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| Felicia Day in Tim Travers And The Time Traveler's Paradox |
In director Stimson Snead's science fiction comedy, Tim Travers And The Time Traveler's Paradox (2024), the titular character played by Samuel Dunning decides to alter reality by travelling back in time to kill his younger self. There are obvious echoes of other films that have employed a similar idea about changing the future, including James Cameron's classic science fiction action double-bill The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2 (1991), and Jonathan Frakes' Star Trek: First Contact (1996).
Unfortunately, for Tim Travers, reality remains intact. Instead, he's confronted by multiple versions of himself. Felicia Day plays Tim's love interest Delilah, who works for a conspiracy theory media empire run by James Bunratty, played by Joel McHale.
Day created the web series The Guild (2007-2013), about a community of gamers, which ran for 70 episodes across six seasons. She also starred in the musical comedy-drama web series, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, co-created by Joss Whedon, who Day also worked with on Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and Dollhouse (2009-2010). She has also appeared in Eureka (2006-2012) and Supernatural (2005-2020), and she wrote the books You're Never Weird On The Internet (Almost) (2015) and Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears And Unleash Creativity (2019).
In conversation with Eye For Film, Day discussed her love of screwball comedies and fast-paced humour. She also reflected on her creative journey, overcoming setbacks, her frustrations with the way men write women characters, and the need for cinema to exist beyond commerce.
Paul Risker: You're a deeply creative person, but can you identify a moment when you first recognised this creative spark?
Felicia Day: As far as I wanted to be a creator, I have just wanted to make things ever since I was a little kid, and mostly it was art. I was a violinist, but that's more like memorising what other people have written. I never really wrote music. I've written lyrics to all the songs that I have on the internet that some people will be familiar with. But it really was an art thing for me, and I always wanted to make things.
It wasn't until I created The Guild web series, which I made in my house, and made a name for myself that I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life. I just love making things and if you look at my career, I bounce from thing to thing. I have a graphic novel coming out soon, and I'm working on a play. I'm always jumping formats because I like the challenge of learning a new way to tell stories and a new way to make things. And so, that's what I discovered in my life, but it was not easy for me, and in general, I was really scared for many years to even try anything. And it wasn't until I got over that, that I really felt like, oh, this is really me.
PR: Picking up on your point about this fear you experienced, leads me to consider how low confidence and self-esteem hinders creative expression. It leads to second guessing and, at its worst, it fills your head with the sound of laughter and heightens imposter syndrome.
FD: Well, I wrote a whole book about this, called Embrace Your Weird. It's a creativity book about finding who you are and then focusing on creativity as you move forward. I wrote the book after I had a baby because I had kind of lost who I was — having a child is really hard. I'd left my company Geek & Sundry, which I made a ton of content for, and I had also left a lot of other things behind.
I didn't know where I was going and the way that I got through that was by going through these self-made exercises that took me back to my past, that really rooted me in the present and then dreamed about the future. And through those fun exercises, I became a better creator and a more fulfilled and self-realised person.
So, I will say that all the setbacks and everything I went through got me to the place where I was a lot happier. But it wasn't easy to live, and people who are creators but are not self-confident in their creativity are probably thinking about the external more than loving themselves; loving their ideas and figuring out why they need to tell the stories that they do. And when you have something that you strongly believe in, you get to it, and you're like, no matter what happens, no matter what other people think, I gotta finish this; I gotta get through it. And that's how I get through my projects.
I'm not the most prolific writer, but when I can hook onto something I believe in or there's a character I feel I'm telling the world something about, that I see, and they're not seeing, and it's important to me, finding that advocacy and belief in yourself, or at least belief in what you're working on, will get you through the hard stuff. If not, you're creating with other people's laughter in your ear, and you'll never get through anything because it's the modern world — somebody will always laugh at you. Somebody is pooping on Peter Jackson's The Lord Of The Rings right now. People will find fault with everything, and so, unless you can find a reason for existing and making things, then it's gonna be pretty hard to get through stuff.
PR: In the past year, there have been discussions about how cinema is no longer the dominant art form, which feeds into what appears to be an existential crisis. Attending festivals, I witness the enthusiastic appetite for cinema, and if its dominance has peaked, it has lost none of its power to affect us and stir our humanity.
The way you move between different formats is interesting and inspiring, and as you say, they are different ways of telling stories. When you think about singer-songwriters like Bob Dylan and Neil Young, they were storytellers in their own right.
FD: Well, you point out a lot of things that I've been thinking about too. Tim Travers has a truth and an authenticity. It is independent, it's fun, it's profane, it's very cerebral, and no Hollywood studio would ever greenlight it. And yet, it says something, and it is worth existing. And it maybe makes people leave the theatre thinking about something.
There's a lack of truth in what we consume and what we do. People need to go back to basics. If you want to be a creator, go back to the basics of who you are. The same thing with politics. We're all just layered on this like poopy bean dip thing. There is no truth and most people who pitch Hollywood movies are thinking about a scene from Star Wars or a movie they saw last year, and they're gonna build on that. We're derivative of everybody else's content, and we're getting so far away from our truth, but also a truth that's universal, right? And since entertainment is so manufactured, bloated, and calculated, especially with Hollywood movies, there's just no truth in it.
So, you're walking out thinking, 'Oh, that was fun. I'll never remember it.' That's why indie films are so important, and with Tim Travers, no matter what you feel about it, you're gonna think about it later. You're gonna laugh and there will be several moments in the movie when you're gonna be surprised, and that's refreshing because we're so tired of tropes.
