Time Cut director Hannah Macpherson talked about the unique slasher movie that is now streaming. Macpherson told ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese all about working with stars Madison Bailey and Antonia Gentry and nailing the early 2000s aesthetic. The film is now available to stream on Netflix.
“A teenage girl travels back to the early 2000s to stop a vicious killer from murdering her sister,” says the logline.
Tyler Treese: I have to commend you on your casting. You did a great job finding two leads that not only look like they could actually be sisters but do a really great job. How was it finding the right people for these parts?
Hannah Macpherson: Thank you very much. Uh, you know, I always love casting. I think it’s so exciting to sort of think about the character on the page and then figure out who could not just play the character but elevate the character and elevate the story. So we talked a lot about who could play our lead, Lucy Field, and pretty much wanted Madison Bailey straight outta the gates. She is, as a human and as an actor, embodies the things that I most wanted for Lucy, which are having this great sense of self and not being a pushover in any regard but having a bit of a roadblock in her current life and being able to play that vulnerability and inability to become who she wants to be in the present day.
So once we had her, then we were like, “Okay, now there’s these options for her sister.” Immediately, Antonia Gentry stood out to us because she has that sort of bubbly, sweet, powerful presence that would be the popular girl in 2003. But then she’s also complicated and weird and isn’t what she seems. So she was perfect to play Summer, who is also trying to figure out who she is and can’t face the truth about her own sexuality and has all these complications in her own life. So they’re both my favorite type of actor. They’re complicated, layered, interesting, and both very talented.
I came into this film expecting some slasher and time travel fun, which it does have, but what really surprised and impressed me was how well the whole family element was handled and how it was just getting that human drama. Everything with Lucy’s parents is really well done. How was it adding that in? Because that was my big takeaway from this film, rather than just the kills.
Well, that means the world to me because I really hope that that is a big takeaway for the audience is this idea that it’s important to not only figure out who you are but truly find your family. I sort of say that in quotes, as it could even be your found family. So, I think when I first read Michael Kennedy’s brilliant script, it was the sister relationship that really drew me in. It was like this love story of two sisters who are torn apart by time and violence, and to see them come together and then both have to sort of come to terms with what they would be willing to sacrifice for the other, it just broke my heart.
Also, the beauty of seeing what tragedy can do to a family. I think a lot of slasher films don’t even get the opportunity to address that or care to, but to be able to see how a murder 20 years later has deeply affected Lucy’s parents and, therefore, her own life, her own ability to grow. Then, to get to meet the parents again in the past and see what could have been for them is quite haunting.
The film’s just very 2003. I thought you nailed that aspect, especially with Antonia’s fashion. How was it just like really making it feel like 2003? It was like a time capsule.
It was relatively painful for me to have to relive that time of my life, but I lived it. I know it well. I wore those things. I worked at the Buckle in a mall in 2003, so it was like a time capsule for myself as well. I’m, I’m glad you felt that.
Thanks to Hannah Macpherson for taking time to discuss Time Cut. It is now streaming on Netflix.
