Anywhere You Want It, That’s Where You Need It

Wisconsin-based director Adam Seidel could have shot his award-winning feature film Anywhere, well, anywhere. But after conversations with Oklahoma-based film producers Nicholas Clement, Kyle Kauwika Harris and Jacob Ryan Snovel, he knew our state was the right place for the film.

And even before he knew the film would be set in Oklahoma and shot in Lincoln County, he couldn’t think of anyone else but L.A.-based and Oklahoma-native actress Hayley McFarland playing the top-billed lead. McFarland is known for her roles in “Sons of Anarchy,” The Conjuring and “Lie to Me,” but Seidel encountered her work for the first time through Okie auteur Mickey Reece’s 2021 nunsploitation film Agnes and Harris’ 2022 film Out of Exile.

“I talked to Kyle and Jacob about ‘Would you like to do this on a micro budget level in Oklahoma?’ Instantly, I was like, ‘Well, it’s gotta be Hayley. It’s gotta be.’ And that was it,” says Seidel.

McFarland feels like she’s finally broken out of the box of “child actor” roles after being cast as Agnes in Reece’s film. After Agnes, she was ready for a role like Syd in Anywhere.

“The experience of filming it, the creative union of all of us, the collaboration of it cracked me open in a way. I’m changed because of it,” says McFarland regarding her time shooting Anywhere, which played at the deadCenter Film Festival this June.

Shoot to Thrill 

Anywhere, Seidel’s directorial debut after years as a playwright, had its start as a play. Seidel’s roots as a playwright come through strongly on the screen, with sometimes intentionally stage-like blocking and many fixed camera placements. 

Originally titled California, this neo-noir, black comedy, early Coen-esque thriller explores what happens to a marriage in a desolate, small town when two opposing wills collide. John (Joshua Burge), a roughneck described by townies as a “drip,” and the ambitious-at-any-cost Syd (McFarland) have very different ideas of what they want out of life. Syd wants to get out, to California or “anywhere” else, using whatever means possible. 

“John is, I guess, the main character, but he’s not really the main character. He’s like the lens,” says Seidel. “John is, in many ways, like Syd. He’s someone who wants to feel fulfilled. So he’s sort of on this journey where he’s trying to achieve that, but he’s a very passive person, you know? He doesn’t make a lot of decisions. He doesn’t make any decisions, really, without being goaded.”

Due to the dynamic opposition of these two characters, Syd quickly triggers an out-of-control cascade of events that culminates [spoilers] in a grisly fate for many of the film’s characters. 

“It was so wildly different from any role I have been considered for,” explains McFarland, who describes her process for preparing her performance using physical acting techniques. “Sometimes I can get so in my head. I will just get disconnected from my body. And this really helped me fully embody this person that is just so vastly different from me.”

There were three entry points for McFarland to step into Syd: using physical acting techniques; conducting sociological analysis of how women in such an insular, suffocating small town would likely be treated; and incorporating analysis of how that would affect her character’s psyche and behavior. That work was critical, considering that toward the end of the film, Syd perpetrates an act of sexual violence toward awkward-creepy landlord Wade (Sean Gunn), filmed in one long shot. The prospect of that scene was intimidating to McFarland, who worked closely with intimacy coordinator Kaylene Snarsky.

“It’s such a cathartic moment. And the big scene that’s the seduction lead-up, it was the thing I was the most terrified of doing the whole time. Just because it’s so intense. ‘Can I pull this off?’” recalls McFarland, whose fears were unwarranted; she only needed one take to nail the performance Seidel sought. 

Overall, Seidel explains that while the film didn’t turn out as he originally pictured in his mind, “it turned out better.” 

“That in itself was worth being a director,”  says Seidel. “And then getting to work with Hayley, who I think is the finest actor I’ve ever worked with. A consummate professional. That was just a tremendous honor that I’ll have the rest of my life.”

Team Work

As a first-time director, Seidel faced a steep learning curve on set. For example, due to changes in hair length and style, Burge and McFarland’s final climactic moment on screen was one of the first days Seidel was in the director’s chair. The scene was fairly complex, especially as a fledgling director. 

“That was my first ‘real’ day as a director. I had to look at the monitor and had to call like six different cues,” recalls Seidel, who noted the complexity of the scene, cuing actors and multiple Steadicam movements, all while still trying to be present and watch the monitor. And, as a stressful bonus, the golden hour was quickly fading.

“The entire crew is over there watching and we’re losing the sun. So it’s like, ‘Aah, we got four minutes,’” says Seidel. “That was insane. That was like, ‘Oh, so that’s what it’s like to be a director.’”

But an experienced, largely Okie crew made all the difference. On one of the few overnight shoots, Seidel noted that McFarland and the entire crew were “hitting mental roadblocks” around 3 a.m.

“The setups were melting our brains,” says Seidel, who explained they originally had at least three camera and lighting setups for this physically demanding sequence. Brainstorming with the cast and crew, they decided that director of photography Adam J. Minnick should opt for a handheld approach for the sequence. 

“We just came together as a group, and we executed that, and it was a really uplifting moment for everyone. And I think that comes across in the scene,” says Seidel. 

No Place Like Oklahoma

Anywhere played at deadCenter Film Festival twice, where it took home the Best Oklahoma Feature Award and Minnick snagged the Special Jury Prize for Cinematography, before heading back on the festival circuit. 

But as much as the cast and crew enjoyed their time with Anywhere, both McFarland and Seidel have already moved on to future projects. McFarland, a 2025 deadCenter Oklahoma Film ICON honoree, stars in American Comic, a mockumentary about the lives of stand-up comedians, which is currently playing at festivals nationwide. Seidel wrote the screenplay for Original Sound, a feature currently in post-production that stars Laura Marano, Eric Stoltz and David Lambert.

Even though McFarland and Seidel don’t have any upcoming projects shooting in Oklahoma (yet), they know they’ll be back. Seidel noted that if he didn’t have young kids, he’d be moving to the state from Wisconsin in a heartbeat. 

“The community here is just like nothing you can find in L.A.,” says McFarland. “It really feels like coming home anytime I do something here. All the movies that I have seen since I’ve been here are so good; they just have this spirit and this fire that is so invigorating. I’m just happy to be a part of it.” •

Learn more about the feature film Anywhere by following the movie on Instagram @anywhere_film. Follow Adam Seidel and Hayley McFarland on Instagram at @ad_m_sei and @hayleymcfarland.