IT’S TRICKY TO MAKE A MOVIE APPEAR, AND WRITER-DIRECTOR-ACTOR KATIE ASELTON ENDURED A LONG WAIT TO UNVEIL MAGIC HOUR
By Butch Maier
On streamers
Magic Hour
Starring:Katie Aselton, Daveed Diggs
Story: Erin and Charlie escape to the desert to navigate an unexpected and challenging phase of their relationship.
In the movie industry, “magic hour” is the time shortly after sunrise or just before sunset when the sun is below the horizon. Filmmakers often plan their schedules around shooting scenes during this window to capture soft, warm, and romantic light, in between day and night. The in-between time of a relationship is the focus of Magic Hour, a drama from Katie Aselton. The director and actor, who stars in the picture with Daveed Diggs, co-wrote the script with husband Mark Duplass. Aselton shared on Zoom details about her seven-year journey to get the movie made and released in select theaters this year.
Coastal Virginia Magazine: Magic Hour is such a beautiful movie—both in the visuals and the story. I understand you and Mark conceived the story on a road trip while voice recording your ideas. What was the initial spark of that conversation?
Katie Aselton: “Well, first off, thank you so much for saying that you liked it. I appreciate that. And the impetus for this was I was just craving—it had been a long time. This was 2019, so it had been seven years since my last movie, and I was just craving it. I think we’re always trying to go back and capture that feeling that we had making The Puffy Chair (2005), and I think whenever we’re too far away from our north star, it just keeps pulling us back. And so, it was a New Year’s conversation, and he said, ‘What do you want from this year?’ And I was like, ‘I’ve gotta make a movie.’ So, as just happens sometimes—we’re always developing things together and pitching ideas to each other—most of our conversations are just us generating ideas. But sometimes those ideas just work. It just falls off the truck and just snowballs into something that we can really see happening. And this is what this was. I had turned on my Notes app and did a voice-to-text, and I have the entire document here on my phone, which is wild to me. So, the process of fleshing out the script was very easy. And then the process of making the movie, as often is, got very hard. Casting the movie was a tricky thing. Then I got another movie to direct in the meantime, so this got shelved. Global pandemics happened. It became one of the longest journeys we have ever had as filmmakers. Normally, I feel like we move very fast, and this was 2019 to 2023. And then, even while we were shooting it, it got slowed down by the strikes, we didn’t finish our shooting until 2024, [it played at] South By [Southwest] in 2025, and here we are in 2026.”
CVM: How much, if any, did you and Mark draw from real life to write the tense moments that wound up onscreen?
Aselton: “For the really tense stuff, we drew on life, but it was drawing on our own relationship and, I think, our clutching to it. We speak very openly about the pride we have for our codependence, and how much we love it and are grateful for it, ultimately, even though there’s such a negative connotation to the idea and the concept. And so, for the really hard stuff, though, we really drew upon our worst fears, and that’s where our imagination really kicked in.”
CVM: Did you get emotional while writing it?
Aselton: “Sure. Oh my god. I will never forget. Mark was like, ‘Let me take a pass at the last scene.’ And I remember exactly where I was when I read it, and I was just sobbing. It was really tough.”
CVM: How well did you know Daveed before casting him?
Aselton: “I didn’t.”
CVM: What was it about him that convinced you he was the right person for the role of Charlie?
Aselton: “I loved Hamilton like everyone loves Hamilton. And then, I swear to god, I am not a woo-woo person, but when I talk about this movie, I sound like I am deeply spiritual. I swear to god, it was like a universe thing. Because I saw him when Mark and I were at the SAG Awards, soon after we wrote it. And Daveed was sitting at a table with my manager. And I looked over, and I was like, ‘Mark, Daveed would be an incredible Charlie.’ And so I text my manager, ‘What is Daveed like?’ Because I’m not gonna cast an a——. Truthfully.”
CVM: (Laughs.)
