Cult Projections: Apart from your work within the film industry you’ve been an established writer of genre fiction for many years and hold some kind of record as the youngest person to sell a story to a science fiction magazine at the age of ten! I’m very curious, what was that story about?
Catherine: That question takes me back! That was my first published short story called ‘Teddy Cat’, written when I was ten – it was published in a British genre magazine called Interzone. It was about cloning a sabretooth tiger, by taking fur from a child’s old stuffed toy. I should also note that it does help when your dad (Sean McMullen) is a science-fiction author – as well as knowing who to submit stories to, it meant that I grew up at sci-fi conventions and watching weird things, so genre has been part of my creative DNA since very early on. I published a few stories and chapter books from the ages of 10 to 12, and then I ‘retired’ until I was in my mid-20s, when I started writing short stories again. I’m glad I didn’t pressure myself to keep on writing that whole time, I think I needed to give my writing time to find a distinctive voice.
CP: What drew you to writing horror? Who were the authors who inspired you? Do you have favourite novels or authors?
Catherine: Absolutely – I think the biggest influence on me in terms of horror writing was the typical answer of Stephen King, especially his short stories. Skeleton Crew remains one of my favourite collections of all-time. I tended to read horror that was melded into another genre though – so, sci-fi horror, or dark fantasy. Margo Lanagan is another, she isn’t necessarily known as purely a horror author, but some of her short stories, especially Red Nose Day, remain some of the most truly disturbing things I’ve ever read.
CP: What about movies? Were the horror movies that first grabbed your attention original screenplays, or adaptations of novels or short stories?
Catherine: My three main horror movie influences are pretty apparent in my work, and I probably reference them far too much; Alien, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Wicker Man. Looking at them, I don’t think any are adaptions, although I guess The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was loosely based on Ed Gein’s life.
CP: The current commercial climate for many horror movies, certainly in America, is for movies to be classified PG-13 (or M down under), to enable the broadest appeal. Back in the 70s and 80s this wasn’t the case, the R-rated horror movie reigned supreme. In recent years many horror fans have been crying out for more adult content within the horror genre. Were your early horror movie experiences of “restricted” horror, or young adult horror? How important is it for horror movies to be confronting? Should there be taboos in horror?
Catherine: I think there’s room for all sorts of horror – while I love some truly disturbing films that would struggle to get financed today, I think we’re doing ok. My own experiences of horror were of films that were technically ‘adult’ horror – I think I watched Alien when I was around 8, and it clearly had a big impact. I think one of horror’s main functions is to allow us to explore and confront our cultural norms and taboos – but those change over time. For example, I don’t think The Exorcist would work as well today, not just because of the level of sexual violence, but also because as a society, we have moved further away from organized religion anyway, so a lot of the moments don’t hold the same power for the audience. Even though on the surface they both look like ‘folk horror’, Midsommar and The Wicker Man are exploring very different questions. The horror at the core of Midsommar was actually an unhealthy relationship, whereas The Wicker Man was more about the nature of faith and belief itself.
CP: What elevates (for want of a better word) a truly powerful horror movie from an okay one?
Catherine: God, this is a big question. Some films just stick with you, and continue to disturb you. Not to sound dramatic, but I think the best horror films change me as a person a tiny bit, and make me question my own moral framework, and how I think about the world. I guess it’s because horror is about exploring extremes of human behaviour, truly powerful ones make you apply that to your own life experiences, and make you question what you would do in certain scenarios.
CP: The Other Lamb is an Irish/American/Belgium co-production, which is a curious combo. How did the script end up with Rumble? Were you familiar at all with director Malgorzata Szumowska’s prior work?
Catherine: I wrote The Other Lamb as a short story about eight years ago, and it was published in an Australian genre magazine called Aurealis. A few years later, after starting to work in film and tv, I decided to turn it into a feature. It was the second feature I’d written – the first was more of a horror-thriller, and it was fun but a lot more ‘traditional’ in how it was structured. I honestly didn’t really think that anything would happen with it, I really did write it as a sample to show what I could do, but when my managers sent it out to people, a few production companies enquired about the option. Rumble are an amazing US production company, who have produced films like Whiplash and Nightcrawler, and so I knew that they were the right home for this kind of strange film. They had strong relationships with the Irish screen funding body, as well as European financing through Malgorzata, so it kind of came together that way.
CP: Have you had much or any experience with religious sects, or cults? What made you want to tell this particular story?
