The story
Film Synopsis
The Post is an edgy thriller steeped in revenge and the yet undetermined boundaries of social media crime and punishment. The story begins when the body of a teenaged boy from a loving family is found by a jogger in a central Texas park.
Not long after, a video is posted on social media showing the teen fighting three unknown males, but it's quickly deleted. The father of the teen makes desperate pleas to the police and to the school administration to help him find the people who murdered his son, but to no avail.
After receiving an anonymous text message containing the deleted video, the father begins investigating himself, only to discover that the boys that beat his son are stars on the high school football team, which is having a record-setting season and bringing record-setting attention to the school.
With the school and the police seemingly protecting their prized athletic assets, and with his family slowly falling apart, the father takes things into his own hands and the boys in the video sequentially end up dead.
Naturally, the father is the killer of all involved. Right?
director's statement
writer/producer/director: justin hunt
First off, I was compelled to tell this story because it is my personal opinion, that we, as a society in the United States, are on a fast train headed in the wrong direction. We’ve become so desensitized and egocentric due to social media and the ‘special snowflake’ syndrome, that much has been lost in the effort to act for the greater good, much less live our lives by a code of doing what’s right and moral and ethical. This is especially true of our youth, who are consumed with seeking out attention, living a projected life and being someone they’re not simply to appeal to the masses. So much of that is evident in The Post.
I wanted to create a scenario where elements like greed, irreverence and selfishness were called out for being the ugly aspects of life that they are. Yet, within that, within small pockets and households in our country, there are still families filled with love, respect, integrity, care and concern. Small groups of people who not only live for one another but are willing to die for what’s right.
Secondly, I wanted to create in audience members an opportunity to reflect on themselves and to pose to them an undeniable question that they are forced to wrestle with, ‘What would I do in that situation?’
Thematically, and paramount to my style of storytelling, I wanted to make the story as authentic as possible across the board. Having both played and coached football at a high level, having been an award-winning journalist and being a parent, I wanted to tap into as much of those invaluable life experiences as possible and sculpt something that was overflowing with the smallest of details. The story is also riddled with parallels, both abstract and concrete, to expose how certain characters and elements of the story are tied together.
I also wanted to bring the audience into the story with particular shots and sounds that do not just display a moment but invites them into the first-person perspective of those living it on the screen. To know what it’s like to be informed of a tragedy, to be on a field with tens of thousands of fans, to be on the hunt of tracking down and reporting a great news story.
At its core, I think The Post is a movie of obsession, of pain, of a desire for revenge, of greed, of lost innocence, of redemption and of choice. These are all situations that we must face as individuals at some point in our lives and very seldom are we prepared for them.