Over the course of his career, filmmaker Joston Ramon Theney has worked primarily in the horror space. With “Yesterday is Almost Here,” he wanted to try something a little different.
“Yesterday is Almost Here” follows a fledgling writer named Douglas (Nicholas Brendon) who goes on a cabin trip with his wife Veronica (Jackie Moore), a soap actress who feels like she might be aging out of her prime. They’re joined by Douglas’ old friend and coworker Dan (Phillip Andre Botello) and his new wife Pia (Shoshana Wilder). When Douglas begins to suspect that Veronica and Dan might be having an affair, he begins to test the limits of his relationship with Pia.
He now resides primarily in Los Angeles, but Theney is an Atlanta native who has been working in the industry for decades. Recently, Rough Draft Atlanta spoke with Theney about the making of the movie, and how his relations to art and criticism has evolved. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What made you want to work in movies?
Joston Ramon Theney: Funnily enough, back in – oh gosh, 1996, maybe? 95, 96? I was only maybe 16 years old, and I had a story of mine published. It was an adaptation of “Red Badge of Courage.” Once it kind of went out about – hey, there’s this kid, and he had a story published, and he got this … award, agents in Atlanta started reaching out. There were very few back then, but one reached out and, and he wanted me to start taking a look at some of the things he had written. You know, what would I do with it? I would give him my ideas. I was a kid, you know? [Laughs] But I’m giving him my advice from my limited perspective, and before you knew it, he had me writing a few pilots that he himself had kind of created. So that’s what started my venture into entertainment. I hadn’t had any formal training at that point. It was just a matter of raw creativity. I guess I was very fortunate that somebody took a chance and would give a kid a paycheck when they didn’t really know what the heck they were doing.
I guess there were films being made in Atlanta at that point, but not as many as they are now. Your website said that you relocated to L.A. – are you still based there?
Theney: Yeah. I spent a lot of time going back and forth, but yeah, I’m primarily in Los Angeles.
When did you move out there?
Theney: I moved out here in 2004.
Okay, so kind of before everything popped off.
Theney: Yeah! Now I feel crazy, because I did a film back before I left – it was probably 2001, maybe – and it was a film called … geez, I can’t remember the name of it. But I was in the film [laughs]. I was in the film with IronE Singleton, who ended up being on “The Walking Dead.” I just thought to myself, oh my god – everybody who was associated with this film picked up and went to Los Angeles. He was the only one that stayed behind, and he ends up on maybe four seasons of “The Walking Dead.”
Where did the idea for “Yesterday is Almost Here” come from?
Theney: I think that for me, it came from sitting around one day and just – I don’t know. I had this feeling of unease, and I don’t know where it came from. It was something dealing with the industry and my creativity, whatever. I don’t know whether it was a project I was working on, but I had this very general feeling of unease. And I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. What I realized is that the situation had basically peeled back a layer of self that I had created, and it made me really start thinking, well, what is this thing? Who am I as a person, right?
I figured out what I started doing as an artist – and I think a lot of artists do this – is they have to protect themselves, right? Because art is a very vulnerable thing. You create something, you throw it out in the world, and people either go, oh my god, that was awesome! Or they say, that was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Who’s the idiot that came up with that?I think as a way to cope with that, we as artists kind of cloak ourselves in ego. And the more somebody delves into being vulnerable, the bigger their ego becomes. We drape ourselves in this layer of self that we create, and it’s about what happens when that starts to fall? Like, who are you underneath when that starts to fall? You’ve got to be more fragile now than you ever were before, because you haven’t grown with being vulnerable. You haven’t grown with just putting yourself out there and taking it as it comes, and just taking things as a lesson and an opportunity to grow. Not a lot of people are emotionally mature enough to really undergo that.
So, I think that for myself, I thought I was emotionally mature enough to be vulnerable, but I realized that the feeling I felt was the real vulnerable me kind of peeking through. I had to take a hard look at all those layers of self that I had put up as a facade. I don’t even know if it’s a facade, because it’s a functional thing that’s actually real. So I don’t know if it’s a facade so much as it’s just a perception of yourself that you’re trying to project.
