JASON ISAACS and the directors of HONEY BUNCH on trusting each other while making a HORROR about memory loss

Jason Isaacs and the directing duo of Honey Bunch, Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli, discuss memory loss, on-screen chemistry, building trust and understanding each other’s needs.

“I have a terrible memory and I already know my wife will be taking care of me,” admits Jason Isaacs. The 62-year-old actor answers without hesitation when asked about his fear of memory loss. Losing an identity and being dependent on someone frightens Isaacs. However, he’s still keen to discuss it. My mom had dementia and it seems inevitable it would also happen to me one day. I hope we are not our memories. That would be too terrifying. 

Memory loss is a central theme in Honey Bunch, a psychological thriller directed by Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli, a real-life couple. It’s a Canadian production that was first screened at the Berlinale and also had its North American premiere at TIFF. Now, it premieres on February 13th on Shudder, home to all modern horrors and supernatural fiction.

When we meet at the Berlinale Palast during the start of Honey Bunch’s festival run, the directors seem slightly apprehensive (for the first time, they are guests instead of participants), while Isaacs is far more relaxed. An experienced player like him knows that attending Berlinale, probably the most important European festival right after Cannes and Venice, is both a pleasure and an honour. Isaacs’ laid-back attitude doesn’t surprise me. At that time, this proud Scouser was again on the audience’s radar, as The White Lotus’ third season has recently premiered with Isaacs in one of the main roles. It’s a good time to be Jason Isaacs, I think, just before I turn on the dictaphone. 

The story is so unusual. I hope you will find it challenging to write about this film! It’s difficult to discuss it without all those surreal twists and turns, Isaacs teases me.

Let’s pick up the gauntlet: Honey Bunch follows devoted Homer (Ben Petrie), who wants to help his wife, Diana (Grace Glowicki), suffering from memory loss after an accident. They arrive at a mysterious manor, an experimental trauma retreat, to help Diana. There, they also meet a persistent father (Isaacs), supporting his daughter (India Brown). She also doesn’t remember certain things and participates in the same experiment.

This genre-bending experience revolves around the process of slowly retrieving all that was once forgotten – it’s about reclaiming your old self back. Mancinelli says that the topic of memory loss has been on his mind the whole time. It’s in my family, and we spoke about this with Madeleine while shooting Honey Bunch. It might be a real thing one day, so I was interested in finding out who I could become. I’m scared of losing the ability to remember my partner.

The entire idea of playing in a film about a haunted manor, old ghosts of the past, and hidden traumas is alluring, regardless of the budget and other sacrifices. You don’t have to be a thespian to know that. While watching Honey Bunch, one gets this palpable feeling that the entire stellar cast just wanted to be a part of this project. 

My initial thought was that this is a fantastic script, says Isaacs. My character is a dad, who is madly in love with his kid and will do anything for her. Like anything, trust me on this one, he warns me. When Homer, the therapist (Kate Dickie) and the others start acting strangely, we understand there is a sense of a mystery ready to be uncovered by both Grace and the audience. 

Sims-Fewer’s and Mancinelli’s horror is about trusting other people when we need their help more than ever. The patients have to rely on their closest relatives and the primary physician. Lost in their new disability, they cannot trust their instincts. When I was a young actor, I used to think there was only one essential truth in the scene, especially in theatre. I used to get adamant if I noticed that people were missing my sense of truth, Isaacs admits. Today, I realise there are countless types of truth and nobody knows how to put all this together. Sometimes, it’s difficult to lean on people, especially when you’re at your worst.

It was helpful that my directors are a couple that understands each other, Isaacs says. I just felt more comfortable around them. I didn’t know their work earlier, and the part written for me wasn’t really huge. Yet, I’ve learnt over the years that the most interesting work experiences are when I read the script and jump in. You can’t hold back, arrive and say, ‘I’ll be in control of my performance, I don’t trust you on this.‘

Isaacs compares this process to learning a new dance. Once you’re in, you relax, listen and always try to be collaborative. I arrived and submitted to them; they both knew what they were doing, he confesses. These are the words of an actor in awe of his directors, one who decided to take a leap of faith. It’s a decision Isaacs does not regret. 

