‘Easter Bloody Easter’ Director Diane Foster Talks Demonic Bunnies [Exclusive]
The Easter season is normally associated with cuteness and preposterous amounts of chocolate. But the new movie Easter Bloody Easter showcases a much more gruesome and horrific side to the popular holiday.
Easter Bloody Easter focuses on a small Texan town called Walburg, which is besieged by waves of killer rabbits and a human-sized rabbit monster known as a Jackalope throughout the Easter season. Diane Foster directed the film from a script written by Allison Lobel. They also respectively played the lead roles of Jeanie Cooper and Mary Lou. This marks Foster’s directorial debut, who’s appeared in other films such as Iowa, The Orphan Killer, and My Home Unknown.
We spoke with Foster about her feature film debut, never taking yourself too seriously, and the magic of working with your best friends.
Dread Central: First of all, did making a film about a killer Easter Bunny seem like an obvious choice?
Diane Foster: It was an immediate YES! I had wanted to make a film with my best friends Allison Lobel [Easter Bloody Easter writer and co-star] and Kelly Grant [producer and co-star] and when I found out it was going to be about a giant Jackalope and demon bunnies I was in! I enjoy making projects that are fun, unusual, and quirky. Over the years, I’ve learned that life is a gift and that making things I enjoy is an important part of my journey.
DC: There are surprisingly few Easter-related films. Did you feel you were tapping into a market that has rarely been explored?
DF: We knew from the very beginning that we were in a lane that not many films had come before and we were exploring something that genre fans would really like. It was a wide-open lane and we took it!
DC: You directed and starred in Easter Bloody Easter, with writer Allison Lobel also appearing in one of the main roles. Did the two of you know from the beginning that you were going to star in the film? Were your characters specifically created with yourselves in mind?
DF: The project’s concept originally began as a play that Allison and Kelly and I were in during 2018. We performed the play in Los Angeles and San Francisco and had planned to continue but the pandemic hit. I thought it was a great opportunity to take the time to start working on a film. We took the original concepts, relationships with the characters, and story setting and built upon that. It was Allison’s idea to set the film around Easter time and around the theme of a giant Jackalope and demon bunnies. It’s a very exciting and rare thing to get to work with your friends in the capacity that we did. There is trust and pure enjoyment when you get to do that and really we are just getting started. There are more Easter Bloody Easter films ahead.
DC: The film takes place in the fictional town of Walburg, Texas. Did you shoot in an actual small town? How did filming go?
DF: We filmed in the valley areas of Los Angeles on private ranches that resembled West Texas. Filming was 17 days with six-day weeks. It was exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time. Every day on set was like playtime and that is always my goal when creating a set environment so that it is friendly, open, and ready for magic to be created.
DC: Can you talk about the rest of the cast and characters?
DF: Zuri Starks plays Megan, the professional bunny slayer, and the moment I saw her, I knew she was right for the role. She added a sassiness and spunk that Megan needed to have, but also a badass attitude of a woman who was taking control and wanting to save the town. Zuri exemplified that and so much more and is so wonderful to work with. She also has the most beautiful smile and a joy to be around.
Miles Cooper played Eugene and he is absolutely brilliant. Bar none, Miles is one of the most talented actors I have ever met, and his portrayal of Eugene had me laughing on set, in the edit, and now for all audiences to see. He is one of my very best friends and like a brother to me. We have a lot of history and any time I get to work with him is an incredible time. Zach Kanner played Sam, the town’s conspiracy theorist and truly loveable character. Zach is that loveable in person as well, he is extremely talented and knowledgeable of his character and asks questions about how he can bring authenticity to him. Some of the lines that ended up in the film came from him making magic in rehearsals and improvising.
Gavin Lee plays Jim, Carol’s husband. He was fully committed to bringing a real sense of kindness and relationship-type goals to Jim and Carol. Also, he was so willing to wear the caveman outfit with enthusiasm and really went on the ride of this film with us. He’s a very dear long-time friend, a good person, and an extremely talented actor.
From the second I saw D’andre Noire’s self-tape I knew he was Lance. He has an understated self-assured way of being on the camera and I knew that strength would be needed to play that role. D’andre also stayed on set when he was not required to help out with the art department. He was willing to do anything needed to make the film the very best and that is something that is so rare and we are so lucky to have found him.
Working with these tremendous actors was a dream come true. There was a genuine trust between myself as the director with all these very talented people. It was also amazing to get to be part of the ensemble with them. I am truly inspired by each of them. They were all showing up bringing everything to their A-game every single day, ultimately finding and bringing these characters to life in their very own ways and I could not be more grateful. Working with great actors makes my job even more amazing.
DC: Viewers are going to love the practical killer bunnies. Can you discuss how these miniature monsters were created, and what it was like having them on-set? I assume they were controlled via remotes?
DF: The demon bunnies’ likeness and look were inspired by the movie Gremlins. It was a movie I loved so much in my childhood—I even owned a Gizmo doll. I wanted them to feel cute and furry but also scary as hell at the same time. Jesse Velez of Raptor House FX is the mad scientist who created them all. Because of our limited resources, we had to be very creative with how we would be able to pull this off. Little Jackie was our head bunny and he had the most autonomy and ability of movement.
They’re not animatronic, they are actually puppets, and their movements are all created by a puppeteer. We had several people doing that with them but the main puppeteer was Miles Cooper. Getting them to move realistically was a lot of fun to watch on camera. When people watch the film, they say the bunnies are one of their favorite parts/
DC: And what about the practical gore effects?
DF: It was very important to me to use practical effects in camera. It is an art form that I have truly been inspired by. We had a very awesome special effects team and they worked really hard. Alexandra Bayless, Ashley Stansbury, Lydia Morales, and Nick Reisinger all created the legendary Jackalope costume and Ashley Stansbury headed our special effects team with all of the kills and blood we had in the film. Every day, I would have a meeting at the beginning of the day almost like a football coach. One of my favorite chants we would do on set is “We need MORE BLOOD!”
DC: Without going into spoiler territory, your character, Jeanie, goes on an emotional journey throughout the film, as she struggles with serious family issues in addition to battling killer rabbits. Was it a challenge to balance the more serious aspects of Jeanie’s personal issues with the more fun killer rabbit aspects?
DF: It was important that we showed Jeanie as a real woman living in the world with real problems. Audiences are smart and want to go on a journey with you. In addition, I am a product of the 1980s slasher generation. Now that I’m an adult I want to see adult stories, especially from a female perspective. So often, especially in the horror or comedy genre, women characters are oversexualized, objectified, and given roles that do not show their true power in this world. It was very important to show all the layers of Jeanie and recognize her strength, her flaws, and the very imperfect world we live in.
DC: And lastly, will fans of monster movies love Easter Bloody Easter?
DF: Absolutely. If you are a fan of comedy, horror, monster films, and anything furry, scary, and monster-related, you will love it. The movie knows what it is and sets out to entertain you from the moment it starts until long after the credits roll, to take you away for an hour and a half and have a helluva good time. It is a film that you can go back and watch over and over for that same enjoyment for years to come. Thanks for watching, and supporting indie film and female filmmakers. Yeehaw!!!
Easter Bloody Easter is out now on digital and VOD.
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