Meera Menon initially set out with a goal of making a film where she could include her family. The film is co-written with her life partner, Paul Gleason, and a pivotal role is played by their baby daughter, Lakshmi. Menon wanted to create a set where hours were reasonable, and where her being a mother was welcomed on set. She wanted to be able to blend her family and professional life together and show that this model of work is possible for other women in film.
“Didn’t Die” is a modern-day zombie film that explores what it means to live among incarnations of people you’ve lost. The film stars Kiran Deol as a podcast host of a show called “Didn’t Die,” documenting hers and others’ experience during the zombie apocalypse. She returns to her childhood home, reconnecting with her brother and ex-boyfriend, who has found an orphaned baby along the way. From there they reminisce, fight boredom and … zombies.
Can you talk about your inspiration for the script? I know you had a co-writer, but how did you two come up with this story together?
Yeah, my co-writer is also the father of my child. It was a complete family-driven effort, starting with the fact that Paul and I made this together and even put our baby in the movie! The whole design of it — before I went back to working in television or taking on a director-for-hire role — I wanted to create an environment where I could have my baby around and make a movie. I wanted to prove that it was something I could do. So, we decided to create this project together.
That’s how we ended up at Sundance. It’s kind of crazy because the intention was so pure — we just wanted to make something together with our friends from film school, kind of how we used to make movies back in the day.
The kernel of the idea really came from a trip we took to Monroe, a town about an hour north of New York where Paul’s family is from. I was visiting my family in New Jersey, and when our daughter Lakshmi was six months old, we all got COVID and couldn’t hang out with my family. So, we just went up to Monroe and visited his old family home and the cemetery where his family is buried. That town really felt like a place we could set a movie in.
We had been talking about how fun it would be to make a super low-budget, run-and-gun zombie movie, like “Night of the Living Dead.” So, all these ideas came together, and we thought, “Why not just do it?” We wanted to do it while Lakshmi was still too young to protest! So, we reached out to everyone in the movie — they’re all close friends or people I’ve worked with before — and asked them if they wanted to come out to Monroe for a week in December to make this movie. And that’s how the project started.
Then, we began writing the script with these actors in mind, and we focused on doing something different with the genre — not just making a survival story, but a movie about rebuilding, creating meaning, and finding hope in a world that’s been devastated.
I love that creation story. That’s awesome. Now, knowing that backstory and that your daughter is involved, I’m curious: How did you balance motherhood while being the director and in charge of the whole production?
Honestly, that’s why I wanted to keep the production small. We had just five actors in a house, with me and Paul, a boom operator, and an assistant camera person. My baby was there, too, and my parents came every day to watch Lakshmi when she wasn’t needed on set. So, I was able to bring her around set during breaks when we weren’t shooting.
The movie became an incubator for the idea that you can have your kids around while working. I do feel there’s a world where you can set up a daycare facility on set, as long as you have reasonable working hours — not the typical 12-hour days. We kept our days to about eight hours, with maybe one 10-hour day. The pace was slow, and the process felt like a workshop, but we were actually shooting.
Creating that intimate environment allowed me to have my kid with me while directing the movie. It’s not something that’s always replicable in larger productions unless you have a childcare system in place. My producer, Erica Fishman, who has a daughter around the same age as Lakshmi, also loves the idea of creating a space where you can bring your kids to work and make it normal. Set environments often feel hostile to the idea of having kids around, but I hope to be part of a conversation about how we can break that norm and create models that allow women with children to keep pursuing their careers in film.
I love that! It’s a huge struggle, and it’s great that you’re challenging those boundaries. I recently saw “Prime Minister” at the festival, and it touches on the idea of normalizing bringing your baby to work, which I thought was so cool.
Oh, cool! I’ll check it out. It’s tough because you can’t fully be present for your child and fully focus on your work at the same time, but if you don’t have to compartmentalize so much, I think that’s a step in the right direction.
I completely agree. Well, switching gears a bit, I wore my “Night of the Living Dead” necklace today. (Shows necklace) I’m a fan! I wanted to hear more about your inspiration for that film and how you approached the zombie genre in your own way.
Oh, wow, that’s awesome! Yeah, “Night of the Living Dead” definitely influenced us, but we were also interested in exploring other corners of the zombie genre. We didn’t want to just make a horror film — we wanted to make something more like a ghost story, exploring what it means to live among these incarnations of people you’ve lost. Do you let them stay, or do you let them go by killing the zombie version of someone you love?
We wanted to look at the idea of ancestors and the feeling of loss, and beyond just horror, we were more interested in the emotional layers. We also knew we were going to make something small, so we looked back to earlier zombie films like “Night of the Living Dead” and decided to focus on a simple, ghost-like aesthetic. We wanted the zombies to feel more like a “Twilight Zone” B-movie, and the scale of the project helped inform that.
As for the photography, we shot in true black-and-white, using a red monochrome camera. It shoots light beautifully, and we wanted to make the film expressive. The location, which is personally meaningful to us because of Paul’s family, also helped set the tone. Paul always says you can read the cold on camera, and this wintry landscape felt like a character in itself.
The landscape was so beautiful, and it really added to the atmosphere of the film. I’m also interested in the inclusion of Indian culture and actors. Can you talk about that?
Yes! That’s something I’ve always wanted to do. When I was younger, I craved representation that didn’t focus on culture clashes or assimilation. While those struggles are real for first-generation immigrants, I’m more interested in normalizing representation and making it incidental to the larger story.
Kiran, one of our actors, is South Asian, and we cast her because she’s a friend of mine who I knew would be amazing in the zombie apocalypse. It was really just about the story — once we had her at the center, we wanted her family to be South Asian too. It just felt right, and from there, it naturally emerged.
I also want to see our culture represented in a way that moves the needle forward, not just as a gimmick.
I love that. Okay, two more questions! First, besides “Night of the Living Dead,” are there any other horror films that influenced your work or that you find important?
Definitely. In terms of tone, “The Last Man on Earth” with Vincent Price was an influence. Paul also talks about “Carnival of Souls” when it comes to the treatment of the zombies. As for me, I’ve always been drawn to psychological horror like “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Shining.” I love horror that takes place more in the mind, rather than focusing on gore and jump scares. So, that’s more in line with where this movie sits, spiritually, than your typical horror film.
What advice do you have for emerging female and non-binary filmmakers?
My best advice would be to just keep doing it. My first film was made 10 years ago, and I made it the same way I made this one — brick by brick, asking friends and family for help. It never gets easier in that regard. You just have to do it. Don’t wait for permission. At one point, I thought I had established myself enough to make a movie in the system, but honestly, I had to step outside of it to stay true to my voice as a filmmaker.
I see so many female filmmakers get boxed out because they can’t scale up. They get stuck because no one will support them making something small. So, I say just keep doing it, whether you’re a first-time filmmaker or you’ve been doing it for years. Keep making things and finding your voice through the process. No one is going to open the door for you — you just have to keep knocking.
