Kahn Duncan
When Adrian (Matthew Backer) begins a remote romantic getaway with his partner Daniel (Adam Dunn), what starts as a simple holiday quickly warps into disarray – as their relationship and weekend are threatened by the pervasiveness of Adam’s crippling media influencer mindset.
The Lacey Brothers (Nick and Nathan) have an affinity for the horror genre and felt that they could take it in a new direction. “The film is about the breakdown of a relationship due to social media, so it felt right to introduce these sinister undertones as it progressed.”
This horror sensibility extended to the brothers’ shooting style, with the duo choosing to employ voyeuristic elements to make the audience always question if they are the watcher or the one being watched.
With Matthew Backer currently touring as part of the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (and our current fave on Play School) playing the role of Mr Utterson, and Dunn recently starring in Baz Luhrmann’s maximalist biopic Elvis – as Elvis’ audacious upright bassist Bill Black, the Lacey Brothers were quick to jump on their talent: “Matthew and Adam were our two first choices for the leads and we were stoked when they told us they liked the script and wanted to work with us.”
The brothers believe that our current tech-obsessed landscape has worrying implications, and people prioritising their devices over their relationships is on the rise.
“Our goal was to make a film about social media addiction without feeling like we were lecturing to the audience. Everyone can relate to the feeling in some way – we all have that friend who can never seem to draw themselves away from their phone.”
This is the third film for the brothers, following 2020’s Bareface and 2021’s The Suspect, and the Laceys reckon that they are feeling more in sync, the more that they collaborate: “Being brothers, we know each other pretty well and I think that helps when we’re directing as we’re already on a similar wavelength.”
Produced by Nicole Thorn, Ghosted will be screening next on February 27 at the Sydney Mardi Gras Film Festival, in competition as part of ‘My Queer Career’.
Check out the trailer below:
