Make A Wish Short Film

Make A Wish is a new horror short directed by Dinh Thai and written by Ivan Tsang & Dinh Thai.

A light-hearted horror/comedy about the sweetest fiancé giving her boyfriend the best birthday present ever.

WATCH A FREE SCREENING OF MAKE A WISH FROM NOVEMBER 13 – NOVEMBER 30 HERE.

Trailer + Q&A with Make A Wish’s executive producer and actor Edward Hong below.

Rabbit: First off, great job on Make A Wish. Such a fun and fresh idea for a horror/comedy short! How did you come up with the concept for the film?

Edward Hong: It was our main actress and producer Josephine Chang who began this journey as this initially started out as a way to get more demo reel footage for her but became so much more by the end. The concept of this short originally came from our writer Ivan Tsang who wrote this a few years prior around 2016. Once Josephine received Ivan’s consent to use the script, it was given new life as we brought on Diane Foster and her production company WallyBird Productions to help us out, and then hired our director Dinh Thai (who played a part in revising aspects of the short film), and the rest went from there. Throughout all of this, we actually never thought we were making a horror film but rather a delightfully..dark..comedy. It was then to our most pleasant surprise that the genre/horror film festivals were so welcoming with our twisted piece of work.

Rabbit: What are some of your favorite horror films? Did any of them inspire Make A Wish?

EH: Our favorite horror films, especially actor and producer Edward Hong, is The Thing, I Saw The Devil (directed by Kim Jee-woon), and The Grudge (the original Japanese version). While none of these horror films inspired us in the process of Make A Wish (because we initially thought we were just making a dark comedy), it was the sensibilities of Korean film makers like Park Chan-wook (director of Oldboy, Thirst, The Handmaiden) that influenced the tone, dark humor, acting choices, and editing of the film.

Rabbit: The film, an unsettling revenge tale, takes some unexpected twists and turns. Any fun behind the scenes stories?

Edward Hong: There is one particular story but it is tied (literally) to one of the said unexpected twisted and turns. Let’s just say one of our actors was a true champion for being in a particular physical condition and position for nearly 12 hours and simultaneously delivering a fantastic performance throughout the shooting process.

Rabbit: The three main actors Edward Hong, Roman Joseph Moretti and Josephine Chang, who plays the deranged fiancé, did a fantastic job with the material. What was the casting process like and how did you know these three actors were right for the part?

EH: Sheer blind faith. And maybe nepotism. Because this started as a simple demo reel footage shoot that became something larger, the core would always have Josephine Chang and her real-life partner Edward Hong playing some twisted heightened reality of their real-life relationship. With Roman Joseph Moretti, he was cast because Edward did a David Henry Hwang play with him in 2018 called Yellow Face and was thoroughly impressed by his acting talent. Without spoiling too much for the readers who have yet to watch the short, the Marcus character in that play is not too different from the one he plays in Make A Wish. We can say, however, that Roman’s fantastic commitment to his character while deftly playing with humor and drama plays a crucial role in the film.

Rabbit: What’s next for WallyBird Productions? Any other films you’re currently working on or releasing soon?

EH: To speak on behalf of Diane Foster who is the founder and owner of WallyBird Productions, one of the projects that’s happening right now is the short film Shiri that just became a winner of the 5th annual Stage32 Short Film Program and will be playing at this year’s HollyShorts, Austin Film Festival, and Raindance! For more information on that and other projects, you can go to https://www.wallybirdproductions.com.

See Make A Wish at these film festivals:

* DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival – May 2020 (Washington, D.C.)

* Portland Horror Film Festival – June 19th, 2020 (Portland, OR)

* Monsterflix Awards – June 28th, 2020 (Brno, Czech Republic)

* Sick ‘N’ Wrong Film Festival – July 6th to 12th, 2020 (Orlando, Florida)

* Trí Rivers Film Festival – July 18th, 2020 (Strabane, Ireland)

* Something Wicked Film Festival – August 7th to 9th (Lawrenceville, Georgia)

* BELIFF – August 8th to 10th, 2020 (London, United Kingdom)

* Indy Film Fest – August 13th to 23rd, 2020 (Indianapolis, Indiana)

* Oregon Short Film Festival – August 18th, 2020 (The Dalles, Oregon)

* Happenstance Horror Fest – August 20th, 2020 (Barrington, New Hampshire)

* Threadbare Mitten Film Festival – September 3rd to 7th, 2020 (Lansing, Michigan)

* GenreBlast Film Festival – September 6th, 2020 (Winchester, Virginia)

* Nasty Frames Independent Film Festival – September 18th, 2020 (Ontario, Canada)

* Screamfest Horror Film Festival – October 2020 (Los Angeles, CA)

* Toronto Indie Horror Film Festival – October 14th, 2020 (Toronto, Canada)

* A Night Of Horror International Film Festival – November 2020 (Sydney, Australia)

* Liverpool Underground Film Festival – May 24th, 2021 (Liverpool, United Kingdom)

Congratulations to Josephine Chang who won the Mink Stole Award at the 2020 Sick ‘n’ Wrong Film Festival and to the cast and crew for winning Best Short Film and Best Editing at the inaugural Liverpool Underground Film Festival.

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