Set in a post-apocalyptic future, O’Dessa is an original rock opera about a farm girl (Sadie Sink) on an epic quest to recover a cherished family heirloom. Her journey leads her to a strange and dangerous city where she meets her one true love – but in order to save his soul, she must put the power of destiny and song to the ultimate test.
Written and directed by the award-winning Geremy Jasper (Patti Cake$), O’Dessa is set to electrify screens this week with its unique blend of dystopian visuals and distinct soundscape. Following its premiere at this year’s SXSW Film & TV Festival, our Peter Gray spoke with the filmmaker about his two decade process to tell this story, the inspiration behind the film itself, and which members of his ensemble cast surprised him the most.
I believe that O’Dessa has been a 20-year in the making project for you? How has this film grown for you, from that very first seedling to what we see now?
It’s interesting. I think at the core of it, the seed is there. The seed of the idea is there. It still lives in the finish product. Lots of the details, lots of the plot…those things change, but the essence of what it is feels the same. The character, in many ways, still feels the same. It started with the idea of O’Dessa as a character, and at that stage she didn’t have a name. She didn’t have a backstory. She had a haircut and a guitar.
And there was a world that was this desolate dream, but the world she was wandering in felt dangerous. But there were no other details. It took years and years and years to kind of create these backstories and details of what it was. So it’s hard to really get my head around how much of that change mutated and morphed through the process of making something. But it’s cool to see. I found an early sketch of a cartoon that I had done of O’Dessa when she was nameless, and it looks like what’s on the screen now. So that’s good to see.
The visual aesthetic here is so beautifully weird. Were there any specific inspirations behind that and how you approached creating this world?
Yeah, there were a lot of different influences. From like (Alejandro) Jodorowsky films and (Federico) Fellini, to album covers from the 60s and 70s, like those weird psychedelic, other worldly records. Pink Floyd and those kind of things, but just all mushed together. You then have this idea of what you want it to look and feel like, and then the reality of being able to build it is a different story. And very challenging. We scouted all over the States, and then ended up in Croatia. We were looking in Eastern Europe before that, and then ended up in Croatia and creating this world through, you know, if we use this alley over and then build this on top of it and over here…it’s a lot of movie magic as to how to build this other worldly place, whilst still feeling grounded in our own world.
Were there any societal or environmental factors that shaped the dystopia that we see? Anything specific to emphasize this world?
Yeah. I don’t know if it was specific, but I wanted to get into this world having its own version of pollution. We’re used to seeing smoke stacks and oil slicks and all that in dystopian films, so this one would have its own version of that. The perversion of nature would be, instead of it being blackened, it’s become sort of psychedelic. It’s become completely natural. The ground turns to a really bold purple. It feels like everything in shot is infrared, and there’s a toxicity about everything. It makes it more of a fantasy world.
It really adds to the rock opera-ness of it all. And with that, did you find that music was easy to integrate into the story? Does it inform the narrative? Or vice-versa?
The songs are the building blocks of the story, always. They’re at the core of what is essential to the characters. I always build characters through music and sounds and lyrics. I lay out my approach to the film as if it’s one big concept album. You’re going to put songs in certain places. You’re going to have a ballad here, and this one going’s to have the heavy riff, and this one’s going to be really soft and gentle, and this one’s going to be orchestrated. I’m always playing around with where (songs) go. The music is essential.
As you were (asking), I would write for a couple of months and then I’d go into the studio, and I’d write a song before swinging back to the screenplay. They were constantly influencing each other, but I wasn’t doing both at the same time. It’s a very different headspace to be in screenwriting mode. I’d get kind of burnt, but then I’d go into the studio and it’s kind of like a holiday. Making music in those early stages, it started to make the film feel real. I could start to see it. I could hear it like it took on another dimension beyond words on a page.
As a screenwriter and songwriter, you obviously have a certain ownership in that, but then you’re giving that away to your cast. And then looking at this cast, you have Sadie Sink, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Regina Hall, Murray Bartlett…did they bring things to these characters that even you weren’t expecting?
Absolutely. They all did. But the two that really jump out at me are Kelvin as Euri and Murray Bartlett. Kelvin brought certain depth, melancholy, sweetness, darkness, and a sensuality that wasn’t initially written. (Euri) was written more as a tragic live wire. Like a burnt out kind of Iggy Pop character. And Kelvin just added all this nuance and humanity, and that’s what you want. And also his singing style. I would demo the songs for Euri to sing, and I’m more of a yeller. Like a garage rock, punk rock background. And that’s not Kelvin’s style. He would get on there and sing it his way, and it was amazing. I would never be able to sound like that, or even imagine that the song could feel like this. So he put his own interesting twist (on it). He really made the character his, which is what you want.
And the same with Murray as Plutonovich. That was such a character waiting for an actor to embody them and bring detail and nuance and strangeness and complexity. So I didn’t really know what that actor was going to be like, and then I met Murray and he really got the project. He was really excited about the character, and he just brought all these weird, interesting, detailed ideas and backstory to the character that I loved. He just thought so deeply about it that the character morphed. The character changed. The character had become a different force for the better. Yeah, you spend years writing and writing, but you can’t quite grasp what it is until a human being embodies it.
Well he definitely embodied it in the best way possible. I hope that when I speak to you next I can say how much Murray Bartlett’s performance has stayed in the same way as Danielle Macdonald’s has in Patti Cake$. Seeing him in that suit and the auto-tune? It was kind of incredible. Thank you for taking the time today to talk about the film. Seeing originality on screen at the moment too is such a pleasure, so I look forward to seeing what’s up next.
Thank you so much. You’re awesome. Thank you.
O’Dessa is available to stream on Disney+ in Australia and on Hulu in the United States from March 20th, 2025.