Aselton: “And so, she was like, ‘Oh my god, he is the nicest human being on the planet.’ I was like, ‘Of course he is.’ I was like, ‘Don’t you think he would make an amazing Charlie?’ And she goes, ‘Yeah, except for he is on Snowpiercer [the TNT television series], which shoots 10 months out of the year in Vancouver.’ And I was like, ‘Ahhhh!’ So, I always had him at the top of my list. He was not available. I took some other swings at some other actors, and for one reason or another, it doesn’t work out. And every time I was putting out these offers, I was like, ‘It doesn’t feel right.’ Nothing lit me up. Nothing excited me like Daveed did, even though I had never met him. There was just something about his look. He is so kind. And casting Charlie, I think, was so specific in that you just had to be heartbroken by him. Time goes by, time goes by, time goes by. Finally, the beginning of 2023, and I’m like, ‘Damn it! I’m making this movie! This year! I’m doing it!’ CAA and ICM, the two biggest agencies, had just merged. Someone on our team calls, and they said, ‘Wild thing. I just jumped onboard Daveed Diggs’ team. You know, he just finished Snowpiercer, and I feel, doing a Duplassy-type movie would be so cool for him.’”
CVM: And you’re like, “First off, it’s not Duplassy—it’s my movie.”
Aselton: “Exactly. It’s an Aselton movie. And so, we immediately sent him what we had for a script. He loved it. I sat down and met with him. I was like, ‘He is amazing.’ And then I said, ‘Mark, you should meet him, too.’ We all went to dinner, and Mark said we had just enough chemistry, Daveed and I, that made Mark a little uncomfortable. (Laughs.) And so, he was like, ‘It’s exactly the right move. You gotta go for it.’”
CVM: (Laughs.) Just enough, but not too much.
Aselton: “Exactly.”
CVM: How were you able to effectively juggle your roles of writer, director, and actor for this movie? And in what ways does it speed up the process or slow down the process to have one person doing three jobs?
Aselton: “Interesting. I think it slows down preproduction because it requires so many conversations. It requires so much preparation with your cinematographer, with your AD [assistant director], with the producers. You need everyone who is behind the camera to know exactly what you want those scenes to look like, feel like, be like. So, in the moment, I get to just be an actor. And the truth is, once we’re all there, and once we’re all on set…I’m stealing this line from someone else, but it was so good: There is no director, writer—everyone’s just a storyteller. I’m there to tell the same story that Daveed is there to tell, that Sarah Whelden, my DP [director of photography], is there to tell. And, by the time we are on set, about to do a scene, we all know exactly what that is. So, I would say the production part can move a little quicker, if you’re lucky.”
CVM: I write and direct and produce my own movies, so I don’t have to ask the writer, ‘Can I change that line?’ But you did have a co-writer. Was Mark on set? Did you run changes by him?
Aselton: “No. So, Mark was taking care of the babies—or grown children. We also built this movie to be primarily improvised. So, while there were certain scenes that were fully scripted, the majority of the stuff with Daveed and I was improvised.”
CVM: Did you immediately have the title in mind and decide you would shoot a lot of it during magic hour, or did that evolve?
Aselton: “Yeah. I love the idea of magic hour being the beautiful in-between time.”
CVM: Before this movie, when I thought of magic hour, I thought of Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven (1978).
Aselton: “Oh. Yeah.”
CVM: Did you research that or similar movies with extensive scenes shot during magic hour? Or, you’ve done so many movies, you’re like, “I know what I want.”
Aselton: “No. I had other references, oddly enough, visually. There were a lot of references for Paris, Texas (1984), that works well with reflections, and that was something I wanted to play with a lot. What else? I used Gerry (2002), the Gus Van Sant movie. Two people in a desert felt very good to, sort of, nod to. Visually, I mean, I’ve got a shot that’s a direct homage to Raising Arizona (1987), which is one of my favorites….There are a lot of nods to cinema.”
CVM: What was your production budget?
Aselton: “Not a lot.”
CVM: Can you say what level of SAG [the SAG-AFTRA project rate agreement] it was under? Ultra-low?
Aselton: “What is the limit for ultra-low?
CVM: Three hundred [thousand dollars].
Aselton: “It is below that.”
CVM: A lot below that?
Aselton: “It’s below that.”
CVM: OK.
Aselton: (Laughs.)
CVM: I am in the in-between space of having made nine microbudget feature movies and having Hollywood actors attached to two projects but not getting them funded yet. What advice do you have for indie filmmakers trying to jump from, say, $25,000 movies to $250,000 movies?
