Kurtis David Harder Talks Sequels, Surprises and Indie Filmmaking
Director Kurtis David Harder returns with Influencers, the follow-up to his sleeper hit, and shares insights on keeping audiences guessing, working with a tight-knit crew, and the art of editing without a script.
After the unexpected success of his 2022 social media thriller, Kurtis David Harder is back with a fresh chapter. Influencers, the sequel, widens the lens, ups the ante, and sees the return of Cassandra Naud’s magnetic anti-hero, CW, for another sun-soaked round of trickery in the south of France.
We caught up with Harder to chat about the challenge of outsmarting a switched-on audience, his unusual approach to editing, and why he’s stuck with the franchise’s signature visual style.
Visual Motifs and Audience Expectations
Harder’s films are known for their distinctive look, and the sequel is no exception. The end credits, with their split horizon and shifting colours, mirror the first film’s design. When asked if this was a nod to fans or just a case of not fixing what isn’t broken, Harder explained,
‘Yeah, I think that horizon thing was fun. It’s like seeing two sides to a flipped coin. It was a bit of a play on the movie, so doing it again was fun in a slightly different way. There are a bunch of things we’re doing in these reversals, especially with the second one, kind of like what we did with the first one, where we’re doing role reversals and switch-ups. It’s always fun to tie those in.’
Both films also hold off on revealing their titles until about half an hour in. Harder reckons this structure keeps punters on their toes:
‘The first film was such an interesting experiment in structure. Modern audiences are remarkably astute, and they’ve seen it all. So when you’re looking to surprise an audience and have fun with big switch-ups and protagonist shifts… that was a big thing with the first one. With the second one, we’re taking light in that sense. It’s a little bit of cheeky fun, playing off of what happened in the first one.’
Timeline Twists and Blind Editing
The sequel’s opening makes it tricky to pin down when events are happening, leaving viewers guessing if it’s a prequel or not. Harder said,
‘What was so exciting about coming into the sequel for me was when that idea clicked: you’re seeing CW in this new lifestyle. She’s living a fantasy life in southern France; we’re seeing her in a relationship; they’re planning their one-year anniversary… You don’t entirely know where in the grand scheme of things this timeline takes place. That, to me, is so fun when you’re doing a follow-up, playing into the idea that you don’t know. Could this be CW’s first kill? We don’t know.’
For this outing, Harder handed the editing reins to Rob Grant, a fellow director. Their process is a bit unconventional: Grant edits without reading the script, piecing together the story from the footage alone. Harder described it as,
‘One of the coolest things he does is he doesn’t read the script while he’s editing. He has no context for exactly what the plot is; obviously, he knows the general gist, but he receives all the footage and makes the first assembly edit based on what he thinks the footage is conveying. It was such a cool way to work, seeing him slowly unfold the story from what the footage was telling him, as opposed to my perspective, where I know what it’s supposed to be.’
Indie Spirit and Keeping It Small
Despite the film’s grand feel, the crew was tiny—just 15 people. Harder credits this approach to the influence of Gareth Edwards’ Monsters, which was shot with a small team on the move.
‘The first one was inspired by Gareth Edwards’ Monsters, particularly the travelling aspect with a small group. We travelled all around Thailand with 11 people, including the cast. For this one, we wanted to keep that ethos. We expanded a bit, but for the most part, it was still under 15 people. That allowed us to do a very long shoot. I was on the road for almost five months. We were able to travel all over France and Bali. That’s not really possible when you have the full infrastructure of a normal shoot with 50 people.’
Landing Georgina Campbell for the sequel was a bonus. Harder met her at a festival screening of the first film, and their friendship led to her joining the cast.
‘Georgina is so great. We met at a film festival at the third screening of the first film. She had heard about it, watched it, and we just became friends. I was like, “Hey, I’m doing another Influencer film. Do you want to play a very different character from anything you’ve played before?” It was very cool to have someone who’d seen the first film and become friends because of it.’
From First Feature to Now
Harder shot his first feature, Cody Fitz, at 18 after being knocked back by film school. He says not much has changed in his approach:
‘I think I’m a very similar kid, still in a slightly older body. My first film was very much my film school; I got rejected from film school and ended up using the money to go make this drama. The general consensus is to continue grabbing a camera with your friends and keep making things. Even coming into this one, I was like, “You know what? Why don’t we just go with friends?” It’s just like, let’s grab a camera. We’re not doing much differently than what we were doing when we were 18.’
Influencers is streaming on Shudder from 12 December.