Actress Kimberly Laferriere and actor Rogan Christopher are embarking on a primal experience that’s meant to deepen their connection. However, the increasingly strange occurrence their protagonists encounter may ultimately put their entire relationship in danger instead in the upcoming psychedelic horror movie, ‘Do Not Disturb.’

Dark Star Pictures is set to release the drama in theaters this Friday, November 17, and then on VOD the following Friday, November 21. ‘Do Not Disturb’s official distribution comes after it received critical acclaim at such popular genre film festivals as Popcorn Frights and Screamfest L.A.

‘Do Not Disturb’ was written, directed and scored by John Ainslie. In addition to Laferriere and Christopher, the movie also stars Janet Porter and Christian McKenna.

In ‘Do Not Disturb,’ Chloe and Jack (Laferriere and Christopher) travel to Miami for their honeymoon. They decide that a peyote experience will strengthen their marriage. However, they’re given a powerful strand that awakens a desire to eat human flesh. Confronting their toxic relationship, their room becomes a den of love, lust and resentment as Chloe realizes that the way to escape this troubled marriage to is to literally consume Jack.

In honor of the drama’s theatrical and digital releases, Ainslie generously took the time last week to talk about scribing, helming and composing ‘Do Not Disturb’ during an exclusive Zoom interview. Among other things, the filmmaker discussed that he instantly knew that Laferriere and Christopher were the right choices to play Chloe and Jack after speaking to them about relationships and life during the casting process. The filmmaker also expressed his gratitude to Dark Star Pictures for giving ‘Do Not Disturb’ a theatrical and Digital release, as independent films such as this one aren’t regularly given such a wide distribution.

The conversation began with Ainslie explaining why he was inspired to pen the script for the movie, and how he approached writing the story. “Well, in 2012 I was at the Canadian Film Centre (in Toronto), sitting at some kind of talk. I was bored and daydream, as I normally am. For whatever reason, I wrote down on a piece of paper: Honeymooning couple develops cannibalistic sex fetish,” he shared.

“I didn’t really think much of it for a couple of months, but then I started writing what turned out to be ‘Do Not Disturb.’ I kept pitching, writing and working on it for another eight years before I managed to get it to camera,” the scribe admitted with a laugh. “So it was a journey!”

The filmmaker then delved into how after he finished penning the screenplay, he decided to direct the feature. “I had a really good situation with this one. I had a really good producing team. My wife (Rechna Varma) was my lead producer on it,” he divulged.

“The three other executive producers on it let me do my own thing. They gave me their thoughts, but didn’t really give me real notes. They kind of let the weirdness of the film breathe, which I think this needed,” Ainslie noted.

“I had some other opportunities to do it with other people, but it would have been a little more tropey, sexist and overall traditional horror. So I shied away from that and leaned into this version of it, which was great,” the filmmaker also shared.

“Once I’m on set, that’s my happy place. My worst day on set is better than any day anywhere else,” Ainslie continued with a laugh.

“I love working with the crew and cast. I love waking up early and knowing that at the end of the day, we would have accomplished something. Generally, you accomplish what you set out to do, and more. When you have a good crew and set going, there’s no better feeling than forging forward and watching things happen. Watching things you wrote a decade earlier finally come to life is a great experience,” the helmer added.

Further speaking about the actors, particularly Laferriere and Christopher, Ainslie delved into how he approached casting ‘Do Not Disturb.’ “The casting process was a little bit of hell because it was during COVID and we didn’t have any money for a casting director. So we basically asked for self-tapes from anyone, essentially; it was open,” the filmmaker revealed.

“But we focused on actors in Ontario because we were in Ontario and needed the tax credits. But I also looked at people outside of Ontario, as well; Rogan lives in B.C. (Vancouver, British Columbia),” Ainslie added.

“But we looked at thousands of tapes for the lead role. I kind of settled on two people, and Kim was one of them,” the director noted with a laugh.

“The first time I talked to Kim on the phone, we spoke for about three-four hours. After speaking to her, I realized it made a lot of sense to cast her; we talked about relationships and life, but didn’t really talk about the script much. But I could tell that she had something inside of her that understand the character and overall movie,” Ainslie gushed about the actress.