Aselton: “I wish I had really good advice. I don’t understand the business right now and where we’re at. And I think people are so scared that it doesn’t surprise me that you’re having a really hard time finding your money. It is just so uncertain. And the business side isn’t making sense on any level. And so, I am frustrated by the paralysis that is happening, but I also understand it because no one’s going to see movies. And that is very hard. I wish I had advice for you. I don’t. If you love the movie, don’t give up. Stick with it. Hopefully, everything sort of stabilizes soon.”
CVM: What are you working on next as a writer, director, and/or actor?
Aselton: “I have a feature that just premiered at South By, called Their Town. And it’s like a Y/A [young adult] Before Sunrise (1995). So, we’ll see if that gets a theatrical [release] or not. Who knows.”
MORE MOVIES
THE MAIN EVENT
New Facebook Edition Offers a Strong Addition
The Social Reckoning
See it: Oct. 9
Starring: Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong
Story: A companion piece to the hit film The Social Network, writer-director Aaron Sorkin’s original screenplay tells the true story of how Frances Haugen (Madison), a young Facebook engineer, enlists the help of Jeff Horwitz (White), a Wall Street Journal reporter, to go on a dangerous journey that ends up blowing the whistle on the social network’s most guarded secrets. This time, Strong portrays Mark Zuckerberg.
THE KICKBOXER
An Evening with John Cusack, and a Special Screening of… Say Anything (1989)
See Cusack and the movie: Oct. 22, Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia Beach, sandlercenter.org. With an impressive body of work spanning three decades, John Cusack has evolved into one of Hollywood’s more accomplished and respected actors of his generation, garnering both critical acclaim and prestigious accolades for his dramatic and comedic roles.
Starring: Cusack
Story: A noble underachiever/kickboxer (Cusack) and a beautiful valedictorian (Ione Skye) fall in love the summer before she goes off to college.
THE BOXER
The Ultimate Underdog from Rocky Beginnings I Play Rocky
See it: Nov. 13 (select theaters) or Nov. 20 (wide release)
Starring: Anthony Ippolito, Matt Dillon, AnnaSophia Robb
Story: An electrifying true story about an unknown actor with an unshakable belief that he wasn’t just meant to write Rocky—he was meant to be Rocky Balboa. Told “no” at every turn, Sylvester Stallone (Ippolito) bets everything on himself, holding the line on playing the lead against seemingly impossible odds. The result is the ultimate underdog story behind the ultimate underdog movie.
IN THEATERS
SEPTEMBER
Fall 2
See it: Sept. 2
Starring: Harriet Slater, Arsema Thomas, Tom Brittney
Story: Two women find themselves in a desperate fight for survival when a mountain rockslide leaves them stranded on a fragile plank more than 3,000 feet in the air.
Buddy
See it: Sept. 4
Starring: Cristin Milioti, Topher Grace
Story: Dressed as a unicorn, a beloved children’s TV host reveals his true self as a dark and violent force of nature.
By Any Means
See it: Sept. 4
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II
Story: A notorious mafia hitman and an FBI agent hunt down those responsible for the murder of a civil rights leader in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in 1966. Based on a true story.
How to Rob a Bank
See it: Sept. 4
Starring: Anna Sawai, Nicholas Hoult, Christian Slater
Story: Bank robbers post their heists on social media, causing police to chase them.
Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass
See it: Sept. 9
Starring: Eric Bauza, Ben Diskin
Story: During a chase inside a museum, the cat and mouse find an ancient magical compass and are transported through time.
Practical Magic 2
See it: Sept. 11
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Sandra Bullock, Lee Pace
Story: A multigenerational family of witches, cursed to be loveless for centuries, attempts to break the spell by confronting dark secrets and sacrificing for each other.
Runner
See it: Sept. 11
Starring: Alan Ritchson, Owen Wilson
Story: A former soldier is thrown into a brutal race against time when a critical medical delivery makes him the target of a ruthless cartel.
The Uprising
See it: Sept. 11
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Jamie Bell
Story: As war rages across England, an army of commoners joins the rebellion against the tyrannical King Richard II.
Resident Evil
See it: Sept. 18
Starring: Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis
Story: A hapless courier (Abrams), tasked with delivering a package to a remote hospital, finds himself caught in the middle of an outbreak and must fight through hordes of mutated creatures to survive.
Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom
See it: Sept. 18
Starring: Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, Kate Harbour
Story: The residents of Mossy Bottom Farm look forward to Halloween…until the clumsy farmer trashes the flock’s beloved pumpkin patch.
