A woman finds herself trapped in a horrifying reality in Directors Gerard Bush & Christopher Renz’s horror-thriller, Antebellum.
Bush & Renz’s film tells the story of Dr. Veronica Henley, a renowned African-American sociologist and author who finds herself somehow transported into a Southern slave plantation and must find a way get back to her modern life.
On February 21, Bush & Renz discussed the making of Antebellum in a DGA Virtual Q&A moderated by Director Tiller Russell (Silk Road).
During the conversation both Directors spoke about the eerie confluence of timing that saw their film come out during both a global pandemic and a period of racial reckoning.
“It was a ride, from a month before our first movie comes out, every theater in the world closes down, to the protests and what happened with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor,” said Renz. “The movie could be perceived differently before that all happened, and after ... it's only speculation on how it would be perceived.”
Bush agreed, adding, “It was never in our minds that we were making a horror film. It’s sort of like reverse-engineering a true crime story that hasn't happened. A lot of audience members have told us that the most horrific thing about Antebellum is its plausibility.”
Antebellum is Bush & Renz’s feature directorial debut.
Both Directors joined the DGA in 2019.
You can listen to Bush & Renz' Q&A by clicking the podcast episode embedded below. You can find more DGA podcast episodes here.
About the DGA Virtual Q&A Program
Mirroring the ever-popular DGA Membership Screening Q&A program in the virtual space, DGA Members can now learn more about films directly from the filmmakers in this series of livestreamed conversations.