PopHorror Let's Get Scared
If you’re looking for a film that will make you think about life, give you hope, and also creep you out… Jeremy Torrie’s The Corruption of Divine Providence delivers all of that plus more! I recently had the opportunity to chat with Jeremy about his career and why he got involved with filmmaking, the inspiration behind The Corruption of Divine Providence, the casting process, his expectations for it, and more!
PopHorror – Hi Jeremy. How is 2021 treating you so far?
Jeremy Torrie – It’s actually been great from a creativity perspective because I’ve had the chance to work on some new scripts which are coming along really well! One is a horror actually and has a great twist at the end. It seems to be writing itself.
PopHorror – Ohhh that’s exciting! What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
Jeremy Torrie – I grew up reading Stephen King and Clive Barker. They inspired me to be a writer. I actually wrote two novels by the time I was 21 but never published them. As I was describing a story to my aunt she said, that sounds like a movie. That was the eureka moment because I have always imagined my stories as being projected on a movie screen. So, I immediately made the switch to writing for feature films and television, and never looked back.
PopHorror – Yesss and it’s panned out well for you! Given the opportunity, if you could work on any project with an umlited budget, old or new, what would it be?
Jeremy Torrie – I’d probably want to explore the world of Hellraiser in a new and novel way. The original book was so interesting to me, and the film was cool too. Of course something like Imajica from Clive would be super challenging, but I’d love to try! I’d also really love to redo The Shining. It remains one of my all time favourites, although I understand why Steve hated it at the time. I think there could be a proper balance, while bringing some ingenuity into it.
PopHorror – I’d be down for all of that. Can you tell us what your new film The Corruption of Divine Providence is about?
Jeremy Torrie – The story of how a stigmatic girl touches the lives of a select few in a small town in western Canada. The whole thing blows up, including a visit from the Vatican, but at the end of the day it is a meditation on faith, not unlike The Exorcist. Now I didn’t set out to make an Exorcist-type film, but the distributors definitely latched onto these visuals. It’s really weird, and I love weird, especially if there’s some blood!
PopHorror – What inspired you to make it?
Jeremy Torrie – I began dating my wife to-be 20 years ago. She lived in a similar rural community as the film is set in. Lots of rumours and strange events were circulating including disappearances and murders so it got my mind thinking: what would happen if a young Metis woman was possessed? What would that look like in a Roman Catholic community who speaks French, as well as English? And what if there was a character who believes he is St. Francis Of Assisi, having lived inside his ‘leathery skin suit for a thousand years?’ Well, that was basically it. Then came all the other layers.
PopHorror – That’s cool. I grew up in a small rural area as well. How did the casting process come about?
Jeremy Torrie – I like to cast my own films. I knew Peter Wolf, the Charismatic preacher from the southern US, was going to be played by my friend Corey Sevier. He’s such an underrated actor, but that was a bit role. I had never worked with the incredible Tantoo Cardinal before even though we know so many of the same people in the Indigenous community. I reached out to her agent, and she was available! I knew I had to find very strong female leads. We went wide to cast Jeanne (our stigmatic), and it was not even close: Ali Skovbye was so incredible. I am thankful the stars aligned so we could get her, and of course she’s taking off now with Netflix’s Firefly Lane. From there, I wanted to cast her mother. Corey mentioned he worked with Elyse Levesque years ago and I checked her out. She was available, interested, and could speak French, which was super important. I brought in Elyse’s manager Lesa Kirk and she suggested two other clients: David LaHaye and Paul Amos. David is quite outstanding in the film. I am so thankful. And with Paul we found a true thespian who is Welsh but Canadian…he brought a real energy to St. Francis and gave it his all. Really the casting was quite serendipitous, but so is filmmaking!
PopHorror – Yeah the performances were phenomenal. Any favorite scenes?
Jeremy Torrie – My favourite scene is a straightforward drama scene between Father Luc, the town priest, and Louis Seraphin (David LaHaye), the father. Louis has made a deal with Peter Wolf for exclusive access to his daughter who will recount her experience of being dead for 12 minutes and traveling to the “Other Side.” Louis makes a Judas-like decision to essentially sell his daughter to the highest bidder. The priest shuts him down, and the nuance in David LaHaye’s eyes when this happens is absolutely perfect cinema – it ended up far better than I wrote the scene- which is rare – but does happen.
PopHorror – What do you hope audiences take away from this film?
Jeremy Torrie – I’m a bit older than the typical movie-going audience – from an era where we used to go as friends to see movies together, and then discuss after. I hope what people experience makes them think a little bit more about the whole thing and perhaps wonder about their own beliefs in spirituality. It’s certainly not meant to say any one religion is better than any other…but to wonder about faith and what place it may, or may not have, in one’s life. After all, why else are we here?
PopHorror – Totally. It’s always good to question things. Anything else you’d like to talk about? Other upcoming projects?
Jeremy Torrie – We have a number of projects in development. One is an action horror set in South Africa entitled Shaidan. It’s a super cool film, also with a great twist, and set up for a sequel if all goes well. I’m doing a contemporary remake/re-envisioning of the classic Maori film Once Were Warriors which deals with it’s own horrors – that of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Heavy Stuff. We’re also producing a film from a first-time director in the world of a horror film studio called Open Wounds. An introverted VFX artist witnesses a horrific car crash which unleashes repressed trauma from his childhood, and also happens to be his muse, and soon he’s killing people to further his quest for artistic perfection! It’s kind of like Black Swan meets Nightcrawler but with a lot more blood and gore.
PopHorror – Well it’s been great chatting with you, Jeremy, thanks for yout ime! All of your upcoming projects sound phenomenal, but I’m especially intrigued by Open Wounds, so defintly hit up PopHorror when you’re ready to start promoting that!
The Corruption of Divine Providence debuts on VOD/EST on May 25th, 2021 across Canada. Be sure to check it out and let us know what you think!