That’s interesting. When this film starts – I believe the main character’s name is Douglas – it feels like he’s already sort of done what you’re talking about. Like he’s shed this old version of himself, whatever that was, and stepped into this new person. But as the film goes on, you realize that while he may feel like he’s done that at the beginning, he hasn’t.
Theney: Correct. He maybe noticed it at the beginning, and throughout the course of the film, he’s not voluntarily giving up those layers of self. They’re just being stripped away. Some of it’s through external forces and some of it’s through internal forces, but it’s being stripped away, and what is he beneath all of that stuff?
Looking through your filmography, I sense that you have a history with horror. This film, while it has some horror elements – there’s an unreliable narrator, spooky sound design, you’re kind of wondering if what’s going on around the characters is real or not – I wouldn’t call it a straight horror movie. Were you setting out to write something new and step outside of that genre, or do you not really think about it like that when you’re writing?
Theney: I think at the same time I was dealing with the issue of self, I was taking a hard look at what I created. I wanted to do something that really just reminded me why I make movies. I don’t want to sound ungrateful. I’m very grateful for the horror community for embracing me and the fans who really supported my work. I’m super grateful. But there came a point where people were asking me – I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but I did a film called “Axeman at Cutters Creek.” There’s a scene in there that really pushes gross out stuff, right? And so then everybody said, “Well, what are you gonna do in the next one?” So then I did a scene that really went far. Then, when I mentioned doing the third one, everybody’s takeaway was – oh my gosh, he’s gonna push that envelope so far now. I realized what I was chasing was, how far could I push that envelope? And that’s not really why I got into film. That’s not really what I want to do. It’s great for those people who do that, and they’re remembered for that – that’s great! But that’s not why I got in.
I had to take a step back and think to myself, what is it that I really want to do? Why do I get up in the morning and say, I’m gonna go on this two or three year journey to write the script, get the funding together, shoot the movie, edit the movie, and put it out and promote it? Why am I gonna go on this long journey? It can’t be to say I grossed everybody out.
What did you come to? What’s the reason you make movies?
Theney: I make movies to feel something and hope that people feel something too. Another part of it is, I realized that when I was making movies prior to this, I wanted people to feel what I felt. Instead, when I made this movie, I wanted people to feel something and tell me what they felt. I don’t want you to feel what I felt, okay? It’s impossible, because this came from somewhere deep down inside, and I had a point of view about it. But when I do it, it should feel like something different to you, because you may not have been grappling with what I was, but you may know somebody who is … I know somebody who felt Dan Mackie was the most evil person in the world. I said, really? You feel like he’s evil? Yes! And they gave me a laundry list of reasons. I didn’t feel like Dan Mackie was evil. I felt like he was – I mean, the definition of a good friend is very subjective, but I felt like he was an okay guy. You know, he wasn’t the devil. But they thought he was. For me, that was great, because they had a completely different experience watching the movie than I did.
Yeah. Whenever I’m doing these interviews, I’m kind of like – it must be interesting for you guys to sit there and listen to someone say, “I thought about this while watching, were you thinking about this?” And half the time, you’re probably like, well no. Not really.
Theney: [Laughs] Well that’s the whole experience! To me, that’s when you are creating something – I don’t want to use the word worthwhile. I’ll just say you’re creating something interesting. You’re creating art that’s interesting, because you engaged someone, and they actually formed a thought. Like, they actually sat and started thinking about something you created and how it related to them, and what were their feelings on it other than this is the worst thing I’ve ever seen, or this is the best thing I’ve ever seen. Either of those things to me are kind of – and again, I don’t want to sound ungrateful – but they’re not important. If someone said your movie is the worst thing I’ve ever seen, I would say, thank you for watching it. Because that opinion is so useless to me. But if you said to me, you know what would have benefited your film a little bit is if you tried X, Y and Z, then I’d say, ah – I’ll think about that! Because maybe that’s a useful thing. I’ll run it through a multi process and see if that’s beneficial for the next project.