The Weight
See it: Sept. 18
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Russell Crowe, Julia Jones, Austin Amelio
Story: Samuel Murphy fights to regain custody of his daughter Penny.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
See it: Sept. 25 (rerelease)
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johannson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Josh Brolin
Story: The Avengers assemble once more in order to reverse Thanos’ actions and restore balance to the universe.
Charlie Harper
See it: Sept. 25
Starring: Nick Robinson, Emilia Jones, Nicholas Cirillo
Story: While Harper strives to carve out a career as a check, Charlie is stuck. Facing challenges in their relationship, they struggle to prove they are meant for each other, but will it be enough?
Forgotten Island
See it: Sept. 25
Starring: H.E.R., Liza Soberano
Story: Two best friends stumble upon a mysterious portal that transports them to the fantastical island of Nakali, packed with magical and mythological creatures they grew up hearing stories about from their Filipino families.
OCTOBER
California Schemin’
See it: Oct. 2
Starring: Seamus McLean Ross, Samuel Bottomley
Story: Two Scottish guys con the music industry by pretending to be an established Californian rap duo, bag a record deal, and appear on MTV until their scam unraveled. This is the directorial debut of actor James McAvoy.
Crawlers
See it: Oct. 2
Starring: Matilda Lutz, Gregg Sulkin, Melina Matthews, Chris Rogers
Story: Quarantined residents of an infested apartment complex find themselves in a fight for their lives against deadly, venomous spiders rapidly spreading throughout the building.
Digger
See it: Oct. 2
Starring: Tom Cruise
Story: Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment unveiled a first look at director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s hotly anticipated next film, teasing the project with the tagline “a comedy of catastrophic proportions.” While much of the film is still under wraps, fans are excited to see Cruise step into a new leading role.
Verity
See it: Oct. 2
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Brady Wagner, Asel Swango
Story: Lowen Ashleigh gets hired by Jeremy Crawford to ghostwrite novels for his bestselling author wife Verity, who is unable to finish after an accident.
Other Mommy
See it: Oct. 9
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Alejandro Nieves, Dichen Lachman
Story: Bela, an 8-year-old girl living in a home with marital problems, confronts a sinister entity that comes out of her closet.
Poetic License
See it: Oct. 16
Starring: Leslie Mann, Cooper Hoffman, Andrew Barth Feldman
Story: Liz (Mann) a former therapist and soon-to-be empty nester, relocates to a new town for her husband’s job—a place where she doesn’t know a soul. This is the directorial debut of actor Maude Apatow, Mann’s daughter.
Sense and Sensibility
See it: Oct. 16
Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Caitriona Balfe, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Esmé Creed-Miles
Story: Sisters Elinor (Jones) and Marianne Dashwood (Creed-Miles) must leave their Sussex estate and move in with a distant relative, facing romance and money troubles.
Street Fighter
See it: Oct. 16
Starring: Jason Momoa, David Dastmalchian, Andrew Koji, Noah Centineo
Story: Street fighters Ryu (Koji) and Ken (Centineo) reunite when Chin-Li recruits them for the World Warrior Tournament.
Whalefall
See it: Oct. 16
Starring: Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin, Jane Levy, Elisabeth Shue
Story: A scuba diver (Abrams), while looking for the remains of his father (Josh Brolin), is swallowed by an 80-foot, 60-ton sperm whale and has just one hour to get out before his oxygen runs out.
Clayface
See it: Oct. 23
Starring: Tom Rhys Harries, Naomi Ackie, Max Minghella
Story: After making an appearance in the animated Harley Quinn and Creature Commandos series, the iconic Batman villain Clayface (Harries) returns to screens in his own live-action film.
Klara and the Sun
See it: Oct. 23
Starring: Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Simon Baker
Story: A robot girl designed to prevent loneliness tries to save a heartbroken family of humans.
Wife & Dog
See it: Oct. 23
Starring: Tomas Paredes, Rosamund Pike, Benedict Cumberbatch
Story: The relentless greed of a family and their associates fuels betrayal and murder in the battle for success.
Wildwood
See it: Oct. 23
Starring: Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan
Story: The adventures of Prue McKeel as she sets off to the forests outside Portland to find her kidnapped brother.
