Winter-2022

A Pacific Grove native, Marchese has har- bored a lifelong interest in film, but his life took other turns, including stints as a musician and newspaper publisher in Seattle and a Soledad homicide detective. It was the latter experience that inspired his first documentary film, “Fallen,” released in 2017. That work provided a peep behind the blue curtain at the realities of law enforcement work, while he directed in his spare time. Ironically, he became part of his own project when he was attacked while responding to a domestic dispute, an incident included in the film. The documentary took home Best Documentary Feature at the 2017 Hollywood Film Festival and was picked up by Netflix. “I got lucky to have super legit talent around me and avoid the egos that working in Hollywood often involves,” Marchese says. “But even if you’re making a movie with private money, you still have to find experienced indus- try people who have faith in you.” One such key player was producer Kelly Frazier. Frazier has an impressive list of credits as a director, writer and producer of everything from country music videos to A-list feature films. “I had just finished a western and Thomas approached me with his script for a horror film,” she says. “I actually hate horror films, so I told him I’d help but wouldn’t work on it.” Then she read the script. “The writing was so good. It was smart, wasn’t contrived.The dialog was amazing. It was- n’t so much horror as it was about heartbreak and grief. I keep calling it a psychological horror Cinematographer Duncan Cole (on dolly) and Assistant Cinematographer Hallie Swain (foreground) shooting an exterior scene on location in Mississippi. Swain’s device wirelessly adjusts the focus of Cole’s camera. Photo: Jessub Flower Eduardo Campirano III portrays kidnapped Noah, the focus of his mother Cora’s obsession. Scriptwriter Marchese explored the journey into darkness someone might go on to redeem oneself and save a loved one…and at what cost. 144 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 2 Photo: Duncan Cole