Interview: Yana Alliata And The Cast Of ‘Reeling’ Talk About Their New Film

Reeling is a complex character study told through long takes of a man trying to reclaim his memories after the accident that turned his world upside down. The compelling feature recently held its premiere in the Narrative Feature Competition section at SXSW. In a recent interview with Jaylan Salah from Geek Vibes Nation, director Yana Alliata and the actors Ryan Wuestewald (playing the main protagonist, Ryan), Hans Christopher (his brother John), and Nikki DeParis (the sister) talk about long takes, touching scars to get in character, brotherly dynamics, and capturing the Hawaiian lifestyle.

Geek Vibes Nation (Jaylan Salah): This film is engrossing. How did this idea come to you?

Yana Alliata: I’m originally from Oʻahu, and I grew up there. The idea came to me as I was at my friend’s birthday luau, and an uncomfortable moment happened during a Hawaiian food blessing at the actual birthday luau. From there, the seed of the idea for the rest of the fictional story [was planted]. The story of Ryan and his disability is fictional, but the environment -which I thought was so beautiful and relaxing- could pair well as a contrast to the lead character’s point of view. 

I like stories. I like family dramas and mysteries. I always knew and set out to do [a film about them], but it was a little bit later that I found memory to be a story device to tell the story of the family mystery. 

GVN: We start with a backshot of Ryan, and the camera follows him for a while without revealing his face. Did you always have it in mind to create this particular backshot? 

YA: Yes, I did. That was very intentional with the writing of the script. The opening scene involves [Ryan] when he first returns to this place that he hasn’t been in for a while. He’s reintroducing himself to others [former friends], and they’re reintroducing themselves to him. I wanted to stay with Ryan at that moment. I didn’t want the audience to see his face until the very end of that scene, where he leaves those interactions behind on his way to his room. This is the first time we see him in full-frontal close-up, and he reveals how he feels about everyone he has just reintroduced himself to from his past.

I was cautious and aware of when to transition into that close-up from the front, which was after positioning ourselves behind him and [Ryan] meeting the other people he was reuniting with for the first time. 

GVN: Is it weird playing a character named Ryan when this is your real name? 

Ryan Wuestewald: Initially, it was a little bit [weird], but you get used to it. [Yana] was intentional about casting with the [actors’] names being [the same as] the real-life people’s [who inspired the film] names. And it works because this film is a character study told in documentary style, but [in reality] a fictional story. 

This makes it feel more real for me as an actor, a little less a fictional narrative. We’re in this story as ourselves in a way. It’s an interesting [story] and a very disturbing character.

GVN: How did you get inside this disturbed mind while protecting yourself as an actor?

RW: A lot of [the process] is finding ways for myself to tap into that sort of mentality without getting too caught up in it. I like to work in different ways, and touching the scar was a big way that helped me. It was very tangible for me being able to feel that [scar] as a way to get [in character]. As for the psychology behind getting into roles that get emotionally deep and complex, I would say it takes time, and you want to nurture that role and the character while respecting that process as much as you can. It takes work, but it’s rewarding.

GVN: How did you tap into the complex brotherly rivalry between John and Ryan?

Hans Christopher: [In the movie] our whole family was incredibly competitive, and [Ryan] was too, throughout our whole lives. So his helplessness brought about so much anger that we [as brothers] couldn’t have that anymore. I didn’t want to treat him any differently than I had before. 

Getting into [John’s head] drew a lot from myself and things in my life. I’m the oldest [brother]. I call it the burden of carrying the sword and the shield. When you’re the oldest, you have this sense that you’re supposed to do it, and with that comes a lot of shame or guilt and this weight that you put on yourself around it. I was able to draw a lot from that because I noticed how much it shows up in my real life as the oldest brother with two younger siblings. I was able to create something that worked well off of [John’s] anger that he didn’t have that person to compete with anymore.

GVN: How did you see Meg as a character? 

Nikki DeParis: Meg is an intriguing character because she possesses a softness, yet she is also strong for taking on the caretaking role in Ryan’s life. She’s had to take on a responsibility that she wasn’t expecting, especially for her older brother. She is a pseudo-parental figure and has had to figure out how to navigate being his sister, but also looking after him and making sure he’s okay. She tries to make him feel normal, welcome, and a part of his [old] life that he forgot. 

