When Father Novak and Sister Lu board a train from Montreal to New York City, they aren\u2019t prepared for the danger and evil that would pursue them. After the train is taken over by the demon Asmodeus, Father Novak and Sister Lu must battle possessed passengers on a runaway train, with Sister Lu forced to overcome her faltering faith and perform the first exorcism done by a nun.<\/em><\/p>\nSPEED DEMON is directed by JON KEEYES, written by Domenico Salvaggio, and stars \u00a0Katie Cassidy, William H. Macy, Allen McCullough, Sari Arambulo, Jeremy Matthew Feight, Sky Vaux Fuller (scene stealer!!), Noriko Sato, Michael John Importa, and John Patrick Jordan.<\/p>\n
And what would a Jon Keeyes film be without his multiple right hands – DP Austin Schmidt and editor RJ Cooper, plus production designer Diego Diaz and the award-worthy work of special effects make-up artisan, Greer Gillespie.<\/p>\n
As Sister Lu, Katie Cassidy delivers one of the best performances of her career. \u00a0You see and feel not only her inner conflict, but her determination to survive and triumph over ALL of the demons unfolding on this train ride. \u00a0Cassidy is one badass nun!\u00a0 She brings terrific street smarts, attitude, and appropriate foul language into play when trying to gather and inspire a group of passengers who she needs to help her with an exorcism if they are to survive the train ride – especially when it is discovered the engineer and conductor are dead AND thanks to the smarts of young 11-year old Sofia who is a voracious reader and wise beyond her years, they learn that the train will crash when it hits a certain curve on the tracks and everyone will die – much to the glee of the demon Asmodeus.<\/p>\n
As you’ll hear, Katie and Jon discuss the cast, the casting process (Jon goes into great detail on this), what he was looking for in a cast, developing the ensemble chemistry, and the scene-stealing Sky Vaux Fuller as Sofia, and the heartwarming and hopeful chemistry she brings to the film.<\/p>\n
But what would a Jon Keeyes film be without his longtime DP Austin Schmidt and editor RJ Cooper!\u00a0 We go deep into Austin’s lighting and lensing, his constantly varying camera angles, developing visual grammar and making the most of a linear train car, and the creation of “the inbetween” and celebration of negative space.\u00a0 Another element of the principle triumvirate of SPEED DEMON is production designer Diego Diaz, and Jon has plenty to say about Diego’s work building and designing the trains, around which Austin crafted his lighting and lensing.\u00a0 Some terrific technical discussion here!\u00a0 \u00a0And not to be overlooked is the work of Special Effects Makeup Artisan Greer Gillespie, whose “demonic” work is award-worthy.<\/p>\n
And yes…..we talk sequel!!\u00a0 It’s a lively and interesting conversation with Katie and Jon.<\/p>\n
SPEED DEMON is available On Digital and streaming now.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
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