Sydney Chandler and Takehiro Hira are back in the sci-fi genre with Anima, albeit this time with a much more emotional journey.

Chandler has become a hot commodity in the world of sci-fi over the past few years, beginning with her film acting debut in Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling before following it up with Apple TV’s Sugar and her breakthrough success with Alien: Earth. Hira, best known to some for his Emmy-nominated work in FX’s Shogun, is also similarly a more recent face in the genre, beginning with The Swarm and returning with the Monsterverse series, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.

Chandler leads the Anima cast as Beck, a young woman with a passion for engineering who finds herself let go from her tech start-up. Also still reeling from the death of her musician father, a desperate-to-work Beck becomes recruited by a mysterious company that’s offering its clientele the chance to preserve their consciousness in a cloud system after their death for their loved ones to visit. Chandler’s character is hired to pick up their latest client, with whom a scientific algorithm has matched her, and transport him to the facility.

Hira stars alongside the Alien: Earth vet as Paul, the client whom Beck is hired to pick up. A lonely button manufacturer managing a terminal illness, Paul refuses to make the journey in anything other than his classic Nissan 300ZX, while also frequently pushing for seemingly random stops along the way, which are actually his ways of taking care of unfinished business and attempting to reconnect with his estranged family.

In honor of the film’s SXSW premiere, ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan, Grant Hermanns and Liam Crowley interviewed Brian Tetsuro Ivie, Sydney Chandler, Takehiro Hira and Maximilian Lee Piazza to discuss Anima. When looking at their experience getting to team with Ivie — making his narrative feature debut with the sci-fi drama — Hira recalled there being “a lot of experimentation on set” during production, some of which he says “worked” while others didn’t.

However, he went on to explain that “thinking too much doesn’t really work” on a film like Anima, in which the important approach was immersing himself in “the feelings [and] the emotion on set.” Acknowledging that “a couple of reshoots” led him to reconsidering certain scenes and having “brought some ideas” to the mix, he ultimately felt some of his work was “better in the beginning“:

Takehiro Hira: I guess too much thinking isn’t always the answer. Just go with the gut feeling on the day. I wouldn’t want to call it a passion project, but there’s a lot of passion in it. It’s Brian’s first time and a lot of the crew were young, sometimes fresh out of film school, and I love that environment.

Ivie went on to recall his and the crew’s concerns that “Takehiro would leave right away“ upon getting to the set and “seeing how inexperienced everyone was.” But this is also part of what the writer/director felt helped Anima sing was the “very handmade” approach to his production, explaining the goal of the story was “to bring together this story of a person coming of age” as well as a “person coming to their death.” Ivie concluded by sharing that the fresher crew combined with the work of experienced stars like Hira and The Conjuring‘s Lili Taylor “met in this cosmic, weird, beautiful way” and felt that Hira “taught me a lot.”

In reflecting on her own experience working with Ivie to craft Beck’s backstory, Chandler recalls the character’s work in the field of robotic “forever pets” was an idea the writer/director brought “once we had started filming,” acknowledging that “things change” and “scripts change” on any production, something she’s learned to “just roll with.” Chandler further shared that she and Ivie “did jump into it quite quickly“ with figuring out who exactly Beck was, as “I had been dealing with some family stuff at the time” and she had to delay her filming start:

Sydney Chandler: I think we pushed a week, and he was like, “We want you in this and let’s do it,” which is such a kind and generous thing that usually doesn’t happen. We just dove right in, so we had those conversations throughout the filming. And that had been one of my things of like, “I’m sorry, I can’t be there for prep.” Life happens. And he’s like, “We’ll find her while we film.” And I feel like we really did.

One aspect of Anima that Chandler found herself drawn to was Ivie’s experience in the world of documentaries, in which his job is “to find the story while you’re filming,” and curious to see “how he would take a fictional narrative and do the same thing.” The star praised Ivie for being “so wonderful” as a person and creating a “really safe filming process” to explore the character.

Sydney Chandler: That was just a really big blessing…I’m so thankful that he was able to do that for me because, again, usually that doesn’t happen. Life cannot get in the way in film, typically…and dealing with indie films, it’s brass tacks. A location drops, or we’re moving something, you have no idea what’s going to happen next. That was a really fun aspect of this too.

Chandler Knows Exactly What Genre She Wants To Tackle Next After Her Sci-Fi Streak

ScreenRant: To start, I would love to know, you have been in the sci-fi genre everywhere for the past few years, whether it’s the psychedelic-ness of Don’t Worry Darling, or the noir throwback of Sugar, and then, obviously, Alien. What is it about this genre that you really feel keeps pulling you back in?