“We really gelled well, and I could tell our relationship would work really well. Even before we got to set, I could tell we would work well together because we talked on the phone again for a few hours and shared a few emails. Then once we got to set, we were on the same page the entire way. So that was a great relationship,” the filmmaker shared.

“The same was true with Rogan, who I knew before the shoot. I was looking and couldn’t find anyone, so I asked him, ‘Why don’t you do it?’ He agreed, and he fit in perfectly,” Ainslie continued.

“With Rogan, it was a bit challenging to find the character. Jack is such a unique jerk. In a lot of ways, he’s the worst of every man in one person,” the helmer admitted.

“But he still had to be sort of amicable, so you don’t hate him right off the top. Even if you dislike him, you don’t hate him,” Ainslie pointed out with a laugh. “You see a little kernel of home that Chloe may prevail at some point.

“We were good because we figured out the word manchild best described him. Once we got to that manchild word, that’s where Rogan modelled his character after – a six-year-old child,” the filmmaker noted.

“If you watch the movie with that in mind, you can really see his behavior in how he treats Chloe in that way – he treats her more like a mom than a wife. When he takes the drugs, he really acts like a child – he’s throwing tantrums, confused and impulsive,” Ainslie added.

Once Laferriere and Christopher were cast in ‘Do Not Disturb,’ the director took some time to talk with the actors about developing their characters throughout the production. “Rogan and I had a lot of phone calls. But with Kim, she just got it. It’s funny; the two times we spoke, she really got it, and we were on the same page,” he shared.

“As a director, you just kind of adjust what you’re doing for each actor. Each actor needs or wants something different,” Ainslie explained. “Kim just inherently had it, so I was a little bit more hands off in letting her do her thing. That’s usually the best way to get the best performance – give an actor as much information as you can, and then don’t mess with them.

“With Rogan, we talked and talked. We actually had a totally different character in mind at first,” the filmmaker continued.

“But once I get on set, I don’t do much. We had the background that we built, including the character histories. So we had a vague idea about the relationships and characters, going back about 10-20 years, including who they are. We also discuss what they want, including what they want their futures to be. That sort of guides characters,” Ainslie explained.

“At the end of every take, you have a feeling. If it feels right, you move on. If it doesn’t feel right, you do it again until you find it,” the helmer added.

“I know Rogan and Kim rehearsed together quite a bit. I don’t like heavy rehearsals as a director; I like to be surprised, and see things for the first time on set, and build off of that,” Ainslie admitted.

“I think natural performances come from work and studying, but they also come from the gut and organic surprises. I think you can’t force anything,” the filmmaker also revealed.

While working with Laferriere and Christopher on set, Ainslie encouraged them to improv and add their own interpretations of the characters and story to the drama. “Once I get to set, I let the actors control their characters. I need certain things for the story and pacing, but usually by that point, you’re all on the same page,” the director explained.

“With Chloe and Jack, the two leads characters, we kind of worked together a lot. But once you get on set, the work should have been done. At that point, it’s about doing and feeling. Once we get on set, I like to run a lot of blocking and walk through the scenes in slow motion before I start shooting quite a bit,” Ainslie shared.

“Usually in those moments, you find impulses, where the two characters will understand that certain lines drive other lines, and this motion will push them here. Then I shoot around that,” the filmmaker noted.

“Once you have what you need, I like to play, and tell each actor something different, so that they’ll play opposite off of, and against, each other. That doesn’t always work, but usually it does,” Ainslie added.

Following up on the process of blocking the scenes, the helmer enjoyed collaborating with the actors on creating their physicality in each environment. “I like a lot of blocking and movement, and the scenes to be full. It’s really annoying because resets are long and my scenes are long…assistant directors can pull their hair out sometimes because my scenes are long and have the actors doing so many things,” he admitted with a laugh. “I don’t really have an art department, so there’s a lot of work in between the scenes.

“For the more choreographed scenes, I work with Stephannie Hawkins, who’s a stunt coordinator and is also an intimacy coordinator, so she helps with that sort of thing. She works on things like how the body moves, and understands how to get the actors to move in a way that’s believable, comfortable and safe,” Ainslie explained.

“I like blocking – that’s one of my favorite things to do. That’s more of what we improv, as opposed to the dialogue; so the blocking is played around with quite a bit,” the filmmaker added.

