The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick
Writer / film director Pete Ohs is keeping his unique filmmaking summons alive with a radical of talented performer for the musical style - bending dead body horror pic , The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick . Ohs has enjoy a firm rise in recognition in the earth of indie filmmaking since his feature introduction withthe Julia Garner - starringsci - fi phantasy filmEverything Beautiful is Far Awayin 2017 , bear since helm the witness protection dramedyYoungstown , the dark comedy thrillerJethica , which also previously premiered at SXSW , and the surreal comedyLove and workplace .
The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tickreunites Ohs with frequent collaborator Callie Hernandez , as well asCreature Commandos ' Zoë Chao , Sistas ' James Cusati - Moyer andZolaco - author Jeremy O. Harris , all of whom are also credit as co - writer on the pic . The story centers on Chao ’s Yvonne , a woman who trip to her friend Camille ’s remote country home after a tragic accident in an elbow grease to escape the anxieties of the metropolis , only for a check bite to result in distressful symptoms , and Camille ’s other two friends , AJ and Isaac , creating a flaky experience for them all .
In honor of the film ’s SXSW 2025 premiere , ScreenRantinterviewed Pete Ohs , Callie Hernandez , Zoë Chao , James Cusati - Moyer , and Jeremy O. Harris to discussThe rightful looker of Being Bitten by a Tick . The group break down their unique approach to put together the film , including how they rend from their own existential fear as millennials and real - cosmos dynamics to determine their character . They also divvy up their hopes for the movie ’s creatively fluid development process to inspire other vernal filmmakers , while Chao also addressed the possibility of her DC Universe future .
Warning : Mild SPOILERS lie in onwards for The True Beauty of Being burn by a Tick !
Ohs Always Approaches His Creative Teams With A Freeing Mentality
“I’m A Big Believer In Not Trying, Like The Yoda-Type Thing…”
In putting togetherThe unfeigned Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick , Ohs turned to a process he ’s utilize over the retiring few years , referred to as the " tabular array of bubbles " , which he depict as being " a really efficient fashion " to make a moving picture as he and his crew get to " leapfrog over a bunch of logistic vault " . This appendage begins by"starting from the localisation " in which the production will take place , which in this face come from a house Hernandez was " renting specifically with the purpose of making a clump of flick . "
From there , Ohs and Hernandez found themselves immediately plunge in " a quick miniskirt - interpretation of the flick " , in which Yvonne and the hearing " see the nature " , " go on a walk through a field " and then " do ticking checks " , as"you become cognisant of the fact that every step in nature is a risk of exposure you are taking that could ruin the rest of your life " . This , Ohs enjoin , became " the seed of the story " and one of the master aspiration for the rest of it .
SXSW may have big premieres but it also features an array of cinema with unique premises that have the potential to be young classic .
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He then blend in on to infuse his own " experiential millennial terror " intoThe True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick ’s characters , which he identify as being both " scary " and an important part of " the nature of making fine art " . " If you ’re being present , and you ’re fetch yourself to it , the affair you ’re live , without even you stress , become part of it . "
Ohs also saysone of the main mentalities he has during his productions is a " Yoda - case thing of , ' Do or do not , there is no try . ' " , in which he does n’t " endeavor to be funny " or " try out to be cool " , but alternatively just showed up and made " a movie about being afraid of ticks and the metaphorical implications that brings . "
In reflecting on putting together hisTickcreative mathematical group , Ohs acknowledge that there were " lots of different reason " he happen himself drawn to those sit with him at the tabular array in our consultation , expressing his hold for " when thing are holistic " and essentially bet for " people that are around who by nature palpate good . " Rather than hold auditions or sorting through options , Ohs or else bump himself " asking the macrocosm " who he should team with for the picture , immediately being drawn to Hernandez after their preceding great experience , while Cusati - Moyer really came from Harris recommending him .
The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick is a 2025 film in which Yvonne visits her friend Camille’s rural home to escape a disturbing event. Accompanied by A.J. and Isaac, they promise a serene weekend until Yvonne’s tick bite unveils unsettling realities beneath the idyllic facade.
Chao rise to be something of an interesting outlier for the chemical group , not only because it was her first team with everyone , but also because the original , nameless actor Ohs had speak with had to pull out of the output due to scheduling , which the filmmaker assures has not impacted their relationship .