At some point, Honey Bunch’s crew became a group that knew each other quite well. Isaacs admits there was palpable on-screen chemistry between all of them, especially in the case of Glowicki and Petrie, also a real-life couple. In my time, I’ve played opposite people when we couldn’t stand each other and it worked incredibly well on screen, he says. I’ve also met actors I’ve privately adored, and nothing happened between us. The way your directors guide you is important. You can bring total strangers on set and they still might imitate a believable love on screen.

At the same time, the directing duo admires Isaacs’ professionalism. 

He is giving his best in every scene. Once, we asked Jason to repeat everything we shot, now only in silence. We wanted to focus on someone else’s performance, but still needed him in the scene to get the same energy. No objections from his side. And, no words, too, Mancinelli and Sims-Fewer say with noticeable gratitude.

And, this time it was probably better, the actor immediately replies and laughs.

The directors: Nobody ever gave us such freedom as Jason.

Isaacs: So all of them must’ve been shitty actors! Some people don’t turn up for their colleagues’ close-ups. I don’t get it. We’re all working as a collective, so it’s a part of your job to do that. You’re as good as a piece, your directors and other performers. It’s not a competition.

Easing tension through jokes is only a part of their rapport. We’ve built our professional confidence over the years while working on our films, admits Sims-Fewer when discussing her bond with Mancinelli. In 2020, the couple directed a critically acclaimed horror film, Violation (Madeleine also starred in the leading role). It took them a few years to find the right angle for Honey Bunch’s supernatural premise.

At some point, you realise how to tame your two artistic personalities coming together. You need to believe the best idea will come through, even if our conflicting opinions sometimes clash. You learn how to overcome those difficulties, she continues. We found a balance between letting off our egos and pushing personal ideas when necessary. If Dusty has a strong vision for a particular aspect, I’m just gonna trust him on this.

The directing duo has their own ways to avert the creative crises. We often try not to take credit for specific elements. By doing so, we start to forget who came up with which idea. What matters is an overall, joint effort to finish the project. It’s not about us. It’s about vision, passion and the energy that drives us, Mancinelli explains. 

It sounds like a couple therapy and artistic collaboration at the same time, Isaacs giggles.

Isaacs, Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli bonded during the shooting process: now, they understand each other without words. Isaacs looks at them as a proud colleague, grateful to be a part of this small family. I saw what these two made with our work and the final effect was more than surprising. Normally, this is a process of diminishing. Something seems great in your imagination, then it’s less good on a page, and in the end, we have to deal with many compromises while shooting and editing the film. Substance in Honey Bunch was just getting richer and richer.

Jason was so generous to all of us, Mancinelli suddenly chips in.  

You mean cheap, Isaacs chuckles, and they all burst into laughter. 

This is just another one-liner from a jovial Brit who truly loves to joke with his directors. One can only imagine what shooting the film looked like.

When the laughter ceases, I tell Isaacs his role seems to strongly rely on contrasting emotions. His character is good-hearted, but we instinctively feel there is something equivocal about him. It’s like a performance within a performance, him playing two characters while sticking to one body. This is when Isaacs touches on the viewer’s expectations regarding his acting. It might be baggage you bring after seeing my previous roles. Maybe you subconsciously want my character to be purely evil, he implies.

What would you call this film? Isaacs asks just before we wrap up. 

Perhaps a psychological couple drama, I reluctantly answer. 
Smart, he replies. These two called it a ‘romantic thriller,’ but it does sound like we’re selling a different story, doesn’t it? The three of us still struggle to find the right words for naming Honey Bunch’s genre. I guess that’s the power of this film: for each person, it can be anything they want it to be.