An in-depth exclusive interview with director K. ASHER LEVIN digging into the making of his new thriller DIG.
K. ASHLER LEVIN is no stranger to filmmaking. As a producer, director, and writer he has more than a decade of experience with everything from producing/directing/writing multiple television series to directing features, shorts and music videos, and more. And now he brings us the gritty character-driven thriller DIG,
SYNOPSIS: Steve Brennan is trying to piece together a life shattered by a road rage incident that killed his wife and left his teen daughter Jane deaf and resentful of him. Still hoping to mend things with Jane a year later, Brennan accepts a contract for a high-paying demolition job in the desolate New Mexico sprawl outside Las Cruces. When he and Jane arrive at the site, they are suddenly taken hostage by a dangerous couple, who will stop at nothing to retrieve what lies beneath the property. Now father and daughter must work together to outsmart their captors and survive the grueling night.
Directed by Levin with script by Banipal Ablakhad and Benhur Ablakhad and starring Thomas Jane, Emile Hirsch, Harlow Jane, Liana Liberato, and David Makana, DIG is a nail-biter that rises and falls on outstanding performances, not the least of which is the real-life father-daughter pairing of Thomas Jane and Harlow Jane as father-daughter in DIG.
The core of the film, the heart, is built around the dynamic and chemistry between Thomas and Harlow which is buttressed by the work of cinematographer Stephen St. Peter who delivers an intimacy through visual grammar. Thomas and Jane ground the film with emotionality which is then countered by the insanity that Liana Liberato and Emile Hirsch bring to the table. Liberato truly steps out of her own comfort zone and explodes on screen while Hirsch continues his trajectory with another chameleonic performance that crosses the line of normalcy and sanity.
With a clear three-act structure in place, Asher knowingly utilizes the tools in the cinematic toolbox to propel the story and tonal shift with color, costuming, and blood, whlle moving at a “muscular pace” but paying attention and respect to the performances as tension builds courtesy of editor Mark Fusco. Practically shot, staging and blocking are key, while the natural environment plays heavily into Stephen St. Peter’s excellent lighting and lensing with a minimalist approach and contained sets contrasting with the vast emptiness of the desert location. Sound design is also key thanks to Harlow’s character being deaf; something that is of particular importance not only to character dynamics, but the tone and tension of the overall film. Icing on the cake iare some superb perfectly placed needledrops.
K. ASHER LEVIN and I cover it all and more in this interesting conversation.
TAKE A LISTEN. . .
by debbie elias, exclusive interview 09/21/2022
