Do you feel a ‘Presence’? Inside Steven Soderbergh’s reverse ghost story, filmed in N.J.

The menacing dark corner of a room.

Hair standing up on the back of your neck.

A whoosh of air past your arm.

That uncanny sensation that just won’t quit.

Plenty of us feel, at one time or another, like there’s an unseen someone — or something — watching us.

But what is it like to be a ghost?

Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh takes us there in “Presence,” a ghost story filmed entirely in a New Jersey home. Unlike most films in the genre, the movie, in theaters Friday (Jan. 24), is told solely from the point of view of the ghost.

We can’t see the spirit in question — this is no “Ghost” — but we see what it sees … and what it does.

The opening scenes, which drift from window to window of the house, peering at the tree-lined suburban street outside and floating through rooms, set an eerie enough tone. However, the reverse approach of this haunt isn’t just about jump scares and frights.

“Presence” is also an intimate story about family, grief and the bonds of love beyond death.

The movie was penned by screenwriter David Koepp, co-writer of films including “Jurassic Park” (1993), “Mission: Impossible” (1996), “Spider-Man” (2002) and “Death Becomes Her” (1992). He also wrote and directed “Stir of Echoes” (1999).

This shift in perspective to the ghost has us watching the daily life of a family, starting with its move into a new home. Absolutely everything we see takes place in that house.

Lucy Liu and Chris Sullivan (”This is Us”) play parents Rebekah and Chris, who have very different approaches to parenting. Callina Liang (”Bad Genius”) is Chloe, their daughter, who is grieving the death of her best friend. Eddy Maday, making his film debut, plays Tyler, Chloe’s brother, who is often preoccupied with the social scene at school.

West Mulholland (”A Great Divide”) plays Tyler’s friend Ryan, while Julia Fox (”Uncut Gems”) is Cece, the real estate agent who introduces the family to its home.

First, Soderbergh needed to find the right one.

Producer Julie M. Anderson joined the project in May 2023. Anderson, who lives in Los Angeles, found herself in New York that July, so she took advantage of the time to do some location scouting.

“I thought, ‘I’m just gonna drive around and see if I can at least put eyes on what Steven is telling me he’s looking for,’” she says.

Anderson reached out to David Schoner, associate director of the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission.

“I gave him the broad strokes of what we were looking for,” she says. “The first place he named was Cranford.”

So Anderson rented a car and headed to the Union County town, which can be seen in recent films “Sweethearts” (on Max), the Anne Hathaway movies “Eileen” and “Mothers’ Instinct” and the upcoming film “Tow” with another Jersey star, Dominic Sessa (”The Holdovers”).

“I was like, ‘Yeah, I could see it. I think he’s right,’” Anderson tells NJ Advance Media from Mexico City shortly after the New York premiere of “Presence.”

Filmmakers hired location manager Katherine Delaney, and the process of scouting in Cranford began.

“Believe it or not, we found five households that were willing to consider something as wacky as not only will you move out, will you take all your furniture?” Anderson says. “I mean, it’s a really big ask.”

But Jersey families were definitely interested in seeing their homes immortalized for the big screen by the likes of Soderbergh, who won a best director Oscar in 2001 for “Traffic.” (That year, he was a double nominee, also recognized for directing “Erin Brockovich.” Soderbergh was first nominated in 1990 for his “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” screenplay.)

The director toured the homes and chose one on Springfield Avenue as the base for “Presence.”

In picking a house, he needed to tick a bunch of boxes for practical must-haves. Soderbergh knew he had to be able to film from a closet, because this is a movie that deploys tried-and-true “something’s in my closet” scenes. We’re right there with the ghost, looking through the slats in the door.

The house also had to have two stories, because there’s a lot of going up and down the stairs.

A fireplace and mantel were added for the film, along with a mirror that plays a key role.

In the movie, the mirror is said to be old, like the bones of the house.

The whole look of the place is “updated antique,” bringing a lived-in character to the setting, along with questions about who — or what — resided there before the family arrived.

Ghost director

Soderbergh filmed at the Cranford house in September 2023, in the middle of the Screen Actors Guild strike.

The movie was able to proceed through an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA.

“Presence” is distributed by Neon, the independent film production company and studio behind movies like the horror film “Longlegs” (2024); New Jersey director Sean Baker’s Oscar contender “Anora” (2024), which won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or; 2020 Oscar winner “Parasite”; and 2024 Oscar winner “Anatomy of a Fall” (Neon also distributed the Cranford-filmed movies “Mothers’ Instinct” and “Eileen”).

