INDIE SPOTLIGHT: A Conversation with ‘Shelter in Solitude’ Writer, Producer, and Star Siobhan Fallon Hogan

SHELTER in SOLITUDE starring Robert Patrick (Terminator 2, 1923), Peter Macon (The Orville), Peter Hogan (RUSHED), Dan Castellaneta (The Simpsons) and Fallon Hogan (SNL, Men in Black, Seinfeld, Forrest Gump)comes two years after Fallon Hogan’s RUSHED, which has retained a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

SHELTER in SOLITUDE is the story of a death row prisoner (Peter Macon) with ten days left to live and his relationship with a washed-up country singer (Fallon Hogan).

Fallon Hogan formed EMFILM Distribution with husband Peter Hogan and son Peter Hogan, Jr. and independently booked theater chains and independent theaters for an October 6th release. 

Siobhan Fallon Hogan is back again with another impactful story, that is both timely and timeless. Siobhan has a keen knack for creating and writing three-dimensional characters, flaws and all - she doesn't hold back. And all of these wonderful nuances that she writes on the page come through her performance and her work behind the scenes as a hands-on producer. 

As for the story, it has heart, it has grit, and it pulls from real-life experiences and real-world events and dilemmas. As a viewer, you stay for the enigmatic character Jackson, wonderfully played by Peter Macron, Siobhan's Val, a woman still finding her way, and how her brother Dwayne, a role made in every sense for Robert Patrick, a calloused man with a calloused heart, navigates life, his career and truly, life-changing decisions. 

I had the privilege of speaking with Sibohan previously about her film Rushed, which since its release has retained a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Now with her latest film Shelter in Solitude, Siobhan came back to Script to talk about how this specific story idea came to her, producing the independent film with her incredibly talented rag-tag group of filmmakers, taking full control of the distribution process as an independent filmmaker, and so much more.

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

Sadie Dean: Where did the seed of the story come from for you?

Siobhan Fallon Hogan: So, Rushed, I just had finished the edit and the sound and I was like, ‘I can relax.’ And I'm laying in bed…and this idea comes to me, and it sounds insane, but I swear to God, it was like divine intervention and I scribbled it down quickly. And the next day I woke up and I wrote it in three weeks.

So, my dad and I were really, really close. And he was really funny. And people were always like ‘he should have taken it on the road.’ He was one of 11, always a storyteller, always the leader of the family. He was a lawyer, and he would tell us at the kitchen table…stories about his prisoners that he had, and he's like, ‘You have no idea. They have their own language, there’s awful conditions.’ And then he also represented at one point, a prison guard. And so, I always thought, what must it be like? And sort fantasize about, ‘How can I help out in a prison? What would that be like?’ And then in addition, he wanted me to be a country singer, because my dad loved Tennessee Ernie Ford, and he loved Willie Nelson, and he loved Loretta Lynn - he'd be like, 'Siobhan you ought to be a country singer. That acting is for the birds. Those people are egomaniacs.'

So, this idea just came to me - there's three really broken people. And I love Robert Patrick obviously, and I was like, ‘We gotta get him in there. What am I going to do?’ I was like, ‘Well, we can make a great role, the warden.’ And then my son plays the cop - we need a comic relief, because it's going to be too sad. So, it just flowed out of me. And it was just honestly, I feel like it was like a little miracle.

And in addition to that, my parents really stressed charity work, but in an odd way…I lived in California for two years, and I did not fit in there at all. And I was not the type to be down in the dumps, and you would never say the word ‘depressed.’ ‘How are things?’ ‘Well, it's a little rough.’ ‘Well, listen, number one, stop looking in the mirror. And why don't you do something for someone else, and you'll realize how much worse people have it than you.’ So, I volunteered at the Teen Canteen out in LA for runaways. And it was true. These people are living under a bridge and they're a disaster. So, I feel sorry for myself, but they're a wreck. My parents are like, ‘Stop thinking to yourself and help somebody.’

Which is what my character Val does. Yes, I'm pathetic. I'm a cougar wannabe. Everyone treats me terribly. And so, she goes out of her way for this guy whose life is much worse than hers, but he's actually a much better person than she is. And then she fancies herself as sort of a prophet of sorts. And she's really bad at it. She drops the F-bombs when she's delivering a scripture, and drinks way too much. By then end, she's like, ‘Forget it.’ And then he is the one who really teaches her. Which the fear is in this movie, too, you don't want to be this, ‘The Great White Hope’ - oh, that white woman is coming to save the African American man. And he's actually her Savior to both she and the warden.

Sadie: Diving into the collaboration, you’re working with pretty much the same team again, it’s literally a family affair for you guys. I really appreciated what did visually for the flashback scenes – can you talk about that collaboration with the editor?

Siobhan: Right. Well, I will tell you, Sabine Emiliani, our editor, is unbelievable. She's a brilliant editor, but what she does, she'll do it linear first, the way I wrote it. It was way too comedic to begin with. We have so much that was cut, like me walking, hanging out drinking with the best friend... Anyway, so my problem in life a lot is that I hurry things because I want to get it done. And Rushed, that's the way we did it. And we got it done, put a bow on it, put it away. This time, my son, who is a producer on the film and plays the cop, 'Mom, it can take a year to do a movie. Step away.' So, I was like 'Shut up' but then I talked to other big directors who are like 'Your son is right.'