Catherine: I am lucky enough to have not been raised in a cult, but I have always been interested in them – I think it’s because the idea of giving up my autonomy is both terrifying and strangely seductive. As someone that is avowedly an atheist, I feel like I live a lot of my life in a state of existential despair and uncertainty. So sometimes I’m pretty jealous of people who can be absolutely certain that they’re doing the right thing, while also being terrified of them.
CP: The movie is a slippery creature, part horror, part drama, part dark fantasy, part revenge tale, part coming of age. Overall, it’s what I call a “nightmare” movie, as it taps into deep-rooted fears, anxieties, unease, confusion, corruption, and violation. How much of the horror imagery was in your original screenplay? How much violence was implied and how much was graphic, and how much of it came about during the shooting and the editing of the film?
Catherine: The original screenplay probably actually leant a little bit more into horror side of things, as well as a few small supernatural elements. But a lot of the imagery around throats and mouths came directly from Malgorzata, which ended up being a key part of that sense of unease and violation in the film. The ending was originally a little bit more graphic, but I think it ultimately worked well to have a lot of it implied instead.
CP: Tell us a little about your screenwriting process. How does it differ from writing your fictional prose? Are you the kind to seclude yourself in a mountain cabin for weeks on end? Or do you prefer to write surrounded by influential, inspirational elements? How easy and swift was it to write The Other Lamb, or not?
C: I would love to go to a mountain cabin somewhere, but I’ve only really been able to do a ‘writers retreat’ once or twice. Generally, whenever I start a new feature or pilot, I pick a few key references, and break them down. Why do they work? How are they structured? What drew me to them? For example, for The Other Lamb, one of my key references was Pan’s Labyrinth – I wanted to write something that had that slightly magical-realism feel, while also having shocking, cathartic moments. The Other Lamb was both extremely easy and extremely hard to write – as it was based on my own short story, I had done a lot of the work already, and the process of writing the first draft was t quite fast. But to get into that space, I listened to a lot of tapes of cult leaders and watched a lot of documentaries, and it was quite an intense experience. I would sometimes stop writing for the night, and realize that my face hurt from frowning intensely at the screen.
CP: Did you have any particular actors in mind when you wrote the screenplay?
Catherine: Not really, I don’t tend to write with particular actors in mind, more moods or themes that I try and keep as my guiding lights. After I’ve finished the first draft, I’ll sometimes start to play around with those kinds of questions, or have someone in mind when I’m pitching, but for the writing process, the character tends to drown out anything else in my head.
Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska (with coffee) between takes on The Other Lamb.
CP: Tinseltown is obsessed with the re-boot, remake, sequel, prequel. You’re featured on numerous screenwriter’s lists of talent to watch, how hard is it to sell original stories? Do you aspire to write for a Hollywood movie?
Catherine: I’ve been very fortunate, I’ve sold a few original scripts now, but there definitely is a tendency to focus on ‘IP’ at the moment. I’m actually not too bothered by that trend, as I’m lucky enough to read pretty widely within the field – I have a dream list of books or comics I’d love to adapt that’s a mile long, and I love adapting just as much as I love writing original stuff. That said, I’d be very sad if I could never write something original, so I try to work on a pretty even mix of projects.
CP: What are some contemporary horror filmmakers you admire?
Catherine: Oh, so many, some of which you could probably figure out from my previous answers! Ari Aster, Karyn Kusama, Mike Flanagan, Guillermo del Toro, Natalie Erika James (who is also a friend). There are a lot of female first or second time filmmakers who I’m really excited about too, and we’re seeing more and more new voices coming through.
CP: What does the future hold for you? Can we expect more original horror on the big screen? Or maybe the small screen? How will the pandemic impact your future writing, if at all?
Catherine: I’m pretty evenly split between film and tv – I don’t really mind what medium I tell stories in, as long as I get to do my weird, dark genre stories. The pandemic hasn’t actually affected my writing that much at all (except for the ever-present existential dread) – writers are pretty lucky compared to production crew, in that we’ve been able to keep working to some extent. I think the one thing that has been hard creatively, is that as someone that writes sci-fi and horror, the real world is currently significantly more horrific and implausible than any plots I could think of. It’s been really interesting to see how the rooms and pitches have shifted to online, and I think will open doors for Australian writers looking to work overseas, even after all this has passed.
CP: Thank you Catherine!
