By Mary-Justine Lanyon
Crestline resident Julianne Homokay has always been a creative person. As a girl, she discovered journaling and poetry. In college, the Connecticut native earned a degree in theater with a concentration in musical theater performance.
Her interest in writing led her to earn an MFA in playwriting from the University of Nevada Las Vegas. And that is where she turned her focus.
Julianne Homokay reviewing her screenplay with Matt Krinsky.
In 2015 her play All Saints in the Old Colony was a semi-finalist at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. It received its world premiere at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis in 2018.
Most recently, Homokay adapted the play for a feature-length film, All Saints Day, which just had its world premiere in Salem, Mass., the week before Thanksgiving.
The story revolves around four siblings – Kier, Ronan, Father Mickey and Fiona. To stop Kier from drinking himself to death, Ronan enlists the help of their estranged priest brother and their long-lost sister.
Where did the inspiration for the play and subsequent screenplay come from? “I had this character floating around in my head,” Homokay said. “Father Mickey. I wondered who he was and why he was in my head. I didn’t know where I would put him.”
But then Homokay produced a friend’s play at a theater in Los Angeles. The three lead male characters had amazing chemistry, she said. “I wondered what story I could write for them. The All Saints story emerged from imagining what characters those actors would be.
“I started with the actors and ended up with the play.”
She had met Matt Krinsky, the film’s director, more than 10 years ago when they were both participating in the Lincoln Center Directors Lab West. “Matt had always been a director,” Homokay said. “I was being asked to do a lot of directing and decided it was time to beef up my directing chops. I met Matt on the first day and we hit it off, especially when we discovered we’re both New Englanders.”
Julianne Homokay is a screenwriter, playwright, performer, director and musician.
That friendship led to Homokay asking Krinsky to direct in a theater company she had in the Los Angeles area.
The play was set in South Boston (Southie), in the Old Colony projects. When Homokay and Krinsky got down to the production part of the film, one of their investors asked to have it set in Chelsea, Mass., a densely populated city in the outskirts of Boston.
“I did some research and adapted the story to tales specific to Chelsea,” Homokay said. “I didn’t have to adapt much.”
Krinsky had asked Homokay to adapt the play for the screen. “I had to cut the dialogue down,” Homokay said. And while the play is largely seen through Kier’s lens, Krinsky thought Ronan would be the more exciting character in the film.
The two worked together on the screenplay. Homokay wrote a first draft and showed it to Krinsky, who gave her some notes. “Then we worked together scene to scene,” Homokay said.
She noted that they have a unique relationship. “Often screenwriters are shoved aside. Matt wanted me on set.” In fact, Homokay served at the Covid compliance officer.
Unlike some screenwriters, Homokay did not feel threatened by suggestions offered by Krinsky. “I like seeing what directors bring. My words on a page are a blueprint. Suddenly we have a four-dimensional aspect.”
In writing about All Saints Day, Krinsky said it “presents as a simple story about one working-class family doing their best to hold it together while chasing their version of the American Dream. In actuality, the film explores multiple themes – forgiveness, judgment, alcoholism, belonging – and is ultimately about the duality of strength and fragility within a family.”
All Saints Day, Krinsky added, “carries a vital thread of levity, something that reflects how I’ve always approached life – finding the quirks and humor even in the most serious moments. This valuable survival skill of laughing through your troubles is one I know is embraced by many. In making All Saints Day with this in mind, and honestly portraying a family struggling to maintain unity, my hope is that the story will deeply resonate with a wide audience.”
As a writer for the Alpine Mountaineer, Homokay had written a series of articles about taking her late mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, on the road. The last place she took her mother was Bellows Falls, Vt., where her mother had lived.
She is turning those articles into a book, The Last Road Trip. Her agent told her it sounds like a screenplay – so that may be in Homokay’s future.
All Saints Day is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime and Apple TV. Homokay hopes it will be streaming on other platforms soon. To view a trailer, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R9kVbvB1dI.
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