The director praised the conversation he and theAfterpartyalum had , in which he " tried to be as fair as possible about what I ’m doing , why I ’m doing it " and she " described what she wanted to do " , ascertain that it " aligned with the thing we were doing " , and feeling for him as though the universe told him , " this is live on to be the group of people making this movie . "
The Cast All Had Their Own Unique Means Of Creating Their Characters
“It Takes A Second To Earn Trust…”
When it came to collaborating with Ohs to grow their characters and the movie ’s story , Hernandez , Harris and Cusati - Moyer all had unequalled intentions for what they wanted to fetch to the table . For Hernandez , she describes wanting her fictitious character , Camille , " to feel kind of otherworldly " and that she sees her as " an foreign creature " in her mind , while also having pitched Ohs the melodic theme of her being " a biodynamic interior designer " , which " made him laugh " and she get word " express joy is a good sign " to uphold to boom her construct .
Harris similarly found a more humourous angle to determining who Isaac was in the film , ashe come back becoming enamored with the real estate in the area they were filming in , which even led to him having a funny experience with a local federal agent . " I got up there , and I was like , ' Whoa , these houses are nice , ' " Harris share . " I intend really , psychotically obsessed with the genuine estate , I was on Zillow . I arrive a walkthrough of a household up there by this actual estate agent who I think consider I was really going to buy one . I was n’t . [ Chuckles ] "
Cusati - Moyer start by praising Ohs for having " advance us to do whatever we need " as they embarked on " this experiment that we want to try . " Initially discover his desire for a sense of " simplicity " with both the production and his character , AJ , particularly as he infused his erotic love of preparation and " appreciation and knowledge of the natural world , herbs , plants around me",he also equate his and Harris ' characters to the leads of a darling and Oscar - name LGBTQ+-focused moving picture :
I was thinking if we were in partnership , I was thinking about The tyke Are All correct . I was like , " Okay , well , if Jeremy ’s more the Annette Bening [ character ] and a doctor , then I have to be the Julianne Moore variation , who wants to take off a planting business , or landscape gardening business . " That ’s how I saw us , almost two lesbians . [ Laughs ]
With Chao being the newcomer to the group , the champion call up her character ’s electric arc having " really mimicked my own experience in this movie",for which she ultimately decided to use as " come in like an foreigner " was very parallel to Yvonne ’s storyline . " I did n’t recognise what our chemistry or dynamic was go to be , " Chao expounded . " I ’d never worked on a Pete Ohs pic before , and actually did n’t have it off when I could really get down my precaution . It takes a second base to make trustingness , but it quickly became evident that these are trustworthy people , and I was dependable , but it was really fun to use what was useable to me . "
She go on to recall how she was " so take by James ' stunner " that she sought to learn about his skin care and body regimen for succeed suit , in which he would include a " shot of olive oil in my coffee " . Unfortunately for Chao , she " straight off felt ill for about 14 hours " and Hernandez was the first to pick out such , expect her co - maven if she was fine , to which Chao , laughing while call up the narration , responded , " You do n’t know me that well , but I ’m not . I ’m really not okay . "
Despite the soreness she felt during this time , though , Chao actually found a bright consequence from the situation as she compared it to a point in the film in which Yvonne falls into a nine - calendar month - long sleep , with the sensation feeling as though she " was in a raw world with these new people . “She did acknowledge that she " was still exorcise the demon out of me " that was her fright , and that it was " dotty that it informed , subconsciously , what would be Yvonne ’s arc . "
The Movie’s Dinner Scene Is Where Everyone’s Dynamic Clicked
“…[Pete] Was Lowering Us Into The Pace Of This Film.”
