Initially conceived as a creature-feature, coronavirus gave Songbird, the first film shot in LA since March, a terrifyingly real monster. Its British director explains how he wrangled Michael Bay, Demi Moore – and vacuum-packed props
What did you do over lockdown? Learn the oboe? Tick off the complete works of Proust? Bake your own weight in banana bread? British director Adam Mason made a big, starry, topical thriller; the first film to be shot in Los Angeles since the pandemic took hold.
Action supremo Michael Bay was a co-producer; the cast includes Demi Moore, Bradley Whitford and Craig Robinson. “I just thought I’d get a group of friends together, and write something for them to shoot on their iPhones,” says Mason. Instead he wrote Songbird, a sci-fi action movie which will be in every history book that covers the film business in its rockiest year to date.