Geremy Jasper<\/a> has wanted to make a rock opera for the better part of 20 years. <\/p>\n But it wasn\u2019t until he watched Sadie Sink<\/a> levitating with her eyes rolled back, running from a murderous, soul-eating monster in \u201cStranger Things<\/a>,\u201d that he saw his rock star. <\/p>\n The flame-haired young actor\u2019s scenes in the Netflix series, set to Kate Bush<\/a>\u2019s \u201cRunning Up That Hill<\/a>,\u201d were so powerful they sent the 1985 song to the top of the charts<\/a> and into the playlists of a younger generation. <\/p>\n \u201cThat was one of the first moments I really kind of knew who Sadie was,\u201d Jasper tells NJ Advance Media. \u201cIt was one of those zeitgeisty kind of mega moments. That really introduced me to who this force was.\u201d<\/p>\n Then he heard her sing.<\/p>\n That settled it \u2014 Sink would be the hero of Jasper\u2019s new musical film \u201cO\u2019Dessa<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Making the movie has been an utter obsession for the writer-director from New Jersey.<\/p>\n Jasper didn’t know if “O’Dessa” would ever get made … then he met Sadie Sink.Nikola Predovic | Searchlight Pictures<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Finding his O\u2019Dessa was everything. <\/p>\n In fact, before he saw Sink perform a song he wrote, he thought the film might never get made. <\/p>\n Echoes of Sink\u2019s fortitude as Max Mayfield<\/a>, her character from \u201cStranger Things,\u201d can be seen in her sheer conviction as O\u2019Dessa, the musical savior of his epic tale.<\/p>\n \u201cShe lights up the screen, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Jasper says. <\/p>\n Sink\u2019s 2022 viral moment in the Netflix series highlighted not just the timeless quality of Bush\u2019s music, but also the young actor\u2019s formidable presence. <\/p>\n \u201cI think we cast her a year after that,\u201d Jasper says. \u201cAnd, God, were we lucky. I think there\u2019s only one person on the planet that can really do this role, because it asks so much.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cO\u2019Dessa<\/a>,\u201d the fulfillment of Jasper\u2019s rock opera vision, will be streaming on Hulu<\/a> starting Thursday (March 20). <\/p>\n Sadie Sink levitating as Max Mayfield in “Stranger Things.” Her performance in the show’s fourth season introduced the music of Kate Bush to a younger generation.Netflix<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s the first movie in eight years from the director, who grew up in Hillsdale<\/a> and made his feature film debut with another musical movie, \u201cPatti Cake$<\/a>,\u201d in 2017.<\/p>\n \u201cO\u2019Dessa,\u201d a musical with sci-fi elements, is set in a post-apocalyptic landscape. <\/p>\n Sink, 22, stars as O\u2019Dessa Galloway, a 19-year-old guitar hero in a story whose songbook runs from earthy folk music to glossy electro pop. <\/p>\n O\u2019Dessa is heir to a guitar named Willa and a legacy passed down to her by her long-gone father Vergil <\/b>(singer-songwriter Pokey LaFarge<\/a>), a musical \u201crambler\u201d in a family whose \u201cseventh son,\u201d according to prophecy, is destined to save the poisoned world. <\/p>\n The seventh son, it turns out, is a daughter \u2014 O\u2019Dessa \u2014 who lives on a remote, toxic farm with her ailing mother Calliope (Bree Elrod<\/a>). As she performs for a scarecrow audience, she knows she must leave home to chase her destiny. Besides her mother (who is still good for a duet), there is nothing there for the young singer. <\/p>\n O’Dessa is heir to a musical legacy of “ramblers” \u2014\u00a0and a prophecy. Nikola Predovic | Searchlight Pictures<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n When Willa is stolen shortly after she leaves home, O\u2019Dessa is driven further toward her hero\u2019s fate. <\/p>\n In the film, which premiered March 8 at the South by Southwest<\/a> Film and TV Festival in Austin, Texas, Jasper\u2019s hero travels across a barren, dusty, \u201cMad Max<\/a>\u201d-like landscape. <\/p>\n Her destination: the hellish frenzy known as Satylite City, where she puts her voice and her music to the ultimate test, with no less than the fate of the world on the line. <\/p>\n Jasper envisioned the movie as a classic mythic narrative \u2014 the hero\u2019s journey. <\/p>\n \u201cThe seed of the idea was to tell some epic tale, some mythological musical odyssey through song, through a folk opera or a rock opera, using the song to do the emotional heavy lifting,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd the first thing that came was really the character of O\u2019Dessa … this kind of runt in the wasteland. I just had this image in my head of a small, scrappy young woman with a pompadour and a guitar, kind of traversing this dangerous wasteland.