Another important aspect of making ‘Do Not Disturb’ was securing the locations where it was shoot. With the story taking place in Miami, some of the film was shot in the Floridan city and surrounding areas.

“Securing the location was a long process,” Ainslie admitted with a laugh. “I originally wrote the movie for Mexico because I traveled through Mexico quite a bit in my early 20s, and I loved it. But it was impossible to shoot the movie there for a number of reasons…Then during COVID, we got this location in Miami,” the director shared.

“In 2017, my wife and I moved to Miami, so the city made a lot of sense as a location. It had everything in the resorts that we needed, and more,” Ainslie added.

“We live in Miami, and all of the exteriors and beaches in the film were shot there. But all the interior stuff was shot in a little Canadian town called Sault Ste Marie in Ontario. That’s because we get tax credits to shoot in Ontario, and that made financing possible,” the filmmaker explained.

“So it was a lot of cheating and figuring out the sun. I know Scott (McIntyre), the cinematographer, worked hard on making the sun come in at different angles for different times of day and different days, as well as the intensity. He varied it to create differences in the space when Chloe and Jack are stuck in the one room,” Ainslie shared. “We kind of ended up with what we got because with this budget, we couldn’t be picky.

“But it was nice because we had a good hotel and the manager was amazing. We all slept, and shot, in the hotel during the two weeks of production, as well as the two weeks leading up to production,” the helmer added.

Besides writing and directing ‘Do Not Disturb,’ Ainslie also embraced being able to create the score for the feature. But “if you asked me even a week before I decided to do the score, I never would have thought I would have done it, much less capable of doing it,” he admitted.

“Up until now, I have worked on almost everything with a composer, Jeff Morrow. But he was booked and our schedule was tight, so it just wasn’t going to work that he could do it,” the filmmaker shared.

“So I started writing a temp score while we started looking for other composers. I wrote this temp score with the idea that no one would ever hear it. So I went big for emotions in order to give the composer who would later sign on an idea of what I wanted,” Ainslie divulged.

“Then we actually worked with a composer, and when we got the first pass back, I knew right away it wasn’t going to happen. So I played some scenes for people and asked whose score was better, without telling them who did what. Hands down, they went with mine. Then I just went from there,” the filmmaker revealed.

“I do have a musical background, so it’s not like I walked into this part of the process without experience. But I’ve never composed that kind of synth score before, so I didn’t know how to use a digital synth. But overall, the composing process one of the most rewarding parts. I’d love to compose again. It was a lot of fun creating sounds and the emotions that went along with that,” Ainslie added.

Once production on the movie was complete, the helmer also enjoyed the experience of bringing it to various genre festivals, even though he was only able to attend a few screenings in person. “While it wasn’t the biggest festival, the best thing was premiering the film at Popcorn Frights here in Miami. Being a local made that experience wonderful.

“Igor (Shteyrenberg, who’s one of the festival’s co-founders,) is a big supporter of mine since I moved here…He’s great, and a great guy to know,” Ainslie gushed about the festival’s co-founder.

“So we were able to premiere at the O Cinema South Beach, which is blocks away from where the film takes place. We walked out of the theater into the city where the movie we just watched takes place, which was a great experience,” the filmmaker continued.

“We had a full house there, and a great horror audience who yelled, gasped and groaned at the right parts. The audience’s reaction is always the best part about a genre movie,” Ainslie admitted.

“At Screamfest L.A., we had a great little screening as our West Coast Premiere at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres, which was a dream of mine forever. So it was amazing that I got to go to L.A. and be on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with my film playing there,” the director admitted with a laugh.

Following ‘Do Not Disturb’s successful run on the festival circuit, Ainslie was happy that Dark Star Pictures picked up the project and decided to release it both in theaters and on VOD. When he first heard about the distributor’s plans on how they would release the drama, he admitted with a laugh that he “was in shock. Never did I imagine that a film of this size, with no stars, per say, would play in a theater.

“We intentionally built it for a theater and made it cinematic with a wide screen. So having it play in a theater is spectacular,” the filmmaker noted.

“But in this day and age, you never know what you’re going to get. So to make a small movie that ended up getting some theatrical and physical distribution is great. I know that at some point in my career, that’s going to be gone; that doesn’t happen that much anymore. So when I found that out, it was great; it made me really happy,” Ainslie concluded.