Death Do Us Part isn’t a peek into the marriage of Julia and Peter Benson — which is probably a relief to the people who love them.
Peter and Julia (together with Ryan Copple) wrote and produced and also starred in the Leo-nominated horror flick, coming to DVD on April 15.
In Death Do Us Part, the Bensons — Julia is widely known for Stargate Universe, Peter for jPod — engage in what are best described (without giving too much away) as hair-raising, relationship-changing showdowns befitting a horror movie.
But they’re quick to point out that their on-screen confrontations bear little resemblance to their off-screen dynamic, which is more mutual appreciation society than horror movie fare. “Peter and I don’t fight in real life as a couple that often, so we were like, ‘It would be fun if we could fight on screen,’” says Julia in a weekend interview with WE.
Linked in together via conference call, the couple takes turns singing each other’s praises. “Peter’s leadership and his ability to collaborate with people and then inspire them to do the best they can do, it’s amazing to watch,” gushes Julia. “She’s got the most amazing tenacity and determination to execute things,” Peter says.
Throw this mad love together with a shared passion for film and a desire to create movie magic with their actor friends, and the Bensons’ debut feature project was healthy from the get-go.
Death Do Us Part’s press release describes it as follows: “[Six friends] go to a remote cabin in the woods to celebrate a Jack and Jill bachelor party… Friendships are ripped apart and accusations fly in this blood-filled psychological horror with a whodunit twist.”
They filmed over 11 days up at Julia’s father’s cabin on the Sunshine Coast in 2011 with director Nicholas Humphries (The Little Mermaid) at the helm. “There’s majestic beauty as you look out on the water, but 100 yards away, there are all these abandoned creepy shacks in the woods,” says Peter. “We’re like, ‘what an ideal setting for a horror film.’”
Besides location, the desire to have fun dictated what type of movie they would make. For actors, it doesn’t get much more fun than horror. “The stakes are always so high in those kind of movies, so it’s fun to just play,” says Julia.
And having industry friends on board — including Aaron Douglas (Battlestar Galactica), Kyle Cassie (True Justice), and Emilie Ullerup (Arctic Air) — heightened the fun.
“These are all people that we went to acting school with or trained with, and we’ve seen them do this huge array of character work that maybe the roles they’ve gotten on TV haven’t showcased,” says Peter. “We wanted to give them roles that they could sink their teeth into and show a different side of themselves.”
Death Do Us Part won’t be the couple’s last collaboration. They’re already hard at work on their follow-up: a romantic comedy entitled What An Idiot. “We started this right after Death Do Us Part and decided, ‘let’s do a film where we’re nice to each other,’” laughs Peter.
For updates on Death Do Us Part, follow @DDUPmovie.
