The Big Picture

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff sits down with
Bone Lake
director Mercedes Bryce Morgan and stars Andra Nechita and Marco Pigossi at Fantastic Fest 2024.

Bone Lake
is a darkly humorous erotic horror movie about a double-booked Airbnb that becomes a weekend of survival for two couples.
Morgan, Nechita, and Pigossi discuss the cast’s on-set relationships and character development, what it’s actually like on the set of a horror movie, and tons more.

Writer-director Mercedes Bryce Morgan (Fixation) returned to Fantastic Fest this year with her third feature film, Bone Lake. The horror-comedy reunites Morgan with actress Maddie Hasson (Malignant) for an exploration of the lighter side of the genre than their previous collaboration, Fixation, and co-stars Alex Roe (Siren), Andra Nechita (Fatal Attraction), and Marco Pigossi (Gen V). To celebrate their World Premiere at the festival, Nechita and Pigossi joined their director in Austin, Texas, where our own Perri Nemiroff was able to chat with them about what audiences can expect from Bone Lake.

On a move across the country, one couple, Sage (Hasson) and Diego (Pigossi), rent a sprawling lakeside home in the hopes of reconnecting with each other. It’s been a trying year, but a relaxing, intimate getaway sounds like just the ticket. What should be a dream vacation, however, quickly devolves into a nightmare when they realize the house is double booked. When they tentatively agree to share the space with the new couple, Cin (Nechita) and Will (Roe), things get really weird and deadly fast.

While at the festival, Morgan, Nechita, and Pigossi sat down with Nemiroff to give us an idea of what it’s actually like on the set of a blood and guts-heavy horror movie. From a well-versed genre director and self-proclaimed “cute goth kid” and two genre newbies, we learn the ins and outs of character dynamics and development, filming on a tight schedule, and the importance of a cast’s on-set relationships. You can watch the full conversation in the video above or read the transcript below.

‘Bone Lake’ Is a “Psychosexual, Absurd, Funny” Nightmare

PERRI NEMIROFF: Clearly, I know what Bone Lake is, but because it’s getting a film festival premiere, our audience will first learn about it through Fantastic Fest, so I must give you synopsis duties, Mercedes. What is Bone Lake about?

MERCEDES BRYCE MORGAN: Bone Lake is about a couple who come to this Airbnb getaway, and they figure out it’s double booked. It becomes this psychosexual, absurd, funny, horror nightmare of a game without giving anything away.

I love considering what I might do in these types of scenarios. Before making this movie, if you, as in real you, showed up to a rental home and realized it was double booked, would you actually stay there? And, after having made the movie, does your answer to that question remain the same?

MORGAN: I feel like we have differing answers on this because my answer would be, “Hell yes. Stay and see shit go down.” And then after seeing this movie, I shouldn’t say yes, but I’d still want to have a weird time.

I learn nothing from movies. That’s the right answer.

MARCO PIGOSSI: And you said something even funnier, that you’re going to create a character and be someone else. No, no, I would just run. I mean, this was one of the challenges of the film, right? How do we make the audience think, “Oh, they’re staying. They should stay.” Why don’t they just get up and leave? Why do they keep staying there? Because things get crazier and crazier and crazier. So, this was the biggest challenge for it, I think. But me, Marco? I would have run.

ANDRA NECHITA: No, no.

Mercedes, when Joshua [Friedlander]’s script first came your way, what was it about the material that made you think, it’s not only well-suited to the skill set you already had as a director, but also would add to it?

MORGAN: I love things that are character-based pieces but then go off in a genre way, and so it really spoke to me that way. But I also need to have a visceral reaction reading the script, so when I read this, there was the plot twist and I audibly went, “Oh my god, what the fuck?” I wanted to keep that, and so I knew that’s what made me want to do it.

Obviously, you want to do Joshua’s script justice, but one of the greatest things about taking somebody else’s script and then directing it is that you have an opportunity to kind of make it your own in the process. So, what space did you find in what he wrote that you thought you could bring your own unique voice to?

