The folk horror movie The Last Thing Mary Saw had its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on August 15, 2021. Following the screening, we talked with writer-director Edoardo Vitaletti about his feature debut.
Starring Stefanie Scott, Isabelle Fuhrman, Judith Roberts, and Rory Culkin, it follows a “daughter in a strict religious family [who] is interrogated after the death of her family’s uncanny matriarch.”
HGL: Thanks for talking with us about your new film. Is directing something you always wanted to do?
Edoardo Vitaletti: I always had an interest in directing. I think the interest that came a little bit later was writing. I always wanted to direct movies, but I didn’t think I was going to be a writer as well. But as I began doing the process, learning the craft, writing became part of what I liked in terms of the movie-making process, so I guess directing came first, writing came second, but I’ve always wanted to do one or the other to some degree.
HGL: Do you enjoy writing and directing, or do you want to separate the two as you move forward in your career?
Edoardo Vitaletti: I think it just depends if there’s a story I want to tell that I’m inspired to both write and direct. I think the stories that I want to tell right now, the writing process is very instrumental to me towards directing, so I’m focused on doing both at the same time.
I’m very open to reading scripts and adapting someone else’s work if the opportunity comes about, but generally speaking, directing is the primary source as far as that goes.
HGL: What do you find to be the biggest rewards and challenges?
Edoardo Vitaletti: For writing and directing, being able to give birth to something that is completely and uniquely yours is the most fun of all. I think one downside that comes with writing and directing your own movie is you develop almost an emotional attachment to the project, so when you’re editing the picture to show to audiences, working with the raw footage, those things may hit a little harder, having written the scenes that is essentially all of you in it.
So, it is a little difficult to detach yourself from the material and leave more of yourself in it, which is probably the most difficult part. Writing the first draft to the final draft is a huge process, and when you are writing and directing it just becomes more difficult, for sure.
RELATED: Check out all of our Fantasia Fest 2021 coverage!
HGL: Where did the idea come from for this film?
Edoardo Vitaletti: Actually, most of the ideas that ended up being a part of the story came from a lot of research. The funeral, the setting, a lot of the visual language I used, the narrative that came from that research and studies, that atmosphere that keeps informing your story.
n a personal level, I’m Catholic. Raised in Italy, Catholic, and a lot of the antagonistic forces that are present in this movie, they are kind of a personal reflection, things I lived around in my community. I wanted to expose those contradictions, that evil behavior under the guise of something else. Those were really the two entry points for me to get into the story.
HGL: There are some moments of silence where characters do more with facial features than anything. As a director, what challenges did you face doing those scenes?
Edoardo Vitaletti: You know, I knew this was going to be a challenge, and I wanted to challenge myself with this. The truth is, it seemed like a challenge at first, a story about constriction and oppression and two characters fighting their way out of that system. The silence became the obvious way to express that because there are so many things they cannot say cannot talk about, and I think collectively, the cast did a fantastic job.
We all understood that this is a story about silence, a story about people not communicating and not being able to tell the world who they are, so instead of a challenge, it became the natural way to tell the story. Of course, there was a lot of blocking, a lot of preparation with the camera but yeah, it turned out very well. When you are working with actors who understand that and can elevate it to such a degree, it’s all that much easier, for sure.
HGL: There is a dark, eerie feel from start to finish. How hard is it to get that atmosphere from the page to the screen?
Edoardo Vitaletti: I think what helped in that regard was when we were shooting on location. We shot inside this house that had this architectural breath we needed. When you think of transporting that from the page to screen, and you’re working in the right atmosphere, it’s pretty amazing what you can do. You start thinking about how the lighting works with candlelight, natural light, you’re not switching a light on and off, and you embrace those practical tools, it becomes a lot easier.
That, of course, then goes together with the costumes; the actors were wearing costumes from that time, which were uncomfortable, but that helped set the overall feel. All of those things, the costumes, the lighting, and the setting, helped create an atmosphere we all felt immediately when we were stepping into a scene. It’s like right there, before your eyes. The candles were real, the fireplace was real, the floor was really creaky, and the costumes were uncomfortable, so it was a perfect setting.
HGL: The setting is terrific. Was it hard to find the right setting for this film?
Edoardo Vitaletti: Incredibly. We shot it out on Long Island, and generally speaking, we have always wanted to shoot this film in the New York area. The thing about New York, when you’re looking for period-specific, you know not much has been left untouched. Period houses have been turned into museums or torn down, so we were after the kind of El Dorado location where it was functional but also period-appropriate, so it took a long time.
We ended up picking this particular one because of the isolation it also gave us, and also the size of it was very conducive to this family and the way they live, so it worked out in the end.
HGL: Was it difficult keeping that feeling of dread consistent?
Edoardo Vitaletti: I think a lot of that definitely came to life in post-production, especially with the sound. I was very specific with the sound designer what I wanted, which was to hear the house…all the time. The one thing about period houses, built around that time, if there is a little gust of wind, you’re going to feel it going through the house, the wood, through the whole structure. Once we hear the house all the time and we feel that fear is going to be present all the time.
That was definitely a big deal, for the atmosphere, the wood creaking, the music at the right moment, the silence at the right moment. Post-production is really when that atmosphere came to life. We had amazing people in the sound department, so they understood the challenge, and you can really hear the house all the time.
HGL: Are there any other projects coming up that you can mention?
Edoardo Vitaletti: I’m considering a few options, there are a few sticking out for me that I’m looking at. I will definitely remain under the umbrella of the genre. There is something me and my friends have been working on for a little while, not necessarily ready to talk about it now, but you’ll see me doing a dark, folklore-like story with elements of the supernatural. I don’t have a title yet, but that will come along later.
