Just a few years after her feature-length directiorial debut, Halina Reijn is back behind the camera for the new film Bodies Bodies Bodies. Boasting a talented cast that includes the likes of Pete Davidson, Maria Bakalova, Amandala Stenberg, and Lee Pace (among others), the film revolves around a group of 20-somethings whose hurricane party goes awry after a party game turns into a deadly experience. Bodies Bodies Bodies has earned critical acclaim, with praise for its tight script and approach to the whodunnit genre.
Screen Rant had the opportunity to talk with Reijn about her initial reaction to the script, putting the cast together, and much more.
Screen Rant: I cannot stop talking about this movie, I loved it so much. How did you react when you receive the first version of the script?
Halina Reijn: In the first version, I did like the game a lot, because I used to play the game with my friends a lot. We call it Werewolf... or mafia or whatever. And I would always end up being very emotional about it and feeling left out and all of that. So it was like, "Oh, my God, this is such a great vehicle to talk about human nature and group behavior. Is the killer inside of us or outside of us?" And then we got Sarah DeLappe who is a playwright, and we started to work on the script and make it into what it is right now.
A lot of people spent the pandemic playing that game Among Us, which has like a very similar concept, and we all turn on each other so quickly.
Halina Reijn: Exactly. That's the scary thing about this game. It's psychological warfare. You never know which secrets are going to come out when. It is a thrilling game. But of course, it is just a metaphor for all the relationships that they have with each other, and how they act, and how their relationship with their phone is and all of that.
How did the cast come together?
Halina Reijn: The first person to came on board was Amandla Stenberg. She's also an executive producer on the film. It was very important to me, since, as a 46-year-old woman, I'm making a film about Gen Z, that I would collaborate with them and really make them part of it and make them responsible, also, for the film. I'm used to working as a stage actress. It's not just, "I'm going to do what the director tells me to do." I want to be responsible. And then, Pete Davidson, I really knew from the start, I wanted him as David. I wanted to have his darkness. I wanted to really also use him as an actor, and not just a comedian, or or goofy, or a personality, and he's really open to that. He did such a great job. Getting this cast together was the most fun, as you can imagine. Some are comedians, some are classically trained, some are film actors. It's just a wonderful group.
It seems almost like you were just like pointing and shooting, and they were just going.
Halina Reijn: I think, for me, it was very important that... it looks completely effortless and real and authentic. But at the same time, they were prepared like soldiers. They have to know their lines as if it were a theater play, to make it look so real and loose and sexy, you need a lot of preparation. They really went for that, and they were open to that. That really excited me.
Another aspect that I really loved was the soundtrack. Can you talk to me about putting that together?
Halina Reijn: The soundtrack, of course. It is very important if you make a film about young people, that you actually have the vibe that they have in the world that they live in, and what kind of music they listen to. So all the needle drops that you hear in a film, which are the tracks that you hear in the film, all of them came from them. They gave me their playlists and they sort of chose those songs with me. And then I worked with Disasterpeace, who's a composer on the score. It was just an incredible collaboration. I called out a film, Run Lola Run, which is a German film. It was very famous back in the day, where it just had a techno soundtrack. She was just going and going and running and running. And with this too, if these characters would stand still for one second and reflect, the film would stop. So the music just needs to go on and on and on. Tthey are just like little animals, and they start to eat each other at a certain point. So we had a lot of fun creating that music. And then we have the original track made for the film by Charli XCX, and that was just heaven to work with her.
And then you're talking about making Gen Z and you use that, I don't know the name of it, It's that "bored in the house and I'm in the house bored" song from TikTok.
Halina Reijn: Of course the film is more dark comedy than anything else and "Bored in the House" is, of course, the pandemic gives us all that feeling of being locked up. I think it's just the most ironic and I love that song, Bored in the House. It's just the greatest song. And so of course, it was a little hard to get the rights, but they were really into it. And I was so grateful when we got it.
Lastly, I'll just ask you, I think this is your second film and what a movie! What is next for you?
Halina Reijn: So my first film was a very dark, erotic thriller, and I want to go back into that space. So my next film is going to be an erotic thriller.
Very much looking forward to that. Thank you so much for your time!
Bodies Bodies Bodies Synopsis
When a group of rich 20-somethings plan a hurricane party at a remote family mansion, a party game goes awry in this fresh and funny look at backstabbing, fake friends, and one party gone very, very wrong.