‘Solitude Shelter’ tells the story of a death row inmate with only 10 days left to live and his improbable relationship with an aspiring country singer
In her new film, Siobhan Fallon tells a story that affects almost everyone Shelter in solitude. 62-year-old Saturday night live The alum, who wrote the screenplay and stars in the film, says the film was inspired by her late father.
“My father was a lawyer and he represented prisoners, and at one time he was also a prison guard,” the actress tells PEOPLE. “He would tell stories at the kitchen table. I was kind of obsessed, a little scared, but obsessed… ‘What on earth is going on there? What are the relationships like? What is it like to be a prisoner? Do you have friends?’ Stuff like that.”
In 2021, Fallon tried her hand at writing a film and published it Hastened, which she wrote and starred in. “As a character actor, you only work for, like, three or four months a year, maybe nine months if you’re lucky, but it’s really a stretch. I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to write movies. I’ll try to write a movie’,” the Seinfeld says the actress.
Although Fallon wasn’t sure if she would continue writing movies, in May 2021, everything changed. “It was COVID and one night I was lying in bed,” she remembers. “My father died at that moment. This idea comes to me in the middle of the night: Guy on death row, 10 days left to live, crazy, wacky prison guard. I scribble it as one would dream. The next day I wake up and I’m like, ‘Oh my God. I have to write this.’”
Matija Shubert
Taking on the role of Val, a “washed-up, wannabe prison guard,” Fallon knew there was one characteristic her character had to embody. “My father always wanted me to be a country singer,” she says, adding, “I felt like my father was yelling at me because he just really wanted me to be a country singer. I was so close to my dad and he was so funny.”
After recruitment Hastened actor Robert Patrick to play her big brother and “dangerous warden,” along with Peter Macon who “does well as a death row inmate,” Fallon enlisted some of the people she loves and trusts most to round out the cast and crew. Along with her husband Peter, who produced the film, Fallon’s eldest daughter Bernadette, 28, “made sure the copy was right for the film”, her younger daughter Sinead, 21, designed the production and played “Jenny the Hippy”, and her son Peter Jr. ., 25, plays Chris, an often overlooked rookie, and was the music supervisor. Even the fictional town in the film, Trudyville, is named after their family dog, Trudy. “It was like my family working together, it was great,” Fallon says.
While this movie was certainly a family affair, it was also a reunion. Part of the shoot took place in Fallon’s hometown of Cazenovia, New York, and she recruited many people from her childhood to join the fun. “All the extras in the bar scene were members of my graduating class…Cazenovia High School class of ’79. People came from all over. They flew in and stayed with our friends and families … it was like a three-day high school reunion.”
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Kristin Hobermann
Fallon is known for her witty sarcasm and humor, but in this film she took on a more serious role. “I want to be able to do everything because I love everything. I really like movies, and I also like serious ones,” she says. “My character is very funny in this film, but then she is pushed into an extreme and serious situation… I was always taught not to act funny, because if you do, you lose the audience. You have to be in front of the audience at all times and play for real. You’re not trying to be funny, you’re trying to be real.”
Now that the film is in theaters, Fallon is looking forward to what viewers can take away from the film. “I hope people will realize that it’s time to put your differences aside and start getting back to basics. Do what’s right and be kind to others who are in a bad situation,” Fallon says. “If someone saw these characters completely clean, they would judge and say: ‘That person is a great sinner’, but they are better than people who rebel to be good… I think that if people would go back to simple acts of kindness and stop to judge, we would live in a better place.”
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Source: HIS Education