My Dead Friend Zoe is a new feature from writer/director Kyle Hausmann-Stokes (A.J. Bermudez co-wrote the script) concerning veteran Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) struggling to readjust to civilian life. The memory of her deceased best friend and fellow soldier Zoe (Natalie Morales) is impossible to leave behind, especially when a toxic version of Zoe is following Merit everywhere she goes. A person Merit loved is now inescapable and constantly keeping her tethered to her worst impulses. The past keeps cropping up for Merit, as seen by that pesky vision of Zoe and her having to take care of her struggling grandfather Dale (Ed Harris).
My Dead Friend Zoe, though, is also very much about the people who made it. Hausmann-Stokes, a veteran himself, based the feature on two of his late friends and fellow soldiers. This story and the importance of veterans being open about their psychological wounds hits profoundly home for Hausmann-Stokes, hence why he’s also tackled My Dead Friend Zoe’s primary story in a 2022 short film entitled Merit x Zoe.
Recently, I got a chance to sit down with some of the primary creative players behind My Dead Friend Zoe, specifically Hausmann-Stokes and lead performers Martin-Green and Morales. Our brief chat offered lots of insight into what drove this feature, from larger cinematic influences to research Martin-Green undertook for her role to the high-wire acting Morales had to pull off in portraying a warped version of Zoe. Read about all that and more below!
Lisa Laman: This project was clearly inspired by two important figures in your life. However, were there any important motion picture influences guiding My Dead Friend Zoe?
Kyle Hausman-Stokes: I have a bunch of comps for this, On Golden Pond, that’s a bit of a deep cut. There’s this film called Fight Club, that’s a good one. Also, like an inspiration for me was this guy you’ve heard of called Judd Apatow. I used to work for his manager and he kind of planted the seed in my head years ago of “are you funny, you veterans?” And then, ever since I’ve become a fan of Judd films.
But even like The King of Staten Island or Trainwreck, these are very deeply entertaining films, but they are also about something. I wanted to film something just like that.
LL: Always love a Katharine Hepburn shout-out!
KHS: Yes.
LL: Sonequa, you have to deal with so much heavy material in terms of mental health stuff. What kind of research did you do to prepare for this role?
Sonequa Martin-Green: Honestly, I just listened to Kyle. I asked him question, he graciously told me all kinds of things. I watched the short, but I also watched another film you sent our way. You know, he gave us a mission briefing. I really just listened. I listened to other veterans’ stories, that was a lot of the research. There was a lot of running, just to physically prepare. And a lot of prayer to spiritually prepare, but it was really about surrendering to somebody else’s life, the life of a veteran. And of course, hopefully it speaks to people who also have not served. But it was really about sinking and surrendering, that was a lot of the prep.
(Turns to Morales) And then you and I had a lot of conversations in the prep, about what we were doing here. How grateful we were to stand with him and how we’d make sure that no stone was left unturned.
LL: Speaking of Natalie, I found your performance as the multi-layered posthumous Zoe fascinating. There’s a warmth there, but also a severe atonal quality to it. What was it like juggling those two parts of the Zoe in Merit’s head?
Natalie Morales: Yeah, so, we sort of lovingly referred to her as a “guilt demon” and not really as a ghost and not really as Zoe, right? It’s a manifestation of her survivor’s guilt that’s keeping her in this place. While [Merit’s] memory of Zoe is fun and snarky and fun to hang out with, those things all have to be on the surface while underneath, there’s a selfishness to this manifestation that wants to keep her in this place. Hopefully what came across is that posthumous Zoe has the appearance of real Zoe and the outside shininess of Zoe, but it’s not Zoe and they’re two very different people. Well, one is a person and the one isn’t, and that was sort of what I was trying to do.
LL: Thank you very much for your time and thoughtful answers!
My Dead Friend Zoe arrives in theaters on February 28th.