We Bury the Dead
We Bury the Deadcan be consider a zombi movie , but its focus is n’t on the undead at all . Australian writer - director Zak Hilditch , who is know for his past films1922andThese Final Hours , centers his up-to-the-minute repulsion thriller on members of a “ body retrieval unit ” who wander the wasteland of Tasmania , decimated after a military experimentation .
The story is for the most part tell through the eyes of Ava , played byStar Wars ’ Daisy Ridley . Starring alongside Ridley , however , are Mark Coles Smith ( Mystery Road : Origin ) as Riley andBrenton Thwaites ( Titans ) as Clay . The booster spendWe Bury the Deadnavigating post - experiment Tasmania , with Ridley ’s Ava hoping to encounter signs that her married man somehow pull through .
ScreenRant ’s Liam Crowley talk with Daisy Ridley , Mark Coles Smith , and Zak Hilditch at SXSW 2025 about their vibrant yet emotional movieWe Bury the Dead . The cast and creator hash out the film ’s unique take on the zombie genre and how Ridley and Smith ’s fiber equip into the world . Plus , Ridley talk about her continuedplace in theStar Warsuniverse .
We Bury The Dead Began As A Very Different Movie
An Early Draft Of Hilditch’s Film “Didn’t Even Have Zombies”
We Bury the Deadoffers a very dissimilar take on the estimate of zombies , likely because“There was an original script of this that did n’t even have zombies,”according to Zak Hilditch . Once they were in , the interrogative was,“‘How can you make a zombie spirit pic that can turn off through all the other zombie movies?’”Hilditch ’s approximation was to make them as organic to the story as possible:“It was only when they started infiltrate the earth of the film from a script level that everything set out to sing a little upright . ”
Once I cracked that codification , it elevated everything .
Ultimately,“The situation that Ava get hold herself in,”said Hilditch,“is then only complemented by the battle of these zombies as well . It came from a thematic point of opinion , and that was the only way I wanted to do it … Once I cracked that codification , it lift everything . ”
Daisy Ridley’s American Accent Helped Her Find Her Character
The Actor Shares One Way She Found To Easily Become Ava
Daisy Ridley ’s character inWe Bury the Deadis an American , and the actor reveal that her accent workoffered her“a different overture to grapheme . ”Ridley explained,“I always find accent employment to be very telling . ”As to what it revealed:“Ava is really the out - of - towner . She is in a situation she share with a lot of people in the film , but she ’s flown in to try and figure it out . By virtue of being an foreigner and her country being creditworthy for this cataclysmal event , she is also shunned in some ways . ”
Mark Coles Smith’s Riley Has Some Key Things In Common With Ava
Like Ridley’s Character, He Has “His Own Personal Agenda”
“ Riley puddle up the military component of Tasmania ’s post - revelatory situation,”Mark Coles Smith say about his character . “But they ’ve capture civilians down there , which was always odd to me – that civilian have been bring into this space that ’s hard decimated . ”Even though Riley is part of the military,“He ’s actually kind of maneuver with his own personal order of business and design , and they mirror Ava ’s quality , in a way . ”
Daisy Ridley is known for play Rey Skywalker in Star Wars , but she ’s also give life history to 10 great characters who never heard of a lightsaber before .
That sameness is key to the human relationship between the two characters , revealed Smith:“He hear what she ’s doing , and it ’s sort of symbolic of what he ’s also processing and move through . There ’s a gravity between them , and it just kind of gets more and more complex . ”So complex that the characters are n’t even necessarily too afraid of the movie ’s monsters:“Normally what we see in a zombie film is [ that ] zombie sour up and then everyone ’s afraid and trying to outlast . That ’s not the priority of fear for some of these characters in this world . ”
Practical Effects & Detailed Sets Helped Ground The Film & Its Performances
“Strangely Enough, It’s Very Intimate”, Ridley Said Of Filming Body Retrieval Scenes
The filmmakers behindWe Bury the Deadaimed to make something emotionally evocative and easy relatable , and did so by enlisting an A - list prosthetic creative person and shoot in real people ’s homes . “We were able to get a window with Jason Baird , an amazing prosthetics and SFX hombre . He was Academy Award nominated for Elvis , and we got in hot on the heel of that . ”Baird help design automaton that were because of radiation , which volunteer a luck to make a newfangled flavour for the brute . “We really could n’t have done it without him,”said Hilditch .
On set , Daisy Ridley found herself breaking into last - in spaces . “When you love [ you ’re ] filming in someone else ’s firm , it ’s implausibly intimate,”the actor share . This was especially true for Ridley given Ava ’s job:“She ’s part of the body recovery building block . She ’s trying to receive citizenry who have been either killed or somewhere in between by this event . Of course the fib is very intimate , but actually doing that is very cozy . ”
“ There are props,”Ridley said,“and then you see hoi polloi ’s existent images . You see their real family exposure … and because we had shoot in so many different houses , that tote up a sort of tangible realism to the pic . ”That world , according to Ridley , is aroused by nature:“Every person looking for body is hoping that they ’re go to find someone they get laid , and they ’re either go to find them awake or they ’re going to feel them as a zombi . ”
Riley Is A Villain, But It’s Deeper Than That
“There’s A Really Complicated Moral Psychological Space That He’s In”
Smith very much wanted the audience to feel empathy for his quality Riley . “If I was doing my job right , that ’s what I hop would happen–[that ] the consultation would be a little confused . ”It was important to Smith that“it was n’t just , ‘ Here ’s this guy rope , the opposer , he ’s the regretful guy wire . ”Instead,“There ’s a really complicated moral psychological space that he ’s in . ”
Ridley press in , saying,“For Ava , I found the most chilling thing about the sequence we did together is [ that ] Riley ’s grief is very tangible , and the despair of him finding the answers is also perceivable . ”In Ridley ’s eye , that makes for a more interesting movie:“Nothing is more terrifying than not [ just ] think someone is the full antagonist , [ instead ] thinking , ‘ I in reality understand what it is you ’re doing and why you ’re doing it , ’ but the situation is still terrorise . It ’s a very perplexing mo . ”
Daisy Ridley Speaks On Her Next Star Wars Movie
Ridley Will Return As Rey In Star Wars: New Jedi Order
When Daisy Ridley returns toStar Wars , as far as anyone knows , she will be the dealership ’s elderly cast appendage . When enquire what it will be like to return in a leaders role like that , Ridley said,“I do n’t bang that I ever really see myself as a leader , because the whole is always heavy than the sum of its division . ”For her , it ’s about the work:“I opine about creatively last out open and being collaborated with , and I always recover it exciting to mold with Modern citizenry . ”
But,“I start off the young , and now I wo n’t be that,”Ridley acknowledged , continuing,“Because I ’ve worked with people who have not been on picture sets at all and [ I know ] how overpowering it can feel each time , I think we all just hope that the people coming in , whether it ’s for the first fourth dimension or the fifth clock time … feel as comfy as possible . ”
As to whether the newStar Warsmovie will place for the operatic ordered series of its predecessors or tell a more knowledgeable story , Ridley but said,“We’ll see . ”
We Bury the Deadpremiered March 9 at SXSW 2025 with additional screenings on March 12 , 9:30pm CT and March 13 , 11 am CT at The Hyatt Regency .
reference : Screen Rant Plus
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