MORGAN: I think a couple of things. First of all, we wanted to have both the male and female perspective because it’s a couple movie, and so that’s something I really wanted to bring into this. But then also just certain things of how we shot it, of there are certain transitions. There’s this scene where there’s an outdoor shower scene and someone makes a suggestive comment, and then Marco bites into a sausage in the next scene. That’s things that we discovered visually to kind of amp up what was already there.

Who’s Checking In at the ‘Bone Lake’ Airbnb?
Image via Fantastic Fest

To tease who your characters are at the beginning of the film, what would you say is your character’s greatest strength in a relationship, but then also, what is their greatest weakness as a partner, the thing that could do their connection in the movie in?

PIGOSSI: Oh, I love this question. The interesting thing is Diego and Sage, the couple, they have a backstory. They’re moving. They’re traveling cross-country in a car, and they decide to stop there, and everything happens. One of his weaknesses, the reason that everything happens in this film, is he’s desperate for recognition, for love, for attention. He needs that so much. He’s so insecure and he needs affirmation all the time. But one of his strengths, which is also why things don’t go that bad, is because he’s extremely loyal, I think. He’s a really, really good-hearted person, and he really cares about Sage. So, it’s also their strength.

NECHITA: I think for Cin, her greatest strength as one-half of her relationship with Will has to be just the unconditional love that she has for him, and she’ll go to any extreme for him. And I think also adding to that, they balance each other out very well. She’s the yin to his yang. What he lacks, she has, and vice versa. But I think her weakness is that she doesn’t know when to stop pushing buttons, and sometimes, it just doesn’t end up in the way that she might want it to.

PIGOSSI: It’s so good. So the strength is the same as the weakness. She goes to two extremes with it. I love it.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but for the two of you, I believe this is your first horror movie, right?

PIGOSSI: It is. It’s my first genre film. We didn’t do that much in Brazil. I come from Brazil, and it’s not such a big thing there. I was telling Mercedes the other day, the funniest part for me was just to get ready on set, just throw a bucket of blood and push me on the set. If we didn’t have time, it was just like, “Throw blood on him! Okay, he’s ready! Let’s go.”

That’s the attitude you need for a movie like this! I have two questions about this being your first horror movie. First, what would you say is the biggest misconception you had about what it would take to make a horror movie going into this?

NECHITA: That it would be tension 24/7 and just this constant state of, [gasps]. But it was actually so much fun that sometimes I’m like, “Oh, wait, this is a scary moment. Hold on. Let’s reassess.” But no, it was so much more fun than I ever thought it would be to be covered in blood and scream at the top of our lungs, and just have a wild time.

PIGOSSI: For me, the misconception was the actor’s craft, the creating of characters. I always thought it was like, “Oh, it’s just all about [gasps], and there’s not really much to build as a character,” and that’s a big misconception. We had to get into these characters and understand them and build them and make them real and make them truthful. Mercedes was very much on to that with us, and so it was great. You get to do both. You get to do the crazy running and blood, but you also get to do the beauty of the character and bringing this truth.

Image via LD Entertainment

Walking away from this, what is something about the experience of making Bone Lake that makes the two of you think, “I am so glad my very first horror movie was a Mercedes Bryce Morgan horror movie?”

PIGOSSI: I think you just answered the question with the question. It’s a Mercedes Bryce Morgan film. It was great. She brings so much to the film. It’s true. When I first read the script, it had so many ways of going. It’s a film that can happen in so many different visions and ways. I’ve never worked with a director who had such a sharp vision of what she wanted and how the takes, the camera, and the movement are gonna help tell the story. All I have to do as an actor is just believe in the moment and do my work as an actor. There was this camera around us, down us, going over, and just be present, be in the scene, and she’s going to be able to capture that. So, it was an amazing experience.

NECHITA: I agree with everything Marco said. She had such an extensive and well-put-together shot list, so every day, when the email would come in before the next morning with the call sheet, there would always be the shot list, and I’d look at every single thing. It was so detailed and so well-put-together and creative, and so many were out of the box, and it was like, “Oh my gosh, it’s going to be such a fun day.” And then I think, again, just going off of the fun in it all. It was so fun. We all had such a great time. It was a very tight-knit community and then Mercedes created this environment where we really just were able to play and explore and grow together as characters. I think that’s like such a great takeaway and experience.