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cO\u2019Dessa,\u201d Jasper\u2019s second film, shares some themes with his first. <\/p>\n \u201cPatti Cake$<\/a>,\u201d his 2017 feature directorial debut, received a glowing reception at its Sundance Film Festival premiere and a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival.<\/p>\n Australian actor Danielle Macdonald<\/a> stars in the film as Patti Dombrowski, a young aspiring rapper from New Jersey<\/a>. (Both \u201cPatti Cake$ and \u201dO\u2019Dessa\u201d are Searchlight Pictures movies, but the rock opera is going direct to streaming without a theatrical run.)<\/p>\n In the film, Patti wants to leave Jersey<\/a> and chase her hip-hop dream. Like O\u2019Dessa, she knows she must make her voice heard. (And, like Sink\u2019s \u201cStranger Things\u201d character, she levitates in one fantasy sequence.)<\/p>\n Danielle Macdonald starred in Geremy Jasper’s first film, the New Jersey-set “Patti Cake$.” Searchlight Pictures<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI think Patty and O\u2019Dessa are strange cousins, just in different dimensions,\u201d Jasper says. \u201cThey\u2019re both artists trying to find themselves out in some strange world. Patti\u2019s is New Jersey and O\u2019Dessa\u2019s is Satylite City. Patti\u2019s kind of stuck in her town and never really gets out and O\u2019Dessa\u2019s the opposite. She\u2019s kind of out in the world and trying to find a new home, trying to find a better reality. But they are both stories about young women trying to find their voices for different reasons … they both have a fairytale logic to them.\u201d <\/p>\n A fervent desire to hightail it out of Jersey is just one thing Jasper shared with Patti. <\/p>\n The director, who now lives in California, also had his own rap group<\/a> when he was a student at Pascack Valley High School in Hillsdale. <\/p>\n In the 2000s, Jasper<\/a> was the lead singer<\/a> of indie band<\/a> The Fever<\/a>. Later, he wrote all of Patti\u2019s rap songs<\/a> for \u201cPatti Cake$<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE<\/b>: Meet Geremy Jasper, N.J. director of \u2018Patti Cake$,\u2019 the movie that blew the roof off Sundance<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Jasper has a rich history of pairing music with image. <\/p>\n Before he directed \u201dPatti Cake$,” he helmed commercials and music videos for artists including Florence + The Machine<\/a> (\u201cDog Days are Over<\/a>\u201d) and Selena Gomez<\/a> (\u201cLove You Like a Love Song<\/a>\u201d). <\/p>\n So when it came time to assemble the songs for his rock opera, you know he was ready. <\/p>\n \u201cMy musical taste is really eclectic,\u201d Jasper says. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve written, over the years, all different kinds of songs, and I\u2019ve collected different kinds of songs. I\u2019ve written really tender, gentle ballads. I\u2019ve written country blues songs. I listen to a lot, and I\u2019ve collected a lot of sounds and melodies, and so the film became an excuse for me to exorcise some of that stuff, to get it out. And each character had a sort of different genre that they represented. Each little world that we go into in \u2018O\u2019Dessa’ represents a different musical genre.\u201d <\/p>\n Jasper, who found inspiration in classic concept albums like David Bowie<\/a>\u2019s \u201cThe Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars<\/a>\u201d (1972) and Pink Floyd<\/a>\u2019s \u201cThe Wall<\/a>\u201d (1979), uses different styles of music to signal and show O\u2019Dessa\u2019s transformation along her journey.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody has a different vibe,\u201d he says. \u201cO\u2019Dessa comes more from the country, so there is an acoustic (sound) … she\u2019s from the soil, and you feel that \u2014 there\u2019s more of a traditional sound to her. But as she goes on the journey and she meets other characters, their sounds and their genres kind of influence her and rub off on her. And by the end, she\u2019s not playing folk music … she\u2019s playing something a lot more modern … something grander, something that still has the same spirit, but is more reflective of her and the hero that she\u2019s become.\u201c<\/p>\n All 16 of the original songs in \u201cO\u2019Dessa,\u201d 13 of which can be heard on the movie\u2019s soundtrack<\/a>, were written by Jasper and his longtime collaborator, composer Jason Binnick<\/a>. <\/p>\n Early in the film, O\u2019Dessa sets the stage for her path in \u201cRamblin’ Down the Road<\/a>,\u201d in which she embraces her musical heritage as a troubadour bound to take her songs on the road.<\/p>\n \u201cOn these six strings I\u2019ll sing my destiny,\u201d she sings in the tribute to her instrument.