What if the tap water was the enemy? Enter the chilling, unsettling world of “BUG,” the fifth episode of the innovative sci-fi anthology series A Thousand Suns.
Read our exclusive interview with Blackmilk Studio EP/director Macgregor as he shares the real-world anxieties and personal fears that inspired the film.
Discover how the team overcame production challenges, including limited winter light and the daunting task of bringing a terrifying monster to life.
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FILMSUPPLY: What was the inspiration for BUG? Talk to us about world events, pop culture, or even some of your own fears that influenced this episode of A Thousand Suns.
Macgregor: The inspiration for “BUG” came together as a layered, evolving story.
It started with a simple concept: a small high desert town where a wife comes home to find her husband’s stomach bursting open, seemingly from the junk food he ate the night before.
Over time, the wife was replaced by a social worker visiting an elderly woman living alone, which added more tension and mystery to the story.
The idea then grew further, influenced by real-world issues like the scarcity and poor quality of water in some U.S. cities. We decided to make tainted tap water the cause of an epidemic of parasitic creatures, adding a strong layer of social commentary.
While brainstorming (during a bathroom break, interestingly enough), we came up with the idea of moving the story to Korea or Japan. It felt like a natural way to add an extra layer of mystery and intrigue.
Korean cinema, in particular, is incredibly exciting right now, and setting one of the episodes in another culture brought fresh energy to the project.
We also decided to include a twist that added more depth to the story:
Is North Korea behind the attack?
Are aliens arriving as spores?
Can we even trust that the media is telling us the truth?
It’s this blend of personal fears, cultural influences, and real-world issues that ultimately shaped this episode of A Thousand Suns into what it is.
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FILMSUPPLY: Right from the start, BUG has a dark, ominous tone. Talk to us about the elements you used to establish the mood of the film.
The house is absolutely key. It’s not just a setting, but a protagonist in its own right.
The architecture isn’t traditionally scary, but we wanted to find a location with a presence that drives the mood.
Surprisingly, it was a real challenge to find. It took us weeks to find the right place. We scoured every Airbnb in the country because we needed something with a futuristic vibe, touches of Asian design, and surrounded by woods.
We finally found the right place in upstate New York. The location was more of a cabin than a full house, so we relied on movie magic and creative camera angles to make it feel bigger. We reused rooms by changing layouts to create the illusion of more space.
Additionally, I wanted the forest to feel like part of the house. The large windows made it possible to blur the boundary between inside and outside, creating a sense that nature was intruding on the interior—a thin layer of glass was all that separated them.
We wanted the audience to feel safe inside the house, thinking the monsters were outside in the world.
But, as you know, it turns out to be the other way around…
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FILMSUPPLY: What was the collaboration like with the film’s composers? How did you communicate your vision for the music?
The music was a bit of a challenge because, on one hand, you don’t want something that’s going to get in the way. But at the same time, you need the music do to some of the heavy lifting to make that final reveal feel big and scary.
We initially worked with a few different, very talented composers, but they didn’t quite achieve the tone we were looking for.
We eventually got in contact with Nathan at Rareform Audio, and he totally stuck the landing. Working with an accomplished cellist, Nathan was able to manipulate the audio in post and really get that sound we were looking for.
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Are there specific parts from the score that you feel really helped establish the tone?
Yes, there was — but we weren’t able to use it!
In the original cut, there was an opening cello melody that really set the musical tone for the rest of the film.
Unfortunately, it distracted from some of the other important elements, so we took it out. You hear a bit of it at the 2:30 mark, so some of the original score’s DNA remained in the final cut.
FILMSUPPLY: The shortened winter days posed major challenges during production. Were there any unexpected benefits to the obstacles caused by the lack of natural light?
The winter days made things very challenging. The short days gave us only 6–7 hours of natural light to work with, and the biggest hurdle was keeping light levels consistent.
One day, it’s overcast; the next, it’s sunny.
Of course, light levels change throughout the day, but it all had to look like the same time on screen.
And since the space has such large windows, we used ND gels on the windows to reduce contrast. But at the same time, we didn’t have large enough light sources to fully light the space.
So, instead of lighting the set in a traditional way, we leaned into a more naturalistic approach to lighting.
We controlled light by covering and flagging windows off-camera to shape the direction of the light and create the right contrast.
It was a challenge, but it gave the film a very grounded, organic feel that fit the Korean winter tone.
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FILMSUPPLY: What were some of the other obstacles you had to overcome during production?
The VFX work on the creature was very much a challenge — you just never know how good it’s going to look until it’s done.
All through production, we thought, “If this thing looks bad, we’ll have to throw the entire short in the trash.”
We got in contact with Alex Zabei Vorota, a VFX artist who had helped us in the past.
He’d just recently been creating all sorts of VFX monsters and posting them online, so we thought he’d be the perfect person to turn to.
And we were just so lucky that he was willing to spend a couple of months in his off time working on this.
In the end, the monster turned out really well. We’re really happy with it.
License footage from “BUG,” Episode 5 of A Thousand Suns
You can license fully released footage from “BUG,” episode 5 of the A Thousand Suns series — only on Filmsupply.
