The Big Picture

The horror genre remains popular due to true crime podcasts, inspiring Warren Skeels’s upcoming film based on a true story.
The film focuses on female characters coming of age in a ’70s town terrorized by a white van, avoiding glorifying the serial killer.
The cast, including Madison Wolfe and Brec Bassinger, share their experiences working on the film and filming intense action sequences.

For an indie filmmaker, the horror genre is a great jumping-off point. It seems like the genre is more popular than ever, particularly due to the rise of true-crime podcasts and documentaries. In his sophomore feature, the upcoming horror-thriller The Man in the White Van, writer-director Warren Skeels tells the story of a quaint family town in Florida in 1974, where an ominous white van stalks a young girl, and her parents’, played by Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings) and Ali Larter (Final Destination), disbelief leads to a terrifying Halloween nightmare. The film is loosely based on a true story.

As opposed to most serial killer stories, The Man in the White Van avoids glorifying the perpetrator, Skeels tells Collider’s Therese Lacson, and instead focuses on the lives of a group of girls coming of age. At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Skeels and cast members Madison Wolfe (The Conjuring 2), Brec Bassinger (Stargirl), Skai Jackson (Bunk’d), and Gavin Warren (The Unbreakable Boy) stopped by the Collider media studio to discuss why they wanted to be a part of this film, redirecting the narrative, their true crime influences, and working with stars Larter and Astin.

COLLIDER: Warren, can you tell us about your inspiration for this film and where it comes from? I know it’s based on a true story.

WARREN SKEELS: It is. The whole thing is based on real events. I’m a fan of true crime thrillers, some of the iconic thrillers of the ‘70s—Jaws, Psycho, Rear Window, [Alfred] Hitchcock. A producer friend of mine and his wife were out to dinner, and we were talking about a story I was working on at the time, a serial killer story, on Phoenix. He looked at me and said, “If you want to hear a really good serial killer story, you ought to talk to her. She has a first-hand account of these experiences.” We started chatting, and she unraveled and unpacked thisincredible story that happened back in 1975 in Brooksville, Florida. After a few coffee chats, I sunk my teeth in. I said, “I’ve got to tell this story.”

This is a lived experience?

SKEELS: This is a lived experience, yeah.

Oh, wow! That’s a plot twist that I did not expect!

Madison Wolfe Has Been Waiting for a Role Like This One
Image via Comic-Con

For the cast, how did you guys get involved in this project, and were you interested in the true crime genre beforehand?

MADISON WOLFE: I definitely was. Something in this world and this genre has been on my bucket list for a very long time. I started acting when I was seven; I booked my first job then. My mom tells me stories of me being seven years old and saying, “Oh, my dream role is to be kidnapped.” I know it’s bizarre, but I always had an interest in the true crime genre, and playing a super dramatic, intense, and heavy experience, and getting to tell that story. I remember this audition came across, it was just like any other self-tape, and I thought, “Oh, my gosh, this is it! I have to get it.” I told [Warren] all of this. One time, I verbatim told my mom that my dream was to get thrown in a trunk or in a van—obviously not literally. But the point is, I really, really wanted to get a chance to tell something this gripping and dramatic, and I think we did that here.

SKAI JACKSON: I definitely agree. Growing up, I was never a Disney girl who watched Disney movies. I used to watch Chucky and Freddy Krueger, so I love any type of horror film. When this audition came across, I was like, “Oh my god, I just have to!” This was really fun to work on, and getting to have this experience and tell the story. I’m definitely proud of the film.

GAVIN WARREN: I like scary movies. I always watch scary movies with my dad, and I really enjoy them. When I saw this audition, I was super excited. I knew it was my part. I like doing scary movies. It’s just lots of fun to see it come together.

BREC BASSINGER: I’m a huge podcast girlie. The true-crime podcasts really prepared me for this role. I also really love the family aspect of this film. While it is a thriller, and has horror and scary van, there’s also a really beautiful story underlining the coming-of-age of Annie. I think the whole script has a lot of fun elements.

SKEELS: I wanted to add, for Gavin’s sake, because I don’t think he even knows this, that it was the first time I’ve ever been a part of a process where casting tapes were sent in, and round one, I immediately grabbed Gavin off of that round one casting tape. Arlie [Day] and Mike [Page], our casting directors, are awesome. [They] put the tape in front, and I said, “This is our guy. Go get him now.”

Madison and Skai, you guys had some work with horses. I love that you guys are both horse girls. This is an energy that I love. Can you tell me about prepping for that process and if you had to do any of those stunts on the horses? There’s kind of an intense chase scene.

