From The Blair Witch Project to Unfriended, found-footage films have left their imprint on the horror genre over the past several decades. Some films like Paranormal Activity may have run the idea into the ground with a dozen sequels, but there are still creatives out there trying to create interesting new stories using the technique.
From the results that the box office returned from the recent theater release of Followed, it's clear that there is still a demand for that corner of the horror genre. We chatted with the cast as well as the director to learn a bit more about the movie and what made the film so successful.
To hear our chat with Matthew Solomon, click the podcast player below. Otherwise, scroll down for this part of the transcript. We've also included our exclusive audio interviews with Sam Valentine, Tim Drier, and creator Antoine Le, so check it out!
Literary Joe: I'm curious how much of the character of Mike actually reflects you in your personal life as far as your personal beliefs go?
Matthew Solomon: In terms of personal beliefs, I think Mike and I are very different people, but in terms of behavior, that sort of brash, openness, that willingness to kind of say anything and get away with it. I wish I was more like that. It was really fun getting to be a character that didn't necessarily care what other people thought. That was very freeing, giving myself that permission for once, it was pretty cool.
Literary Joe: As far as paranormal events go, how familiar were you with paranormal lore and stuff before getting involved with Followed?
Matthew Solomon: I'm one of those people; I love to read about scary stories rather than watch them or hear them. So, for instance, the elevator story in the movie is loosely based on the hotel story with Elisa Lam. I went to college while that story happened, and I was super familiar with it. And, you know, I love a good scary story as long as I don't have to hear it out loud.
Literary Joe: Had you worked with Antoine or any of the other cast members prior to getting involved with this project?
Matthew Solomon: No, I was new to every single person involved, and I got super lucky because everybody was really lovely to work with. We became a kind of family, which was awesome.
Literary Joe: Is this your first time leading a cast, or have you had other starring roles that helped prepare you for this?
Matthew Solomon: I've had starring roles in theater, and in my studies, I do a lot of lead roles, but it's a completely different thing doing it for a project of this scale. I do think that regardless of what project you're on, the lead actor sets a little bit of a tone in terms of how everybody's going to carry themselves and how much everybody really commits to the project. So I kind of had that walking into the film, so I really wanted to be like, "I'm going to show up early, or on time, I'm going to show up prepared and memorized."
But yeah, being the lead role in something of that scale was just nuts. It wasn't a ton of kind of pressure as you would have expected it to be. It was mostly just love. And you know, actors love attention, and I got a lot of attention.
Literary Joe: Now I know that there's a sequel in the works, and I know that Antoine wants to take this universe to wider places and other places in the world. But do you know if your character's going to be involved with any of the future projects for Followed, or are you not included in that yet?
Matthew Solomon: I think actors are usually the last people to be added to a project. So all I will say is that you know, we don't really know what happened to Mike. So I think if there is an extended Followed universe, seeing Mike in that Followed universe would be really awesome and would really bring the story to another interesting level. So yeah, I can only hope that I did a good enough job for them to bring him back.
Literary Joe: Yeah. I think the IMDB credits Followed to 2018 but did it come out this year?
Matthew Solomon: We had our festival release in 2018 premiered at the Burbank international film festival, which is a big part of the reason that we ended up getting the theatrical release in 2020 because that is where the movie was basically discovered. And the movie itself was shot in 2016. So this movie has been in the works for a really long time, and it's just a testament to Antoine and Matt's willpower and go-getter attitudes that the movie has had the success that it's had over these few years because especially with an indie film of a smaller budget, you really got push so hard against so many odds to make it visible in any way. And the fact that they got it to the point where it has had such success in the box office is amazing.
Literary Joe: I wanted to ask about the drone. Was that like a prop that you guys used, or was that an actual drone that you guys were using around the set?
Matthew Solomon: That was a very real drone. A lot of the drone footage was caught from that drone that you see on camera. I myself was not operating it, which was a bummer. I wanted to learn how to it, but they wouldn't let me, which is probably the smartest choice. So when you see Tim and I operating it on camera, it's a very real drone. And I remember I started karate chopping towards it in the group, and out of the corner of my eyes, I saw one of the producers was very concerned.
Literary Joe: Do you think that the future installments in the Followed universe are also gonna follow the found-footage cinematic technique? Or do you think that they'll be taken in a different direction?
Matthew Solomon: I think that the technique that we showed in the movie is what makes it so special. So I hope that they continue to. I would be curious to see how it changes as it sort of approaches bigger platforms, and the story grows and the scope. But yeah, I really hope that it sticks to its found-footage group.
*This interview has been edited for clarity.*
When aspiring social media influencer “DropTheMike” is offered a lucrative sponsorship to grow his channel, he's joined by his video crew on a visit to one of the most haunted hotels in America, where he'll give his audience a horrific night of thrill-seeking the likes of which they have never seen before. What begins as a fun investigative challenge including the infamous Elevator Ritual quickly descends into a personal hell of true evil, begging the timely question: how far would you go to pursue internet fame?
FOLLOWED is inspired by real events at the Hotel Cecil in downtown Los Angeles, and is part of a growing list of “Screen-Life” films – films whose stories are told by way of a computer screen recording. The award-winning feature is the first horror film to do so entirely through a series of YouTube-like vlogs.
Followed is out now, and you can check the film out here.