Fashion Designer Tara Subkoff Made a Horror Movie About Cyberbulling
Natasha Lyonne and Tara Subkoff at the #Horror premiere. Photo: Getty Images
Chloe Sevigny, Natasha Lyonne, Julian Schnabel, Dan Colen, Balthazar Getty—the credits for Tara Subkoff’s debut film, #Horror, read like the guest list of a super cool party you definitely want to be invited to. But for the former Imitation of Christ designer and her squad of talented friends, it’s just another day at the office. In one way or another, the top actresses and artists all played a part in Subkoff’s first directorial effort, which tells the story of a group of 12-year-old girls locked in a house with a murderer who are also frenemies trying to knock each other off through cyberbullying. Sevigny plays the Mom, who is blissfully unaware of the horrific events taking place.
“It’s totally new,” Subkoff tells Yahoo Style about online shaming. “I didn’t grow up like this and to have to handle cyberbullying, along with everything else that is so challenging about growing up, I think it is really a horror story.” See the film and you’ll most definitely agree—it’s positively terrifying. Although Subkoff says the indie flick is fiction, some of it was inspired by real events.
Before the movie had its starry debut at Moma this week, we chatted with Subkoff about why this is a necessary film, incorporating a museum-worthy collection of art into the story, and what’s next for her.
Yahoo Style: What have you been up to these past few years?
Tara Subkoff: Believe it or not, I have been working on this nonstop the last three years. Every hour and second I am awake, I have been shooting it, writing it, conceptualizing it, from pre-production to post-production for eight months to collaborating with different artists. This was a real tour de force and a labor of love. I have spent every waking moment on it. Hashtag, horror…
I read that this movie started because you asked your friend what horror was to her and her response was cyberbullying. Tell me more about what she said at that moment and why that really resonated with you.
It’s interesting how rumors get started, I actually don’t think I ever had that conversation. What happened was that my friend’s daughter had been really badly cyberbullied and was sent away to school in another country and it followed them there. That is an idea about how this happens everywhere, and follows you everywhere. It’s horrible, or I would say horrifying, that kids these days have to face these challenges.
Absolutely. How much was inspired by real events?
I took some things that happened and things that were said and of course created a genre film out of it that is totally fictional, by the way. A lot of things happened when I was shooting and editing, like the UCSB killing, and all the type of things going in now, like criminal charges for slut shaming and pictures on the Internet. I think it’s going to build an increase. I am the co-founder of this thing that is like an app called Bridget that was just installed in ten schools in NYC and allows kids to be able to report these things without having to go to the principal’s office, and then erases off the phone like Snapchat so they don’t have a record on their phone. It’s a really good solution that is already saving lives. Over 150,000 youths last year were sent to emergency rooms because of bullying, it’s terrible.
Chloe Sevigny in #Horror. Photo: Courtesy
The film is full of impressive artwork. Tell me more about the pieces. How they were important to you in telling this story?
There is real artwork in the movie that I believe are real characters and a part of the story. I collaborated with my husband Urs Fischer, who helped curate the artwork that went into the house. A lot came from him, and also friends of ours, like Dan Colen, Rob Pruitt, Julian Schnabel, Francesco Clemente, a close personal friend of mine for a long time. He was so funny about it, he’s Italian and he said, “Tara, everyone always knocks me off and puts the big [fake] Francesco Clemente’s in the movie. This is the first time a real one is going in a movie.” It is really rare to use real artwork, they don’t have the budget to insure them. It adds such a palpable energy and really dominates a room and only real artwork can really do that. Growing up, my dad had a shop downtown and Andy Warhol would buy things from him. I learned the value of beautiful objects and art from him. Tim Hutton’s character in the movie loves art more than anything, he’s obsessed with it. I am excited that I was able to collaborate with artists because I think they usually know the time we are in and see it with objectivity that normal people can’t. I think they also can tell more where we are headed.
You also worked with a very impressive group of actresses, most of whom you are good friends with. How did you like directing your friends?
I feel so lucky to have gotten to work with all of them. Chloe is so busy shooting American Horror Story, along with Bloodlines, and another film, her schedule is packed. It was lucky that I shot over Christmas break two years ago because she was available. I did a short with Chloe called Magic Hour, and we have done many things throughout the years, but this was definitely challenging. We shot in the middle of winter, three different blizzards, outside, it got dark at 3 p.m., it was brutal. Friendship and loyalty really helped during the shoot because it made us want to work longer and get better performances. Natasha Lyonne and Chloe, I have known them for almost 20 years. The only actress I didn’t know before was the 12-year-old girl and Tim Hutton.
There must have been some interesting conversations on-set between this more established group of actresses and these 12-year-old actresses about bulling, then and now. What do you remember from those moments?
Yes, Emma Adler was very cyberbullied and brought a lot to the table because of what she went through. All of them, everyone who is youth in today’s world, experienced it themselves or knows someone who has. As we were shooting, there was a whole big thing at one of the girl’s schools and parents had to be notified. It is really interesting to me how we are going to solve this whole problem and decide who is responsible for it and who gets charged.
What’s next for you? More horror films?
I am a huge fan of the genre. I grew up watching early Wes Craven, I love The Shining, The Exorcist, Poltergeist..these movies really meant something to me. The biggest audience of horror are girls around 12 to 26 and I think that’s super interesting that it’s mostly female and there are so few female directors making horror. Well, there are few female directors, period. I would like to explore the genre and I am writing something now but it’s more of a thriller. But who knows how it will end up? I am excited to finish this one and see where it will go.
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