Storyline from IMDb:
Emma is stuck in a stale marriage to Mark and is surprised when he whisks her away to their secluded lake house for a romantic evening on their 10th anniversary. But everything changes the next morning when she finds herself handcuffed to Mark's dead body. Trapped and isolated in the dead of winter, Emma has to survive, she must fight the mysterious killers coming to finish her off.
Suspenseful, Fucked-up, Funny
2. What is the genesis of Till Death?
Some friends from high school and I had a very short lived sketch comedy group which mostly consisted of coming up with really weird, really fucked-up sketch ideas. One of them was about a guy who met the woman of his dreams and after sleeping with her realized this was the pinnacle of his life and it would never get any better. So in the skit he was gonna wake up next to this beautiful woman, smile, and then blow his brains out. Hilarious, right? (said with total sarcasm.) We were in our early 20s with the kind of grim, twisted sense of humor only Catholic School can foment. Anyway, years and years later, I was reminiscing about said sketch with one of my compatriots and was like, “how completely fucked up is that? That’s not comedy, that’s horror.” And thus TILL DEATH was born.
3. Were there other titles you came up with before Till Death?
Nope. Although I did lots of internet sleuthing as to whether it should be ’Til Death, Til Death, Until Death or what was always my preferred spelling Till Death. And, to my chagrin, it’s been referred to by every single one of those variants over the life of the project.
4. What research did you do when writing Till Death?
Let’s just say, if the NSA or FBI are looking at my google searches, I’m definitely on a fucking list. “How long does it take skin to frostbite?” “How long does it take for rigor mortis to set in?” “How hard would it be to hack through tendon with a garden trowel?” Stuff like that.
5. What is your writing habit in general?
I take a really long time to write. And I end up writing lots and lots of drafts. I was working a day job while writing this script and could only write at night and on weekends. Sometimes I would rent a shitty motel somewhere and lock myself in for a long weekend and knock out a draft. No real habit other than writing whenever the hell I could. Now I treat writing like a day job and get up in the morning, shower, sit down with coffee and try to put in a solid shift.
6. Did you ever get writer’s block when writing Till Death? If so, how did you overcome it?
I don’t know if its “writer’s block” but just trying to stay positive and believe in yourself is a constant battle. Especially when the voice in your head is constantly screaming “THIS FUCKING SUCKS! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING WITH YOUR LIFE?” If I had a solution to that, I’d be a rich man. And I probably wouldn’t drink so much.
7. What is your favorite line from Till Death?
It’s actually a line that got cut! After Emma has dragged Mark’s dead body into their Range Rover and realized he’d siphoned all the gas, she really starts to lose it. She catches her reflection in the rear view covered in her husband’s brains and blood and says, “you should see the other guy.” Then she cracks up. Maybe it’s one of those lines that works on the page but not on screen. But it always made me chuckle.
8. Without giving out any spoilers, were there alternate ending you considered for the film?
The original ending was much smaller because I had written it with the intention of directing it myself as a low-budget indie. So it involved tricking Jimmy into the garage that was on fire and locking him in using the handcuffs on the door handles. The ending in the movie was much better!
9. What was your experience like working with the director S.K. Dale?
Scott was great. He’s a really positive person and comes with a lot of ideas. So it was a fun challenge to incorporate those into the script.
10. What are your thoughts on Megan Fox playing Emma? Did you ever meet her on set?
When I found out Megan Fox was cast I couldn’t have been more thrilled. She brought Emma to life and really just carried everything. It’s not easy to be the only person on screen, not to mention the physicality the role demanded. I’m just bummed I haven’t gotten a chance to meet her and thank her! I wasn’t able to be on set due to Covid restrictions. But in an interview on the Today Show, she said that she thought the script was really funny and that warmed my heart. It was meant to be. Not funny ha-ha, but that gallows humor. So that made me happy.
11. Could you also express your feelings about Eoin Macken, Callan Mulvey, Jack Roth, and Aml Ameen playing characters that you wrote?
I thought the supporting cast were all terrific. I didn’t picture Mark as being British but it totally worked. And I thought Callan and Jack were a terrific odd-couple partnership that I was going for. And how do you not feel so bad for Aml when he… well, no spoilers.
12. Were you ever on set for the making of Till Death? If so, could you tell me what scene you were present at?
Nope. Sadly not. I got to see the Dailies, though. Incredible VFX work they did with all the stuff on the lake. My hat’s off to them because when I saw the rough footage I was like “how the hell are they gonna make this look real?” And boy did they.
13. How did you celebrate your first screenplay being made into a feature film?
I went to the Laemmle NoHo on opening night with 25 of my friends to watch it on the big screen! That’s the dream come true.
14. With your debut film A New Wave starring John Krasinki, what lessons did you learned from that experience moving to the next project?
Making independent films is really hard. That’s not something revelatory or new, but it’s the truth. And with A NEW WAVE we had a really unfortunate issue with distribution. The company who purchased the film, ThinkFilm, who are now defunct, ended up screwing us out of all the money. They did the same to dozens of other filmmakers. It was alleged that the piece of shit who ran the company, David Bergstein, embezzled all the money and was then forced into bankruptcy. The only happy ending to come out of it is that he’s serving an 8 year sentence in Federal prison. Not for the film company fiasco, but for creating a fake hedge fund and bilking a bunch of rich people. He made the cardinal mistake: you can steal from people poorer than you in this country and get away with it, but if you try to steal from people who are richer than you (which includes the federal government) then you’re gonna get in deep shit.
15. Which novel/novella/short story/article/comic/graphic novel have you read that you would like to see adapted into a film?
There’s a bunch of different things I’d love the chance to adapt but for now I’m gonna keep trying to work on original stuff until that well runs dry.
16. Which movie have you just finished watching?
I just watched a double feature of Lynne Ramsay films at the New Beverly this week: RATCATCHER and WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN. I had never seen the former and what a phenomenal debut feature. I just marvel at her voice and vision.
17. Last question, what is your favorite TV show that is currently streaming/on air?
I’m loving The White Lotus. It’s so strange and dark and funny. Mike White is brilliant and I cringe to see where he’s taking us.
Thanks to Jason Carvey for spending his time to answer those questions. Till Death is one of those thriller that you shouldn't miss. If you like Hitchcock-type of film then Till Death delivers that and more. Fellow readers, thank you as well for reading this. I hope you are having a great day so far. Stay positive and safe wherever you are.