We talk to the cast and director about why it was so important to cast veterans for nearly every single role in the film.
My Dead Friend Zoe deals with subject matter that a lot of us don’t really want to think about, yet is an awful truth of our society: PTSD in our veterans. This can manifest itself in many different ways, yet this film does so with an interesting hook. Merit sees visions of her dead friend Zoe, and interacts with her like she’s a real person. What happened during their deployment that would make Merit feel such guilt over Zoe’s death? It takes something that could be silly (Zoe essentially being a ghost) and gives it some really dramatic stakes. I loved the film and you can check out my review HERE.
I sat down with the film’s director Kyle Hausmann-Stokes to discuss his decision to cast veterans in nearly every single one of the acting roles. It was a gamble but it clearly paid off in the finished film. Sonequa Martin-Green and Natalie Morales get into the natural bond they were able to form during production. And Natalie gets into how frustrating it was to be acting in scenes with Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman and not be able to interact with them on screen. Ahhh the drawbacks of being in someone’s head. Check out the interview in the embedded video above.
And most of us know Travis Kelce as either a football player or Taylor Swifts boyfriend but he’s got a new label: Executive Producer. As such, Kelce had this to say about the film, “I’m proud to be part of My Dead Friend Zoe, a film that tells a powerful story and puts two strong female characters at the forefront. Sonequa and Natalie bring depth and authenticity to their performances, highlighting the strength, resilience and leadership of women in the military.” This is clearly far from the last we’ve seen of Kelce in the producing role.
My Dead Friend Zoe plot:
A dark comedy drama that follows the journey of Merit, a U.S. Army Afghanistan veteran who is at odds with her family thanks to the presence of Zoe, her dead best friend from the Army. Despite the persistence of her VA group counselor, the tough love of her mother and the levity of an unexpected love interest, Merit’s cozy-dysfunctional friendship with Zoe keeps the duo insulated from the world. That is until Merit’s estranged grandfather—holed up at the family’s ancestral lake house—begins to lose his way and is in need of the one thing he refuses… help. At its core, this is about a complicated friendship, a divided family and the complex ways in which we process grief.
MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE IS PLAYING IN THEATERS ON FEBRUARY 28TH, 2025.
