We Bury the Dead isn't the average zombie film, and Daisy Ridley and the cast of the movie help explain what makes it unique amongst other entries in the genre.
The zombie movie, which takes place in Australia, centers on Daisy Ridley's Ava, who is desperately seeking to find her missing husband in the wake of a catastrophic military experiment.
The Direct was on the red carpet for the film at SXSW, where we spoke with the talent behind the movie, including Daisy Ridley, Mark Coles Smith (Riley), Kym Jackson (Lieutenant Wilkie), and Zak Hilditch (Director and Writer).
Daisy Ridley on Crafting Her Character In An Expected Zombie Narrative
"I Genuinely Hadn't Thought That There Were That Many Zombies."
- The Direct: "When approaching this character, knowing that the zombie genre is so big and there are so many things within it, what was kind of your North Star, your mission statement, in building that foundation for your performance?"
Daisy Ridley: Well, interestingly, when I got to set, I was like, oh, there's lots of zombies here. Because when I read the script, I genuinely hadn't thought that there were that many zombies. Because to me, Ava's journey is—she's on the journey regardless of what's around her.
And of course, she confronts those things, but she is so determined to get an answer, to find an answer, to find some resolution, that I was like, Oh, I'm in a zombie movie. That's so funny. Yeah, I feel like Zak's combination of telling a very intimate, very human story with this massive backdrop of this cataclysmic event and the repercussions of what's gone on is amazing.
How We Bury the Dead Offers a Unique Zombie Movie
"These Zombies, Some of Them, Almost Have Fragments of Humanity Left."
- The Direct: "This is a zombie movie... It's a very big genre, so what about this film makes a unique imprint on that genre look?"
Mark Coles Smith: I think there's a lot in this film that makes it unique in the category of zombie films as a whole. I think the big one for me is that these zombies, some of them, almost have fragments of humanity left. There's a sense, there's a flicker, that there might still be a person there.
And that's so disgusting and so much more horrifying than them just, they're dead. They're gone. The person I knew is gone. Now, they just want to eat my brains. It made me miss those zombies. These zombies are like in limbo. The entire world's in limbo.
Everyone's trying to deal with their loss, their grief, their guilt, but also they're trying to deal with the possibility that maybe that person they love isn't gone. Maybe we can put the arm back. Maybe we can put the eye back in the socket, you know, and it's just, that's the point of this film. We Bury the Dead. It's actually about letting go. It's about that process, and it uses this genre in a really clever way to explore it.
Kym Jackson: It's a highly intelligent zombie film, and if you remove the zombies, it is still an incredible character piece that you would be engaged with, regardless of the genre. So I think that helps people who are on the brainier side to stay engaged.
Zak Hilditch: I think the way the zombies are treated, the way they're captured, what they have to say thematically that helps us also reinforce Ava, played by Daisy Ridley, her journey.
I wouldn't have ever just added zombies for zombies sake, like they had to reinforce the idea of grief and loss and how no one owes you anything when it comes to grief, and that we're all searching for a silver bullet when it comes to something terrible happening to us, but it's really on you to figure it out for yourself and just and just make the best of a shitty situation sometimes.
We Bury the Dead Cast and Filmmakers Reveal Their Zombie Bunkers of Choice
The Cast Has Some Interesting Choices
- The Direct: "If a Zombie Apocalypse were to happen, what's your bunker of choice? Where are you going to go and hunker down?"
Daisy Ridley: Funnily enough, I've played this game quite a lot, like, what would what would you do? How would you be useful? I would go to sleep because I feel like if I slept, everything would pass, and I'd wake up, and the people that had survived could look after me, and I would hopefully be okay...
I feel like it's a good thing to just sleep, and you know, either the worst happens, and you don't know, or the best does, and you wake up, you're like, wow, and then you find the real people who fucking got through it.
Mark Coles Smith: Bunker of choice? Well, I've just finished building a music studio in the Kimberleys, which is one of the most remote parts of Australia, so I probably just like lock myself in my music studio, surrounded by all my analog poly synths and just rock out, do a whole bunch of end of the world electronica while everyone else is getting eaten outside.
Kym Jackson: Oh, my God. Okay, so I just found this place. First of all, Albany, where we shot, was amazing, but it's colder than this place. My dog lives in a house in a place called Crowdy Head in Australia. It is, I mean, I don't want an influx of people in an apocalypse going there, because I'm gonna be there and I'm gonna need some of the resources.
But Crowdy Head Australia is just beautiful beaches. It's remote, so not a lot of people will be around. It's about four hours north of Sydney. I would say that's the spot.
Zak Hilditch: I think there's something to be said about boats in the water. And those movies where they do boats in the water, it seems like the right idea, not that they ever turn out so good for the people on the boats in the water. Surely that's where you want to be, right?
The entire video interviews from SXSW can be viewed here:
While We Bury the Dead premiered at SXSW, the film does not currently have an estimated release date.
