. In my head, it was a little bit of my gay Bruce Campbell, like for my Evil Dead. I wanted to have a little bit of fun with the character because, as I say, he is quite in your face. I wanted to see that. And I wanted you to go through mixed emotions of laughing with him and getting a bit scared with him and then feeling sorry for him.”
This fictional version of Adam Ellis might lean into humor and horror, but it comes with a robust emotional arc inspired by reality. Here, the child ghost’s haunting takes a mental toll on Adam Ellis.
“One of the things me and Augustus talked about a lot was that Adam Ellis is from Montana, and that must’ve been so tough growing up gay in Montana and hearing things on the playground, the 90s being like, ‘This is gay, that’s gay.’ And being a kid and wanting to escape it,” McPhail tells Bloody Disgusting. “Then, when this guy’s having maybe a bit of a breakdown, this twisted child is appearing to him. That kind of thing, it felt right for it to happen that way.”
Because of its origins, there’s a tech horror vibe to Dear David, as its ghost doesn’t just invade Adam Ellis’s home but his online space as well. Considering that technology moves at a rapid pace and Twitter is no longer called Twitter, McPhail reflected on the technological component of his latest feature.
“This is dated automatically to 2017 and trying to encapsulate 2017, that Buzzfeed Twitter walls kind of thing. Personally, I could see the parallels between a haunting and a trolling in the sense that it’s supposed to be your sanctuary, and both of these are outside forces invading that. You can’t get away from the phone buzzing in your pocket or the pings on your screen. I’ve been guilty of this where I’ve read something or a comment or a post or something online, and it just burrows into the back of your head, and it just stays there, and it’s about an hour later it’s terrorizing you. Do you know what I mean? It’s haunting you. I thought this would work with the technology. Yeah. As I said, I knew it was always going to be dated because there is a date stamp on it, but kind of try and encapsulate that.”
Augustus Prew as Adam Ellis and Cameron Nicoll as Dear David in Dear David. Photo Credit: Stephanie Montani
When asked if McPhail had any horror influences that he drew from visually, the filmmaker cited inspired choices.
“I talked about The Ring a lot; I talked about Event Horizon—things like that for the blackness and that otherworldly, dreamy world. David Lynch was another. There’s a sequence I love in Mulholland Drive, one of the most terrifying sequences, which is one guy walking around the back of the dumpster. When [Adam’s] walking down that aisle, I wanted it to feel like it was staying forever, again, because Lynch is doing that. As well as in dreams, how it does feel like waiting forever when you’re trying to get to something?”
Catch Dear David in theaters and at home on Friday, October 13.
As the inaugural season of Apple TV+’s stellar new series “Widow’s Bay” barrels toward its finale in two weeks, the latest episode gives Kate O’Flynn the spotlight as her character revisits her trauma with the Boogeyman.
“Your Baggage“, directed by Andrew DeYoung (Friendship), sees O’Flynn’s scene-stealing Patricia once again renew her fight with the Michael Myers-like stalker that slaughtered her peers during her adolescence. Thrillingly, it makes for one extended chase sequence that sees Patricia trying to warn others, while evading the undead killer.
In short, this episode’s incredible riff on Halloween and the slasher subgenre transformed Patricia into a fierce Final Girl.
“Well, that felt like a bucket list that I didn’t know was on my bucket list until I did it, but when I did it, I just lapped up every minute,” O’Flynn tells Bloody Disgusting of her triumphant turn this episode. “It felt fantastic for her to get that moment where she is becoming a badass. That was amazing.”
The actress turned to a few notable references for her performance. “Horror-wise, I go back to my youth, which was referenced in some of the episodes: Wicker Man, Carrie, and Rosemary’s Baby, that sort of thing is my kind of vibe.”
O’Flynn also notes how the series’ unique tone allows for so much creative freedom to make bold swings. “There’s something very freeing about it. Every moment is up for grabs, so it’s like we don’t have to totally land in one direction or another. It keeps it alive.“
Patricia is the eccentric assistant to Matthew Rhys‘ Mayor Tom Loftis, who’s at the forefront of trying to solve the island’s pesky curse predicament. Rhys felt the same about “Widow’s Bay” and its rare ability to make you laugh and scream in equal measure, stemming from series creator Katie Dippold.
“The mandate was, ‘It’s a real world with real people. You play for real.’ There’s no playing for comedy or horror,” Rhys echoes O’Flynn’s sentiments on how freeing the series’ tone has been.
New episodes will release every Wednesday through June 17 only on Apple TV+.
Kate O’Flynn in “Widow’s Bay,” now streaming on Apple TV.
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