Psychological thriller filmed in Fort Worth to premiere at North Texas festival
Fort Worth will be well-represented at this year’s Dallas International Film Festival.
“Mantis” was filmed in Fort Worth with local cast and crew. It was written and directed by Waco native Justice Hardy, and stars Ali Stolar, Matthew Pettigrew and Daniel Van Thomas. The film is produced by Lindsey Barnes of 941 Productions, which is based in McKinney.
“A workaholic, Rana (Stolar), in denial of her husband’s sudden passing is forced to use a controversial technology at her latest job that stimulates the waning electrical activity in the human brain after death,” the film’s logline reads.
The psychological thriller, which is described as a mix of “Seven” and “Severance,” will have two screenings over the festival at 7 p.m. April 25 at the Texas Theatre, and at 9:30 p.m. April 29 at Cinépolis Victory Park. Tickets are available online.
Ahead of the film’s world premiere, Hardy and Barnes spoke to the Star-Telegram about making “Mantis” in Fort Worth and where the idea for the film came from.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Star-Telegram: Justice and Lindsey, how did you guys meet and where did “Mantis” come from?
Lindsey Barnes: I wish we could say that we had this incredible long-standing connection, and had been dreaming of making a film together for decades and the stars aligned. That is actually not what happened at all. We have a mutual friend who actually works with me at 941 [Productions]. Her name is Danielle Wheeler, just an incredible human and incredible producer. She knew what I wanted to do in Texas. She and I had worked on projects, she was part of my first film in Texas. She said, “I have a friend named Justice, and I think you should meet with him and have coffee.”
I drove from McKinney down closer to Fort Worth. We met at a little coffee shop, and he just pitched this idea for a film. Then he sent me a script, and I ghosted him for five weeks while I moved [laughs]. I fell in love with the script, and what was it, like 15 days later, we started shooting. You were gung ho. You were planning on shooting it with or without my help or involvement.
Justice Hardy: Well, your help and involvement made a world of difference. My version of the story is the exact same. [Danielle] was like, “Hey, you should get coffee.” There’s no context for why we’re meeting whatsoever [laughs]. We were just chatting it up about all the visions that Lindsey has for bringing more film to North Texas. I was like, “That’s funny, that’s a vision I have too. In fact, here’s step one, I’m gonna make my next movie here.” Then it was a couple month later, we were within two weeks of shooting, and Lindsey was like, “Hey, have time to Zoom?” We get on the Zoom, and I’m like, “What’s up?” She’s like, “I’m gonna make this movie with you.”
S-T: Justice, this movie has a unique sci-fi element to it that doesn’t feel far off. Are you worried about the future of tech?
JH: There’s kind of a question of like, “Why does it have to be a genre movie? Why is it a horror thriller?” The answer is, because there’s real things to be scared about and be cautious of. Specifically, I have a lot of films that are projects yet to be shot, that Lindsey and I might make together next and we’d like to bring to Texas, that are in the same space. This one was very specifically about the question of, “Do tech companies have a responsibility for safeguards prior to releasing a tech to the public? Or, is the old Silicon Valley move fast and break things philosophy, is that okay no matter how many lives it costs?”
I’ve been very troubled by the chatbots talking teens into taking their own lives. The various things where it’s like, that should be impossible, and people should be prosecuted and go to prison if that happens. Yet, there’s a lot of like, “Oh, well, it wasn’t us. It was just this monster that we released and made a lot of money on.”
That’s kind of what the movie’s about, but in a microcosm. I think there’s people using progress and tech in powerful ways to help people, but the majority of interest seems to be in profit and not people and safety. That’s why this ended up being a genre movie. I would say, we’re still working out some of those concerns now. So much has changed, even in the last year, since we’ve been editing it.
S-T: This movie was made in Fort Worth. I’m curious for both of you how making the movie here impacted the flavor of the project?
LB: I think that inherently, there is something about indie film that encompass this Texas spirit of “do or die.” We have baling wire and duct tape, we gotta figure it out. We gotta figure out how to make this film. I’m not a native Texan, just transplanted here because I fell in love with it.