<\/p>\n From left: “O’Dessa” stars Bree Elrod and Regina Hall, director Geremy Jasper and stars Sadie Sink and Kelvin Harrison Jr. at the premiere of the movie in New York.Arturo Holmes | WireImage<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n By the time O\u2019Dessa belts out her big wow-the-crowd number \u201cThe Song (Love is All),\u201d she\u2019s shed the country and folk for expansive, shimmering pop rock.<\/p>\n The first song Jasper heard Sink sing, in a video she recorded, was \u201cYer Tha One<\/a>\u201a\u201d the movie\u2019s twangy, romantic ode to a sweetheart. <\/p>\n At that moment, he knew she was, indeed, the one.<\/p>\n \u201cO\u2019Dessa\u201d is not the actor\u2019s first musical leading role.<\/p>\n The Brenham, Texas native, who also has a New Jersey connection, made her Broadway debut in 2012. <\/p>\n She moved to Summit with her family as her career began to take off with a standby starring role in \u201cAnnie<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Sink is returning to Broadway this very week in the play \u201cJohn Proctor is the Villain<\/a>\u201a” Kimberly Belflower\u2019s modern, high school-set take on Arthur Miller\u2019s \u201cThe Crucible.\u201d<\/p>\n This year marks the end of the road for her breakout role in \u201cStranger Things<\/a>,\u201d which is heading into its fifth and final season eight years after she made her debut on the show in 2017. <\/p>\n And while \u201cO\u2019Dessa\u201d is definitely one of Sink\u2019s biggest movie roles to date, she\u2019s made significant inroads in film, starring opposite Brendan Fraser<\/a> in a combative, biting performance as his character\u2019s daughter in Darren Aronofsky\u2019s \u201cThe Whale<\/a>\u201d (2022).<\/p>\n Just days ago, she was announced as the latest cast member in the next \u201cSpider-Man\u201d movie (aka \u201cSpider-Man 4<\/a>\u2033) starring Tom Holland.<\/p>\n In Satylite City, O\u2019Dessa makes it pretty far from her old days singing to scarecrows. <\/p>\n But it\u2019s also been quite the odyssey to make the movie happen \u2014 a seven-year odyssey. <\/p>\n \u201cIt took years knowing \u2018OK, I wanna combine my love of Americana and American roots music and Appalachian folk music with my love of sci-fi dystopian films that I grew up with in the \u201880s, and then my love of psychedelia and prog rock and all the weird stuff from the \u201970s,\u2018\u201d Jasper says. \u201c\u2018How do I combine all these things that I love into this sort of hero\u2019s journey, monomyth, Joseph Campbell<\/a>-style film?\u2018 And it took years and years to get the the ingredients right, but they had a certain pull on me, and the film just became like an obsession. There were many, many nights that I couldn\u2019t sleep because I was so kind of in this fevered state from the prospect of making this film.\u201d<\/p>\n Sink as O’Dessa with Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Euri. Nikola Predovic | Searchlight Pictures<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sink stars opposite Kelvin Harrison Jr.<\/a> (\u201cChevalier,\u201d Cyrano,\u201d \u201cElvis,\u201d \u201cWaves\u201d), who plays the charismatic Euri Dervish, a denizen of Satylite City who becomes O\u2019Dessa\u2019s love interest. <\/p>\n Together, they find hope in the soul-crushing city.<\/p>\n Emmy winner Murray Bartlett<\/a> (\u201cThe White Lotus,\u201d \u201cThe Last of Us,\u201d \u201cPonyboi,\u201d \u201cOpus\u201d) plays Plutonovich, the dastardly figure who controls the city and hosts a brutal TV show called \u201cThe One\u201d where contestants must perform for their lives in a cutting sendup of \u201cAmerican Idol,\u201d \u201cThe Voice\u201d and \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent.\u201d <\/p>\n And if you ever wanted to see Regina Hall<\/a> go full evil villain, she clearly relishes her deliciously despicable turn as Neon Dion. (The character\u2019s half-bowl cut hair is its own departure.)<\/p>\n Murray Bartlett as the all-powerful Plutonovich.Nikola Predovic | Searchlight Pictures<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Dion, a crime boss, has Euri in her clutches. Because she claims him as her lover, he has to sneak around with O\u2019Dessa at their peril so they won\u2019t trigger alarm bells with the enforcer for Plutonovich.<\/p>\n Jasper took inspiration for the Russian-flavored name from Pluto, the Roman god of the dead. He based O\u2019Dessa\u2019s name on the singer Odetta<\/a>, born Odetta Holmes<\/a>, known for her folk music<\/a>, blues songs and spirituals as well as her association with the civil rights movement and influence on artists like Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. <\/p>\n In using an \u201cO\u201d name, he also wanted to reference Orpheus<\/a>, a musician who in Greek mythology, traveled to the underworld to find his dead wife, Eurydice \u2014 the inspiration for Euri\u2019s name. The mythological theme extends to O\u2019Dessa\u2019s parents, Vergil (like the Roman poet) and Calliope<\/a>, as well as the fearsome Dion for Dionysus<\/a> \u2014 god of wine, partying and madness. <\/p>\n Regina Hall as the crime boss and enforcer Neon Dion. Nikola Predovic | Searchlight Pictures<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ancient mythology helped build the bones of \u201cO\u2019Dessa.