Pop-Culturalist.com

Writer-director Laura Adkin is the visionary force behind the must-see drama Re: Uniting.

Filmed on Bowen Island in B.C., Re: Uniting stars Jesse L Martin, Michelle Harrison, Roger Cross, David James Lewis, Carmen Moore and Bronwen Smith as six best friends from college who reconnect for their 25 year reunion. When Rachel, played by Michelle Harrison, receives life-changing news, she secretly grapples with her mortality while playing host to her friends who have grown up and gone their separate ways since college. Carrie, a mother of three, Natalie, a workaholic neurosurgeon, former football star turned sportscaster Collin, and playboy man-child Danny join Rachel and her husband at their picturesque home on the beautiful and secluded Bowen Island. As soon as they are all together it’s like no time has passed; they laugh, drink and dance the night away. Rachel’s nostalgia is echoed by the group as they realize how much time has gone by, and how much they have all changed. As secrets are revealed, they are forced to change the way they look at their futures.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Laura and Jesse about Re: Uniting, their collaboration, creating space for one another, and more.

PC: Laura, this is your full-length feature debut as a writer and director. Congratulations, by the way. What was the initial inspiration behind Re: Uniting? As you were penning this script, did you have these particular actors in mind?
Laura: Great question. About ten years ago, I was at the Toronto Film Festival, and they were doing a retrospective screening of The Big Chill. The whole cast was there. It was awesome. I was watching it and thought, why does nobody make movies like this anymore? I’ve always loved movies like Breakfast Club and Steel Magnolias and these ensemble dramas that have irreverent dialogue and all this. I was like, I want to make a movie like this. But it was not quite the right time for me to make it. So, when I was thinking about making my first feature, the idea sparked back up, and I wrote it.

As far as the actors go, Michelle [Harrison], I always knew I wanted to play Rachel. I didn’t tell her for a long time though because I wanted the script to be good so she couldn’t say no. David [James Lewis], who plays Danny, is my husband. I knew he was going to be in it. But everyone else, I kind of had ideas but not really.

Jesse [L. Martin] was such a surprise. It never occurred to me that he would want to be in my movie. It was really exciting. Michelle suggested him, and I was like, “What?” [laughs] It’s actually a funny story. I listen to music when I write, especially sad, emotional stuff. I had no idea that Jesse was going to be in the movie. I have a playlist called “Sad Writing Songs.” One of the songs on it is Jesse singing “I’ll Cover You” from Rent. I listened to this song over and over again while I was writing. That was a year before he even came on the project. So, when he said he’d do the project, I was like, “Whoa.”

PC: Jesse, you’ve done it all throughout your career. What was it about this script and character that resonated with you?
Jesse: Michelle Harrison is a good friend. I’d worked with her for a whole decade before I even met Laura and got to read the script. She asked me to do it. I honestly said yes before I even read the script, which isn’t necessarily my M.O., but I was like, if Michelle’s in it and this is her friend, any friend of Michelle’s is a friend of mine. Why not?

Then, when I read it, I was like, “Wait, this is really good. This could be a lot of fun.” To Laura’s credit, when you think of a film like The Big Chill, you’re like, how would that translate to us today? How would that translate to Laura and her group of friends specifically? How would that translate in her mind after listening to her list of sad songs she writes to? She did it. She put it on the page. I was super excited.

I kept imagining what the soundtrack could be like because, in films like this, the soundtrack is so important. For these characters and their lives, soundtracks are so important. Everyone who ever gets together with friends they’ve known forever but haven’t seen in a long time, there’s music, food, and things that always rush back, whether that’s great memories or sad memories that you haven’t thought about in a while. It brings up decisions that you made that you never really explained or took accountability for. She gave us the space to do all those things. She’s also very, very smart. She put together not only a great group of actors but an incredible crew, including her own mom, to make sure that everybody was well looked after, well taken care of, and that we had the best space to do the damn thing. I will forever be grateful for that. Thank you, Laura.

PC: Perfect segue to this next question. I think what will resonate with audiences is how when this group of friends who haven’t seen each other gets together, it’s as if no time has passed. Who were the people in your own life who have shaped the storyteller that you are today and held a similar space for you?
Laura: Anyone who’s friends with a writer has to assume that their life is going to end up on the page. [laughs]

Jesse: [laughs]

Laura: I have a couple of really good girlfriends. One of them is my friend Simone, who I’ve been friends with since grade two—or second grade, as you’d say in America. Then my other friend Julie, who I’ve been friends with since we were sixteen. She’s actually flying to Austin for the festival. She had to get a passport for her baby because she’s bringing her baby with her. But it’s everybody. Everybody that you meet teaches you something new, and that eventually gets translated into scripts.