Sydney Chandler: I love sci-fi. I write sci-fi, I read sci-fi, I breathe sci-fi. [Laughs] It’s my favorite genre because it’s, in my opinion, so human. There’s some of the best human lessons in sci-fi. I really have learned so much about how humans would interact with different scenarios. The good sci-fi really brings in the most humanity, so being able to delve into that, your imagination goes wild. And to be able to play characters who are dealing, like with Anima, with this idea of being able to upload consciousness, you really have to sit back and see how that would affect you, and then sit back and see how that would affect the character you’re playing. So, there are these layers that you start adding on and on. Like Shrek, there’s an onion, you peel it back [chuckles], but it really does feel like that. So the more unique and wild the story is, it’s more of a challenge and more fun to find the humanity and to be able to root that story in reality.

ScreenRant: I love the way that Anima does it, because, like you say, this is a wild swing of an idea, but it still feels just a grounded human tale at the core of it. So, with your love of sci-fi, I did also want to ask, is there any subgenre within sci-fi or iconic sci-fi type of story you haven’t explored yet that you’re really keen to do?

Sydney Chandler: Horror. I really want to be covered in blood or carry an ax or scream. I love horror films, they’re my favorite. Fantasy is also my favorite. I will do the “sit at the desk” job if the movie is right. But I mean, my heart just lands on the crazier the world, the more unique the world. I feel like my imagination just works well there. I’ve been reading fantasy and sci-fi my entire life and horror. I loved Goosebumps as a kid, they were so great. So, that’s my heart, that’s my love. I’m so thankful to be able to work in that field because it’s a dream, it’s an absolute dream to bring those things to life.

ScreenRant: So now, turning to Anima, you mentioned the various layers of Beck. That was one thing I found really interesting was that, in the press notes, they described Beck as just a very anti-social character. And yet, in so much of her interactions with Paul, it feels like she’s the social butterfly of the duo. What was that like for you, really toeing that balance between someone who doesn’t necessarily know what they want from life yet, but also wants clearly to connect with someone?

Sydney Chandler: Yeah. I really leaned into, for me, a sense of her curiosity. I think she’s a very curious character and a very lonely character and not very much a trusting person, but the curiosity kind of outweighed the antisocial aspect of her. I think if we watched more of her before meeting Tak, you would see that loneliness kind of perforated throughout her life. But with Tak/Paul, he is so quiet and stoic, and he’s doing something so incredibly scary and confusing that she, in my opinion, really wants to figure out why. “Who is this person, and why is he doing this? And I’m bored, so let’s ask him questions.” So that was really fun too. She’s a very mysterious character, she’s a very internal character, and working with Brian to find that, too, of letting her be quiet, letting her be still in moments. And then, if we’re talking about music at all, or if she’s frustrated, she’s going to go off. [Chuckles] So that was really fun too. I let Brian lead. And then, one of my favorite parts of work is just giving different levels, different colors, and you never know what character they’re going to make in the final cut. So, that’s a really fun aspect to see too.

ScreenRant: So now I want to, of course, turn to Takehiro because obviously, I love him in everything he is in, especially Shogun and Rental Family, but he’s so adorable in his awkwardness throughout this film, and watching you two play off each other is so great. As you said, you didn’t have as much time to be there for the prep with him. What was it like finding that rapport and that rhythm as filming was going on?

Sydney Chandler: Yeah, it was kind of amazing because on the page, he was quite cold and stoic and pushed back. And then, when we started working together, I don’t know why, but we clicked. We clicked in this way, because we’re very different people. I’m Chatty Kathy, and he’s just this quiet, stoic, calm, very funny human. But I mean, we just got on like a house on fire, and it was so much fun. We really had to work with Brian on finding those levels of having them more separated because, again, they call cut, and we’re just playing around. [Laughs] It was really rewarding, and that’s my favorite piece of the entire film. I think of Tak’s entire career is he will play, especially like Shogun, a difficult character, a cold character, and you love him, you fall in love with him. He’s got this heart that is him, that he’s able to bring out in every character he plays, where I think he could probably play the worst villain in the world, and you’d still be like, “Dang, I care for him. I think he’s a good person inside somewhere.” So, that was one of the most rewarding pieces too, is just to be able to work with him.

ScreenRant: Now, you’re getting to bring the film to SXSW. Even before I got into this industry, my family’s just outside of Austin, so I knew how big this was. Yourself being a Texas native, how does it feel for you to get to premiere this film at SXSW?

Sydney Chandler: Yeah, it’s amazing. It’s at my favorite movie theater, it’s one that I go to all of the time. So, to have that feeling of home and community, especially Austin, it’s just such a film-buff city. The music here is incredible, and so to see the city come to life in that way for SXSW is really energizing. Premieres can be overwhelming for someone who’s not great with crowds. [Laughs] But to have this film in this city, I know this city, I know where everything is. I know the people here, and it’s so warm and kind. So I think it’s the perfect place for this film to come out.