We took a month off. And then showed it to some people and they were like, ‘Get to the prison, get to the prison.’ And I was like, wait a minute, I realize what we have to do. Every time we're having a good time, he's stuck alone. So that's why the song, when we first did it, I sang too much. It was like, ‘No, the second you've got the audience with the song cut back to that prison.’ Because just right now when you and I are talking, there's someone sitting in jail, just effed. You know what I mean? Right now someone's like, ‘When the hell am I getting out of here?’ Or even worse, ‘I'm on death row. How many days do I get before my goose is cooked?’ 

And weirder is right now there's some executioner - like who takes that job? Someone who has such little guilt or not worried about the afterlife to the point where they're like, ‘Well, for my job I kill people.’ I mean, that's insane to me. And then there's people who has no representation, who are screwed who are in there and shouldn't be in there. It's unbelievable. Like this guy, Peter, it was very important to me to write this film to make him really educated. He's the writer. My character, I'm rough around the edges, swearing, drinking, a sleaze. And he's a classy guy, writing poetry. And he got a raw deal. It happens all the time.

Sadie: Speaking of Peter, he's phenomenal. You're immediately captivated by him. What was it like working with him?

Siobhan: OK, so he's a genius. And I did not have Peter till three weeks before. But for some reason, I had this insane calm, and I'm not normally like this. Vibeke [Muasya] was like, ‘Siobhan, we need to pick someone.’ And she'd be sending me people like from Europe…Avy [Kaufman] and Leeba [Zakharov] would send me people and I was like, ‘No.’ I just knew exactly what I wanted. And it's all a whole combination of what goes around comes around, I swear, because David Goodman, who's my great friend, and he was head of the Writers Guild and he’s cast me from day one, my very first job I got on the Golden Girls. And one day is like, ‘I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't have a guy, we start shooting in three weeks…’ and he was like, ‘Wait a minute. Peter Macon. He was on The Orville. He’s got this amazing voice. He’s an amazing actor.’ He found me Peter Macon.

So, in comes Peter, and literally some days he’d be - his voice is like, he's like a young James Earl Jones – ‘Morning, Siobhan. Well, I have no lines today. And I think I'm gonna be eating a cookie, which I'm really looking forward to.’ At first, I wrote it that we would actually kind of fall in love. It's not like it was ever discussed that it didn't work, but it's the first time that my character has ever had a man other than her brother, that respected her and that was a real friend. Because everything else was based on ridiculousness – body and sex. And this time, it was a really true friendship that she never had before.

Sadie: You’re wearing so many creative hats on this film, were there any big challenges for you from writing the script to production, acting, or maybe some creative liberation during the process?

Siobhan: The writing I love and it's cathartic. And you could write, and write, and write and you're like, so crazy - I'm so into it. That part's not bad. I'm a huge locations person. I picked our locations. I love that. And I picked the costumes. Then you get into it - the prep is good, hiring crew, OK. Then my husband now starts helping, my son is helping. I would drive Vibeke crazy because I have to be the producer. So, in between it'd be like crying in a scene and then I'd be texting my husband, ‘Is the lunch going to be on time? Make sure the Porta Potty guy gets here because it's kind of gross right now.’ And Vibeke would be like, ‘Siobhan, stop producing!’ [laughs] She would make people steal my phone.

Sadie: And the editing phase, that's your final rewrite of your movie – how long did it take from writing the script to the final edit?

Siobhan: I remember Lars Von Trier when I worked with him, he did three movies with me, and he said, ‘It's always two years in between,’ I thought that's crazy. This was two years. We shot the film in 16 days. I wrote it in three weeks. I finished the film end of May. And then we're going to film festivals, which we did not do with Rushed. And then you have to decide who's going to buy it, right? You got to be tough as nails. So, after some rejections, I was like, ‘Screw this. We're distributing this ourselves.’ Because I know this is a great movie. And I've seen the audiences react. And I'm sick of all the ridiculous rules…it sounds so stupid to compare it to a child, but I believe in this as much as I believe in my kids.

So, we formed our own distribution company. And we got picked up by AMC and Regal. Because it's almost like all the noise needs to be taken out. I feel like the way we did our movie was the way the old system worked, where there's one decision maker, not 20 cooks, not money that's overpowering, or someone who's the more popular girl in the group. Like, I'd never get this part. I write my own movies so I can cast myself. It's really like doing a play really, the story is what's important. And then we distribute ourselves and the audience - the people - have spoken. AMC and Regal loved it, because the audiences loved it. And so, it's like a miracle. It's gonna be all over the country.

I just want to say really quickly, my daughter, Sinead [Hogan] is a production designer on it, and she's an actress, and my son, Peter [Hogan], my husband… so many people that came from Rushed onto this because I believe treat people the way you want to be treated on a set, and then they'll come back. And that's what happened. And I'm just grateful to all of them.

Shelter in Solitude will be available exclusively in Theaters on October 6, 2023.