The solution is truth and authenticity from somebody's point of view. You have art as commerce, and I get it, but if you're only commerce, then you're not saying anything that will resonate, and it won't mean anything to you either. So, you go back to that feedback loop of does it matter? How do I get through it? And you're working for people who don't appreciate you, and it could just be created by AI. Well, you gotta get to the point where you're making something that AI can't, because AI is just a derivative of everything it has stolen before, right? And why else be a creator? You're the only one who can create something, so go create it.
PR: When you first read the script for Tim Travers And The Time Traveler's Paradox, aside from it feeling truthful and authentic, were there any other considerations that appealed to you?
FD: It was crazy. I read the script, and I didn't know how this was going to come together. The lead actor has to play seven different versions of himself and this character I'm playing is not particularly likeable, and yet she's really interesting. All the clichés of a girl and a mad scientist are gone — they're out the window. And you can see a point of view, and I believe Stimson wrote the movie as a response to other time travel movies, right? He was calling BS on everything that he has seen, and I love that.
Whatever motivates you, whether it's grief or joy or spite, you have got to get that emotion into what you're making. Otherwise, why even bother? And that's what's in this film.
Again, no matter how you feel afterwards, you'll laugh and be surprised, and you'll think, and those are the gifts that art should give you. That's why I think it's a great movie and when I read the script, I knew I had to do it, even though there's snow where they were going to shoot. Ugh, it was terrible. But other than that, it was a great experience.
PR: The fast-paced dialogue creates a hyperactive energy, and the film feels shorter than its 103-minute running time.
FD; My favourite movies are the screwball comedies from the 30s and 40s — Rosalind Russell and Katharine Hepburn. And if you go back and watch a Howard Hawks movie, the dialogue is fast — they get jokes in and they move on.
I don't want to see a two-and-a-half-hour movie — it's like an assignment, right? If I see the length, and I'm like, 'Oh boy, that's a two-nighter for me', then I'm not going to watch it. I just want an experience where I'm going to sit down and experience a world that I never could have imagined.
Tim Travers is that perfect movie and the pace is fast because it's smart. It's moving as fast as a smart person thinks, because Tim Travers himself is a genius — a messed-up genius, but still a genius. And so that's the fun of it. Tim's brain darts here and there, and I think that's a reflection of Stimson, whose brain works just as fast.
PR: Returning to your point about how your character isn't likeable, the world is such a messy place that flawed or traditionally less likeable characters may be more readily accepted by the audience. Maybe saintly characters are too disconnected from the current political and cultural zeitgeist?
FD: I agree. There's nothing worse than picking up most scripts and seeing that a male writer has just written a woman character. It is so frustrating. I actually spoke to some high school students the other day who were in a film club. I said, "Guys, please just write the female characters like you would a friend, and then put a female name on it."
A lot of the time there's this weird disconnect when men write women characters — it's just so boring. As an actor, you will be looking at these lines, and you realise there's no character here, so, I guess I'll just be myself. And you think, 'I don't want to play that. Another, more attractive lady will get that part. That's not for me.'
Delilah is flawed, she has opinions, she pushes back, and the plot doesn't go the way that you think it might. But because her character is firmly established, you want to see what she's going to do. And that's what's fun about it. If I, as an actor, can see this character coming to life, then I'm gonna jump on it. But it's unfortunately few and far between.
It was a wonderful time on set and the rapport between Tim and Delilah was fun. Sam's an incredible actor, so you’ll walk out of this film thinking, 'Wow, that guy's a superstar,' because, honestly, he is.
PR: Some of what happens in this film, like when Delilah is telling people to fuck off in the bar is one of those moments that almost stirs a wish that you could adopt the way characters talk or act in movies in our everyday lives.
FD: It's wish fulfilment in a way, and again, things can make you think, they can make you feel, and they can give you an outlet. And this movie does all of those things at once and so, it's masterful. And no studio would have ever let this indie movie be made. I just love the fact that it exists, and it makes me think about time travel, and now, I pick apart every movie with time travel in it.
The experience of making it was so genuine, unique and scrappy, and yet it looks amazing on film. So, I'm really excited for people to discover it and spread the word because that's the kind of movie it is. These people are screwed up, but so funny. And it really is a thinker and that's what I love about it.
PR: Speaking with Vincenzo Natali - he spoke about the Canadian slasher In A Violent Nature (2024). He said, "As soon as I saw that one, I thought it was special and, sure enough, people gravitated towards it. But it was made for nothing, and it's such an original piece that you won't see it coming out of Hollywood. You'll see it now because maybe Hollywood will do their version of it, but even then, they won't be able to because it does things that scare them."
This type of appropriation will always be a concern, similar to the way some studios created their own indie labels, and also the dilution of art house cinema. There is no shortage of things to worry about.
FD: We're in a worrisome era. Again, there is a lack of truth, there is a lack of vision and corporate interests are circumventing or circumscribing everything. And so, when you have people who are risk-averse and their bottom line is money, they're going to be conservative, and they're not going to genuinely love making ideas happen. They're gonna make product happen and that is literally the life we're living right now.
The best thing we can do as consumers is to go to the grassroots and start working our way up. Support Patreon and artists. Go to screenings of indie films and discover how exciting content can be and how wonderful it is to watch something that surprises you and makes you grow as a person, because that's not what we're getting right now.
Tim Travers And The Time Traveler's Paradox was released in LA and NYC cinemas on May 30th. It will expand theatrically through June ahead of an on-demand release later in 2025.