When I think about Fort Worth, and I’m going to specifically just say it’s very different from Dallas, first of all. You can automatically tell when people say, “Oh, isn’t Fort Worth like Dallas.” No, they’re absolutely not the same. From the very beginning, the entire set took place in somebody’s actual home that they allowed us to turn into a movie set. We literally had things taped on the walls, they could not function or use their home for weekends at a time. If that does not just encompass like, “Please come in,” I don’t know what else does. Justice, please speak to this as you being more of a Fort Worth native.
JH: You’re not gonna find that anywhere. I mean, it’s a fun part of the story. Basically, my friend Katelyn Rainey Inkster McDonald produced the third short film I ever made. I was in undergrad, that was the film that ended up getting me a scholarship to get an MFA in film and TV directing before moving to L.A. She had just moved to Fort Worth and we were catching up and she was like, “You should think about shooting a movie here.” I was like, “You might end up hoping you didn’t say that [laughs]. Are you sure?” She was and said, “I’m going to co-produce it.”
My answer to your question, I mean, there’s so many answers. One that I think is interesting is in terms of Texas flavor, and we definitely tried to depict this with the parts of Fort Worth we feature. There’s this subtle inference of all the real estate development and how that’s its own industry that is ever-expanding and kind of non-stop. As farmland disappears, we’re driving past the hay bales and you’re taking a right into the country, then suddenly [there’s a] huge housing development. That’s where we set the film. It turns out something very strange is going on inside this house. Obviously, we’re using it for like, mystery and horror and whatever. But, there are so many layers to Texas, and the story always goes deeper, right? You can look at someone and you think you know who they are, but there is such incredible diversity in Texas. So many different stories, so many different backgrounds.
LB: This whole idea of as the tech industry moves to Texas, what does that mean? What does that mean for residents? What does that mean for the culture of Texas? What does it mean as data centers and AI and things are changing the landscapes among neighborhoods themselves? All of those things about, do the neighbors know what’s going on in the house next door? All of that just mimicking where Texas finds itself. Not only as a third coast for film, but for tech as well.
JH: It’s not an accident that we didn’t set this in the city. Because it’s not, “Hey, how is tech affecting offices?” It’s like, “How is tech affecting our homes?”
S-T: “Mantis” is playing the Dallas International Film Festival. One, what is that like? Two, what’s the plan post-festival and when can people watch this movie at home?
JH: We’re seeing where we might be playing next in terms of festivals. We’re hoping to play at a festival in Fort Worth, we haven’t heard yet. Obviously, it’d be an honor to play like at Lone Star Film Festival. I was born in Waco, so it’d be fun to play Waco [Independent Film Festival] in the summer. We’re still kind of just submitted, and we’ll see what happens. But it’d be nice to play some more Texas film festivals. There’s been other interests internationally and around the country as well, so we’ll see about that. Obviously, it’s a very timely subject matter. In terms of watching at home, we’re in talks with folks. It’ll end up somewhere [laughs], but we’re trying to find out what gives it the best chance of being seen by the most people.
LB: As the studio model is slowly dying with tech like Apple, Prime Video, the Netflix of it all, I think you’re going to see that this is such a huge opportunity for indie filmmakers to really bolster and create original content that people want to see. We’re almost in this transition point of, what does distribution for indie film look like?
Everyone is trying to figure out, what does this mean? We want to save film, we want to save storytelling. We want to save all of that. It’s one thing to make it, but then where are the platforms for indie filmmakers for distribution? It’ll be interesting to see what opportunities that provides for Texas itself, right? I think that that is the next runway for Texas to tackle.
JH: You sparked another interesting idea, Lindsey. You’re completely right about how the landscape has changed, and what used to be opportunities for indie film doesn’t exist anymore. That extends to festivals as well. There is an exec friend I was talking to last week, who is like, “Sundance isn’t an indie film festival anymore.” They’re premiering A-list actor’s films. There’s films that are already set up with big studios who are coming to Sundance to premiere at Sundance as marketing, it’s not to be discovered. Now, thankfully, there are still voices being discovered at Sundance and South by Southwest. But you’re not hearing, “Oh, these unknowns, their film sold. Their career was launched” in the same number as when it was first started.
I just wanted to shout out Dallas International Film Festival for that reason. Dallas is the new indie film festival. The festival that is trying to showcase indie voices, launch careers. The whole team there walks the talk of really trying to find and represent new voices.
“Mantis” screens at 7 p.m. April 25 at the Texas Theatre, and at 9:30 p.m. April 29 at Cinépolis Victory Park.