Related The 10 Best Indie Horror Movies, Ranked One doesn’t always need a big film studio to make a scary movie.

I’m gonna steal a question from another interview that I did here. We were talking about The Rule of Jenny Pen, which stars Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow, and there was a point when the director, [James Ashcroft], mentioned that the two of them are great because they have such joy on set. I love highlighting that even when you’re dealing with really dark material, so for each of you, which day on the set of Bone Lake brought you the most joy and why?

NECHITA: For me, it was you and Will when you guys dance in the hallway because I think everything we’re doing is so intense, and I think that’s the first point of the movie where we go, “Okay. It’s the fun and games kind of twisting and turning into that.” I mean, there were so many moments, but that was a moment for me.

PIGOSSI: For me, it was definitely the engagement and the proposal, and the scene after. It’s a big spoiler. We can’t talk about it, but it was fun. It was a good day.

MORGAN: I’m trying to think because so many of them would give away spoilers, so I need to settle on a different one. I think one that I really loved was our group scene when we’re all having a great time at night hanging out and then Cin and Sage decide to go for a jump in the lake. I think that was just so fun to shoot just through and through.

PIGOSSI: Yeah, I love Sage vomiting. It’s just after a big moment that I can’t say, but you were brilliant. It was like beat…beat…[heaves].

Anytime someone mentions fake vomiting, I have to ask, would you rather have to fake sneeze or fake vomit in a scene?

PIGOSSI: Fake vomit.

NECHITA: Fake sneeze!

PIGOSSI: Really?

NECHITA: I heard that it was like a mashup of bananas…

PIGOSSI: Yeah, it’s so much fun!

NECHITA: What?

PIGOSSI: Of course! You have to hold it, and then it gets everywhere.

NECHITA: I would actually throw up by accident.

That’s my problem, but it’s hard to do a convincing fake sneeze, so I don’t know which route to go!

NECHITA: That’s true.

PIGOSSI: [Fake sneezes.]

Oh, never mind.

PIGOSSI: It’s called acting. That’s terrible!

Honestly, I was pretty impressed.

PIGOSSI: That’s horrible.

NECHITA: That was convincing.

Casting the Perfect ‘Bone Lake’ Ensemble
“This is the challenge I’m looking for.”
Image via Fantastic Fest

I wanna veer back into the casting here because every movie hinges on good casting, but in particular, here you need the pitch-perfect foursome for this concept to work, and I feel like you did find it. For each of you, whether it was in prep or on set, do you remember the first moment you looked around at everyone and said to yourself, “Yes, we are the right people for this?”

MORGAN: I think when we started doing rehearsals. I already knew that, obviously, because I have to believe that to bring in you guys. It has to feel really good, but I just felt extra good in that moment of seeing everyone bounce off each other. I was kind of saying this before, but it’s interesting because when I first met with you, [Marco], you told me, “Mercedes, secretly, I am this character.” I didn’t know that, and when I met with you, I thought, “Oh my god, that just makes me feel so good about this decision.” And then you’re not Cin’s character, [Andra], and so seeing you bring that, that’s what acting is. Those are moments where I thought, “Yes, these people are this, and they have the ability to do this in a completely different place.”

NECHITA: I originally read for the role of Sage and I remember reading Cin, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, she’s so cool. I could never do it. Absolutely not.” I was just full of so much admiration for her as a character. And then I read for the part and it worked out, and the rest is history. But I think it might have been our second day of shooting. We were doing the scene with Sage and Cin on the porch, and I was like, “This feels right. I’m finding her. This is great.”

PIGOSSI: Oh, it’s such a beautiful feeling when you find the character. You’re like, “Oh, god!” I think for me, usually when I read a project there’s one thing that makes me want to do it, or one scene or a moment or something, and usually it’s something that I don’t know how to do. For me, there was a moment where I was like, “Okay, I know this guy, but I don’t know how to play this because it’s so absurd. How do we make this real and truthful?” And I was like, “I want to do this. This is the challenge I’m looking for. Let’s do it.”