GVN: How do you, as a director, create this environment for your actors to let loose and be themselves and create a family in front of the screen? 

YA: It was like watching a home video of my family, and it was there from day one in the script. This was one of the inceptions of the entire story. I knew that the most important thing was to capture people and [Oʻahu] a place that I love so dearly in an authentic way. I also hired my friends who are nonprofessional actors in the film. They are wonderful and delightful, with great personalities, and I love being around them. I’ve always joked with them for so long about making them stars and wanting them to be in my movie. Then I said, “All right, I’m giving you guys this opportunity. Let’s go.” There’s something beautiful and mesmerizing about my three friends [taking turns] at the imu pit. Those are the first guys that Ryan’s character meets, and they are the pinnacle of the Hawaiian lifestyle. The Hawaii that I know and love.

It was important for me to capture that. Also, one of my brothers loves tarot cards, and he has a critical tarot card reading scene with Ryan where he improvises a real tarot card reading with Ryan before they get into the scripted dialogue. In reality, I wrote the script after I cast the movie. The last person I cast in the lead role was Hans because I was looking for that John character. Other than that, I cast people whom I already had in mind before I set out to write the script. So that’s a really big part of creating that environment. 

So it’s basically how Makena Miller knows Nikki very well, and also Galen and Zach and all the other supporting characters in the film. I knew I needed them to be friends and connected for us to pull this off. That’s what I wanted to share with the world and bring to light. I’m glad I succeeded in the authenticity of telling a story in Hawaii. 

GVN: Which was the most difficult scene to shoot? 

YA: The kitchen scene. I remember people actively being upset with me. I was upset with myself. That was the first and only scene where I could not place the camera as a director, which is a funny thing to admit. But all the walls are white and the camera can’t fit there. My director of photography, Rafael Leyva, who’s 6’6”, could not physically fit in that kitchen with the other actors and move the camera. He then needed his [camera] operator to hold that camera and operate for him in that scene. I was outside of the kitchen, trying to call shots inside it, and I remember being frustrated with myself. I believe some of the actors were frustrated with me as well, which I’ll take. That was a scene we did on day one of shooting. It’s a miracle that it worked.

Even in the editing room, I struggled with piecing that [scene] together from a directing point of view. I remember how challenging it was on set. 

ND: The first scene was difficult because we had to rehearse a lot. It was a theatrical moment and a really long take. I don’t mean “difficult” like it wasn’t enjoyable but it was logistically difficult to get the timing right. I’m meeting Ryan, then I have to go into the house with him. Then I go off another way and have to come around at exactly the right time with the cooler. There was a lot of rhythm that we had to figure out for that. But it was difficult fun.

RW: There’s a moment of emotional tension in the film that was another long take. I remember how difficult it was to repeat time and time because it’s not just having to get into an emotional state but also doing a very long take that leads up to a moment. It becomes more of a marathon.

GVN: But not the eulogy scene? 

YA: That was not [difficult] from a camera point of view. We initially brought our second camera, which we didn’t end up using. It was just a single-cam shoot. At first, I thought, “I want to capture all these reactions in real time, so let’s have the two operators back to back within that circle.” Then [I discovered] it was too clunky and annoying. My DP -who is film-obsessed and a film expert- also had the mentality of single cam, so [he and I agreed] on the single cam. Anytime you’re shooting an exterior scene, the big challenge is the sunlight and the positioning of the sun. So that’s why steady long takes and continuous long takes are helpful in that moment. We also circled around without cutting the camera because the sun would’ve moved if we repositioned for standard coverage. If we had positioned for another angle, the sun would’ve moved, and we would have gone into nighttime. But that [scene] was not as challenging as it made you feel.

HC: I don’t think anyone knows about this, but the scene where the dog’s on the table and everyone is around was challenging because many of the actors there were telling real stories about fishing and so forth. It was so immersive and alive that I felt I had to get into the pocket of bringing the story into the right place. I wanted to make sure it stayed and remained in that authentic tone. The stories were so alive and real that [the scene] became challenging and intimidating to be sure it stayed in this world. [What complicated things was that] I didn’t expect it to be that way, but [during the scene] hearing the stories and seeing it happen, I felt great. That was a very unexpected feeling to capture.

Reeling held its World Premiere as part of the Narrative Feature Competition section of the 2025 SXSW TV & Film Festival.