Table of Contents
Three Key Takeaways
- Jamie and Jason Neese draw deeply on their Southern Baptist upbringing to craft a unique blend of spiritual sci-fi and dark comedy.
- Independent filmmaking’s toughest challenges inspired the twins to create a film that pushes genre boundaries without a big budget.
- Guardian Asshole’s selection and award nominations at FilmQuest validate the Neese Twins’ vision, setting the stage for a potential TV show pitch.
Twin directors Jamie and Jason Neese bring their offbeat cosmic tale Guardian Asshole to FilmQuest 2025, blending horror, comedy, and spiritual sci-fi in a genre-defying mashup.
Featuring powerhouse performances from Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine and Constance Zimmer, the film explores redemption through the unlikely partnership of a disgruntled guardian angel and a foul-mouthed demon.
The Neese Twins, who also co-wrote and produced alongside Jonathan Meyers and Armen Fetulagian, infuse the film with their complicated relationship to religion and a bold indie filmmaking spirit.
What drew you to make this film? Why this story, and why now?
The world is a weird and complicated, hate filled place and we wanted to come up with a creative story using angels and demons as a way to examine the human plight. Raised in the southern baptist church in North Carolina gave Jason and Jamie a complicated relationship with religion. And now often times it plays out in their projects.
"If a disgruntled angel and a empathetic demon can find middle ground and become best friends, then I'm not sure we as a human race have any excuses."
What surprised you most about the filmmaking process this time—creatively or logistically? Was there a moment on set or in post that completely changed how you saw the story?
Once the vfx started coming in, it didn't dictate but it empowered us to evolve the pattern of storytelling in editorial.
Is there a moment in the film that feels the most you—something only you could have made?
I think that Jason and my unique background in the southern baptist church made this solely unique for us.
What was the hardest creative decision you made while making this film?
Not gonna lie, it was a very difficult decision to blur the dcktts. I'm not quite sure the world is ready for that, but it is available upon request.
What do you hope audiences take away from your film?
That no matter who you pray to or if you pray at all, what state your from, or what background you have, if a disgruntled angel and a empathetic demon can find middle ground and become best friends, then I'm not sure we as a human race have any excuses.
"Guardian Asshole really challenged us as filmmakers to dig to the core of humanity, inside of the wallpaper of comedy and sci-fi."
How has this film shaped or shifted the kind of stories you want to tell next?
I think Guardian Asshole really challenged us as filmmakers to dig to the core of humanity, inside of the wallpaper of comedy and sci-fi. And it's kind of inspired us to never assume that there's only one path towards the truth during story telling and filmmaking.
What’s a tool, technique, or resource that really helped you during production?
I think once our vfx vendor came to set and became truly a collaborator during the production process, which isn't always the case as we know, that really upped our game in confidence when it came to executing Guardian Asshole.
Independent filmmakers often rewrite the rules out of necessity. What do you think is the greatest strength of independent filmmaking, and how did you lean into that on this project? Is there a lesson or breakthrough you’d share with others navigating this path?
It's really, realy easy to make a cool tv show or film when there is a real budget, ie Umbrella Academy, Horizon, but when it comes to indie filmmaking there is nothing tougher than making something really good with a very small budget. So the lesson is, make great films for nothing so that when you're given a huge budget, you don't use it as a crutch.
What does it mean to you to have your film selected for FilmQuest, one of the world’s top reviewed genre film festivals?
We've submitted our film to a lot of places. And I couldn't literally be more excited if I tried to have made it into FilmQuest. Any time a genre-centric festival acknowledges and also nominates you for awards, like Guardian Asshole has this year, you can't help but feel validated in what you're trying to do. So yeah, it's fucking rad.
"Make great films for nothing so that when you're given a huge budget, you don't use it as a crutch."
FilmQuest celebrates the majesty and might of genre filmmaking across fantasy, horror, sci-fi, action, thriller, western, kung-fu, and beyond. How does your film fit within—or push the boundaries of—genre storytelling?
Did we mention it's a disgruntled angel and an empathetic demon? lol. In all seriousness, Guardian Asshole is a mashup, it's a horror, comedy, spiritual sci-fi ...honestly, I don't know what it is. We just know it makes people feel. So yeah, we're into pushing boundaries.
Where do you see this film going next?
After we do the festival circuit our team absolutely will be oputting us into warm, studio network rooms to pitch this. It's a proof of concept tv show, in my world, it feels like elevated streamer. But at the end of the day, it just needs to be out there.
“At the core of all my work is a desire to entertain while telling the story of the human experience."