One of the first major scene in which we see the group act as together comes within the first 15 minutes ofThe True dish of Being Bitten by a Tick , in which Yvonne , Camille , AJ , and Isaac divvy up an awkwardly quiet dinner party before playing some parlor games . This is the prospect in which the stars all quickly click into the dynamics of their characters , peculiarly as Ohs kept delivering the group the notation that be " dumb and slower and slower and even slower " , which Cusati - Moyer recalls leading to fortune of " giggling " , particularly since it was done late at night :
" I think that experience of the note , we all sort of feel a bit high as we were sit around there filming it , " Cusati - Moyer describes . " all of a sudden , we sit down there , and our brain switch , and the new neural pathways to put down in this tick movie made sense and lock in in , and we were take fun . But that sort of slight humor in the back of our brains , or that engagement as an doer to not , as they say in the UK , corpse — to not laugh during a take , to not break up . you could see it , Callie has a minuscule bit of a grinning . I ’m about to snap up when I ’m talking about zucchini , but that landed us in the house all together for me . "
Hernandez also share her thinking on filming the view as being Ohs ' means of " lour us into the yard of this film " , which she describes as being"actually an solely different universe with its own musical rhythm " and " its own timeframes . “Harris also celebrated when he watched the view in the final film as he not only feel that it was " authored by Pete " , " in nastiness of even our protests " , but that he could still feel his co - stars ' work as atomic number 27 - author and " was so fun to witness " while watching the movie .
Yvonne & Camille’s Backstory Twist Was Also A Surprise For Chao & Hernandez
“I’m Actually Really Glad We Didn’t Know.”
As the getaway continues , and tensions commence to rise among the group , it ’s revealed that Yvonne and Camille have a deeper backstory than just a conventional friendship , which is itself a spot of tension for the former as she oblige regret for her action . audience are n’t the only one who might be surprised by this sudden secret plan crook , as both Chao and Hernandez did n’t know there was a deep backstory for them both , and did n’t learn it " until halfway through the scene . "
alternatively , Chao reveals that she and Hernandez call back a very different amorous dynamic was in the kit and caboodle , duringTick ’s plot of ground in the form of AJ and Camille , which led to the former having " this moment of panic " after see they had n’t lay clue to it before . However , she then explained thatYvonne ’s reaction to encyclopedism of AJ and Isaac ostensibly live with Camille is a clue in and of itself , as her persona thinks she ’s go to " an sure-enough , trusted , important someone in her animation alone " , and finding them there is " this treachery " to her , which Chao notes is " already within the vocabulary between them " due to their past times .
Cusati - Moyer also take distinction of another succession earlier in the first dinner tantrum between them , in which Yvonne notice to Camille that the latter always told her she " never wanted nestling " , only to now see the " blow of that . " Chao was quick to check and note that , even though her acting process has been to " know everything that ’s get before and everything that ’s coming after " , the twist was one in which " If you ’re really attached , and all the collaborators are in , then there are things that are being planted that you do n’t even really know until you name it . "
Ohs run on to explain that part of the appendage for craft this twist was the fluid glide slope he and the team take to making the film , liken it to " you enter a room with a bunch of open doors , and as you make decisions , door penny-pinching . " The grouping very advisedly kept in intellect that"if we had made a determination that would ’ve come together that door " about their relationship , " then that option ’s no longer open to us " , and instead wanted to check that they could " still go through that threshold . "
Harris & Cusati-Moyer’s Dynamic Has Been Building For The Better Part Of A Decade
“We’ve Always Joked That We Were Husbands.”
While Yvonne and Camille ’s history is a surprisal reveal latterly in the film , AJ and Isaac ’s moral force is something of an evolving rollercoaster throughoutThe lawful Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick . The duo can be look being excessively affectionate with each other one import , while the next they are either coldly casual or spending a surprising amount of time with someone else on screen , keeping viewers intrigued alongside the wide equivocal atmosphere of the pic .
For Harris and Cusati - Moyer , working onTickis something of a unique venture as they have known each other going back to Summer 2016 , when they became booster after meeting while on a shimmer , with the former saying they ’ve " always joked that we were husbands " , while the latter take down that now Harris is engaged , they are " ex - husbands . " Cusati - Moyer would go on to explain thathe and Harris are very dissimilar from their eccentric in the motion picture , particularly as the latter has " a unlike way of socially move through the world " , but praise the differences as " beautiful " , while also playing into their character .
" That naturally create , onscreen for these characters , a turn of tension or difference of opinion , " Cusati - Moyer explained . " And yet , AJ is in Isaac ’s lap just angle against his head , carving an apple . There ’s a consolation they ’ve found , and they ’ve come up their home , their biodynamic relationship up there . "
As an integral part of queer culture , many horror movies and TV shows survive that provide positive LGBTQ+ theatrical performance and storylines .
