A week after writer-director Ian Tuason wrapped Undertone, he called his own shot.
At the time, he and a production team were assembling an electronic press kit (EPK) to aid festival submissions and eventual distribution for his half-a-million dollar horror movie. The sound design-driven tale chronicles a paranormal podcaster (Nina Kiri’s Evy) who helps unleash something malevolent through her show, all while caring for her terminally ill mother. During an interview for the EPK in February 2025, Tuason predicted what would actually transpire that August when A24 purchased his feature directorial debut in a mid-seven-figure deal.
“I’m on record saying that we’re going to sell to either A24 or Neon. I also said the dollar amount, and I was right,” Tuason tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of undertone’s March 13 theatrical release. “It’s in the EPK. There’s proof. A24 now has that footage. I don’t know what they’re going to do with it, but I hope they release it.”
Following the auditory horror film’s award-winning premiere at the 29th Fantasia International Film Festival in July 2025, Tuason was admittedly subdued when A24 triumphed during the hotly competitive bidding war. He was still grateful, of course, but writing and making Undertone capped an unimaginable five-year period filled with grief and personal demons.
Evy’s (Kiri) caregiving arrangement with her catatonic mother was born out of Tuason’s own familial caregiving. During the pandemic, he moved back to his family’s Toronto-area home to look after his mother and father who were both diagnosed with terminal cancer in close succession. His mother soon passed in 2021, and his father would follow two-and-half-years later in 2023.
Tuason channeled his grief and sorrow by turning what began as his own radio play into a feature screenplay. Kiri’s Evy Babic served as a surrogate for himself. And like his character, he turned to alcohol to cope with the loss of his folks and the darkness of his script’s subject matter.
“It resulted in a great screenplay, but when you go that dark, you don’t really feel much when it’s done,” Tuason says. “Part of the problem was I was trying to numb myself so much while I was writing. You can see that in the Evy character [and her own drinking problem]. You’re drinking, you’re in denial, you’re lying.”
Tuason would eventually empty his bank account, including the modest inheritance his folks left him, to fund a third of the $500K dollar film. He fully intended to go it alone if necessary, but he ultimately secured additional financiers for a relatively more comfortable shoot. To keep the budget down, he shot Undertone in the very suburban home where he recently bid adieu to his parents and exorcised his pain on paper.
Thus, when his producers and reps were celebrating A24’s acquisition of Undertone last summer, he knew exactly why he wasn’t whooping it up.
“I let go of a lot of things that I was holding too tightly for those two-and-a-half years [of caregiving], and I no longer feel the same emotions that everyone else feels now. [The A24 wide release] is pretty much a miracle, but I don’t feel it,” Tuason candidly says. “I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining that I don’t feel anything. It’s not that. I’m just happy that I’m sober now and that I’ve recovered from grief.”
Below, during a conversation with THR, Tuason (pronounced twah-sin) also discusses the advantage he had in securing added financing. Then he recalls how his first general meeting, post-Fantasia, secured his next film in a horror franchise that happened to inspire Undertone.
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I’m a recovering podcaster, and as I was watching Undertone, I told myself that whoever made this movie is either a podcaster or got to know one very well. Which one is it, if any?
Well, I don’t know if I’d call myself a podcaster, but I did have a couple podcasts where I would just read fiction that I wrote over some music I added to it. It was almost like an audiobook, but it was episodic. They’re out there online. But I listen to many. I am a huge fan of Serial, and I’m a big fan of Smartless’ banter. I also used to listen to a lot of NBA podcasts. So I really appreciate that dynamic between two co-hosts who disagree with each other all the time and play those roles.
There were so many details that ring true, such as how both characters would often say “save it for the show” during their pre-episode chat. The characters also spoke with a particular inflection that podcasters develop from hearing themselves speak so much. I suppose that comes from your lead actor, Nina Kiri, being a former podcaster?
I would credit Nina for that, yeah. When we met, she told me that she used to have a podcast when she was in university. Adam [DiMarco] was also very curious about why all his women friends were going to sleep to true crime podcasts. That’s a thing now. Did you know this?
Yeah, it’s been a thing. Years ago, I knew a woman who’d decompress and nap to the grisliest of true crime tales.
That’s why Adam put on a soft, soothing ASMR voice, and I didn’t write that in. So whatever you’re hearing, Adam DiMarco and Nina Kiri are the masterminds behind it.
Did you come up with a backstory for how Evy and Justin met?
They did a podcast together in university. They’re old university chums.
Evy and Justin are paranormal podcasters to be exact. She’s the skeptic and he’s the believer both on and off the air. But they mention during a few asides how they have to get back into character. Is the idea that they exaggerate their personal beliefs on the show for dramatic effect?
Yeah, they’re exaggerating the characters that they actually are in their day-to-day lives. When they say that, it’s to signal when to switch their voices and add that rivalry that they don’t really have in real life. Once they get into character, they jab at each other.