JACKSON: It was really fun. Growing up, ever since I was six or seven, every weekend I would go with my best friend to ride horses. This is my element. We had days where we had to train with trainers, with the horses to get comfortable, ride, and run with them. That chase scene was really exciting but nerve-wracking at the same time. It was really cool to be able to work with the horses.

WOLFE: Same. I grew up riding a little bit and taking lessons. I love animals, love horses. I was so ecstatic to be able to ride a horse on set, and they let me be on it as much as possible. There were a couple of things, for safety reasons, I couldn’t do, like some of the falling off and whatnot, but everything that they allowed me to, we did it! [Laughs]

SKEELS: They both are great. Madison wanted to do every single stunt she could.

WOLFE: I always do.

SKEELS: We had to pry her off the horse. I said, “We need you for tomorrow, just in case!”

I understand that, but also I’m glad that you didn’t get injured. I feel like it’s a little dangerous.

‘The Man in the White Van’ Is from the Perspective of Women

Warren, the film is called The Man in the White Van, but it focuses a lot more on these female characters and the lead. Can you talk about the decision not to highlight this man who’s terrorizing all these women? We never really see him at all, just in a silhouette.

SKEELS: There are two parts to it. We’ve never set out to make a slasher or a gore fest of a film. I think from a creative standpoint, theater of the mind is really what’s on point here and something I really wanted to explore. I find it a little more scary when you don’t really know exactly what’s going on. From a victim’s standpoint, we made the decision that we really didn’t want to glorify the serial killer in this. We didn’t really want to get into naming him. We didn’t want to show his face. We really just wanted to kind of tell the victim’s story, especially Annie’s story in particular. I like the unique perspective that it’s really a story about her and the protagonist and the victim’s point of view. Most serial killer stories or true-crime stories are about the M.O. of the serial killer, or it’s a journalist tracking a story or a detective trying to get their guy wrapped in a mystery. This is really just a raw experience of this girl living in a carefree world, having no idea that her world is about to be turned upside down by this ominous white van and the lengths this guy is going to go to capture her.

Honestly, at some point, if a girl was like, “A man in a white van keeps following me,” I would start questioning it a little bit. The parents were definitely—I guess it was a different time.

SKEELS: It was!

It was before all the podcasts came out!

SKEELS: It was definitely before the podcast generation. It was before 911. It was before missing persons on milk cartons.

WOLFE: It was a small town.

SKEELS: The last thing on any parent’s mind was any kind of danger. While doing research and talking with the police department at the time, it was a small town with one sheriff, and they said, “Our biggest fear was getting the ‘town drunk’ home on a Friday night. That was our level of crime.”

WOLFE: Not to mention, Annie, especially at the beginning of the film, before she has her coming-of-age moment, has a tendency to exaggerate a little bit or tell a couple of fibs for attention or whatever the reason. I think between a combination of those things, busy parents…

SKEELS: “The girl who cried wolf” is certainly a little bit of a theme to it.

Filming the Final Action Sequence Took 14 Months

Madison and Brec, you have a thrilling final segment of this film where I was watching it, and it was the first time I was like, “Oh my god, I need you to run! Just move!” Can you talk about filming that final portion and the action sequences?

BASSINGER: That particular process took 14 months with time between. We actually re-shot the ending. It was a couple of night shoots, some people on roofs, some stunt doubles. That was one of my favorite nights on set, specifically the reshoot, because we were in Florida, where the movie is based, for the first time. Pairing what we filmed 12 months prior and trying to make it a seamless transition as an actor was a really fun challenge.

WOLFE: I remember the first portion of that sequence. I don’t want to give too much away, but getting into the house and getting into the parents’ bedroom space—that was in the original shoot. I remember the first take of running up the stairs and running into the bedroom. My heart was pumping.

BASSINGER: It wasn’t even acting, it was so intense.

WOLFE: We hyped ourselves up so much and ran so far just so we could get that energy. The whole thing was great and so intense.

BASSINGER: Also, having someone with such high energy to work off of definitely helped me. Immediately, she had tears flowing. I’m like, “Okay, Brec, let’s go!” [Laughs]

SKEELS: I think just the gamesmanship of them of being so game and so ready to take that on, especially with Madison, it was just such a breath of fresh air to have on set. And Brec being ready to go, like, “Let’s jump in, let’s do this. I’m ready.” We had some weather issues when we were filming the original. There was some hurricane stuff going on, so we weren’t able to finish the production of the film the way we wanted to. We decided to cut the film and come back and shoot the ending at a later date. That’s how we got to that.

