ANIMAL KINGDOM

SASQUATCH SUNSET

The Zellner Brothers go ape with this myth-busting marvel…

Hirsutes you, sir: the Zellners’ absurdist comedy captures a year in the life of the legendary Bigfoot

It was incredibly difficult. It took years. But it’s what we signed up for,’ says David Zellner, talking about the torturous gestation of Sasquatch Sunset, the latest surreal slice of absurdism that he co-directs with brother Nathan. And no wonder: a year in the life of a Sasquatch family, with four actors all in hairy ape costumes grunting, groaning and behaving like beasts in the wild; it’s utterly unique. No dialogue, no human characters – just pure animal magnetism.

‘We’ve been fascinated with the mythology of Bigfoot since we were kids,’ says David, last seen subverting the western with 2018 Robert Pattinson-starrer Damsel. ‘Primates in general, we’ve always been obsessed with – whether it was 2001 or Planet of the Apes, or Koko the Gorilla. And a lot of National Geographic documentaries. When we decided to put together a feature, it wasn’t like we suddenly did a bunch of research; it was an accumulation of a lifelong interest.’ Back in 2010, they made the four-minute short Sasquatch Birth

Journal 2, featuring Nathan as the titular creature. Now he’s back as one of this hirsute quartet. ‘It was something that you don’t get to do that often. Just totally disappear into the make-up and into that character,’ says Nathan. Joining him are Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough and Christophe Zajac-Denek, who steer the story across four seasons, as the Sasquatch family face innumerable dangers out in the wild.

With Eisenberg on board as a producer, he even part-funded the film.

‘We’ve been fascinated with the mythology of Bigfoot since we were kids’

DAVID ZELLNER

‘He was essential in getting it going. We couldn’t have done it without him in that regard,’ tributes David. The actor was also vital during the rehearsal period, bringing on a movement coach that he’d worked with on 2020 film Resistance, when he played mime artist Marcel Marceau. ‘We wanted to make sure the four of us were all, at least on a baseline, moving the same, speaking to each other in a similar way, so that we looked like the same species,’ notes Nathan. Some really took it to the max, adds David. ‘I mean, a testament to Riley’s fearlessness… one of the first things she said was, “I want to be the most feral of the bunch.”’

Indeed, fearlessness was very much the order of the day – especially for a film that shows these creatures defecating, urinating and copulating. ‘We grew up with dogs and cats! Every animal has some version of marking their territory, you know? And so it felt like it was essential that we depict them,’ argues David. The brothers also weren’t shy about showing the male Sasquatch’s rather petite genitals. ‘If you look at primate genitals, they’re tiny,’ he chuckles. ‘But there’s something that’s funny about this hulking beast with tiny genitals!’

SASQUATCH SUNSET OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 14 JUNE.