Ivie & Piazza Have Very Intriguing Takes On The Idea Of Digital Consciousness Upload

ScreenRant: I need to learn about Anima, so tell me about everything.

Brian Tetsuro Ivie: Yeah, so I guess what you need to know, first of all, is that Anima is a road movie, set in the near future, starring this young man right here, Maximilian Lee Piazza, Sydney Chandler, Takehiro Hira and my hero, Tom McCarthy, in a kimono. That’s probably all you need to know. But it’s basically about a man who’s estranged from his family who’s now signed up to upload his consciousness through this experimental technology, and someone — Sydney Chandler — has to drive him to his final procedure. So that’s as much as I can probably tell you from this stuff.

ScreenRant: How long have you been kicking around the story?

Brian Tetsuro Ivie: A long time. It’s cool to be at this point because obviously, as Tak knows, we’ve been filming up until very recently. The story actually started a while back based on this very old parable called The Parable Of The Rich Fool, which is basically the story of this farmer who had a bumper crop one year. And he had so much that he had to build bigger barns for his possessions, but then the same night he built the barn, the story goes that his soul was required of him. And so, basically, I wanted to make a modern retelling of that story. And then, around the same time, I read an article in the MIT Review about this company that was considered 100% fatal. And so the idea of the company was that it could upload your consciousness, postmortem, and allow you to live on. It was some kind of confluence of this old story and this very new story coming together to try to talk about what’s going on right now. And that’s really where Anima began.

ScreenRant: It sounds like we’re not far off from that.

Brian Tetsuro Ivie: Yeah, [the company] promised to cryostabilize your brain so that in a future yet to come, we could take your consciousness and upload and download you in an interplanetary sense. So you can go to any planet, anywhere you want it, forever. And of course, that’s sort of the question, the conversation that film grapples with.

ScreenRant: Would you get cryogenically frozen?

Brian Tetsuro Ivie: Well, that’s a question for Maximilian.

Maximilian Lee Piazza: I wouldn’t do it right now. I don’t know. I’m too young to decide that. You know what? If my life ever gets boring, maybe. [Chuckles] Spice it up. If I’m tired of working, I just might as well just get frozen right now.

ScreenRant: How did this movie spice up your life?

Maximilian Lee Piazza: As soon as I read the script, it was amazing. Brian’s done such an amazing job with this film. And I think it’s very relatable. It’s about people trying to make a connection, and not always knowing how. I think it’s especially relatable to how kids my age experience the world now. We’re constantly on our phones, and we’re on TikTok a lot, and I’m guilty of it, as well. I’m on TikTok a lot. And sometimes, that could replace real human connection. It could just be a barrier for real vulnerability, real relationships. And so yeah, the film is really amazing and Brian did an amazing job.

ScreenRant: When I ask, “What attracted you to this project,” at the end of the day, it’s work. It’s good to be employed. It’s good to be booked and busy. But with a first-time director, with a new concept like this, I feel like there’s got to be something more than just, “Hey, it’s a job to do.” So with that in mind, what attracted you to doing Anima?

Takehiro Hira: Well, when I first read the script, I loved the character and the story of it. I guess it’s a simple story, but well told. And then Brian sent me a CD and a CD player. And then, of course, I read the script first, and I reread the script with the music on and the world he was trying to portray was just like, I want to be in it. And he wrote me a good letter basically. So I couldn’t say no.

ScreenRant: Brian, did you make a playlist? Is that what the CD was?

Brian Tetsuro Ivie: Yeah. There are so many things to explain. The other main character, played by Sydney Chandler, used to be a musician, sort of given up on that dream and therefore given up on some deeper part of herself. And so her dad was a musician as well, during the era when you would’ve given CDs to people. I used to listen to CDs. So yeah, we burned CDs for both lead actors. We got old headphones. We got CD players that worked, and we shipped them off and thought if they could actually touch and feel this, they would understand this is a very lo-fi sci-fi thing that we’re trying to do. And I guess the genre would be sci-fi feelings. So, listening to the music, I think I was hoping it would seal the deal and make them understand what we were trying to do.

ScreenRant: Takehiro, what was it like to develop that dynamic between yourself and Sydney? Because you two effectively are two of the pillars of this film.

Takehiro Hira: It was, of course, my first time working with her. We met for the first time on the first day on the scene, and we made it so that we didn’t meet each other until the first scene that the character meets in the story. But immediately we just connected right away, and I’m not sure if that was the good thing to do. Well, but I guess we started the journey at the same time as my character, Paul, studied the journey with the character Beck in the story. So we developed a friendship slowly and it was a pleasure working with her.

