Taglines: An accident. Two families. One truth.
Sophia Monet is a young woman battling depression after losing both her parents in the last six months. She becomes increasingly isolated and convinces herself that she’ll never see her parents again, dismissing any notion of an afterlife. She is drawn out of this flux when she meets a new love interest, Adam. After Adam’s mysterious disappearance, Sophia becomes determined to track him down. Her search leads to an eerie apartment building, where passing the threshold means leaving the living and entering the realm of the dead.
Into the Dark, also known as I Will Follow You into the Dark, is a 2012 supernatural romance thriller written and directed by Mark Edwin Robinson. The film stars Mischa Barton and Ryan Eggold as lovers separated by supernatural elements. The project went into production in January 2012.
The film’s original title derives from the Death Cab for Cutie song of the same name. On 14 May 2012, Epic Pictures Group released an international trailer for the film. The film premiered at the Hollywood Film Festival on 20 October, 2012, where it was nominated for the Best Feature Film award. The film will be released theatrically in the United States on 11 October, 2013.
Mark Edwin Robinson’s I Will Follow You Into the Dark (the film’s sales agent, Epic Pictures, is selling it internationally as Into the Dark) is set to come out later this year. The film stars Mischa Barton (“The OC”, The Sixth Sense) as the troubled Sophia Monet. I recently caught up with Barton at her home to discuss the film, her character and some of the more intense moments to shoot on set.
In the film, “A young woman (Mischa Barton) who is severely depressed after the deaths of both her parents retreats within herself, only to be drawn out of her depression by an unexpected romance with a man named Adam (Ryan Eggold). After Adam mysteriously disappears into the depths of a haunted apartment building, she vows to pursue him, even if it means crossing into the world of the supernatural.” Leah Pipes and Ryan Eggold also star.
Mischa Barton talks Into The Dark (2013)
The movie deals with a lot of grief and loss. What was it like charting your character’s arc through that?
For me, Sophia is one of these people who is making huge revelations about her life quite quickly and is kind of confused about everything. This whole rejecting God thing is a huge deal for her. A lot of people go through life not questioning things and, when they do, it’s a massive overhaul. That’s where her grief comes from. The crux of the story for me was the love story between her and Ryan [Eggold, who plays Adam in the film]. In order for her to go to the depths of what she goes to, the most important thing is that this love was real and palpable and that the audience wouldn’t question it. And then the other side of it was, “would it be scary enough for me?”
Now that I’ve seen it, the film has turned out more ethereal than I expected. Which I like as well. It is more of an Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind life after death kind of curious side of things as opposed to a straight horror. I think Ryan thought it would err more on the side of just being scary, but it’s not. It’s more about life and love and what’s worth it and what your beliefs are.
As far as her grief, I play grief well. I’ve always played these quite complicated, layered, dark, depressed characters. Sophia isn’t someone with a huge backbone when it comes to things. I mean she is, but she isn’t. She’s strong enough to know what she wants but she’s so uncertain about so many things in her life, but what she’s sure about is Adam.
Do you think that her being in such a negative place at the beginning of the film impacts her relationship with Adam?
Oh no, absolutely. It’s one of these capsule films about fate and this age where you’re questioning everything. Life after death, love, losing your parents. And grief hits you the hardest for the first time in your life because you haven’t been through that kind of grief before. I think for her it’s compounded and compounded and compounded by the fact that her father had these massive lies. And just the fact that she had to cover things up for so long. She lost her mother to a really gruesome looking battle with cancer and you don’t have to see any of this to believe that she’s had it about as hard as she possibly could. And she’s at this point where she thinks she’s given up on everything but of course she runs smack into Adam and it’s fate. And he brings out the best of her… Her art and whatever she was doing before have dissipated. Disappeared.
Astrid [Leah Pipes] is your boyfriend’s female roommate. That’s a complicated dynamic. You also don’t quite expect her to pull what she pulls near the end of the film.
No, she is possessed. She definitely… I think Astrid plays a necessary role in the film. I don’t have much to say about the relationship with Astrid because it was kind of hard to set the tone. It turned out the way it did. I think it plays quite well. It is what it is, I mean she’s got this new love coming into his life. Yeah I don’t really know what to say about Astrid except she’s a necessary evil and she becomes possessed. She plays a pivotal role. She’s just kind of a driving vehicle behind things and she shows what his life is like and the roommates are good supporting roles in showing what his life was before I came along, you know?
I Will Follow You Into the Dark (2013)
Directed by: Mark Edwin Robinson
Starring: Mischa Barton, Ryan Eggold, Leah Pipes, Frank Ashmore, Melinda Browne, Melinda Y. Cohen, Jessee Foudray, Willow Hale
Screenplay by: Mark Edwin Robinson
Production Design by: David L. Snyder
Cinematography by: Eduardo Enrique Mayén
Costume Design by: Tracey Moulton
Art Direction by: Effney Gardea
Music by: Jesse Voccia
MPAA Rating: None.
Studio: Epic Pictures
Release Date: October 11, 2013
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