Directing her first feature film, Caitlin Cronenberg has given us a unique perspective on the horror-thriller genre with Humane (now in theatres), starring Jay Baruchel, Emily Hampshire, Peter Gallagher, Enrico Colantoni, Sebastian Chacon, Alanna Bale and Sirena Gulamgaus. Set in the not-so-distant future, the story, written by Michael Sparaga, takes place in a world where euthanasia is the response to ecological collapse.
“A lot of films are remakes, or superhero movies and adaptations of existing materials, which is all great and there’s a place for all of that, but it really struck me how original the concept was,” Cronenberg told Yahoo Canada about what appealed to her about Sparaga’s screenplay. “I sat with it, I thought to myself, could I still be talking about this film five years from now? Will I still be as excited about it? … Now here we are.”
What is ‘Humane’ about?
In Humane, a euthanasia program has been implemented where people agree to “enlist” in exchange for a significant payout.
Humane introduces us to the York family. Charles (Gallagher) is a former war reporter and his wife Dawn (Uni Park) was a chef. Charles has four children — Jared is an anthropologist who is a very public supporter of the euthanasia program; Noah (Chacon) is a skilled pianist and a recovering addict; Ashley (Bale) is an aspiring actor; Rachel (Hampshire) is a former pharmaceutical executive and has a daughter named Mia (Gulamgaus).
Charles calls his whole family over to his home to revealed that he and Dawn have decided to enlist, a complete shock to his children. As Jared quickly points out, this family would not be called up to enlist, due to their wealth.
“These rules aren’t made for people like us,” Jared says in the film.
But when the euthanizing crew arrives, led by Bob (Colantoni), Dawn has backed out and disappeared, and Bob needs a replacement body.
‘It’s meant to feel like it could just be what’s happening right now’
Something that’s particularly interesting about Cronenberg’s approach to the film is that the world in the movie, for the most part, looks like ours today, but there’s an eeriness, achieved through the removal of everyday sounds.
“There are great apocalyptic movies, like The Road, where everything is in shambles, and you love to see that too, because it’s a different kind of entertainment,” Cronenberg said. “But in this world, it’s meant to feel like it could just be what’s happening right now, with a few small changes.”
“I really loved exploring, especially a family who felt that they were untouchable by something like this, to feel and to react to what’s going on in the world outside of their bubble. It’s funny when people do describe it as apocalyptic, it really isn’t. …. But we never had birds chirping. We never had dogs barking. And this is something that if you listen deeply into the layers of sound design, most often those sounds exist. We took those out completely, because I assumed that in this world there are fewer birds and dogs.”
Famed TV dads from ‘The O.C.’ and ‘Veronica Mars’ step into something unique
Cronenberg also tapped two incredibly popular TV dads for this thrilling film. Gallagher played Sandy Cohen on The O.C. and Colantoni played Kieth Mars in Veronica Mars. That, in and of itself, would be a draw for many, but Humane delivers a really gripping story for these actors to work on as well.
“Everyone my age is like, ‘Oh my God, you got Sandy Cohen in your movie, what is going on here? … There is a generational interest in everything that he does,” Cronenberg said. “But we have to also remember all of the films that he’s been in over the course of his career, and you go back to While You Were Sleeping, … American Beauty he’s in Center Stage, all of these films that were really important in our cultural society of this age group”
For Colantoni, Cronenberg revealed the role of Bob was actually written for the actor.
“I’m excited to see him playing the opposite character to who he usually plays, which is Mr. Nicest Guy, and it made me more excited to give him this sort of complicated, sinister role, and this voice, in a way that only he could handle it,” Cronenberg said. “There’s no other option for the Bob character.”
“I think that the Veronica Mars lovers will be able to see him in this and appreciate the fact that he’s able to pull off something so different than we’ve ever seen him do before, but at the same time, he’s so lovely.”
In terms of working with all the actor’s in the movie, Cronenberg’s approach was to “give them room to play.”
“Whenever possible, especially if they wanted another take and we have the time, we would make the time to give them that take and let them play with that moment in that role,” Cronenberg said. “So many times it was them just going for it that ended up being what we used.”
“When you are able, you bring on actors you trust, for a reason, and if you think about the combined number of film sets that Emily, Jay, Enrico, Peter have all been on, blows my total out of the water. So I have to, as a director, put a certain amount of trust into them and I am glad I did. The result is everything.”
