Husband and wife creative duo Kate Cobb (Rollers, Gatlopp) and Kevin Bigley (“Animal Control”, “Upload”) have teamed up once again to deliver their latest cinematic offering, the psycho-thriller comedy drama, Okie, which is all set to release on VOD this Friday, November 8th.
Penned by Bigley, and marking Cobb’s feature film directorial debut, Okie centers on Louie (Scott Michael Foster – “You”, “Greek”), a wealthy and acclaimed author who returns to his beleaguered hometown after the death of his father. This weathered, rundown town and its equally worn residents have long been the spiritual muses for Louie’s popular anthology of rustic, nostalgic tales. But on his homecoming, Louie is forced to confront the very people he has exploited as central characters in his pretentious novels – his childhood friends Travis (Bigley) and Lainey (Cobb).
Thus ensues a confusing swirl of nostalgia and enmity as Louie is dragged from party to party, coming face-to-face with those whose lives he has mined for his own financial and creative gain. But soon, as his grip on reality slips, he begins to wonder if these ostensibly simple townsfolk don’t have their own version of payback in mind.
In anticipation of Okie’s release this Friday, CinemaChords’ Howard Gorman sat down with Cobb, Bigley and Foster to gain insight into the origins of the project. The trio revealed how Cobb and Bigley had initially pooled together a few thousand dollars to shoot a short film in Bigley’s hometown near Sacramento, California. Following a successful run on the festival circuit, this short proved an effective proof of concept, allowing the filmmakers to further develop the story, characters and themes they wanted to explore in the larger Okie feature. During the interview, the filmmakers discussed the various multifaceted, complex, and thought-provoking themes they tackled in the film. Chief among these were its penetrating examinations of mental health, the deep-seated trauma and long-term effects of bullying, and the complex ethical dilemma of an author using their own personal history and relationships as fodder for their creative endeavours.