I wanted to make sure to highlight Maddie [Hasson] and Alex [Roe] a little here. Can each of you tell me something about them as scene partners that you appreciated, maybe even something they did that helped you crush a tough scene in the movie?

NECHITA: Oh, absolutely. Maddie has so much warmth as a human being, and she brought that to Sage. I think it was so lovely to get to really nurture this blossoming friendship that the two characters were finding because it was authentic, and us finding that friendship, too, on and off-set. And then, everyone brought their A-game, everyone, but Alex and I obviously really had to fine-tune that dynamic between Will and Cin, and we got so granular with it. He was just so fun to work off of and to collaborate with, and there were so many group scenes where it kind of just felt like, “Yeah, there’s a lot happening between all four of us, but you and I are in our own world as Cin and Will.” And I think that was like a secret language we were really able to hone in on, and it’s so great when you get that.

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PIGOSSI: That’s such a beautiful thing. It’s like your life is suspended, it’s not happening. You’re just there, the four of us in one location doing the film. I think Maddie is, by far, one of the best actresses I’ve ever worked with. She’s just a natural. It’s just unbelievable, whatever she does. And it’s real, it’s not thought. I’m doing a scene with her, and then she’s like this in the middle of the scene, putting her hands… And it’s just like that’s what we do. She’s a natural. It’s unbelievable. And it was so nice to work with her. We had some intimate scenes, and you never know as an actor, like, “What is your limit? I don’t wanna cross your limit.” And she was like, “Oh, baby, let’s do this scene,” and then she grabbed my hand, and I was like, “Okay, she’s game.” She’s amazing.

And Alex, as well. Alex has this British kind of vibe. He brings this fanciness to the thing. It was exactly the dynamic I needed between Diego the Latin and him, so it was a lot of fun to play with him, as well. And again, one of my favorite moments was a scene with him which is a crucial moment in the film, and I think he was brilliant. He gave me everything I needed there.

‘Bone Lake’ Gave ‘Fixation’s Maddie Hasson a Chance to Laugh

Mercedes, I wanted to make sure to highlight your collaboration with Maddie, as well, because, of course, I already brought up Fixation and you worked together there and that was a mighty ambitious project overall, but a role for her in particular. Is there anything the two of you were able to accomplish making Bone Lake that you know was because you had that experience working together on Fixation?

MORGAN: I feel like we had a common language and a trust built there. But it’s so funny because Fixation versus this, that was such a heavy movie, and I think that Maddie was kind of relieved to do something together where she got to laugh and joke in a lot of scenes, whereas in the other movie we did, she’s being tortured in every scene. So, I think she was really excited about that and I was, too, because I thought, “Great! Let’s do another space together that’s different, but we get to enjoy this.”

Related Maddie Hasson on the “Crazy Weird” Things She Did for the Psychological Thriller ‘Fixation’ Director Mercedes Bryce Morgan also details the mind-bending production design featured in the film.

Bone Lake is premiering here at Fantastic Fest, so I feel greedy even asking this, but I want more from you, Mercedes. What is a new tool in your directing tool kit, so to speak, that you know you gained from Bone Lake that you’d be most eager to apply to a future film?

MORGAN: I think the intimacy scenes. I think that’s something that requires so much trust, and there’s a certain way to go about doing it, and I felt good about that before this movie, but now I feel really good on people asking for what they need and giving that. So, I think I gained that from this.

I like the sound of that. Now I’m going to get even greedier. Do you have something else cooking?

MORGAN: Yeah. So, LD Entertainment, who did this movie, some of my favorite producers of all time, we’re doing another movie together after this.

I’m going to push it a little further. I feel like it’s safe to assume it leans genre?

MORGAN: It is a horror film.

Will it explore a similar horror sub-genre that you’ve done in the past or something new?

MORGAN: Something new.

Be sure to check Collider for even more coverage from Fantastic Fest!

Bone Lake (2024) When two young couples are mistakenly double-booked into the same vacation rental their romantic weekend becomes a twisted maze of sex, lies, and survival.Director Mercedes Bryce Morgan Runtime 94 Minutes Writers Joshua Friedlander