\u201d<\/p>\n But a time far more recent \u2014 the \u201980s \u2014 colors the look and feel of the film. <\/p>\n The movie\u2019s fuzzy opening will be familiar to anyone who ever popped in a VHS tape.<\/p>\n \u201cThe big influences from that time period were \u2018The Road Warrior\u2019 \u2014 \u2018Mad Max 2<\/a>\u2032 (1981) \u2014 \u2018Labyrinth<\/a>\u2019 (1986), \u2018Legend<\/a>\u2019 (1985) by Ridley Scott, \u2018Time Bandits<\/a>\u2019 (1981) by Terry Gilliam,” Jasper says.<\/p>\n Growing up, he was also enchanted by the vivid covers of movies on display at the local supermarket. <\/p>\n \u201cThere were a lot of low-budget dystopian action movies being made in Italy at the time, kind of weird knockoff movies,\u201d the director says. \u201cThey were films that I never actually saw, but they had the covers there in ShopRite. Stuff that I ended up seeing later, like \u2018(1990:) The Bronx Warriors<\/a>\u2019 (1982).\u201d<\/p>\n Euri and O’Dessa’s love stands as a beacon of hope in a dystopian city.Nikola Predovic | Searchlight Pictures<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Jasper says John Carpenter\u2019s \u201cEscape from New York<\/a>\u201d (1981) was another \u201cbig one\u201d for him as a kid. <\/p>\n \u201cAll of those films are in the DNA of \u2018O\u2019Dessa’ for sure,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n The flashy artifice and saturated neon lights of Satylite City channel a futuristic \u201980s vibe that clashes with the homespun, earthen landscape of O\u2019Dessa\u2019s family farm.<\/p>\n Jasper filmed the movie in Croatia, where cinematographer Rina Yang<\/a> (\u201cThe Fire Inside,\u201d \u201cBohemian Rhapsody\u201d) captured all of the wonder, awe and angst of the dizzying city built by production designer Scott Dougan<\/a> (\u201cThe Deuce,\u201d \u201cBridge of Spies\u201d).<\/p>\n There are sci-fi flourishes in the musical, billed as happening \u201cin another time, in another place,\u201d but the story closely touches on real life in 2025.<\/p>\n Through Bartlett\u2019s character, Plutonovich, the movie makes a commentary on the pressure to supply endless streams of \u201ccontent\u201d to feed the public. <\/p>\n Movies of the 1980s informed the look and feel of “O’Dessa.”Nikola Predovic | Searchlight Pictures<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The \u201cface job\u201d \u2014 a face-twisting, brain-altering punishment <\/b>Plutonovich doles out to unsuccessful contestants on his show \u2014 conjures the warping effects of plastic surgery popularized by celebrities and social media influencers. <\/p>\n From O\u2019Dessa\u2019s polluted farm to a huge pipeline and an ominous substance that looks like rainbow oil slicks, the state of the environment is another source of tension in the film. <\/p>\n Real-life parallels, like the dire effects of climate change, are more than a little daunting \u2014 \u201cscarier than I expected,\u201d Jasper says. <\/p>\n \u201cSome of the themes have become so present now that it\u2019s a little bit unbearable,\u201d the director says with an uncomfortable laugh. \u201cThis was supposed to be kind of escapist. And then it becomes like \u2018oh sh–, this was supposed to be surreal and it\u2019s becoming more and more real.\u2018 And that makes me feel very queasy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c<\/i>O\u2019Dessa<\/i><\/a>,\u201d which is rated PG-13 and runs 1 hour and 46 minutes, will be streaming on <\/i>Hulu<\/i><\/a> starting Thursday, March 20<\/i>.<\/p>\n Thank you for reading. Please consider supporting <\/i>NJ.com<\/i><\/a> with a subscription.<\/i><\/p>\n Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at <\/i>akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com<\/i><\/a> and followed at <\/i>@AmyKup<\/i><\/a> on Twitter\/X, <\/i>@amykup.bsky.social<\/i><\/a> on Bluesky and <\/i>@kupamy<\/i><\/a> on <\/i>Instagram<\/i><\/a> and <\/i>Threads<\/i><\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nj.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n![\"Max](\"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/resizer\/v2\/AYZ5NP54VFB3LDRGEM3LMX4FCA.jpg?auth=b0d160da68d82e72f555505f8ec93ec549be5bfb0ea1444e92fcf9eadfaa77cc&width=500&quality=90\")
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<\/p>\nA \u2018strange cousin\u2019 from a \u2018strange world\u2019: New Jersey<\/b><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nAn obsession 7 years in the making<\/b><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nFrom \u201980s escapism to a \u2018scary\u2019 reality<\/b><\/h2>\n
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