There’s a line in the movie where one of the women talking about childbirth says that a human can experience that much pain and not die. That’s a literal line I took from one of my friends who had a baby. She said that. I was like, “Well, that’s interesting.”

Jesse: When I think about if I ever wanted to have a penultimate reunion like this and who I’d want to have that experience with, I think of my first friends, who are my cousins. I have a huge, huge family. Growing up, those were my first friends.

When I think of these moments when music would be involved, probably a couple of fights, love stories, a bit of drinking, maybe some edibles, I think about my cousins.

PC: Laura, in addition to writing and directing, you’ve also acted in the past. How have your experiences in front of the camera impacted the way that you work with the cast of Re: Uniting?
Laura: I’m the writer and director that I am because of my acting background. When I write, I trust actors. I trust that I’m going to give them a bit, and they’re going to take it further.

Jesse: Very true.

Laura: The same goes with directing. I know how to talk to actors. I try to make them feel as safe and comfortable as possible because I know what it feels like when it’s not like that. Sometimes I wish I had started directing earlier, but then I’m like, no. It’s because of a decade plus being an actor that has shaped who I am as a writer and director.

PC: Great answer. Jesse, in that same vein, how different is the filming experience when the person who created this universe and these characters is also at the helm directing? What has that collaboration with Laura been like?
Jesse: It’s the easiest that it could possibly be. As Laura said, I’ve certainly been in situations where it wasn’t like that and it feels like work. One of the things that I love about my life and this career is that in most cases it doesn’t ever feel like work. When it does, it really does weigh on you. In this situation, it could not have been easier. It could not have been more comfortable. It could not have been safer. It could not have been more inspiring. It’s fantastic to watch her work. It’s fantastic to see how she works with her crew and see how she deals with actors. By dealing, I mean she just gives them space to do what they need to do.

It’s amazing because this is her baby. Re: Uniting is her baby. She’s literally handing her baby over to everybody. Most people would hold onto the baby. They’d be like, “They might get sick.” She was like, “No, hold the baby. You hold the baby. Now we’re going to put the baby over here. Everybody’s going to pay attention to this.” It’s a fantastic way to work. I work with Laura in perpetuity now. All she needs to do is say, “I need you to play a tree.” I’ll be like, “Fine. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Laura: Best tree ever.

Jesse: Best tree ever.

PC: Laura, the cast delivers such stellar performances and there’s so much vulnerability that they need to tap into as they explore themes of morality. As a writer-director, how did you create the space for your actors to dive into those more emotional moments, particularly at the end of the film?
Laura: One of the things that I did is I had a group of television actors. They’re people who do a lot of work on TV. What happens in TV a lot, not that there’s anything wrong with it, but you overshoot the scene. You shoot it so much that everyone’s like, “I have to save my performance.” Because you do. You have to do a good job when the camera’s on. I really wanted to shoot this in a way that let the actors be free in the space and never have to hold anything back, which meant we shot with less coverage and we did two takes because I wanted the actors to be able to never have to hold anything back. It took a couple of days for us to get into that rhythm. But once we did, it was so great. The actors realized that they could just act and they didn’t have to worry as much about the camera. I was like, “I will put the camera where I’m going to put the camera. Don’t worry about it. Do your thing.”

Jesse: If I could add, Laura, you also picked actors who were very attuned to working in the theater where you don’t need a second take. You just have to show up as soon as that curtain opens, right? To me, that’s the best group to work with. It’s certainly wonderful to have a writer-director who recognizes that in a film space because she’s right. Oftentimes in television and film, things get shot over and over and over again. You can literally wear yourself out emotionally and physically. She created a space for us to do it quite comfortably, but she also brought in people who could do it at the drop of a dime.

PC: Jesse, as life imitates art, this project, as you said, finds you reuniting with Michelle, who you’ve worked with previously. How beneficial was it having that relationship as you approached that very nuanced journey between your two characters and that reveal that happens halfway through the film?
Jesse: Michelle was my linchpin because she was really the only one that I actually knew coming into the film. I was looking at her and I was like, “These are your friends? Make sure they like me.” [laughs] But again, you’re dealing with such a fantastic group of actors with Laura at the helm. Once we all got to know each other, it was all good and everything was working right.

Once we got into that space, all she had to do was say action and things came together. You’ve got a group of people who listen more than they talk. Everybody felt safe in putting themselves out there and turning themselves inside out. It was a fantastic way to work. I would love to work like that for the rest of my life.

Make sure to follow Laura (Instagram). Re: Uniting is in select theaters now.

Photo Credit: Ashley Ross (Laura)