Behind The Scenes Of Michael Shanks’ “Together”

Writer/ director Michael Shanks was driven to his first feature film Together, starring Dave Franco as Tim and both his real-life and on-screen partner Alison Brie as Millie, by two things – his reflection on his seventeen-year (and counting) relationship with his partner and his love of horror visual effects.

“I’ve never been an adult without her in my life, and vice versa. For as long as I can remember, we’ve lived in the same house, had the same friends, eaten the same food, breathed the same air,” Shanks recalls.

Michael Shanks describes his cinematic tastes as gravitating towards sticky premises and high-concept ideas and marrying them with a genuine, emotional, relatable character journey. Together is certainly a testament to this.

The filmmaker wanted to transform the idea of long-term relationships when two people merge into one – metaphorically and literally. “I explore the potential horror of sharing a life with someone; the lingering anxieties of commitment writ large. Together is about co-dependency, monogamy, romances, and resentments,” he continues. He wonders if he’s a complete person without her. Is their relationship solid or a product of habit?

Michael Shanks spoke with Creative Screenwriting Magazine about creating a very personal story for the big screen.

[googleleads]

Body horror may not be the most obvious genre to explore this long-term relationship dynamic, but Shanks wanted to take those fears into a “visceral, fleshy, squeamish horror place.”

What if a couple was so intertwined that their lives started to enmesh even in the flesh?

Combined with his love of technically difficult horror visuals, Together took form. Michael created many of the visual effects in Together. 

Where Does Shank End and Tim Begin?

The character of Tim is loosely based on Michael Shanks. Following his father’s unexpected death, Tim’s once thriving music career is fading as he trudges aimlessly through life. “I wrote Tim as a dark shadow version of myself,” Shanks confesses. Many dynamics between Tim and Millie are taken from Michael’s relationship.

Calling Together as a body horror film wasn’t simply a literary gimmick or VFX fest for Shanks. His past works include multiple short films with minimal dialogue. The themes are expressed through visuals. Since he also directs, Shanks wrote his screenplay with these effects in mind.

Dave Franco and Alison Brie are married in real life, and that raised the possibility of bringing their personal relationship dynamics into Together. Being professional actors, they resiste and honored Michael’s vision.

Franco and Brie didn’t draw from their own marriage, but have observed the dynamics of Tim and Millie in other relationships, so they knew how to play the part of a couple either on the verge of collapse or a higher love. Dave Franco, however, did suggest making Tim “more sympathetic” as opposed to the nasty guy originally written.

Michael Shanks, Millie (Alison Brie) & Tim (Dave Franco) Photo by Ben King/ NEON

Adding The Supernatural

After exploring the tenuous relationship between Tim and Millie, who has her life more in order as a school teacher, we’re introduced to Jamie (Damon Herriman), Millie’s colleague who introduces the enmeshment curse where two characters fuse. Shanks’ challenge was to delay this as long as possible without making it seem “ridiculous, goofy, and comedic.”

“Holding off really allowed me to squeeze every drop of juice out of the premise,” Shanks says. In terms of the mythology, Shanks wanted to breeze through it peripherally without halting the film and explaining it. “We hint at it in a VHS tape that we play in the third act. It gives you enough to infer what goes on and lets your brain fill in the gaps.”

Jamie taps into the horror trope of a character undergoing a phsyical and emotional transformation. He represents “the societal push towards monogamy. They’re traditional values.” Jamie gently introduces the ostensibly commitment-phobic Jamie to them.

Making It Personal

Together leans on the lingering effects of loss to make its point. One of Michael Shanks’ most traumatic moments was the unexpected death of his father in his 20s. “That has just been this demon I don’t want to name hanging over my life,” he reveals. The film examines the theme of loss in its own way. Nobody dies, but certain troxic dynamics need to be jettisoned from their relationship to allow Tim and Millie’s love to prosper.

The film culminates in a “happy ending” of sorts. Tim and Mille are Together. In Michael Shanks’ imagination, his film is structured like a romantic comedy or drama despite it being a body horror movie.

“It was important that if we pulled the horror out of Together, you would find a compelling relationship drama between these characters. Like in a lot of rom-coms, we meet these characters when they’re at a crossroads. They may be bickering. They haven’t quite locked in with each other. And at the end of the rom-com, they commit, and they fall in love.”

That Bathroom Sex Scene

This is arguably one of the most pivotal and inventive scenes in Together, both visually, technically, and thematically. Michael Shanks turns up the cringe factor to ten, then to twenty as the couple make love in a bathroom stall. Students enter. Jamie enters. They know what’s going on. But Tim and Millie can’t stop.

“It’s a scene that could be comedic, but watching it with an audience, people are holding their breaths and are shocked,” Shanks remarks.

by Staff Writer

From our in-house editorial team.