Anything for Jackson is a Shudder Original that explores the temptation of black magic and how far grieving people will go for love. In the horror flick, a bereaved elderly couple kidnaps a pregnant woman to perform a reverse exorcism to bring their dead grandson, Jackson, back to life. But it doesn't take long for them to realize Jackson's spirit isn't the only ghost that's been invited into their home, clamoring to return to the world of the living.
Speaking to CBR, Anything for Jackson's director Justin G. Dyck and writer Keith Cooper recalled their inspiration for the film, jumping from Hallmark Christmas movies to horror, casting older actors in leading roles and more.
CBR: Justin, with a couple of holiday movies under your belt, what inspired you to make the jump from Hallmark Christmas movies to horror?
Justin Dyck: Well, It's funny because I actually made the jump the opposite way before we even started. I was pursuing making a horror movie. I worked in the business for a long time as a cinematographer, an editor and director of music videos, short films and things like that. I was setting out to make my first indie film, and, you know, as most indie films go, you want to make a horror movie because you make it for a couple of bucks and some friends in the forest.
So, I went out looking for some financing. I went to an executive producer I worked with, and I said, "Hey, can we get some financing for a horror movie?" And she said, "Absolutely."
She went off to one of the shows and came back and said, "All right, good news, bad news," and handed me a script for a movie about a kid playing soccer with a monkey. I was like, "Well, I don't have a feature under my belt. So let's make a monkey soccer movie first." Then that turned into another Christmas movie, and that turned into our first romance movie. And here I am, 30 movies later, still trying to get a horror movie off the ground.
Then finally, we found the right partners, the right cast and all the pieces just came together. I still somewhat consider this my first movie because as great as the other ones are, those romance things. They are entertainment. You don't need to go deep down into the artistic side of storytelling to make a Christmas movie. So this is my first movie, and I've been trying to make it for a long time.
Keith, can you tell me a little bit about how you came up with the twisted concept for this film?
Keith Cooper: Funny enough, as Justin said, we were shopping around a lot of different ideas. I think we had gone into one pitch meeting, and we talked about another couple of horror movies we had and finished scripts and things that were ready to go. And they were like, "Oh, it's really cool. We really kind of want something that has a bit more of the supernatural kind of element to it." And I was like, "Of course we have that. I just didn't bring it with us. We thought this was for this kind of genre."
So, as usual, we lied on the spot. They liked the idea and were like, "Yeah, go bring that one back to us." Then, Justin and I went home, and we had about an hour to kill on the drive, so we just started throwing around ideas. And I think the reverse exorcism idea kind of came out of that conversation. Then we threw out a few other ideas. The opening scene was one I'd been wanting to do for a long time, and it would work really well in this.
Yeah, as usual, everything starts with a lie, and that's how it came about.
As with virtually any film involving babies and black magic, there is bound to be comparisons to Rosemary’s Baby. Is this something you feel is creatively limiting or do you embrace the juxtaposition?
Justin Dyck: For me, I'm good to embrace it. I think horror, especially, is a genre that loves borrowing from movies of the past. So many of them thrive in their ability to remind you of something else that maybe you saw as a kid. So, I think the genre lends itself well to that.
That movie didn't come up until the script was well done and we were into pre-production. Then, we saw it ourselves. We did look at Rosemary's Baby. We watched it once. I looked for parallels and made sure we didn't trudge on their territory. And then we did that with lots of movies from The Changeling to The Shinning to more current projects. That's a big thing for my process. I go and watch movies. I don't want anything too similar, but I'll try to watch a lot of movies within the genre and see how they did it and what scares me. And then I take that and try to apply our own spin on that and how it applies to our own story.
Keith, is there a scene you’re excited for the audience to see, or maybe one that was more fun to write than the others?
Keith Cooper: As a writer, it was really important for me to make you feel bad for the bad guys in the movie. I think that’s important. I think it’s really easy to make people feel sad in movies. As Justin said, we’ve made 30 of those, but it’s a different kind of emotion. Those are exactly as Justin said. They are entertainment.
So for this one, I really wanted to see if I could humanize the bad guys. For me, my favorite scenes for that are emotional. And when you have incredible actors like Julian and Sheila and Konstantina, it’s really easy. Admittedly, I probably get more credit than I deserve because they are so good.
I’ll say my favorite scene as far as writing goes is probably toward the end of the movie, where Julian (Henry) is talking with Konstantina (Shannon) right before everything is about to go kind of crazy.
But then, surprisingly, my favorite scene in the movie is the trick-or-treat scene. It came out so incredibly well. It really worked. I’ve been a horror fan my whole life. So when I saw that scene come together, it worked really. We didn’t use our incredible talented Karlee Morse makeup effects for this scene. So you’re like, this could be really corny if it doesn’t work. So that one had me the most nervous for sure. And it ended up being my favorite of the scary stuff in the movie.
Same to you, Justin, as the director, do you have a scene you are most excited for the audience to see?
Justin Dyck: Obviously, they all have their merits. I love the opening, or I guess the second seen with Audrey (Sheila McCarthy) explaining everything to Shannon (Konstantina Mantelos). The scene Keith mentioned, the heart to heart, I love two actors in a room, especially actors like this, just to watch them work for a three, four, five-minute scene is so exciting to me.
