Arthur Jones: Did you grow up in a household that was into film or television?
Drew Hancock: My mom, you know, loves old movies, and I just they were, would always be on television, and she’d be watching something like an Alfred Hitchcock movie or Woody Allen movie. I just was fascinated by movies and TV.
Jones: Did you know at that time as a kid that this was something you’d wanted to do, or even something you could do?
Hancock: It didn’t even occur to me that these were jobs. You know, it’s like Hollywood was this, this magical place, this walled city that was far away. I would watch movies and love them, and wouldn’t think about like, who directed them and who wrote them. I just like to be immersed in the stories and the narratives. I remember a distinct memory of sitting and seeing Pulp Fiction at the Indian Hills theater that’s no longer there. I’m like, you know, an impressionable young, 15-year-old boy, and I’m watching this movie, going, oh my gosh, it was the first time I’d ever seen a movie that I didn’t want it to end. I was looking at my watch, I’m like, it’s two hours. We’re at two hours in this movie, and I want it to be five hours.
Jones: So lets talk about your first feature film “Companion,” what inspired you to kind of write that, that mix of sci-fi, of horror, of comedy?
Hancock: This is one of the few times that the idea came to me fully baked, like I have the journal entry for like, Jan. 1, 2021 which is the day I was like, You’re gonna start generating ideas. Crazy, the first day I decided to do that was the day I thought of “Companion.” This is a story of this technology existing in a world where it’s people that don’t work in tech. These aren’t engineers. These are just real people like interacting with this potential technology. This is the story. This isn’t a story about a robot, gaining sentience. This is the story of a woman breaking up with her bad boyfriend. And once you had that, then you can start layering in all the different genres you have the spine of the story is rooted in the relationship between, you know, guy and girl.
Jones: Do you stay connected with your kind of Nebraska, Omaha roots at all?
Hancock: I love Omaha, and I wish I could go back more often. I go back every Christmas, and my family is still there, and I’m realizing now, when you start looking back at all your projects and, like, specifically, “Companion” and what are the similar themes within all of them. I can see, like, why Omaha shaped, you know, my thematic elements of my movies. Because Omaha, it’s very, it’s specific, in it’s un-specificity.
And I struggle with an identity crisis myself. I’m always you know, “Companion” is specifically about someone going through an identity crisis, and so I’ve been recognizing that a lot of the things that I and the projects I am attracted to, kind of delve into this idea of people not knowing what their purpose is and who they are.
I think of a lot of that comes from just, it’s just coming from this city that’s in the middle of the US. I would always be like, I wish I was born in L.A. or New York or this big, exciting city, but no, I’m so happy that that I’m from Omaha. It holds such a special place in my heart. I love everything that stands out about it. I’m noticing all the nuances that I never noticed when I was growing up, and it does have an identity, as I’m realizing that I do too. It’s my relationship with Omaha is evolving and changing, and I love that.
Jones: How does it feel that people in Omaha will be able to watch this movie, and it was made by someone born in their very city? I could say people in, if they’re showing it in North Platte, people in North Platte will be able to see this and say someone from Nebraska made this movie.
Hancock: Yeah, I’ll let you know when I’ve come back to Earth and can process this, because I just feel so disconnected from the whole experience. It’s like I never in a million years thought that I would be able to direct a movie and have it come out theatrically, especially in a time when a lot of movies aren’t getting theatrical releases. But I’m very, very, very proud of the movie and so many people have been supportive of it. So, yeah, I’m proud that I’m from Nebraska. I hope people from Nebraska watch the movie and are proud that you know someone from Nebraska made that movie.
Jones: This has been filmmaker and writer, Drew Hancock, his first feature length film, “Companion” is out now, I’m Arthur Jones, Nebraska Public Media News.