Interview with director Dan Kay by Emmanuel Itier

What a very emotional movie put together by the brilliant and talented Dan Kay. ‘Spider and Jessie’ deals with addiction but on the side of what families of addicts go through and how the trauma remains within for a long time. With this so well-crafted movie Dan manages to let us go through multiple emotions, from tears to joy, from sadness to hope. His cast led by McKenna Grace, Jojo Regina and Jesse Williams will keep you alert with their intense interpretation. One can only be changed by watching ‘Spider and Jessie’. I caught up with director Dan Kay on the eve of his first screening at the Santa Barbara international film festival.

Pictured: Mckenna Grace & Jojo Regina & Jesse Williams

Q: How did this film come together and what motivated you to do it?

Dan: There has been several film about addiction and the opioid pandemic. It’s such a horrific crisis. But I wanted to do something different from these films where you follow an addict journey. I was more interested in the collateral damage caused by addiction. The family members and friends that are left if, sort of if you pick up the pieces in the wake of a loved one addiction. My family like thousands of other families have had to deal with this. It was something I felt very passional about it. I had read an article about opioid orphans, and I thought it was so tragic. It was a story that dealt with that collateral damage caused by addiction. So, I called up a writer friend of mine, a journalist living in Ohio. It’s very close to the first wave of the opioid pandemic which was West Virginia and Kentucky. She was part of that belt, and I asked her to do a research trip with me. I told her about the article I had read and how it could make for a great film. So, she set up many interviews through Kentucky and Ohio. We met folks impacted by addiction from both sides. We did a ride along with the sheriff. We went to sober houses. We also did an amazing round table with social workers who had dealt with family where the parents are addicts and handling the fall out of the children from these addicts.  We met some children, three sisters between the age of 8 and 12, whose mother had overdosed and whose father was in jail. They were raised by their grandmother. We really heard so many tragic stories. It really informed what went into this movie.

Q: Tell me about the various challenges you faced making this film?

Dan: The main challenge was to film in Florida during the raining and lightning season! And so, we had days when we were left without being able to shoot. And we were not funded by a studio we could call to get extra shooting days. We really had bad weather and even a hurricane came in forcing to shut down for four days.  Because we were losing so many days, I didn’t even know if we were going to be able to finish the movie. Fortunately, our producers found a few extra dollars for us to add a few extra days to film extra footage we needed. 

Q: What are the themes talked about in this film and what are the hopes in term of impact on an audience? 

Dan: What I hope is that people think about addicts and addiction and how it creates so much collateral damage and trauma. Around 2022 and 2023, over a million people had died from addiction. When you see those numbers, you usually think about the people who had died. But you don’t necessarily think about their family and friends. I want people to come away with another perspective on the epidemic and how it impacts everybody. I wanted to show how an addicted parent has an impact on their children. We need to understand as it is:  it’s a disease. Usually, we blame the addict about what they are doing but I wanted to humanize the addict in this story through the mother you never see in this movie. 

Q: What does the Santa Barbara film festival mean to you? Any expectation?

Dan: Santa Barbara film festival gets lots of attention. They have so many films that keep having a great career after playing here. So, it was a dream come true to be selected here. It’s an honor to Premiere our movie here.