Jay Rohr
Roswell Delirium is the latest motion picture from writer-director Richard Bakewell. It stars Anthony Michael Hall as psychiatrist Jerry Baskin in one of the leads. Both Bakewell and Hall were kind enough to give Film Obsessive a few minutes of their time to discuss the movie.
Richard Bakewell has an impressive resume as a cinematographer. His experience is easily seen in Roswell Delirium. It can also be appreciated in his 2019 short film The Rabbit Hole. Anthony Michael Hall, meanwhile, almost needs no introduction. His lengthy career includes several iconic movies across all genres. He’s been in films such as The Breakfast Club (1985), Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Dark Knight (2008), and recently featured prominently in the third season of Reacher.
Below is our conversation regarding Roswell Delirium as Bakewell and Hall discuss the film’s conception and intentions. The transcript below the video has been slightly abridged and edited for clarity.
Film Obsessive: I’m Jay Rohr, and we’re here with Rick Bakewell and Anthony Michael Hall to talk about their new film, Roswell Delirium… what is this film? What is it about?
Richard Bakewell: Well, the film is a kind of a throwback sci-fi drama thriller. It’s very much a nostalgic journey that kind of goes into a very heartfelt film about like trauma, and depression, and mental illness. It kind of takes a spin on, as I tell people, it’s like Close Encounters meets Terms of Endearment.
Mr. Hall, how did you become involved with this project?
Anthony Michael Hall: I met Rick on the project a couple of years back and we shot the film about three years ago, right, Rick?
Richard Bakewell: Three years ago, yep.
Anthony Michael Hall: Yeah, and at that point, Rick had done a lot of the pre-production himself. You know, he’s already made a bunch of films and he’s an established cinematographer, so I was really impressed with the script. I was really interested in the work that he had written. And I thought it was very strong, very character driven. But I also liked that there’s a lot of surprises, a lot of turns, and things that keep kind of drawing you in. I think like a lot of modern audiences, Jay, you don’t want it all served up — want the audience to do some work. You should figure things out. And I think this is a really interesting project that underscored that.
You’re writing a script like this which has twists and turns and as was so aptly said you’re trusting the audience — when do you know to let go to that extent? What is the gauge where you sit there you’re like I’m gonna assume my audience is gonna be smart enough to get this.
Richard Bakewell: People really love to be spoon-fed these days. [But] I like films where it makes you think and you’re constantly guessing like, really, where are we going? And not too much, you don’t wanna really overdo it. You wanna still have your audience engaged. And for me, I just kept imagining that everyone was along for the ride. There are things that detour you along the way, there are Reese Pieces, you know, got a little trail to lead you and guide you to really pay attention.
Anthony Michael Hall: I just wanted to add to that too, what’s interesting too is that it’s about this young woman kind of reclaiming herself in the subterfuge of what she’s experienced as a child, as the daughter of this woman who’s struggling. And so what’s interesting is that Rick gave it real life circumstances in terms of the fallout, the nuclear fallout and what actually happened to her. But the whole aspect of the aliens is kind of nebulous. You’re not really sure if it’s real or not until, as Rick said, we get later in the story and you realize when she’s in therapy that she’s really trying to reclaim herself and she’s trying to find those lost parts of herself that she might have seen through her mother’s eyes. So it’s a really interesting, compelling drama. It’s very powerful. It’s really about a mother and a daughter coming to terms with each other.
It is really grounded in some solid themes and some powerful concepts. What it comes down to is there was some heavy material throughout this film. And I was wondering, since there’s so much of a young cast when we’re in May Days past, how do you get children to that point where they’re… ready for like scenes of abuse and the horrors of the alternate history they’re inhabiting?
Richard Bakewell: I mean, to give credit to all of those actors like Kayden, Roman, Georgia, Connor, Kylie, all of them, they were pros. They really were solid. I knew that they could handle the material because we did a table read together and they understood everything. Then everybody remembers the Challenger is a very big part of the 80s. And I talked to them about it beforehand and they knew what happened. But I want you to watch this 20-minute short film about Kristy McCullough before we even shoot the scene first. I want you to know who this person was because you’ll be more invested when you really watch it in the classroom. And they really connected to it. It didn’t really affect them in a negative way, but all those things really helped them be better actors.
Anthony Michael Hall: Yeah, I just wanted to add to that, Jay. I’ve been an actor for almost 50 years, it’s almost a misnomer for what it is. You want to be as real and as alive and present as possible. And I think with these kids, they were just so impressive because as Rick said, they were able to jump from beat to beat. They understood the funny parts. They understood the more compelling, heavier stuff. It was really a great thing to watch them work and to see their joy at work. Not only were they prepared but there was a great sense of community that really supported each other and they would play and hang out and have fun just being kids in between takes.
You have a fantastic background in cinematography, and it really shows throughout this film. Some of the scenes you can really tell different settings just by the lighting and the way that they’re colored. And there are some really beautiful shots, especially there’s the diner scene with Dee Wallace, where she has her grandson and they’re off on their own situation… but that’s just a beautiful shot of her just sitting in the booth. How much of that do you know going in?
Richard Bakewell: I had a great DP, Carter Ross, who helped me out with the film. We scouted those locations at the diner. I remember he’s like, where do you want them to sit? And I said right here. And I want to shine the light right through that window. And I want them to have that orange cast on their face. Then as we kind of get into the later world with, Anthony and Ashton, things are a little more on the blue side, they’re a little more cold. WE kind of see the decay of color throughout the whole film. Carter just kind of put together a lookbook and then we just made sure that we shot with references like E.T. and kind of match those kinds of colors. I’m very proud of the work he did and everyone else.
Anything you’d like to add about what you got going on in the future? I leave it to you, gentlemen.
Anthony Michael Hall: What’s up for me in the future? Oh, a bunch of stuff. know, I joined the cast of Reacher this year, so that went well. The show was a real big hit, and that was a lot of fun. And then I went and shot Wednesday for Tim Burton, so that’ll be coming out this summer. I just wrapped production on another film. It’s called Halloween Store, which I shot in Hawaii. That was produced by Kenan Thompson from SNL and his partner, guy, Johnny Ryan Jr. So yeah, lots of good stuff moving forward. But this is a film we’re really proud of, and I’m really proud of. Rick and I have become good friends throughout the process of making this film and so we’re endeavoring to do more stuff together which would be great.