But then you have all the scares and things. Working with Troy James as our "Suffocated Ghost," for instance, was just so exciting, and I probably didn't have a lot to do with that. I just sat back, and I watched Troy, and my mind was blown along with everyone else's. So, I think that's an exciting one for everybody to see. All of it and each scene as its merits. I'm just excited for everyone to see it.
It’s funny you bring up Troy James because I do have a question about him. Many reviewers have gushed about his “Suffocated Ghost” performance. Can you tell me a little bit about your experience directing him, or did just let him have free rein?
Justin Dyck: Meeting Troy is a funny story. We are both from Toronto. So, about 20 years ago, I went with some friends to Canada's Wonderland. It's an amusement park. They have this Halloween thing, and Troy was there doing his thing, crawling around backward chasing guests. He was a teenager. I was a teenager. My friends were coming up, and I was like, "We need to stop and watch this guy because he's going to do something crazy." And sure enough, he did.
All these years later, we are talking about the ghost, and I remember this guy from Canada's Wonderland that we should look for. So, we look him up and, of course, two weeks prior to this day, he was on James Corden. He was on America's Got Talent. He's in multiple Guillermo del Toro movies. I was like, "Well, we can't get him."
Anyways, long story short, with some incredible luck and our incredible associate producer Rebecca Lamarche. We managed to get him in the film. Then directing him, I said, "Okay, Troy, you have to get from here to there. What are our options?" And he just started crawling around upside down and backward and sideways. Then we would give him free rein to try new things, and if there was something I saw that really creeped me out, I was like, "Oh! Let's do more of that, or this one here looks too much like this or whatever." He was definitely leading the way, and all I did was steer him toward what scared me the most.
But honestly, he's the nicest person I've ever met. He's just a pleasure to work with. He's so easy going and so willing to try everything to make the scene as good as it could be.
Keith Cooper: I would question anybody who says he's not a really great person, actually.
Horror movies, and really movies in general, often lack representation of older generations. So, I’m always happy to see a film that gives older actors leading roles. Was there a reason you chose grandparents for the main parts, considering the plot could have easily allowed parents instead?
Keith Cooper: In the beginning, it was parents. They were younger actors. It really just came down to what can we do. Every time Justin and I would talk about a scene, we would ask what can we do? Can we change this and that? And I think at one point we thought it might be really interesting if they were grandparents. As a horror fan, I like to think, well, what I haven’t I seen, and what am I a little bit bored of. Yeah, I don’t know if Justin has any further thoughts on that.
Justin Dyck: From day one, even the concept of the reverse exorcism came from us saying, “All right. These people want supernatural. We got ghosts. What’s a subgenre of ghosts?” We got to exorcism and kept thinking, what’s the opposite of this, what’s the opposite of this. So, what’s the opposite of an exorcism? Trying to put a spirit into a body, and that’s where the whole thing started going. So, this is typically where you would see a ghost movie going. What’s the opposite of that?
From day one are minds were in, let’s break the norm. Let’s get away from what everyone expects and go the other way. Some of that was for the element of surprise, and some of it was much more deeply rooted. So, when it became grandparents, that’s when we noticed Sheila McCarthy. She lived in the same province, and that was going to be helpful for our low budget. That’s where everything started, and I’m really glad we made that decision because it’s a better movie because of it.
I know you touched a little on the subject already, but were there any horror movies, or books even, that inspired the film?
Keith Cooper: I don't know if there was anything specific, usually not anything to start for me anyway. I wouldn't want to start with some base material. You know, everybody draws comparisons to certain movies. I do it myself. Especially when you go in and want to pitch something, they want to hear it. It's the number one rule: Don't ever say it's this meets this. But then when you get in and say it's this meets this, they are like, "Okay, I see what this is now. I get that. It's great." I think we even actually said Rosemary's Baby meets Hereditary. Misery I think we had in there too, Justin if I remember.
Justin Dyck: Yeah, those were the ones we thought producers would connect with the fastest.
Keith Cooper: And at the end of the day, when you get comparisons, there are 11 stories out there, right? Nobody likes to think that way. You don't like to think The Matrix is just The Wizard of Oz, but they're the same movie, right? There are 11 of them. We picked a couple and tried to make it work in that frame.
Justin Dyck: From my side, you know, I did mention a couple of the horror movies I watched beforehand. I went down a rabbit hole, watching all sorts of things. I think What Dreams May Come was a big inspiration for me on this film. Just that sort of supernatural love story and the story of love above all else applied to Audrey and Henry's relationship with each other as well as with Jackson. There are so many. There were multiple years on this one, from concept to shooting, to be thinking about it. So, whenever I sat down to watch a movie, I'd take elements here and there and apply it to our films.
I know sometimes horror movies dealing with satanic themes occasionally take precautions on set like blessings. Is this something you did? Were there any supernatural moments that occurred while filming?
Keith Cooper: Oh, that would have been so much smarter. We filmed it in my house. I really wish we did that now. I didn’t know that happens. Is that a thing? I’m terrified now.
Well, there is The Exorcist story and things like that.
Keith Cooper: What? Now, I’m scared.
Justin Dyck: I think the curse begins on release day. So, we’re doomed in a few days.
Directed by Justin Dyck and written by Keith Cooper, Anything for Jackson stars Sheila McCarthy, Julian Richings, Konstantina Mantelos, Josh Cruddas and Yannick Bisson. The film premieres on Shudder on Dec. 3.