Don’t Move directors Adam Schindler and Brian Netto are thrilled to be working with Sam Raimi again following their introduction to the legendary filmmaker’s universe in 2020.
The first trailer for Don’t Move dropped on Thursday as part of Netflix’s Geeked Week 2024 event in Atlanta. The logline for Don’t Move from Netflix reads, “A seasoned serial killer injects a grieving woman with a paralytic agent while the two of them are isolated deep in the forest. As the agent gradually takes over her body, she must run, hide and fight for her life before her entire nervous system shuts down.”
Don’t Move—which premieres on Netflix on October 25—stars Kelsey Asbille (Yellowstone, Fargo Season 4), Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story, Ratched), Daniel Francis (Bridgerton) and Moray Treadwell (Downton Abbey).
A pair of longtime friends who hail from Minnesota, Schindler and Netto made their feature film debut in 2013 with the shocking indie horror thriller Delivery: The Beast Within, which was followed by another horror movie, Intruders, in 2015.
The duo first worked under the auspices of Raimi on his Quibi horror anthology 50 States of Fright in 2020 when they wrote and directed the series’ Minnesota episode Grey Cloud Island, which is based on an urban legend from the North Star state.
Adam Schindler, Sam Raimi and Brian Netto.
In a recent Zoom conversation to exclusively discuss the release of the Don’t Move trailer, Schindler and Netto said they were inspired by The Evil Dead trilogy director’s boundless enthusiasm for Don’t Move as the film went into production in Bulgaria in 2023. Since Don’t Move is produced in part with Raimi Productions, Netto said the prolific filmmaker was happy to be a guiding light for Schindler and himself every step of the way.
“The night before we started shooting the film we had this dinner in one of the two restaurants in this small town atop a mountain in Bulgaria,” Netto recalled. “When we were having dinner I remember him saying, ‘I’m so nervous’ and we were like, ‘What are you nervous for?” He was like, ‘I know, but I’m just excited for you guys.’ He then told us stories of how he had nerves before shooting every one of his films.”
At that point, Netto and Schindler realized that their moviemaking mentor—for all of the dazzling success he’s had throughout his career—was approaching Don’t Move with the same sort of humble demeanor that he had back in the early 1980s. Raimi was in his early 20s when he, producer Rob Tapert, actor Bruce Campbell and their fellow cast and crewmembers ventured deep into the Tennessee woods to film was would go on to become a horror classic with The Evil Dead.
“He is 100% one of our most influential filmmakers and his work is 100% responsible for what we do and why we do it,” Netto said. “But hearing him tell stories of just the things that happened to him [while making his films], you realize that we’re all in this together and nobody has all the answers. You’re doing your best. You show up, you put in the preparation and all that stuff, and hopefully, you can pull it off.”
Schindler said he and Netto were energized by how committed Raimi was to make sure they got the most out of every line in the Don’t Move script and every frame of the movie they shot.
“They say, don’t meet your heroes, but not in the case of Sam Raimi. He was available to us whenever we needed it,” Schindler recalled. “We spent hours—just me, Brian and Sam—pouring over the script talking about every minute detail, every action scene and every line of dialogue, asking ourselves, ‘What does it mean? How are we going to shoot it?’ We had never gotten notes like that before that were so specific—from the script all the way through to the screen.”
While Schindler, Netto and Kelsey Asbille—who stars in Don’t Move as Iris—were tasked with the challenge of creating her character’s horrifying descent into full-body paralysis as she desperately flees from her would-be killer into an isolated wooded area, that was only part of the equation, the directors noted.
As the three filmmakers poured over T.J. Cimfel and David White’s script, Raimi stressed to his protégés just how important it was for the audience need to feel the dread of what Iris is going through at all times, whether she’s able-bodied or completely paralyzed.
“It was all about how the audience was going to perceive the final film,” Schindler explained. “So, with whatever theme, whatever thought, whatever line, whatever moment or whatever character arc, [Sam advised], ‘How best do you get the audience to feel that?’”
Schindler and Netto took their producer’s advice to heart—and their work was ultimately validated by the audience member they needed to impress the most.
“When we turned in our director’s cut, it was just fun to watch Sam respond. He’s just such a movie fan,” Schindler enthused. “You would think he would be sitting there very skeptical, but he was very much just experiencing the movie and jumping and cheering and all that kind of stuff. He was very excited about it.”
Adam Schindler and Brian Netto.
Raimi Gave Netto And Schindler The Freedom To Make ‘Don’t Move’ Their Own
As much as Sam Raimi was involved in the production process through the project, Brian Netto said that he and Adam Schindler never felt the pressure make Don’t Move feel like a movie that was directed by their esteemed producer.
“The one gift he gave was the idea that, ‘This is your film, guys,’” Netto explained. “There were moments either in pre-production or even when we were on set where he would pull us aside and say, ‘Alright, so for this moment here, what are you thinking?’ or ‘I hope you might want to focus on this or highlight this.’”
And while the directors always heeded their mentor’s advice, Netto noted that they also had the freedom to detail their scenes for Raimi and explain how they intended to engage the audience.
“I don’t know that any of the other films that he produces are saddled with the idea that they have to feel like a Sam Raimi movie,” Netto said. “But more than anything for us, [It was great to see how] he visualizes things and see how he’s able to look at a script and bring that script to life. We took that process and put our own stamp on it along with our DP [Zach Kuperstein] to build the look and feel of this movie.”
Naturally, Netto and Schindler will have to move on from Don’t Move once the film is released on Netflix next month, but with any luck, they won’t have to move very far away from the producer who has been so instrumental in their directorial endeavors.
“It was a wonderful learning experience and a great collaboration [with Sam],” Schindler said. “We have a couple more projects with him and hopefully we can get those going. We are definitely in the Sam business.”
Don’t Move debuts on Netflix on October 25.
Note: Some quotes in this interview were edited and condensed for clarity.
This post was originally published on here
