Wes (Ryan Kwanten) is going through a rough breakup with Brenda (Sylvia Grace Crim). He drives out to a rest stop with some clothes in the back of his car, photos, a teddy bear, various other memorabilia, and a bottle of whiskey. After multiple failed attempts to call her, he chugs the whiskey and begins to burn their past in a fire pit. He passes out drunk, eventually waking the next morning with the need to vomit. He runs to the bathroom and has a conversation struck by the voice of a man in the next stall who claims to be a God (J.K. Simmons). As things progressively become weirder, Wes decides to leave the bathroom, only to discover he’s trapped. There’s no escaping and the only way out is to satisfy the needs of the God or allow for humanity to come to an end.
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Glorious recently had its world premiere at the 2022 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Quebec. Director Rebekah McKendry, writer David Ian McKendry, and Kwanten were in attendance and joined us to discuss the making of the film.
Developing the Script
“So the original script was written by Joshua Hull, and it’s based on a short story by a gentleman named Todd Rigney,” explained Rebekah, “it was sent to me about three weeks into the pandemic… and I had said I was looking for bonkers stuff… it was a guy trapped in a bathroom at a rest stop with someone who was claiming to be a God, and they weren’t letting him leave. And I was immediately like, there’s just something so absurd about this situation… Dave, my husband, started putting philosophy into it, started putting existentialism into it… and we just started polishing it up.”
“I was remembering the process where we’re sitting through the pandemic, and we’re thinking about humanity and the end of times, and when the script came about, it seemed like this perfect vehicle to build a story about humanity ending and build it from the point of view of someone who doesn’t really have a stake in humanity,” added David, noting that it was a fun perspective to work from.
Kwanten commented that he was interested in the role after reading their script, as he likes to gravitate towards original material. “You gravitate towards material that is original, but it has to say something. I really did feel like this was a darkness that needed to be explored. Shining a light in dark places, I feel, is a good thing. I always love that Emerson quote, ‘What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.’ And this was just a trip, this guy that seemed like a pretty average person in the beginning, and then as the movie progresses, you begin to realize there’s some [expletive] aflow.”
“We knew we needed strong arcs… Wes, his character, he needed to be likable from the get-go, we needed to not see his true self, but we didn’t want him to see his true self either,” added Rebekah.
Cast of Glorious
Shudder
Kwanten can be recognized for many other projects including True Blood and Dead Silence. Glorious marks another strong performance of his, of which he credits to the scene. “There’s such a thriving independent scene in America right now. I really feel like there’s some strong filmmakers… I just follow story,” he explained, commemorating Rebekah and David.
He also had kind things to say about his fellow cast in the film. “Sylvia, who played Brenda, she has such an ethereal, angelic quality to her… we feel for this guy, and part of the reason is that, well, if he can attract someone as angelic as her, there must be something to it. And that’s ultimately, I think, the heartbreak.”
We also, of course, asked what it was like to work with Simmons, who is known for a number of remarkable films including Whiplash, Spider-Man, and more. “Who’s that?” joked Kwanten. “He’s everything he’s cracked up to be… he was so unbelievably gracious with his time, both pre and then for the actual record as well… He is such a professional.”
“With J.K., we shot this at the height of the pandemic. We did a lot of rehearsals, and they were mostly Zoom because that’s just where we were… but I come from a very theatrical directing background, and so for me… by the time we get to set, I kind of want it to run itself. Not to say we’re not going to change things, or not going to want to tweak things… but we were tight. Everybody knew exactly what was going on by the time we got there,” added Rebekah.
Rebekah also shared that Simmons sent her a video on the night of the premiere about how proud he was to be a part of the project and how much he loved working with them. A kind sentiment on a successful evening.
