I believe the love of storytelling is universal. That films are meant to inspire us and push the boundaries of our imagination. Which is likely why so many of my favorite memories are set in a movie theater. Why I can still feel the excitement of watching River Phoenix run across a moving circus train in The Last Crusade. And my fingers gripping my seat as Zoe Bell clung to the hood of a speeding Dodge Challenger in the criminally underrated Death Proof. Or sobbing, with 253 strangers, as Carl and Ellie’s life silently passed by in the opening moments of Up.
When it came time to make my first movie, I knew I wanted to write something that, although short format, could feel grand in scope. That film became The Traveler, a Victorian ghost story inspired by my own paranormal experiences growing up in rural New England, with a fresh spin that will surprise audiences.
Heavily influenced by Alejandro Amenabar’s The Others, as well as The Invisible Man and The Witch - The Traveler is a tribute to the modern horror classics and inventive storytelling that made me want to become a filmmaker so many years ago, and is emblematic of the films I look to make in the future.
To all the cinephiles, movie-nerds, film snobs, and popcorn junkies - we love you! Please keep telling original stories.
