Lorena Villarreal is the writer and director of Silencio, which stars John Noble and Melina Matthews in a family drama with a sci-fi twist.  Villarreal also directed and co-wrote 2004’s Las Lloronas, the story of three generations of women within a family cursed by the “weeping woman.”  Melina Matthews is an actress born and raised in Barcelona, Spain. She has worked in many features including The Returned and Negociador. In Silencio, she plays the character of Ana.

Screen Rant: Congratulations on the film ladies. First and foremost, I got to say, time travel stories are so fascinating because everybody kind of wishes that they can redo a decision they made in their life. So, I have to ask what inspired the story? Was there anything, maybe, that happened personally? Or what inspired the story to get Silencio made for the screen?

Lorena Villarreal: Well, there were two things. I thought the concept about the actual place, the sound of silence that I hadn't heard before, and that was so interesting. I thought that was an interesting concept to have inside of film. But then also, I think it's a universal topic about, what will you do differently if you were presented with a choice. Or don't all of us have a loved one that we've lost, and we would love a second chance. More time with them. So, I think that's the universality of it, is what attracted to me and say, ‘Oh, well what if this happens now?’ So, it was interesting.

Screen Rant: Now, for your character, Ana is kind of like the good that can come out of messing with the timeline. How did you relate to Ana?

Melina Matthews: Actually, we're very different. She is a psychiatrist. You know, a highly respected psychiatrist with a kid. I am an actress with no kids. So, for me it was-- the only way that I could relate to Ana was to fight for something, for someone in this case, that you love. I mean I had to dig deep in there and just find that connection with Ana. And I just basically really trusted my instincts, I think.  With Lorena’s help, and obviously Lorena helped me a lot, you know, with them, just this relationship with a kid that I had to have. And I do love kids. So, that was easy for me.

Screen Rant: So, most sci-fi stories are kind of cautionary tales, just to be perceived to the mass population. But this story is really, a story I felt about like the love of a family at its core. So, if you kind of had to have the audience take something away from this, what would that message be?

Melina Matthews: Wow. Do you want to answer that first? That’s a really good question.

Lorena Villarreal: What stays with you is the question, ‘How far are you willing to go to save someone you love?’ I mean it's what stays with you. And I think that that's powerful.

Melina Matthews: And also like-- as you were saying it's obviously a universal story. Because it's how far would you go for someone that you love. But also, the film as a whole is a mix of drama, genre, sci-fi. It's like a big cocktail. And so, I just think that-- yeah, I hope that people will come out of this movie and think, ‘Oh my god! What just happened, what did I just see?’ And then try to figure out what it was about, how the stone works.  Because—

Lorena Villarreal: It stays with you and it makes you question and think and discuss…

Screen Rant: Even today as we were sitting in there waiting.  We were still discussing the end of the film.

Melina Matthews I’m still discussing the end of the film.

Screen Rant: Right.  Because it does stay with you.  And I was just thinking about it like all night.  But if you did have this stone and knowing that you would be able to have to sacrifice something to change something, would you do it now doing this movie and kind of doing the research to do all this stuff?

Lorena Villarreal: Well, it's tricky now. If it works exactly as it's supposed to work and as we've presented in the film, it's tricky because you have to sacrifice another life.

Screen Rant: Right.

Lorena Villarreal: So, that's a big thing. When there's, for example, the love of a mother, the love of a child, you know, I think you would do anything for the love of your child.

Melina Matthews: So, you would definitely sacrifice yourself. No question.

Lorena Villarreal: But the intrigue that-- I mean, that's personally, but then that doesn't mean that in the story that happens.

More: John Noble Interview for Silencio

Key Release Dates

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  Silencio

  Release Date:

  2018-10-26