If you had the opportunity to find out the exact date of your death down to the second, would you? On episode 78 of The Boo Crew podcast, download our cursed convo with Writer/Director Justin Dec and star Elizabeth Lail (Netflix’s YOU, ABC’s Once Upon A Time) of the new horror flick Countdown, in theaters now!
“The whole thing started when I set a timer on my phone and I was just watching it tick down and I thought, what if that was ticking down to when I was gonna die?”, Justin explains the genesis of his first full length feature, “Totally normal thought, but that’s the writer in me and it just branched off from there.”
Elizabeth, who plays the role of a young nurse named Quinn, is no stranger to genre-tinged fair and finds creative freedoms that exist in these types of stories as a performer.
“I realized this watching the movie last night, I get to play so many different colors. There’s day-in-the-life Quinn and then there’s romantic interest and relationships and then there’s horror and suspense and just like..pure fear. So it allows a really broad spectrum of story arc, which ties right into character arc that I love so much!” Interacting with the practical FX including some great creature design lets Elizabeth push her characters’ limits both physically and emotionally. “You don’t actually know the truth of that moment. We’re really just trying to connect it to something real but you don’t know what you would do if all of a sudden there was a massive demon in front of you. That’s always fun to explore because nobody really knows what the truth of that is.”
The film also boasts the work of cinematographer Maxime Alexandre known for Alexandre Aja’s High Tension, Annabelle: Creation, Shazam! and The Nun, resulting in a very unsettling look and feel with palpable suspense.
As for a sequel? “I have a few ideas!”, Justin reveals. Elizabeth adds, “Everytime I see Justin he pitches me a new Countdown 2.0!” He continues, “We’ve got titles all day like Countdown Beta, The Final Countdown.”
For more with Justin and Elizabeth, grab The Boo Crew Episode 78 and check out Countdown in theaters now!
Follow Elizabeth Lail on:
Instagram: @elizaboon
Twitter: @elizabethdlail
Follow Justin Dec on:
Instagram: @justdec
Follow The Boo Crew on:
Instagram: @talesfromtheboocrew
Twitter: @talesfromtheboo