The OFFICIAL Trailer of the horror comedy feature film Easter Bloody Easter directed by Diane Foster, written by Allison Lobel, and produced by WallyBird Productions. On VOD March 26, 2024 watch now here: https://geni.us/easterbloodyeaster Easter Bloody Easter follows Jeanie (Diane Foster), who, after discovering her husband missing and his car wrecked with blood and fur, embarks on a journey with her friend Carol (Kelly Grant) to uncover the truth behind the town’s dark legend of the killer Jackalope — a shapeshifting human-rabbit hybrid that terrorized the area a century and a half ago. Now, Jeanie and Carol must team up with professional bunny slayer Megan (Zuri Starks) to save their small Texan town — on the eve of celebrating “Easter-palooza” — and stop the Jackalope once and for all.
We got the special opportunity to interview Diane Foster.
In 2018, Actor-Director-Producer Diane Foster founded the company WallyBird Productions committed to fostering equality and diversity on every project with an emphasis on high entertainment value and substance .
Under the WallyBird banner, the company has made the films; “SHIRi”, winner of the prestigious Stage 32 Short Film Contest which screened at the Oscar qualifying Hollyshorts Film Festival and Raindance in the UK, “Make A Wish” accepted at over 130 film festivals worldwide and seen on Bloody Disgusting TV, the documentary “I Am America” about the Immigration Center for Women and Children (ICWC) and awarded a 15K grant to give back to the ICWC for underprivileged and undocumented youth as part of the Women Excel Project, the short “Dissonance” that donated fundraising efforts to “The Trevor Project”, the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ+ young people under 25, the feature “My Home Unknown” that premiered at Dances with Films at the legendary Chinese Theatre with a harrowing and deeply real look at the homeless epidemic, “Sorry Dumpling” short film and official selection at BAFTA & LA Shorts Fest, the short film and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Brown Sugar Days “Cut Me If You Can”, the original horror comedy feature film “Easter Bloody Easter,” and currently in development “S.A.T. – The Movie Musical”.
TREMG: How was it working on a Holiday film that wasn’t “Holy”? How did you prepare for your days on set?
Diana Foster: The holiday aspect allowed us to take something familiar and turn it on its head. “Easter Bloody Easter” was made for audiences to have a good time. From the beginning, it was never about making a statement on the holiday itself or its religious attributes, but yet the traditions we celebrate as a society and consumers. I spent months in prep before ever setting foot on set. We worked on the script so that we were all confident we had the best shooting script possible that made us all laugh out loud, or imagine the terror we could create. Because I was wearing 3 hats-directing, acting, producing- working with my DP was mandatory in order to pull it all off. Her and I spent 6 weeks in prep and went through every shot so that when we went on set, I could concentrate on performance, playing as the character, working with my actors and allowing for the magic to take place. Like most things in life, preparation was everything and it allowed me to be free and collaborative instead of questioning anything, I was confident that even something wasn’t working we had talked and drawn out, and went over it all, that we could pivot and make our days and with a knowing of accomplishment and not doubt.
TREMG: Tell us a bit about your experience with the producers and crew?
DF: It was an incredible group of really dedicated people that wanted to all bunny hop at 3 am.
I can’t say enough about how wonderful the team was with all one singular vision to make a helluva bloody good time Easter movie with tons of laughs, screams, and songs to sing along to. We had a %95 female-identifying crew headed by our DP Alexa Cha, and I am super proud to say the film garnered the prestigious ReFrame Stamp from Women in Film, Sundance Institute, and IMDb for excellence in gender parity in filmmaking
TREMG: How did you attack the casting process for this film?
DF: Some of the main cast was already part of the film from three years prior when some elements of the movie minus the Easter and song/dance element had its first concepts from a play that myself, Allison Lobel (Writer/MaryLou, Producer), Kelly Grant (Carol, Producer), and Miles Cooper (Eugene, Jackalope Voice) had staged under WallyBird Productions first theater projects in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. We planned to continue on and put the show up in other cities but the pandemic hit. It was through circumstances and what was meant to be that we turned our eyes towards making the film. Allison reached out a few months later and said she had written the script, it was set at Easter with Jackalopes and demon bunnies, and, I said Hell Yes let’s do it and we were off to the races! The other roles in the main cast and other townspeople from our fictional town of Walburg as a cast of almost 65, Zach Kanner (Sam), Gavin Lee (Jim) and Zuri Starks (Megan) were all people that we knew and thought would be perfect for the role and we asked for self tapes, then we did a series of auditions and callbacks on zoom for chemistry reads with myself and the Producing Team in coming up with what this town looked like and sounded like. Through that process we found D’andre Noire (Lance) and Caitlin Oden (Sally) among so many other wonderful and talented people that all play a role in the film. It was a thrilling process and one I enjoy so much! It feels like finding diamonds in the rough when you are looking through tapes and you watch the person meant to play that role -it’s really special to witness as both an actor and director.
TREMG: Was it hard to blend the horror and comedy genres on set?
DF: It was not hard to blend them – it came very naturally and because the script was so good and funny, and all the prep work we had already done, it felt like the universe was on our side. People were so excited to work on it from the start and that energy and belief gave us the recipe to make it such a memorable and truly special time making the film. The movie is self aware and everyone that was part of creating was as well. That is a great combination. During the prep and all the way through the final edits even with adding in sound and music, I wanted to make sure that the balance of both horror and comedy came through and that we rode that line with clarity. The parts that needed to be scary were set up by the comedy so that they had more impact. I appreciated the balance and having the contrast in a film that are two genres that really can enjoy each other if you let them.
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