You clearly had enough believers to get the film produced and distributed, but were there some skeptics along the way?
Well, I didn’t really have any believers from the get-go. I invested everything I had into making it. When people learned that I was going to do this and read the script, they wanted in at that point. And one by one, more investors came on board. My portion was a third of the budget that we gathered together. I still would’ve been able to do it [on my own]; it just wouldn’t have been as good as it is now. [Writer’s Note: The reported budget is $500K.]
There’s something to be said about discovering a project that already has money attached to it, as opposed to me sending my script off to people without any money attached to it. So [my existing contribution] influenced a lot of people to hop on the train, but it was mostly my two producers, Cody Calahan and Dan Slater. Dan had a network of people that really believed in him. And when he said that [Undertone] was going to work, they all believed it. I don’t think they really understood it, but I don’t think anyone did until they saw the movie.
We didn’t have a distributor until we screened it at the Fantasia Film Festival [in July 2025]. Then a bunch of bids came in all in one day, and it turned into a bidding war that resulted in the largest movie acquisition in Canada ever.
A24 won, and it’s certainly a very A24 movie. Did you envision them from the start?
Yeah, when we first wrapped [in February 2025], we did an EPK a week later or so, and I’m on record saying that we’re going to sell to either A24 or Neon. I also said the dollar amount, and I was right. [Writer’s Note: The dollar amount is reportedly mid-seven figures.]
Wow.
It’s in the EPK. There’s proof. A24 now has that footage. I don’t know what they’re going to do with it, but I hope they release it.
So when they came in aggressively after Fantasia, you must have been bouncing off the walls with excitement.
It was the opposite. But I was happy that my producers and the entire team were climbing the walls. I’m glad someone did. It’s a funny thing when you experience two-and-a-half years of caregiving for your parents.
Undertone was shot in my childhood home where I had just finished caregiving for both my parents who were on end-of-life home care. It resulted in a great screenplay, but when you go that dark, you don’t really feel much when it’s done. Part of the problem was I was trying to numb myself so much while I was writing. You can see that in the Evy character [and her own drinking problem]. You’re drinking, you’re in denial, you’re lying.
Then I did the complete opposite once I started finishing up the story. I was just a hundred percent honest. When I met everybody to make Undertone, I was just radically honest, and that’s when I realized everyone was honest with me. They weren’t afraid to give me their creative input, and a lot of times their creative input was so good that I made changes to the script. It was really a team effort.
So I let go of a lot of things that I was holding too tightly for those two-and-a-half years [of caregiving], and I no longer feel the same emotions that everyone else feels now. It’s too bad because I’d love the version of me from five years ago to be going through what I’m going through right now. It is pretty much a miracle, but I don’t feel it. I also know that the version of me from five years ago would have never made a movie like this, so it’s a trade-off.
I’m sorry about what you had to go through in order for Undertone to exist. Did the experience prove to be therapeutic?
It was absolutely therapeutic for me. Now that I’m releasing a movie I made to thousands of theaters, I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining that I don’t feel anything. It’s not that. I’m just happy that I’m sober now and that I’ve recovered from grief. I’m slowly getting back to normal, and if the life I’m living right now is my new normal, then I would take that any day of the week.
I’ve been asking friends in production how many audio tracks or files a typical movie has, and it’s a difficult question to answer. 200 to 600 seems to be the range from what I could gather, but who knows. Would you wager that Undertone has significantly more tracks or sound files than the average movie?
I heard there was. RedLab in Toronto, our post soundhouse, gave us a huge library of sounds. I took the best ones and mixed them everywhere around your head. So I think I had a lot more to choose from than most movies, but I can’t be sure.
Christopher Nolan believes that cinema is pretty conservative when it comes to sound design. Do you think we’ve barely scratched the surface in terms of how much sound can affect the moviegoing experience?
I think so, but I think I’m starting to scratch a little bit at it. I’m curious to see what these geniuses out there do. People are saying that they haven’t heard a movie like mine before, but I’m sure there are going to be others, especially with technology advancing and evolving. As technology evolves, the content evolves too. It’s inevitable.
This week (March 5), I watched Undertone, Project Hail Mary and the Mother Mary trailer. And all three involve the Virgin Mary to varying degrees. The Blessed Mother has never been more back, I suppose.
She’s the feminine expression of God, so Mary is God.
Like a lot of first-time directors with a buzzy indie, you’ve already been drafted by a franchise, but it’s one that actually inspired undertone. Did Paranormal Activity’s producers — Jason Blum, James Wan and Oren Peli — approach you after Fantasia’s screening?
Yeah, Jason Blum. He was my first general meeting after premiering at Fantasia. It was a Zoom call. He told me that he was sent a screener, and he watched it in his home theater, which looked to me like a theater with La-Z-Boy chairs. I just remember thinking, I want a theater like that. Yeah, maybe one day.
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Undertone is now playing in movie theaters.
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