I had the pleasure of speaking with Stacey Gregg about her new film “Here Before,” starring Andrea Riseborough which premiered at SXSW 2021. The film follows a mother named Laura (Riseborough), who becomes increasingly convinced that the little girl who moves in next door is the reincarnation of her own daughter who died years prior, which puts a great deal of strain on both families.
Eamon Tracy: I really loved your film and without reducing it, what genre would you consider it as?
Stacey Gregg: I always thought of it as a Psychological Drama, and I feel like because it does use certain genre elements or plays with them or subverts them and because Andrea’s in it, even though she has a huge body of work, people associate her more recently with “certain” films perhaps there’s more of an anticipation of it being a particular thing, whereas I call it a psychological drama.
ET: Absolutely! Her presence was unsettling but the screenplay avoided any tropes and I was really impressed with your choices.
SG: Thank you.
ET: I’ve been to Belfast when I was a teen and I didn’t recall palm trees along the coast.
SG: We’ve got loads of palm trees! They’re such scraggly defiant things, a very odd peculiarity which is why I was so delighted with the palm tree in that garden because it is so strange.
ET: It really stuck out to me and made it otherworldly.
SG: We definitely went after that strangeness so anything out of place, we were scooping that up.
ET: After I screened “Here Before,” I was reminded of Nicolas Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now” and while your film is totally original, I found similarities, did any classic film inspire you?
SG: Artists and filmmakers, we’re magpies and there’s an eclecticism and yes, of course, those visual films stayed with me and probably sublimated into the language that I was finding for the film. I would say that probably was an influence even though I certainly haven’t watched it in several years but I remember seeing it when I was younger but it made a real impact. I’d be pressed to watch it again now actually just to see maybe things I’m not even aware of.
ET: Yes, same here, I hadn’t seen it in years and kept hearing how great it was and your film inspired me to watch it and I have to say it was a perfect Double Feature.
SG: I can imagine that, and I’m happy it made you go and hunt it out.
ET: It’s hard not to think of Belfast’s recent past when watching it, but I know it’s not a film about the IRA or the Troubles.
SG: No, I have to say I’m glad you asked me that, I was curious. You know how people are going to respond to the film and I feel and I hope it will be part of a New Wave of films coming out of Ireland, and it was hard to get “Here Before” made for a while. Because financiers were very nervous about a part of the world they don’t know anything about unless you’re making a Troubles movie. You know I obviously grew up there and that’s all very close to my heart, you can’t grow up here and not be affected by it. The themes of this film have certainly been informed by experiences of grief from trauma and a landscape quietly dealing with PTSD, a lot of that is very quiet in the fabric of the film and I didn’t want to make it explicit but I do suspect that some of that will communicate to an audience.
ET: Andrea’s neighbors’ aesthetic reminded me of some of those themes.
SG: Definitely, and that’s more even commenting on the class differences between them, it’s deliberate and those themes become universal.
ET: The score was incredible with warbles and distorting sounds before being stretched into symphonic synths.
SG: Yes, that was a big one for me and I really loved working with the composer (Adam Janota Bzowski) he actually did the score for “Saint Maud.”
ET: I need to see that!
SG: Oh it’s fantastic, and I think he’s a genius and not on the nose. I wanted a sound that was surprising and he did it beautifully.
ET: You shot digitally right?
SG: Yes, on an Alexa-mini.
ET: The film had a warmth to it and made me think perhaps it wasn’t digital.
SG: Yes, we worked with costumes and the production design using slightly autumnal/wintery colors and a retro palette. It was mid-December in Northern Ireland so it was kind of muddy greens and our DP was great at finding interesting frames and really working with that, nice to hear you appreciated that.
ET: That reminded me, I loved the timeless aesthetic of the film, it could’ve been the ’70s, ’90s, or today.
SG: The costumes really captured that so was Timmy White really stepping up.
ET: Are you working on any features or anything planned?
SG: Yes, I am working with BBC films and Rooks Nest (again) and down the road a bit, I have a theatre commission whenever they are open again, and looks like I might be directing some TV this summer which is a new foray for me so I’m very excited for that.
“Here Before” recently had its World Premiere at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival
