"In Vitro": Dacre Montgomery’s Directorial Debut

Just to be clear, Montgomery is not, at least to my knowledge, directing a feature film. There will be no theatrical release of a two hour movie with Dacre Montgomery under the directorial credit, though it looks like he's set to splash his name across plenty of acting roles in the near future. Sorry if I fooled you into adding another page view onto this article. For now, Montgomery will not be heading any major motion pictures.

The Aussie is, however, wading into the waters of the directorial and writing world through the creation of a short film adaption of his first DKMH podcast, "In Vitro." If you happen to keep up with my articles for some unknownable reason, and God bless you if you do, then you may recall that I mentioned the DKMH podcast in the article "What's next for Dacre Montgomery Post-Billy?" So you can just consider this my follow-up to the article—another update that's shaping up to be a longer series of spotlights into this blossoming artist's career.

True, young he may be, but Montgomery is already well on his way to establishing himself as a Hollywood staple in light of his turn as the Red Ranger in the ill-fated Dean Isrealite Power Rangers film, the devilishly handsome and tragic Billy Hargrove of Stranger Things, and heartthrob co-star of the Selena Gomez-produced, Cannes romantic comedy, The Broken Heart Gallery, which is currently in production. And lo and behold, the upcoming "In Vitro" short film is only serving to cement this trend as Montgomery takes what began as a personal poetry passion project to an experimental artistic collaboration to a full blown filmic endeavor.

Now in terms of the actual release date of the In Vitro project and how it expands from the original spoken-word poem, less is known. Montgomery tweeted the first trailer for the film just three days ago, a forty second long collection of contortionist images set to operatic music with the only clarifying piece of text being the title of the film itself. No date, no text teaser, and no indication as to how the project has been constructed. Perhaps it will be something of a visual accompaniment to Montgomery's recorded voiceover of the original poem. Or maybe the film will break from that structure altogether and instead create a solid, more traditional narrative that is set apart from the abstraction of the poem. However, taking into consideration the content of the short trailer, from its surreal focus on the twisting musculature of a row of men's backs to its near-biblical shots of nature and other suggestive flashbulb images, I'd venture a guess and say that Montgomery's project will still retain the essential ephemerality and elusivity of a beat poem. That is to say, I wouldn't count so much on having a plot and characters with this film as I would anticipate archetypes, aesthetics, and a thematic architecture. Though the trailer, as well as the cast and crew of the project, hasn't given much of anything away on the form or content of this endeavor, I think it's safe to say that Montgomery is aiming for something a bit more unconventional than a standard story-driven short film.

But what do I know? I'm just some film student asshole who's basing these analyses on a forty second trailer that reveals practically nothing and a podcast that may or may not be closely tethered to the final form that this project will take. Maybe I'm being too presumptuous at this point, or maybe there's a clue that I've missed among the scattered updates on the upcoming film. You can check out the podcast that inspired this project and the promotional teaser for yourself and draw your own conclusions about how this small passion piece will take shape. If any of you happen to catch a clue that I've missed or a cast testimonial on the film that has somehow managed to escape my tight web of investigative research, please share with the class and enlighten us all. Until then, happy hunting.

DKMH "In Vitro" Podcast: https://podtail.com/en/podcast/dkmh/in-vitro/

In Vitro First Trailer: https://twitter.com/dacremontgomery/status/1175882333909475328