ScreenRant: We are at SXSW, mixing music and film. Tell me about the music in the movie.

Brian Tetsuro Ivie: Yeah. So it sounds like we planned this way. We really did not. Although it’s amazing to be here — that it’s a music movie with technology, and it’s a film, of course. But the movie soundtrack is my favorite part. I’m half Japanese, half Irish. So the film’s soundtrack is a bunch of deep-cut, Japanese folk music stuff you haven’t heard. Our last interview, the guy said he was Shazaming a bunch of music with you, because he didn’t know what it was. So, except for maybe one or two songs, I’ve been told people have not heard any of this music. There’s music from Japan, there’s alternative ’90s music. It’s a retro-futuristic movie. So the soundtrack, we were hoping it would be like the CD found in your parents’ attic, or something that you didn’t know existed. So, that’s the feeling of it.

ScreenRant: I love that. I’ve been asking everybody about their favorite movie soundtracks, and a lot of things that have come up are like, “Oh, this movie introduced me to this genre or this era.” Do you have any examples in your life of the soundtrack you picked up, and you were like, “Oh, this is in my car forever“?

Brian Tetsuro Ivie: Yeah, so every Cameron Crowe movie for me was always bad. That’s how I came to know John Coltrane was, I’m pretty sure, because of Jerry Maguire. He probably hasn’t seen it. Do you know what Jerry Maguire is?

Maximilian Lee Piazza: No.

Brian Tetsuro Ivie: This is what I’m talking about. [Chuckles] The other day he goes, “Have you heard this movie Goodfellas?” I was like, “Yes, I have.” But no, John Coltrane, he says, “You better take care of Renée Zellweger in the hands of John Coltrane tape.” So, that’s how I learned about that. And then, even just like, sonically, Peter Weir’s films, like Dead Poet Society, that sound was for sure an influence on me in this film.

Maximilian Lee Piazza: Honestly, I’m not as much of a music fanatic as Brian is, and I don’t know as much music. And I’m not saying this because I’m biased, but 100%, I think that this is my favorite soundtrack. Really, because it’s music that I’ve never heard before, but yet it touches my heart in a certain way.

ScreenRant: What did you learn through this experience, in terms of what you want to make next or be in next?

Brian Tetsuro Ivie: Well, right now, so Vin Wenders had this road movie trilogy. I do not want to make more road movies. It’s very hard to shoot in the car [chuckles], but I am planning basically a trilogy of near-future films. So this is the first, the second I’m writing right now. This is about the soul, Anima. The next is about the brain. So it’s connected loosely, but it’s also about a group of thieves.

Maximilian Lee Piazza: One of my favorite movies of all time is La Haine. It’s a French film. It’s beautiful, and I’m just going to let you watch it. Just the friendship dynamic, and the storyline, and how it was shot and filmed was amazing. It was perfect. Perfection.

ScreenRant: Well, is there anything I haven’t touched on that you want to express about the film before people see it?

Brian Tetsuro Ivie: He wants me to talk about how I was in a band. So yes, that’s where my music taste started. I was in a band, it failed, and that’s why I’m here today, because I failed as a musician, so then I became a filmmaker. I fell back on that. What I want people to know, I guess, is — the poet, David White, talks about how you can only see people moving at the same velocity as you. So, I think the film is slow on purpose, because I think we’re all living in hyper-living right now, skimming along the surface of everything. I like to think that the film, at its best, can help people slow down and consider what really matters, who really matters, and how we might live, even in a future that’s not necessarily helping us maintain our community. That’s why we shot on 16 millimeter. That’s why we cast people with great souls. So yeah, I hope they’ll see it and enjoy it.

ScreenRant: How much do you want people to know before going into Anima? Do you want them to go in completely blind?

Brian Tetsuro Ivie: Ideally, very little. Yeah, almost nothing. My background is in documentary filmmaking. I’ve spent my entire career telling stories about real people in the real world, and I’ve had the privilege of doing that. This story is, because it’s the first thing I’ve ever written. I wanted it to be something that was in some way like a fantasy of some kind, something mysterious, something weirder, something that only the imagination could really capture. And so ideally, people don’t know anything about it, but I think what I hope that they’ll find when they see the film is that it’s more than the premise, that there’s a deeper, deeper soul to the movie, naturally, of course, because that’s what it’s about, but also because I think that’s what Takehiro and Sydney brought to the performances. It’s more than a gimmick and more than just an idea that I had a long time ago.

Release Date

March 12, 2026

Runtime

90 minutes

Director

Brian Ivie

Writers

Brian Tetsuro Ivie

Producers

Jason Pamer, Chloe Rahal, Gregory Daniel King, Brev Moss