This interview contains mild spoilers.

American Refugee is one of those contest success stories that made it onto the screen. Husband and wife screenwriting team Allison and Nicolas Buckmelter wrote their first draft back in 2015, and in 2018, they won the prestigious Nicholls Fellowship. It’s a tale of a family forced to live in their neighbor’s bunker after a global economic collapse and without essential supplies. At the time, they didn’t fully appreciate the prescience of their story.

They received a steady supply of notes and wrote countless drafts over the years until they completed the shooting draft picked up by Blumhouse TV. “The more significant changes were a deeper exploration into Helen (Erika Alexander) and Greg (Derek Luke) Taylor’s relationship,” said Nicolas. “We enriched their backstory a lot. Instead of entering their survivalist neighbor Winter’s (Sam Trammell) bunker in a happy marriage, they entered it in marital distress.” This significantly ratcheted up the tension leading to escalating sexual tension between Helen and Winter which boiled over into an affair. “It made it more of a tinderbox,” added Nicolas.

Cutting Back

When Blumhouse acquired the project, “the script was 122 pages long and we had to cut it down to 85 pages,” said Allison. They had 3 days to rewrite it. The first step was to cut back on the secondary characters. “We had many stories about Matty (Winter’s son played by Vince Mattis) which were taken out, to streamline the story,” continued Allison. “There was a lot more conflict with his father Winter, which was also condensed.” There was also a sex scene between Helen and Winter cut, but this ultimately elevated the sexual tension through suggestion.

Allison and Nicolas Buckmelter

In earlier drafts of American Refugee, Kai was autistic, but this was later changed to him being a selective mute. “This isn’t a cognitive defect, but a function of trauma,” explained Allison. The change also allowed for the scenes surrounding autism to be removed to shorten the script. These were internal monologues describing Kai’s childhood trauma.

American Refugee draws parallels to recent events, but Allison claimed that it was written during “calm and peaceful times.” They pondered the question of whether they would be sufficiently prepared if disaster struck. It was a matter of what survival skills people have. “For most people, their life skills generally apply in a functioning democracy,” said Nicolas. Rule by Marshall Law following an economic collapse reduces the relevance of those skills.

Much of the story is set in the bunker where the skills of a city family are pitted against those of peppers living off the grid in rural areas. The film explored how people from opposite sides of the ideological spectrum might be prepared for a disaster neither can control.

American Refugee was approached from Winter’s point of view. He is ostensibly the antagonist. “We didn’t want to make him a stereotype prepper. We injected authenticity and realism into him,” said Allison.

“We identified with Winter in some ways,” claimed Nicolas. “Winter became resentful of the Taylor family who moved into his bunker and lived off his supplies despite him having the foresight to prepare for a crisis.” Winter only sees people as useful or not to his survival.

There are undoubtedly subtle political undertones in American Refugee. Nicolas and Allison deliberately chose not to to name each camp nor portray one as better than the other. “We wanted to show people with different worldviews come together in times of crisis,” continued Allison. “It’s a film about unity not divisiveness,” added Nicolas. This theme is exacerbated when Helen realizes her common ground with Winter leading to their affair. “We told the story from both perspectives to demonstrate it.”

Inside Winter’s bunker – Amber (Jessi Case) and Winter (Sam Trammell) in foreground.

The pressurized bunk environment forced the philosophically-opposed families to consider whether they will survive or die together. “They might find they have more in common on a deeply-human survival level than they think,” said Nicolas.

Greg’s a college professor and Helen is a retired OBGYN practitioner. Both underestimate Winter when they first meet him. “Similarly, Winter underestimates Greg’s animalistic drive to defend and win his family back after they leave the bunker.” (Winter expelled Greg and his son Kai (Peyton Jackson) from the bunker.)

Greg’s transformation from a beta to an alpha male defines his character arc. The subject of masculinity and fatherhood permeate each scene in terms of fighting for your family and being a good husband. This is also evident in Winter’s character. “They each have to learn something from each other,” added Allison.

Helen also steps up and takes charge and leaves the bunker to reunite her family much to the surprise of both Winter and Greg.

It’s All In The Title

The original and less provocative title of American Refugee was Don’t Throw Stones in deference to biblical verses of how to treat ones neighbors. American Refugee was considered when the Taylors were initially fleeing America to seek refuge in Mexico in early incarnations of the script. The revised title also refers to their status while living in a bunker in their supposed homeland. It is certainly a more powerful title depicting America in deep crisis in a way we haven’t seen.

American Refugee is a gritty thriller which carries a glimmer of hope. “Many people call it an elevated thriller blended into a family drama.” Nicolas Buckmelter cites Jim Sheridan (In The Name Of The Father, My Left Foot), Alexander Payne (Sideways, Nebraska), and Robert Bolt (Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission) as a key influence in his writing. Allison’s influences were closer to home. She looked to Debra Granik, who wrote and directed Winter’s Bone as a blueprint for American Refugee. “This is how we saw our film. It’s also why we named our character Winter,” expanded Allison.

American Refugee is a slow burning thriller. In order to keep the story on track the screenwriters referred to a list of 20 characters they want answered as they progressed through the script. “The questions are all about he character’s background,” said Allison.

Then they considered the major act breaks. In the case of American Refugee, they had to give the Taylors a reason to enter the bunker given that Winter was suspicious and reluctant to do so. That’s why Helen was a retired OBGYN nurse and Winter’s daughter Amber (Jessi Case) was pregnant with complications. Many of these scenes came through the writers’ personal experience.

The mid-point was pre-determined to be the birth. This gave the Taylor’s a reason to leave, but also a reason to stay. This escalated the affair between Helen and Winter because it was never clear whether she actually loved Winter or whether the relationship only served the purpose of survival. Greg and Kai left the bunker at the end of act 2. The third act was concerned with the Taylors reuniting.

American Refugee isn’t a smash and grab, car chase thriller. “I would like the audience to reflect on what the person where the other side is coming from by the end of the film. Think about what they need to be happy and what others need to be happy. Find commonality rather than differences with others,” said Nicolas. There is no final judgement at the end of the film, There are no good guys or bad guys, no winners or losers. “I’d like audiences to have a new found understanding from people of all sides.“