So that I could be like, “That’s the notes that they were hitting on, this is what they were telling.

I actually watched the film because I had to go through the translations, but I watched the film like two minutes at a time. When it came to the writing process, myself, my brother, Jonathan Keasey, we just really broke down the finer points of the original film.

We did start thinking, “How can we add a little bit more body to what we’ve already witnessed here?” Our idea was great, and we just wanted to add to that. So when I sent that to my brother, he immediately fell in love with the idea as well. But for me, the story was engaging enough. It was very much a story that was engaging because you were just involved in these three people’s stories, more so the female lead. When we watched the original film, Parallel Forest, which was written by and directed by Lei Zheng. What did you like most about focusing on the characters and really delving into who these people are and what’s scary and appealing about being able to go across the different worlds?

Between Everything Everywhere All at Once and superhero movies, they’re usually going so over-the-top and grand, but this is very character-focused and more grounded. It’s an interesting time for this to come out because multiverses have gotten so popular. That’s how we pretty much attacked writing this script. We kept everything knowingly on a smaller scale, with the exception of the story itself. We already had the idea that we were dealing with the multiverses, so that set up the idea that we can now play with multiple personalities and we don’t have to go out and get other cast or anything like that. “What is the story that we’re actually trying to tell, that we want to tell? How can we do it in the most engaging way?” That’s what we worked on - just character development. So, within that aspect, we knew that the story had to be big or at least complex enough to keep the environment engaging. It’s going to be the house and the forest itself. How was it writing within your means while making sure the story still goes everywhere it needs to without a ton of budget?Įdwin Hodge: Yeah, as far as writing within the means, we understood that it’s just three of us and two locations. There are three characters, it’s a smaller budget, but the story feels fully fleshed out. Tyler Treese: One thing that really impressed me about this was how it was really written within scale. Faced with the reality that multiverses exist, she must reconcile the fact that these parallel gates will either hold the key to releasing her grief or trapping her forever.” But soon after their arrival, she experiences an aberration when she is attacked by a parallel universe’s version of herself. “Accompanied by her husband, Alex (Aldis Hodge), and his brother, Martel (Edwin Hodge), Vanessa attempts to regain her sense of normalcy after the tragedy. “Parallel follows the story of Vanessa (Danielle Deadwyler) who takes refuge at her family’s lake house to grieve after suffering the loss of her child,” reads the film‘s official synopsis. The movie is set to release in theaters on February 23 and through video-on-demand platforms on February 27. Hodge discussed working on a film with his brother, Aldis Hodge, his role on FBI: Most Wanted, and more. ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Parallel co-writer, producer, and star Edwin Hodge about the sci-fi thriller.

Edwin hodge.