BASSINGER: I love that commitment. Y’all wanted to get the best ending, the best film out there. So when y’all reached out about reshoots, I was like, “They are doing everything to make this the best movie possible,” which is awesome to be a part of.

That final scene, especially when you’re at the door, and the door opens…

WOLFE: It gives me chills just thinking about it.

I was like, “Close the door and run!”

Sean Astin and Ali Larter Pass on Industry Wisdom
Image via ABC

Let’s talk about working with Ali Larter and Sean Astin. Those are two pretty big names in the industry. As young actors, did you guys get any advice from them? How was that experience working with them?

WARREN: Just watching them act is super cool, and you learn a lot from watching and seeing how they do it.

WOLFE: Hearing Ali’s stories of her amazing career and being a woman growing up in the industry was super cool. One thing that I remember being a huge takeaway from both of them, but particularly Ali, is always having a voice. There’s time to be like,“Oh, I had this idea,” or, “Can I try it this way?” Asking those questions, giving those suggestions. There’s nothing wrong with that.

SKEELS: That’s great when you have that talent who wants to bring something to the table until you don’t have time, and then you’re like, “Okay, we gotta move on. We gotta go!” I’ve finally come to realize that I don’t know anybody, on any set, who ever said, “We just had all the time in the world.” Except, I will say, Sean was talking about filming Lord of the Rings, and he was talking about how “We did one page or half-a-page a day.” I was like, “Oh my god, to be in that world. To have that luxury!”

Image via New Line Cinema

It sounds like a luxury even to hear about him filming Lord of the Rings. That was many story times, I’m sure.

SKEELS: He’s such a legend.

WOLFE: He’s such a dad! He’s such a storyteller.

WARREN: He has so many stories to tell. It’s awesome.

SKEELS: He was great, especially for you guys. I was working with the cinematographer, trying to get everything set up, working them and everything. I’d leave them for a little bit, and I’d come back and Sean is holding court, telling the story about the good old days of making Lord of the Rings. It was fun.

That sounds amazing. I probably need to be in a film with him now. If you are into true crime, is there one mystery or cold case that you need an answer to?

SKEELS: I just want to jump in and say that the serial killer in our story, 44 years later, they’re working cold cases right now in Florida and California, like five different counties. They believe he’s responsible for many more victims out there. It’s really creepy. I have ongoing conversations with the detectives. The one thing that they have actually said to me, in terms of being able to spread any kind of word out there, is, if there’s anybody out there who has a missing family relative, go get their DNA because they pull from that. Last year, they were able to identify one of the Jane Doe’s in our story who was buried on the property in Weeki Wachee, Florida. They were able to identify her and find closure for her sister, who’s in her 60s now. That’s kind of a special story.

That’s how they caught the Golden State killer, too.

SKEELS: By the way, that’s an amazing TV series—I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, HBO.

You don’t need to tell me about that. I cry every time I think about that.

Related ‘I’ll Be Gone in the Dark’ Review: HBO’s Chilling True Crime Series Is Moving But Bittersweet Liz Garbus’ six-part HBO series shines a light on Michelle McNamara’s dark obsession with the Golden State Killer.

JACKSON: I was obsessed with this show called Missing on Netflix about people who go missing, and they still, to this day, don’t know what happened to them. It’s really crazy to think about that. Somebody could really be here one day and then just gone, and you just don’t know where they’re at. I’m definitely a true crime girl. I love those types of documentaries. I’m always on that type of time.

BASSINGER: There’s a podcast called Be Heard about this boy, Dammion Heard. There are a lot of questions around what happened to him, and I have some personal ties to him and his family, so that one is very close to my heart. It’s a wonderful podcast, and I highly recommend listening to it if you like true crime.

I’ll check it out. Since we’re at Comic-Con, I have a general question. If you could walk on the floor and be amongst the people, what costume or cosplay would you love to wear?

JACKSON: For me, probably Joker. It’s simple, it’s straight to the point, you know exactly who he is, it’s not doing too much, and he’s a crazy guy. Definitely Joker.

BASSINGER: I saw someone yesterday with one of those giant T. rex costumes, and it’s on my bucket list to wear one of those. I just wanna be a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Image via Comic-Con

WOLFE: I have no idea. This is my first time at Comic-Con, so I would love to walk in no costume and see things.

SKEELS: I wonder what I might look like in a Stargirl costume.

WARREN: I also do not have an answer to that. I would have to think really hard about that.

The Man in the White Van is slated for a wide theatrical release on October 11.

Image via Legion M