Writer-director Joe Maggio didn’t mean to take 20 years to make Bliss, the sequel to his 2001 directorial feature debut, Virgil Bliss. In fact, he didn’t initially set out to make a sequel at all. Chalking it up to, in his words, “the arrogance of youth,” the director had no interest in repeating himself. Indeed, after making its rounds on the festival circuit, Maggio was offered a sizable budget to remake Virgil Bliss — “If you’ve seen [the film], you’ll know it’s shot on a little consumer, miniDV camera; it looks and sounds pretty rough.” — and yet, he declined, eager to focus on telling new stories, not wanting to look back. Even when Clint Jordan, who plays the titular Virgil Bliss, suggested revisiting the character throughout the years, the idea, per Maggio, just never felt right.

“And then, this most recent time — it was 2021 — he said it, and I was like, ‘Yes! What have we been thinking? Why haven’t we done this?'” Maggio said in our Zoom interview ahead of Bliss’s Slamdance 2024 premiere. “It was suddenly really compelling to me, this idea of exploring what has happened to this guy over the course of all these years. There was so much potential there that I had never really considered. It was just too rich of a story, too rich of a character to not explore further.”

Virgil Bliss sees Virgil newly released from prison and vowing to become a better person, starting with securing a stable job and finding a wife. However, options are limited for ex-convicts, and, in short, a man ends up dead because of him. As such, he skips town. Bliss finds Virgil still on the run (and now going by “Dwayne”) 20 years later, living off the grid with his girlfriend and fellow opioid addict, Amy (Faryl Amadeus). One night, Dwayne discovers Amy has died of an accidental overdose, and buries her in her favorite spot in the desert. Things grow more complicated when Amy’s devout Christian twin sister, Jo (also played by Amadeus), shows up at Dwayne’s doorstep, wondering where her sister is and refusing to leave.

Finding Their Synergy as a Trio of Writers

“Us collaborating became sort of a lifeline,” Amadeus said as she recalled developing the story of Bliss with Maggio and Jordan while also navigating the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions it placed on film productions. A writer and director herself — she, in fact, directed Jordan in her debut short film, Mary Meet Grace — she leaned on the “epic three-hour-long phone calls” that the trio frequently had to discuss the story. “It was such a joy to create with people at a time when we were all just so alone.”

Watching Bliss, the movie definitely feels like COVID cinema, but without COVID: other than the few (and brief) scenes at the ranch where Dwayne is employed and the closing scene at a church, the film takes place primarily in a single location, and Amadeus and Jordan are virtually the only actors we ever see. Since Dwayne and Amy live in the desert, there’s an overarching feeling of isolation; we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere with two characters who are each trying to get something from the other while also harboring dark secrets.

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Of course, this is where the film’s soul comes from. There’s obvious trust between the two actors (and Maggio, for that matter) when you see them on-screen in Bliss — listening to them talk and bounce off each other in our interview confirmed it — and they’re fearless, going head-to-head as two flawed characters who, despite their diametrically opposing experiences and values, somehow meet in the middle. Amadeus and Jordan effectively bare their hearts, both to each other and to us.

“We understood that this was going to be cathartic for the three of us, and if it succeeded on that level, we were successful,” said Jordan. “It was a beautiful process because we had been so isolated before — it just felt like coming up for air.”

Portraying Religion Without Judgment

Of course, there are moments when Bliss isn’t the easiest to watch, not because it shocks or provokes, but because it’s a movie that will make you confront your own beliefs (even your own prejudices) and test your willingness to lean into a story. Virgil Bliss held a mirror to the flaws in America’s criminal justice system and how very few resources — and, by extension, opportunities — are available for those who leave prison wanting to actually turn themselves around. In a similar vein, Maggio, Jordan, and Amadeus’ script will make you think hard about religion.

The official synopsis of the film describes Jo as a “holy roller sister,” which is immediately evident when you first see her on-screen, wearing a deep purple dress (long sleeves and hem, of course), with a gold chain crucifix hanging delicately around her neck. She also prays whenever Dwayne leaves the house, and offers her gratitude to God when he returns home safely. Later on, without spoiling anything, there’s a pivotal interrogation between Dwayne and Jo, as the latter reaches a boiling point in her search for her sister. Her faith in this scene is shadowed by self-righteousness, and it’s tempting to write her off as crazy or overzealous.

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“If you’ve grown up in America or the West, your life has been so informed by Judeo-Christian iconography and narratives,” Maggio said, adding that he, Jordan, and Amadeus discussed heavily how to approach religion in the film’s context. “Jo is rooted and steeped in Christian iconography, but [the film] transcends that. This isn’t a Christian movie; this is a movie about people enduring hardship.”

Watch this space for information about the wider release of Bliss.