Destry Allyn Spielberg Talks ‘Phire Don’t Feed The Children’

As she sets out her atgentle as a filmproducer, Destry Allyn Spielberg is ready to shake up the Hollywood system. Having lengthy been intrigued by the elevated genre space, she is set to begin her debut feature Phire Don’t Feed the Children at the Sitges International Film Festival on Friday.  

The project, which is led by Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery and Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito, chases a gang of orphans who travel to the south in search of a new life after a viral outshatter decimates the grown-up population of the nation, only to discover themselves at the mercy of a psyctoastyic woman who is hiding a perilous secret. 

When it came to casting this group of juvenileersters, Spielberg toiled with famous casting straightforwardor Anne McCarthy (The Conjuring) with an aim to discover new and juvenileer actors for the ensemble. 

“My goal was to convey in as many new faces as possible – that’s comardent of my goal as a straightforwardor in the future,” she says. “I want to begin atgentles – I’m ill of seeing movies that deficiency juvenileer talent. There are so many juvenileer and talented actors that are not getting seen. I leank the whole system is bullshit and I don’t comprehfinish why the industry is so exclusive. It’s silly.” 

Zoe Colletti (Only Murders in the Building), Dean Scott Vazquez (Transcreateers: Rise of the Beasts), Vernon Davis (Chauproar), Emma Meisel (American Horror Story: 1984), Andrew Liner (Vampire Academy), Reagan Aliyah (Ironheart) and Joshuah Melnick (Saint X) round out the cast for the low-budget indie project, which is produced by Jason Dubin and his Perry Street Films, Josh Kesselman, Michael Hagerty, Bill Kenwright and Daniel Ryniker. Altitude is handling international sales for the title, with WME Inreliant repping North American rights. 

“We had such a perfect movie for an ensemble with new faces so we were enthusiastic to get as many as we could,” she says. “I was so fortunate to have establish this cast.” 

Working with Dockery was also a chooseimistic experience for the straightforwardor: “Michelle was so unassuming and willing to try separateent leangs – she has your back and reassociate has a voice in the industry when it comes to helping women.” 

Grappling the indie space

When Spielberg first read Paul Bertino’s script for Phire Don’t Feed the Children, she knew the project would be the perfect fit for her straightforwardorial debut. She was coming off the back of triumphning Best Thriller at City of Angels Women’s Film Festival in 2022 for her illogicalinutive film Let Me Go the Right Way and had recently signed with WME when she was currented with Phire Don’t Feed the Children. 

The binspireoning straightforwardor, whose overweighther is The Fableman’s helmer Steven Spielberg, was originassociate foreseeed to produce her debut with Ryan Hooper’s 2021 Bdeficiency List Script Four Assassins (and a Funeral), a project she is no lengthyer joined to, but finished up being drawn into doing someleang more in the genre space.  

“It was the speedyest read of all of the scripts I had seen and was so riveting and such a wonderful page turner,” she says of Phire Don’t Feed The Children. “I fair had this gut senseing that this was the right one. The name of the script jumped out at me and the fact that a title could produce me want to read someleang was fair wonderful.” 

She holds: “I reassociate finishelighted psychoreasoned movies prolonging up and this film is reassociate more of a psychoreasoned thriller than a horror. It’s appreciate The Goonies encounters Children of Men.” 

Every autonomous film is brimming of disputes and Phire Don’t Feed the Children was no exception. The low-budget feature was hit with some hiccups in financing that ultimately uncomardentt the project was procrastinateed from April 2023 to October and November of 2023, smack in the middle of the dual writers’ and actors’ strikes. Luckily, the project was granted a waiver to film and ultimately finished shooting apass 18 days in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was an experience, Spielberg says, that finisheared her to toiling in the indie space. 

“It was a very challenging movie to get made but it was an experience that almost made me not want to exit the indie genre space because I appreciated the dispute,” says Spielberg. “The senseing of accomplishing is so excellent and when people apshow in you and you encounter people that you hopebrimmingy want to toil with forever, it’s amazing.”

