Here Before: 9 Questions We Asked Writer/Director Stacey Gregg

Here Before stars Andrea Riseborough (Black Mirror) as Laura, a mother haunted by the death of her young daughter. When new neighbors move in next door, she develops an all-consuming obsession over their little girl, Megan (Niamh Dornan). Eerily, Megan seemingly knows far too many specific details of Laura and her family’s life and displays mannerisms similar to their dead daughter, Josie.

Is the trauma of losing her child causing Laura to lose her grip on reality, or is Megan truly the reincarnation of her daughter?

After screening Here Before, I had a chance to speak with its writer/director Stacey Gregg about her award-winning debut film. You can watch the entire interview plus see the film’s trailer in the video embedded below. But for now here’s a quick recap of the questions I asked and a summation of Stacey’s answers.

1. Did she know it was going to win Best Irish Film at the Galway Film Fest?

Here Before premiered at the South By South-West Festival in Texas in 2021, and then won for Best Irish Film at the Galway Film Festival.

Not that anyone can know, or expect to win, but what did she think about it all?

She told the truth: she didn’t even realize it had won Best Feature. She’d also been nominated for an emergent talent category. At first, that’s what she believed she’d won.

As she put it, she was “properly speechless” because she had no idea it was coming.

2. What was the inspiration for Here Before?

The kernel of the idea of being in a new place and saying you’d been there before, but people saying you never had been were with her for a while.

Interestingly it was born from working through feelings she’s now processing about having grown up in a working class area of Belfast in the 90s during, as she put it, “the troubles.”

She explained how they were surrounded by pain and trauma all of the time back then, but she’s really only come to appreciate it now. And what that meant carrying it and navigating all that as a kid.

And surprisingly she identified the most with Megan (played by Niamh Dornan). That’s really where the idea started. Stacey explained that she was a kid a bit like Megan in that she was surrounded by adults dealing with all of their complicated issues.

However, as she started processing all of her subsequent feelings and wrote them out through Laura (Andrea Riseborough), that’s when the story really started coming together.

I found it surprising it didn’t actually start with Laura’s perspective though. Or with someone like Laura who had lost a child or something. It was an answer that I didn’t see coming, much like the ending. (Which we won’t discuss. No spoilers here!)

3. What does she think about Derry Girls?

I could not resist bringing up one of my all-time favorite Netflix comedies once I learned she’d grown up at the same time Derry Girls is set. It was also fun to divert a little from Here Before and find out she’s also a “massive fan” of the sitcom.

4. Was the final product pretty close to what she saw in her mind as she wrote the script?

Yes, but when she wrote the screenplay she didn’t know she was going to direct it. But it worked out she ended up doing both.

She admitted there was a steep learning curve because she had never directed a film before. But she wanted to try and directed a short one and right after that the opportunity to direct Here Before fell into place.

And I loved how she called it “switching brains” from approaching it as a writer vs. a director. She wasn’t always sure of all the terms, or who was maybe supposed to do what on set, but she learned as she went. “Being open” was crucial to putting it all together.

Mission accomplished. For a first-time effort? Wow. Here Before brings it!

5. Was there symbolism with how she shot the scenes with the mirror in Laura and Brendan’s bedroom?

I’d read in an Irish Times article that she’d said, “I love the idea of us living in co-existing realities…I’m slightly obsessed with there not being one ‘story’ or reading of events and I think this film is very much informed by that.”

Were the scenes in the bedroom reflective of the co-existing realities?

Absolutely.

And she speaks as beautifully as she writes and directs. This question resulted in one of my favorite answers from her. (Which feels a bit like a secret nugget you may learn in a MasterClass for writing or directing.)

“…the film is designed in many ways, with my production designer and DP. We had a very clear sense of the visual language, of the poetry. I love the sublimation of the ideas. I love mirrors, reflections, dissonance, disruption, negative space, the uncanny, the presence of the absence, you know? All of those things. But the key to me is that you shouldn’t feel them. They shouldn’t sort of hit you up the face. They should be very much layered into the texture of the film. And there’s an economy and restraint and an honesty at work there, so if something feels too much, it’s not there, you know?”

6. Are there more writing/directing credits in her future?

Yes. She’s got the bug now.

7. Did she have any hand in picking the movie’s music?

I loved the soundtrack in this movie. She said she did help with that. In fact, it was absolutely key because it’s another character really.

As she put it, in another example of how poetically well-spoken she is, “There’s a real alchemy that happens when you hit on the right note.”

8.  What’s something no one has asked her about Here Before yet that she wished they would?

This one stumped her a bit and may have haunted her some after I asked it. An answer may materialize later, but nope. So far there’s nothing she wished people would ask or were surprised they didn’t.

9. What’s next for Stacey Gregg?

She’s just directed a new block of TV for HBO called The Baby, which will drop pretty soon.

She didn’t elaborate too much on what it’s about but she did say “it’s a wild, fresh show.”

I’m looking forward to checking that out too. As well as her next feature, whatever that might be. She said she’s already hard at work on that too.

The Chat with Stacey Gregg

For More Info

Here Before releases in theaters on Feb. 11 and on VOD on Feb. 15.

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Do you believe in reincarnation?