The Shift, now in theaters, is modern-day retelling of the story of Job, written and directed by Brock Heasley. In the dystopian science fiction thriller, the Benefactor, played by Neal McDonough, makes an offer to Kevin Garner (Kristoffer Polaha) which would make him both wealthy and powerful. When he refuses, Kevin finds himself in an alternate reality where he must resist the Benefactor as he travels across dimensions, fighting to survive, all while trying to make his way back to his true love, his wife, Molly (Elizabeth Tabish).

Heasley and McDonough recently spoke with SciFi Vision about working on the film, its inspirational message, and more.

Watch the interview or read the full transcript below, and be sure to check out the film The Shift, out now in theaters.


SCIFI VISION:   To start out, Brock, this is your first full length feature film. What's it been like to see it come together on the screen?

BROCK HEASLEY:   Oh my gosh, terrifying and satisfying, incredibly exciting. It's such a privilege. It's such an opportunity that I know that so many are striving for, and I certainly strived for, for many, many years to get to this point. It's not been a short journey. So, I'm just filled with overwhelming feelings of gratitude, especially to guys like this guy next to me, who just turned in this tremendous, tremendous performance. As a first time filmmaker, I can't imagine too many luckier than I am right now to be in this spot. 

SCIFI VISION:   Neal, obviously your character is not a very nice guy. Can you talk about connecting with him? How did you get into that headspace? 

NEAL McDONOUGH:   Wow, well, you know, I think everyone knows, because I won't do sex scenes, there’s only certain characters that I can play in movies, and with five kids, I have to provide for them. So, it's either soldiers in the middle of a battlefield or villains. So, when they came to me, originally, I said, “No, I can't play the devil; that's just too dark. Yellowstone, Justified, those are dark characters, but I think this is just too much.” Then, I went home, and I told my wife, Ruve, and we prayed over it, and she said, “You know, you're such an amazing villain, and you have such an amazing relationship with God, that you kind of have to play this, or else this film isn't going to work, and it might send the wrong message to people with this type of film.” So, by by doing this, as a method actor, I had to dredge up all the flaws that I have in life, all the things that are going through my soul. And what I did with the character is tried to find compassion in the Benefactor…When I say, “I have to send this girl off to the psych ward,” [there’s] this genuine conflict in my soul, and you see it on my face, because I don't want that to happen. But to make it all work the way this is supposed to, my agenda that I have, I have to do certain things. But by the end of the film, you see that all I really want is what Kevin wants, that I've made some horrible choices in my life. I used to be one of God’s minions. I used to be so close, and I used to be so good, but then I tripped over myself and fell, and I can't get back to where I used to. Then, I see someone like Kevin, and there's that moment of “Gosh, why can't I get back to that? Why can I have that faith that Kevin has?” And then I go back to the devil again. So, it calls all of us out to be better, to stand up to our own flaws. It’s like I've said, you know, I gave up alcohol eight years ago, and that's an addiction I had to get rid of, and I did it, and the strength that I have now [is] because of standing up to that and having my wife Ruve by my side helping me through that. These are things that are put in front of you on your plate in life, and how you deal with those issues is what Brock has brought to us as actors, and now as an audience, to see Kevin go through all these horrible [things], dragged through hell for five years, and still, at the end of it, have the ultimate faith in God, it's inspirational. That's what I love so much about this film. My five kids watched the film the other night, and I was scared to think, “Oh my gosh, what are they going to think about dad playing the devil? What are they going to think about this film?” But I knew it wasn't too dark. And they absolutely loved the film, Jamie. They’re gonna go see it again tonight. There’s another screening tonight, and they want to go again tonight. Those kinds of films -

SCIFI VISION:   Yeah, I was gonna say, it has a good message. 

NEAL McDONOUGH:   Yeah, Angel Studios, going out in the limb and making films that amplify light instead of darkness, and the production quality through Ken Carpenter producing this thing, and Brock's direction and his writing, I am so proud of this film that Ruve and I helped to produce. Go out and go see this film, support this film. It'll send a message to the rest of Hollywood: we don't need such dark stuff. Let's let's talk about issues, but let's amplify light. And that's the goal of this weekend. 

SCIFI VISION:   Brock, sort of continuing on that, what do you want people to take away from it? 

BROCK HEASLEY:   Well, more than anything, I hope they do have a conversation. This isn't a film that's trying to give you all the answers. It's trying to ask a lot of questions, and I hope there's great conversations that come out of it. Besides the conversation and all the things that have come out of that, I do hope there is a feeling of hope that emerges by the end of this film, that we can all look at the trials of our lives and we can say [that] there is a way through. Patience is going to probably be required. Some trials are very long, some of us endure long, drawn out hardships, but within that, even in the middle of that, there is goodness, and there is hope. There is light in the world to grab on to. And if we do grab on to it, we will be sustained. It will be okay. And I hope, if anything, people can take that away from this

SCIFI VISION:   Obviously, this is about the story of Job, [but] where did the idea come from to make you want to do this? 

BROCK HEASLEY:   So, the idea initially came from just thinking about my marriage and thinking about those times in my marriage when we have different ideas of what's going on. You know, when my wife was wondering if I've paid the bills, and I'm wondering, when in the world did you even ask me to do that? I don't remember committing to that. And now we're having an argument. And if you think about what we know…about the multiverse through fiction, through science fiction and things like that, you know, this idea that every choice we make, there's some where out there where there's another version of us who made a different choice. And usually, that's crazy things like Nazis won World War II or something. But the real idea extends even to small decisions. What if somebody could move us, shift us subtly between these worlds without our knowledge, and the differences [were] only that my wife did ask me to pay the bills in this reality, and then I get shifted to a reality, and I came from a world where she didn't ask that, and now we're fighting. So, this would be a great tool in the wrong hands, and it would create chaos, it would create contention, and it would create hate. And that idea, I latched on to that and realized, here's a really interesting way into some concepts about the communication that we have with each other, our relationships, and what is the source of the fighting that we do sometimes, and how do we how do we get through that? 

SCIFI VISION:   Neil, can you speak about working with Kristoffer in the film? 

NEAL McDONOUGH:   Oh, Polaha is just awesome. You know, our first day was a nine page scene in the diner. Usually, you start a film [with] an easy page, maybe two pages the first day, but we jumped into it, nine pages of me just going off on Kevin. It was so amazing, because he's such a gifted actor. The two of us come from big sports backgrounds. We were just like…two rams in the middle of a field just mashing horns at each other, in a great way. It was awesome to play off of him. The words that Brock gave us made it whole lot easier. But it was one of the most enjoyable environments I've ever had. And like I said, the production value, the way that Ken Carpenter kind of crafted the film together with Brock's words, the cast that they hired, the crew that they put together, Joth Riggs, who was one of the greatest ADs in Hollywood, there was just so many great things happening. It was lightning in a bottle, and it showed the other night when people stood up at the end of the film and applauded like crazy. It's one of those films that we're going to be so proud of. People are going to see it over and over again, and I hope that people go out in droves so it tells Hollywood we need to make more films like this and stand by what Angel Studios is doing.