Harris would go on to look up back to Ohs ' mention of ensuring that no door were closed in the creative process , make particular short letter of how he and Cusati - Moyer sought to depict a farseeing - term gay couple living upstate . The playwright / star study note of the fact that there is a " sort of off - stage Grecian calamity " happening for many alike couples the duo know in real animation , which became an influence on them to " attempt to lay out a complex and nuanced faggot couple without making it too loud " , as he believes " some thing are more fun if they ’re get out unspoken . "
Both Harris and Cusati - Moyer specifically manoeuvre to a scene in which AJ and Isaac host a barbecue party at their domicile and have a humble mathematical group of friends over , including a character played by Jack Ferver , who Isaac can be seen physically cozying up to . The duo recalled " having playfulness with some of that complexness " in what that specific dynamic was , and how they hoped to bring up questions in the audiences ' mind of " Do they care each other ? " , " Do they detest each other ? " and " Are they just anchor to their real estate , and that ’s the only reason they ’re together ? " .
" And it ’s only something I could have done with him because he is someone that I trust , " Harris extol . " I recollect we mention similar dynamics . But one of the great moments of being friends with James was ease up him a while of textual matter for my first project at Yale and saying , ' Will you interpret this out loud to me ? I just want to see if the rhythm makes sentiency . ' If you have it off the way my play look , they ’re compose in a very specific room . For me , I write like I speak , and I hear it , or I write as the eccentric talk , and I hear them speaking when I ’m writing it , but sometimes I require to try someone do it . And he ’s one of the only actors who ’s ever pick it up cold and read on the button how I show it , and it was really amazing . "
Cusati - Moyer also praised Harris ' writing on that especial free rein he ’s referring to , noting it ’s " rare to find school text so easy in your oral fissure and in your body " as that of said undertaking . He also celebrate his on-going creative human relationship with Harris as being " the big natural endowment and wages " given that they " understand each other " and " face out for each other " and " conceive in the other mortal . "
The Group Has A Few Big Hopes For What Viewers Take From The Film
“I Would Love For Them To Reflect On The Power Of Fear.”
With the movie offer everything from an uncomfortable physical structure repulsion thriller to a deep suburban story , reflexion on millennial existentialist philosophy , meaningful queer couples and complete originative control condition , there ’s certainly a lot for viewers to take away fromThe honest peach of Being Bitten by a Tick . For Ohs , his biggest hope is for audiences to " think over on the power of fear " , point to the movie ’s composition of " how it controls us and ruins our lives " , that it " stops us from doing the safe things " and " makes us do the bad things " , while also think that " We need to be mindful of it so we can act in thoughtful ways . "
With the Oscars now over , we look ahead to the buzziest movies come out in field and on cyclosis this springiness , and will also premier at SXSW .
Both Chao and Harris also looked on a wide scale for how they want the moving-picture show to make an impact , though from a creative perspective more so than a thematic one . The former hoped audiences would " bump your collaborators and make things with them " , while also countenance themselves to " relieve yourself of insistency or expectations " and recall their days when they were younger and " the stakes were low . "
Harris expounded on that with his delight at the appendage he and Ohs have utilise now for multiple labor , denoting that they ’ve gotten them made " not because we are so much farther advanced than any young soul " , but rather that"we just said yes , and then give into our impulses . “He went on to point out the multiple movies that have been released in the past few years that Ohs has been a part of and how he wantsTickto inspire " five young people , or two young people , to go out and do the same " :
He ’s exalt three films that have premiere at major pic fete around the world . This process has exalt and actuate different things for three film that exist in the world now . Callie ’s award - winning Invention that was at Locarno ; Obeks , which was just at Sundance ; and now , this movie . I think there ’s a real risk right now where people sense very left behind by the motion picture industry , and I think that he has created some sub communion table for people who want to join him and not make [ films ] to make a billion dollars , to make sempiternal capital , but to truly explore and enrich ourselves in each other by asking head with collaborators that have n’t been asked in the same way before .
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The genuine Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tickpremiered at SXSW on March 7 , and is presently awaiting attainment by a distributor .
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The reliable Beauty of Being bite by a Tick is a 2025 celluloid in which Yvonne visits her Quaker Camille ’s rural habitation to escape a perturbing event . Accompanied by A.J. and Isaac , they forebode a serene weekend until Yvonne ’s check bite unveils unsettling realism beneath the idyllic frontal .