Soderbergh, 62, is known for his all-encompassing work as a filmmaker.

“Presence” was no different — he served as director, cinematographer and editor. The prolific director is also known for his ability to work quickly.

The ghost story was filmed over the course of just 11 days.

Anderson, who worked with Soderbergh on the “Magic Mike” movies and films like “No Sudden Move” (2021) and “Logan Lucky” (2017), says production on “Presence” was like a “fast-moving train.”

Soderbergh became part of the cast, in a way. While operating the camera, he had to be the ghost.

“It was very challenging for him, because the takes, they’re all one take and they’re long,” Anderson says.

Much of the movie involves continuous movement where the ghost floats around the family, trailing them through the home. So the director had to move fast without making a lot of noise.

“He had to give up his lucky Red Wing boots and put on some sort of nautical slipper with a rubber bottom so he could move very quietly throughout the house,” Anderson says.

The resulting scenes effectively communicate that point of view. And when it came to equipment, Soderbergh didn’t go over the top. He used a Sony A7 DSLR camera and a Ronin rig to film the movie.

“He likes on these projects to be relatively lo-fi or off-the-shelf because he’s trying to encourage sort of an egalitarian approach to film, as opposed to just some kind of fantastic opportunity for a select few,” Anderson says.

She sees “Presence” as being in line with a group of smaller-budget movies Soderbergh has helmed. With each one, she says, he’s posed a similar question: “What would it be like to do this?”

They include the 2018 thriller “Unsane” as well as “High Flying Bird” (2019), which is set in the world of basketball and sports agents. He filmed both movies on iPhones.

With another film, “Let Them All Talk” (2020), Soderbergh asked the question, “What would it be like to shoot a movie in nine days crossing the Atlantic (aboard the Queen Mary 2)?” Anderson says.

“I’ve worked with him long enough to know that the confidence is so high that he’s gonna figure out how to make it work.”

Masters of the macabre

The ghost in “Presence” may not be able to talk or be seen, but it certainly announces itself to the family.

There are obvious ways, like messing with household objects and lights.

Then there are more subtle ways — the ones that might have you looking over your shoulder after you leave the movie theater or walking with trepidation toward that closet door when you get home. Or even, as in the film, calling out to empty space.

Such scares aren’t just there to unnerve the viewer (though they can). They hold a mirror up to the family, too.

The conclusion of the movie — no spoilers here! — has a haunting effect on the rest of the film, prompting those watching to revisit various scenes in a new light.

“It’s really interesting to go back after the end and sort of see everyone’s behavior,” Anderson says of the characters in Soderbergh’s ghostly mystery.

She spoke about the movie days after the Jan. 15 death of director David Lynch, someone who knew quite a bit about creating a haunting, absorbing atmosphere on film.

Anderson worked with Lynch as a production supervisor on “Mulholland Drive” (2001), for which he was nominated for his third Oscar for best director.

“The vision is so dark, but as a person, he’s just like this really nice guy from the (West),” she says. “We kept a list of quotes. He used phrases like ‘gee willikers’ and ‘golly.’ And totally sincerely, not ironically at all. That’s how he spoke.

“It has been on my mind just what a wonderful atmosphere it was on David’s sets, and how he was obviously a very strong vision, but also very inclusive about people,” Anderson says. “He was very enthusiastic about everyone’s work.”

Home sweet Cranford

“Presence” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2024.

The Cranford Theater is hosting a private screening of the family drama-meets-ghost story Thursday, on the eve of the film’s theatrical opening.

The production spent about $2 million in New Jersey and received a $665,049 tax credit, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority tells NJ Advance Media.

Anderson says filmmakers appreciated being in Jersey, and not just because things went smoothly when applying for the tax credit.

“Everyone was so happy in Cranford,” she says with a hearty laugh.

Cast and crew made themselves at home with the town’s creature comforts.

“Everyone went to Track 5 (coffee shop) in the morning and got coffee,” she says. “Steven loved Sub-Ology. We had to get him a sub every day. He couldn’t get enough of that place.”

You might even say that for a short time, they were a regular presence in the community.

“Presence,” rated R, runs 1 hour and 25 minutes and is in theaters Friday, Jan. 24.

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Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at [email protected] and followed at @AmyKup on Twitter/X, @amykup.bsky.social on Bluesky and @kupamy on Instagram and Threads.

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