NOVEMBER
V for Vendetta (2005)
See it: Nov. 5 (rerelease)
Starring: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Rupert Graves
Story: A young woman living in a dystopian society meets a shadowy freedom fighter who is plotting to overthrow their tyrannical government.
Archangel
See it: Nov. 6
Starring: Jim Caviezel, Olivia Thirlby, Shea Whigham, Garret Dillahunt
Story: A weapons systems engineer and former Green Beret (Caviezel) protects his Wyoming neighbors against a ruthless corporation threatening their rural community.
Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat
See it: Nov. 6
Starring: Bill Hader, Xochitl Gomez, Tiago Martinez
Story: Meet the Cat in the Hat you don’t know in an all-new, epic adventure where mischief, magic and mayhem reign supreme.
Drummer Boy
See it: Nov. 6
Starring: Joel David Smallbone, Lucas Leach, Luke McGibney
Story: Two brothers they find themselves on opposite sides of the American Revolutionary War.
Godzilla Minus Zero
See it: Nov. 6
Starring: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Miou Tanaka
Story: The sequel to Godzilla Minus One is the 39th film in the Godzilla franchise.
Jimmy
See it: Nov. 6
Starring: KJ Apa, Max Casella, Kara Kilmer
Story: America’s most beloved actor, Jimmy Stewart (Apa), and the iconic role that saved him.
Wild Horse Nine
See it: Nov. 6
Starring: John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey
Story: CIA agents Chris (Malkovich) and Lee (Rockwell) face a trust-testing mission from Santiago to Easter Island in 1973.
Ebenezer:
A Christmas Carol
See it: Nov. 13
Starring: Johnny Depp, Sam Claflin, Ian McKellen,
Daisy Ridley
Story: A thrilling ghost story set in Dickens’ London, following one man’s supernatural journey to face his past, present, and future as he fights for a second chance at redemption.
The Great Beyond
See it: Nov. 13
Starring: Glen Powell, Jenna Ortega, Emma Mackey
Story: J.J. Abrams’ latest sci-fi pic is being kept under wraps.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
See it: Nov. 20
Starring: Joseph Zada, Whitney Peak, Mckenna Grace, Ralph Fiennes
Story: This prequel also features Jesse Plemons, Kieran Culkin, Elle Fanning, Maya Hawke, and William & Mary graduate Glenn Close.
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
See it: Nov. 22 (rerelease)
Starring: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer, Paul Bettany
Story: A mathematical genius, John Nash made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But Nash soon found himself on a harrowing journey of self-discovery.
Focker In-Law
See it: Nov. 25
Starring: Skyler Gisondo, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Robert De Niro, Ariana Grande
Story: In this fourth Meet the Parents flick, Henry (Gisondo), son of Greg (Stiller) and Pam Focker (Polo), faces family chaos when he decide to marry a strong-willed woman who appears to be his complete mismatch (Grande).
Hexed
See it: Nov. 25
Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Rashida Jones, Jim Hanks
Story: An awkward teen and her Type-A mother learn her peculiarities might be magical powers, transforming their lives and revealing a hidden magical realm.
The Adventures
of Cliff Booth
See it: Nov. 25
Starring: Brad Pitt, Timothy Olyphant, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II
Story: Cliff Booth’s backstory showcases his role as a Hollywood fixer.
ON STREAMERS
Mayday
See it: Sept. 4, Apple TV
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Kenneth Branagh
Story: The reconnaissance mission over Soviet territory by Lieutenant Troy Brennan (Reynolds) goes awry, forcing him to crash-land and survive in Russian wilderness while evading capture or rescue.
Matchbox: The Movie
See it: Oct. 9, Apple TV
Starring: John Cena, Jessica Biel
Story: Based on the iconic toy automobiles created in 1953.
Way of the Warrior Kid
See it: Nov. 20, Apple TV
Starring: Chris Pratt, Linda Cardellini, Jude Hill
Story: A self-doubting kid (Hill) who gets bullied learns to find his inner warrior with the help of his uncle (Pratt), an elite Navy SEAL, who uses his training to guide the youth over the summer.
Madden
See it: Nov. 26, Prime Video
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Christian Bale
Story: The remarkable journey of John Madden (Cage), from a Super Bowl-winning partnership with Al Davis (Bale) and the Raiders, to creating Madden NFL, and becoming one of the most iconic voices in football history.
—Compiled by Butch Maier
Butch Maier
