BONE LAKE Director And Cast On Taboo Topics And The Fun Of Erotic Horror
Bone Lake director Mercedes Bryce Morgan and cast members Andra Nechita, Alex Roe, and Marco Pigossi joined us to discuss their new erotic horror movie (spoiler: yes, the title is a euphemism), the incredibly quick turnaround for shooting, and planning for success. Bone Lake director Mercedes Bryce Morgan created extensive pre-visualization storyboards using herself as a stand-in. Naturally, these became a cast favorite, and there's not much we wouldn't do to get our hands on a copy of that.
Bone Lake star Marco Pigossi shared, “It's the first time I worked with a director who brings the shot list as a storyboard with their face as every character.” Morgan laughed at this and admitted, “There's an entire version of the movie that exists as me in GIFs. I'm running, I'm in the bathtub, going through the door, and it's just because we're doing these very complex camera movements.”
Pigossi's co-star Andra Nechita was a fan of Morgan's extensive storyboard method. “It was great, we'd get the call sheet with those shots every single night, and sometimes the shots would be very elaborate. To see them in the final film, it's all so wonderful to watch.”
Alex Roe recalls running into Nechita prepping for the next day's scenes, “I would come to the hotel and Andra would be in the reception, printing off the shot list for tomorrow, covered in blood, just using the hotel computer. It becomes a talking point.”
The erotic nature of the material required a high degree of trust on set, and comfort was paramount to Morgan. “At the end of the day, everyone needs to know what we're doing. I always sent out the shot list ahead of time so people could see how they were being depicted. If someone didn't feel comfortable, at the end of the day, it's a movie. It's more important to have people feel comfortable, but also working with people who are down. It was a combination of that.”
When it came to building trust between cast and director, they returned to drama school basics, methods that were initially easy to dismiss but ultimately yielded real results.
Roe described it as “A really cool rehearsal boot camp where we did silly actor things like dancing with each other, and just standing across the room, and copying things that each other did that actually.” Which he admittedly was a bit skeptical of, before realizing how effective it actually was. It feels so silly, but then we just became a lot friendlier with each other.”
In spite of being on a tight 18-day shooting schedule, Morgan gave the actors room to play with the material. “I'm a big fan of ‘Let's try something. If it's too extreme, let's bring it back.' But I'd say that's just more choosing our performances.” And when it comes to toning down any of the sex and violence in the movie, Morgan has a very simple answer for that: “This movie is sex and violence, so in terms of toning things down, that's not the type of movie we are. If someone doesn't like that, they probably shouldn't show up to our movie, which is kind of wonderful for us. We're getting our people to see this. My producers were pretty supportive. I was like, ‘Guys, what if the arrow goes through the balls?' They said, ‘Yes, let's do it.'”
“The only limitations were just how much blood and brain matter were available and at our disposal,” Roe added. Morgan and Co. confirm there was no shortage of blood on set, but certainly a shortage of time. The shoot was originally scheduled for a breakneck 18 days, but “We had a storm at the end, so we added more,” said Morgan. “It was intense, and it took a lot of planning. That's the printed out shot list. It was just everyone being super down and on it all the time.”
Much of the horror in Bone Lake is a direct result of a lack of communication and a complete unwillingness to be potentially perceived as “rude.” Zero communication and the worst-case scenario of the perils of being polite. Morgan boils it down to, “I think communication can probably cure 90% of problems. It sounds very cliché, but I think it's really cool to have a horror movie where, instead of our protagonist being punished for being sexual beings, they're punished for not being good enough at communicating, so they can have good sex. Our movie is an erotic thriller and almost like a European drama in a way that kind of slow burns into this horror. I wanted to create something that is grounded in this couple's relationship and dynamic, examining it through a modern relationship lens, so that we care about these people. We want to know how it's going to go down.”
The story also plays with gender roles in an interesting way and what it means to be in a partnership, while addressing societal expectations of what that “should” look like. An element that intrigued the cast from the beginning. “That is one of the things that drew me to the script,” said Pigossi. Adding, “As an actor, you want to bring some depth, bring something interesting to the character. When we talk about this couple, it's so interesting because the roles are reversed. She is the lead in the relationship; she's providing, she's healing for herself, and he has this insecurity. This fragile masculinity. Instead of really having a conversation and sharing his fears or insecurities, he also tries to perform, which only creates even more miscommunication between them. It's really nice to play this position and show how absurd it is, and how it should be treated in a totally different way. I think they learned that by the end.”
In addition to exploring gender roles, Bone Lake also preys upon insecurity and mistrust. “It is the hardest thing and the scariest thing that we do as humans, to trust our life partner, not just with their fidelity or infidelity, but just in general,” shared Roe. “Whether they're the right person for us or not. For my character, I get to lean into what your worst nightmares could be of what happens when they're alone, same with Cin. The things that you would be thinking, that you'd be most scared about, that could be going on with your partner and the person that you're concerned about. I just got to bring those things to life.”
Nechita, who plays Cin, got to explore a certain duality with her character. “To see a film be able to bring to light so many taboo things, if you will, and things that people might not comfortably want to talk about. As a character, just this duality that Cin has. She's confident, and childlike, and sweet, and everything positive and happy on one end, and then conniving, and manipulative, and sinister on the other.”
“It felt pretty icky because of the manipulation,” Roe admitted. “Then you watch it in the theater, and there are people who are shouting out. They see what's about to happen. That's fun, too. The audience seeing these manipulations has a visceral reaction to it, which is really cool for me as an actor to experience.”
“Getting to lean into that unhinged quality was so fun,” said Nechita. “As an actor, it's a gift to be able to explore and just really dig deep. I loved that about Cin, and I loved that I got to play the one who does all the undoing in this couple's relationship. I keep saying, ‘She's your favorite Cin (Sin), wink, wink.' It was fun to lean into that seductress and build that mental mind-fuck with different characters.”
Find extensive Bone Lake coverage in FANGORIA #29 on newsstands (and our online shop) now. Bone Lake is now playing in theaters.
