This summer, take a killer road trip to Devil’s Cove.
In his award-winning feature directorial debut, Devil's Cove, opening August 3rd in L.A theatres, director Erik Lundmark serves up a roguishly electrifying indie take on Thelma & Louise that pits an interracial lesbian couple, fresh from a killing, against a dark highway.
New girl in town Toni (Christelle Baguidy) is unhappy in her marriage to the vehement Rick. Not surprisingly, her eye catches that of another - Jackie (Chloe Traicos in an award-nominated performance), a woman who recently escaped a jail sentence involving the death of her child.
When Rick (Cameron Barnes) gets wind of the passionate relationship his wife is having with Jackie, he erupts into a fiery rage. In an act of self-defence, Toni and Jackie end Rick’s life. To stay out of jail, the duo hit the road - one with many twists and turns in it.
Made for just $10,000 from Leomark Studios, the truly independent Devil's Cove premiered at the New York City International Film Festival where it was nominated for two Best Actress awards (for Traicos) and Best Original Screenplay. Director Lundmark also won a Global Accolade at the Global Accolade Awards.
Traicos, Baguidy, Barnes, Westworld’s Michael Keyes and Sammy Anderson co-star in Devil’s Cove, opening in theatres August 3rd.
When did Devil’s Cove come together?
Devil’s Cove came together at the end of 2016. I had worked on the script with my friend Jon Cohen, who is also a producer on the project. I then approached Erik with the script and we took it from there.
Does it feel like the film’s release has been coming a long time? It’s hitting theatres, right?
It certainly is. No, actually it doesn’t feel like it has been that long. I say that now knowing how long independent movies take to make, and this one I have to say was pretty quick. We shot it in January 2017. Had a few reshoots in May/June and then it was done by February.
How did the project come together?
I had this idea for a while and I wanted to get it made. I was tired of waiting for people to fund my movies and I thought: Well why not shoot a movie on nothing? And this is literally shot on $10K. So I wrote the script and approached Erik and said “Look there’s not going to be much money here but if you like the script I’d love you to direct.” Fortunately he loved it. We bounced ideas back and forth. Then we brought Erik’s good friend, Ron Althoff on board as a producer. Ronnie is amazing at doing deals with places and he got us some great deals on our locations, equipment etc. And so it all became possible.
Was the script inspired by anything - or a specific idea?
I love strong female lead characters. I’m also a huge fan of true crime. I read constantly and I’ve read many books about real life murder cases involving women and I think the idea just sprung up from that. I also have a fascination with sociopaths and so I studied them closely and created Jackie from that
How much did the script change between draft and day one of the shoot?
Quite a bit actually. Initially there was only one murder and it was more of a self discovery type drama for the Toni character. Jon gave me some great ideas when working on the script. Jon is great at making and selling films on a shoestring budget and he read the script and just said: “If this is going to sell, there needs to be more murders.” So it then became what it is now: a female led serial killing thriller.
How much of the film came together on the set? Any improvisation?
There was a lot of improvisation. Erik tends to throw away the script and get the actors to ad lib a lot. On the whole we did stick pretty much to the script but there is a great deal of dialogue that is improvised.
Have you a favourite moment in the film that you enjoyed filming?
I loved doing all of it. But I think I probably enjoyed shooting the scene where Jackie is arrested and led out in front of the crowds and she behaves like she’s a movie star, blowing kisses and yelling out “autographs later.” It was a lot of fun to lose my inhibitions and take over like you owned the place.
How does it feel to be getting a theatrical release?
Good… but scary. Like all filmmakers I’m hoping that people will like it.