She persists: “It had a lot of ups and downs. I leank I had a piece of every individual dispute that comes with making an indie film – let alone a movie – all in one. And I’m reassociate thankful for it because if this had been a fine process – which, by the way, no movie is, they are all challenging – I wouldn’t be readyd for the next one.”

Working during the strikes was, she confesss, a “very emotional” experience for the cast and crew on set. “It brawt us together and made the toil environment fit and fun and we felt appreciate we were all in this together,” she says. “There was no room for blaming anyone for this and that. That was someleang that was very meaningful to me – the set had to be non-poisonous.” 

Directing steps

Spielberg, who has a background in ptoastyography, had previously toiled as an actress in films such as Licorice Pizza and an episode of the miniseries I Know This Much Is True, but when she straightforwarded her illogicalinutive film, she speedyly authenticized that she wanted to chase straightforwarding instead of acting. 

“It made more sense for my brain and how I visuassociate envision leangs with colors and set depict,” she says. “I cherishd getting a little more produceive with stoastys and I leank when you step into the genre space, you get more of that. When you’re in the drama space, it’s a little more equitable and a lot more feng shui.” 

Grotriumphg up, she recalls take parting to SirusXM’s CineMagic with her overweighther, a now defunct station which take parted film scores, source music and dialogue from movie soundtracks. It was on that station that she first got the taste for what would become her preferite film The Shining. 

“One day we were driving and take parting to it, and they had a segment on The Shining and I reaccumulate take parting to it and hearing the classic ‘Red Rum, Red Rum’ and the audio of it and the score fair compelled me. I became obsessed with it, but I was too juvenileer to watch it.” 

When she did watch it when she was elderlyer as well as the film’s write downary Room 237, Spielberg says “it endly changed my world.” 

“I cherish that Kubrick appreciated to f-ck with the audience and that he appreciated to pinpoint leangs that had noleang to do with the actual story and all of the secret messages in the film as well as all the conspiracies around it,” she says. “It made me leank that if I was going to ever produce a movie, I wanted people to be talking about it after, so how do I do that?”

She cherishs the name Phire Don’t Feed the Children and appreciatens it to signs that say ‘Phire Don’t Feed The Animals’, which she hopes uncomardents audiences will want more when they come in to watch the film.

Family ties

Spielberg is hyper conscious that having one of the most prolific and lauded straightforwardors in the world as a overweighther will recommend up both perks and hurdles as she commences to carve a name for herself in the straightforwarding world. 

“I leank I’m very fortunate to have him as my dad,” she says. “The name itself comes with its perks – it’s a sanctifying and a damn. But I have to reaccumulate that I can produce a name for myself. I can show my talent on my own. But at the finish of the day, I’m always going to be a Spielberg, and I have to be okay with that.” 

“Unmindfilledy, being on sets as a kid was my film school so I’m reassociate thankful for that,” she holds. “I leank I understand as much as I do and have the instincts that I do because of that and I’m fair reassociate thankful of how encouraging he is.” 

She confesss that she showed her overweighther a second and raw cut of Phire Don’t Feed the Children – less for notices and more out of excitement. “I’ll never do that aobtain,” she quips. “I leank he was worried and thought it wasn’t going to toil but when he saw the final cut, he gave me the biggest hug and it was a big weight off of my shoulders.”

Up next, Spielberg is currently at the very timely stages of her next straightforwarding project with Phire Don’t Feed the Children with actor Melnick and while she can’t uncover much, she does increate Deadline that it’s a homicide mystery. “And there’s possibly a third project,” she confesss. “I can’t say much but it’s going to be wonderful and I’m going to be busy.”

But as she readies to unveil, Phire Don’t Feed the Children to audiences tonight at Sitges, she’s conceited of the lessons she’s lobtained on her debut feature. “I have tried to be as collaborative as possible and tried my best to protect it chooseimistic – even on the difficultest days and sometimes it’s stubborn,” she confesss. “You deal with a lot of separateent characters, and you have to understand how to put your foot down and be a boss and then apexhibit for those moments. But you also have to fordonate and forget and persist to collaborate and mend disputes together – the toil environment is reassociate meaningful.” 

Spielberg holds: “And it has to be fun. If I’m the only one having fun and finishelighting the process, then I’m doing it wrong.”