JESSE EISENBERG AND RILEY KEOUGH GUIDE US THROUGH THEIR BIZARRE NEW MOVIE, SASQUATCH SUNSET
YOU’LL STRUGGLE TO find another film quite like Sasquatch Sunset. Shot entirely on location in the forests of Humboldt County, Northern California, the film follows a group of furry, human-sized mythical creatures (played by actors in full costume) over the course of an absurd, challenging year of their lives. Riley Keough, who plays the sole female in the family, and Jesse Eisenberg, embodying a timid male, talk Empire through all things Sasquatch.
SASQUATCH SURVIVAL
“When you watch animal documentaries, you can see them going through these really harsh conditions and things that are typical in nature like birth and death,” Keough explains. “That exists within the Sasquatch family as well.” David and Nathan Zellner’s film mimics the documentary form, with four seasonal chapters, during which the makeshift family —an alpha male (played by Nathan Zellner), the female (Keough), beta male (Eisenberg) and an infant (Christophe Zajac-Denek) —seek a better life but become increasingly vulnerable to the perils of the forest and human interference. “They are in survival mode,” Eisenberg summarises.
SASQUATCH EMOTION
Caught in the grey area between human and animal, the Sasquatches have learned to adapt to their tree-laden surroundings, but continue to evolve. “My character has the self-awareness of a baby,” explains Eisenberg. “Like the way that a baby tries to clumsily advance in certain ways. It’s a very sweet character.” Part of that advancement involves trying to court Keough’s female after she separates from the alpha. “I gather up a bouquet of ferns as a romantic offering, and then she rejects me and I feel shame,” he says of his beta. Keough adds: “[She’s] tired from the alpha, so by the time [Jesse’s character] comes around, she’s exhausted.” Her character has the added pressure of navigating their world as its only female and having to take matters into her own hands: “How to process that as a Sasquatch and not a human was the challenge there.”
SASQUATCH SPEAK
The pack uses ape
