Few films premiering at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival have sparked as much buzz as “Your Monster,” Caroline Lindy’s directorial debut that blends elements of horror and musical theatre to craft a rom-com about a woman who rebounds from a cancer diagnosis and a bad breakup, only to learn that the monster who haunted her childhood nightmares is still inhabiting her closet.
The cast of “Your Monster” stopped by the IndieWire Studio at Sundance, presented by Dropbox, to talk about the chaotic creative process that led to the genre-bending film. While they all acknowledged the importance of collaboration, many of them heaped praise on Lindy and her distinct vision for setting the right tone on set.
“The truth is, she’s really brave,” co-star and producer Kayla Foster said of Lindy. “She’s like, ‘I want to put all of this in it, and I’m gonna figure it out.’ The core is always the heart and the guts of it and making sure that stays in, and then sprinkling in all of these other genre elements. She always wants to make everything as fun as possible.”
Melissa Barrera recalled that her confusion about the film increased as the shoot moved from location to location, but the actress was ultimately awed by the finished product.
“We shot this movie in 20 days. So the first two weeks we were at the house. So we shot all the Laura and monster stuff. And that felt like a movie! And then we moved to the theater and the streets in New York, and we did this dark, thriller-y, still funny but weird genre thing,” Barrera said. “And I was like ‘What movie are we making? This feels like a completely different film.! And then seeing how Caroline and our editor put it together so brilliantly and seeing the result of this weird horror-musical-rom-com is very cool to see.”
Tommy Dewey, who plays a monster (appropriately named Monster) haunting Barrera’s character throughout her life, stressed that the genre-bending methods worked so well because the outlandish plot points were played straight. Despite playing a monster, he never thought of himself as one.
“A big piece of it was forgetting you’re wearing the monster mask. If you lean into ‘Monster,’ it would’ve kind of gone off the rails. But I had great scene partners. A highlight of this movie was that everyone was just game to play and have fun and check our egos at the door.”
Edmund Donovan, on the other hand, knew that his character was much more of a monster than the actual monster. He explained the process of empathizing with his manipulative, faux-feminist character in order to provide a convincing villain.
“He’s the bad guy in the movie, we can say it,” Donovan said. “But I had to approach it with some empathy. I think he’s someone who just really wants what he wants, he’s a careerist, and he’s willing to do anything to get there. He’s a musical theater writer and director, and he thinks he’s making work that’s feminist and matters and has this deep impact. He thinks he’s basically speaking on behalf of women, but he’s really missing the mark. So it’s really cringe to watch myself flounder.”
Everyone agreed that such an ambitious film was only possible through intense collaboration between a cast and crew that were passionate about the idea. Co-star Meghann Fahy cited Foster’s ability to balance her acting and producing duties as an example of the ethos that made the set thrive.
“Kayla had maybe the most unhinged job ever, because she was in the movie and acting brilliantly but also fully producing the entire time,” Fahy said. “I just will never forget her — full costume, hair and makeup — just running up and down, delivering other people’s costumes to their dressing rooms, being on the phone, running behind the monitor, then going and shooting a scene. And then watching the work that she did in the movie, it was so incredible, but even more so knowing everything else that was going on in the background of it all.”
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival runs January 18–28, with festival talks taking place January 19–26. See the full lineup here for the IndieWire Studio at Sundance, presented by Dropbox.
Dropbox supports and champions independent makers, crews, and teams behind the camera who bring their unique perspectives to life at the Sundance Film Festival. We’re proud that over 60% of films at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival leveraged Dropbox in their filmmaking process. It takes a monumental effort for film projects to go from ideation to completion, and Dropbox is dedicated to helping filmmakers get their projects across the finish line faster. Filmmakers used Dropbox as one organized homebase to keep video files secure, to remotely collaborate with teams around the world, and to get real-time video feedback with Dropbox Replay.
