The new South by Southwest 2025 film It Ends is a genre-bending high-concept movie set inside a Jeep Cherokee. In the film, a group of recent graduates (Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, and Mitchell Cole) take a late-night spin to hunt down something to eat. Unfortunately for them, a wrong turn sets them on a never-ending two-lane road that happens to be a horrific hellscape.

The twisted road trip movie was directed by Alexander Ullom and is Ullom’s feature directorial debut. Ullom was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” thanks to It Ends, in which the director channeled the Gen Z experience of coming of age in a bleak cultural landscape. Ullom credited his own personal struggles as inspiration behind the film as well.

ScreenRant’s Liam Crowley spoke with It Ends director Alexander Ullom and cast Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, and Mitchell Cole. The cast each spoke about how they got involved in the film, sharing unique stories that landed them in their starring roles. Everyone also shared their music playlist picks if they had to live in an It Ends-style scenario, and Ullom revealed a scene that was cut from the film.

VR Poker Led To Alexander Ullom Getting His First Film Financed

Ullom Found Four Investors Who Made It All Possible

“I would queue in VR poker during that apocalypse in 2020,” Ullom began when telling the story of how It Ends came to be, “I would a bunch of different lobbies in LA, and I would set my location to high income areas in Los Angeles–which sounds sociopathic, but I would just shoot the s***.” Sociopathic or not, Ullom’s approach led to lasting relationships: “I would bond with them, and got to know a couple.” One would even end up helping to finance the film.

YouTube helped too, said Ullom: “I had a little YouTube video get a couple hundred thousand views, and someone commented, ‘I would pay for more of this’. I responded–I was like, ‘Really? You promise?’ and he meant it. Those two combined with a good friend and a real estate mogul who was paying me to make custom sketches that no one saw except for him and his family–those four combined to make the original version of the movie.”

Instagram, Lunch Hangs & Last-Minute Changes: How It Ends Cast Found Their Way To The Film

Everyone Had Very Different Journeys To The Same Destination

It Ends’ relationships required actors to have believable chemistry, which makes the different ways they all came to the movie surprising. “I had auditioned for Alex’s thesis film when he was in film school,” Noah Toth said, “and ultimately I didn’t get the part, but in a Zoom call he told me, ‘I want to work with you someday.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, man.’” But, said Toth, “Two years later, he messaged me … ‘I’m making a feature, and if you want to read for it, come on in and we’ll do it.’ It was very casual.”

“I did a short film for his teacher aide at FSU,” said Akira Jackson, “and she sent me the casting call through Instagram … I thought she talked me up to him, but Alex had no idea, apparently.’” Even more surprising for Jackson was how everything went down after that: “Ultimately, I did not get the part,” the actor shared. She elaborated: “They thought I looked too young. Then, weeks into production, [Alex was] like, ‘How fast can you get to Florida? We need you.’”

Ullom jumped in to explain: “We had a scheduling mishap with the original actress, so we were like, ‘We don’t have an actor and we’re shooting in a week.’ So, we gave her the call.” Ullom also shared his experience on how Phinehas Yoon came to the film: “Someone [Phinehas] PA’d with DM’d me and was like, ‘This guy looks like a more attractive version of you. You should cast him.’”

“[That’s] not what I heard,” quipped Yoon, saying, “I was doing a PA gig … I was talking to Chase Davis, who was also working as a PA with me … she went to school with Alex at FSU, and was telling me she was part of the film program over there.” Yoon continued, saying his fellow PA told him Ullom was casting his first feature. “She’s like, ‘Yeah, he’s looking for someone who’s possibly Asian and also a smart aleck … so I thought of you.’”

“My story’s way less cool,” said Mitchell Cole, who went on to share another unique tale: “I found Alex’s casting call on Backstage back in 2019 for a separate project he was filming. It was pitched as a Florida State project–Alex was at FSU at the time.” Cole learned quickly that things were not as they seemed: “They’re like, ‘Okay, two things. First, this is not an FSU project. This is just our thing … The other thing–we need to shave your eyebrow.’”

“So I shaved my eyebrow,” Cole said, “we filmed, and then there was this thing called Covid that happened. The world shut down, so we never got to finish that.” Just like with Toth, Ullom would return to Cole’s life: “I didn’t talk to Alex for probably a year … [then], I got a text out of the blue from him [that] said, ‘Hey man, I want to work with you again. You’re a good actor.’ And then a year after that, he hits me up and says, ‘Hey, I”m doing a feature. You want to audition?’’

It Ends Came From Late-Stage Capitalism And “Entering The World During The Apocalypse”

Ullom Shared His Inspiration For The Film

It Ends offers a look at the world from a Gen Z perspective, and that perspective is often bleak. “Definitely a mixture of adolescent depression growing up in late-stage capitalism and entering the world during the apocalypse,” Ullom said when asked where the tone and idea came from. He elaborated: “There’s this functional numbness that’s going on … it’s kind of just what it [feels] like to grow up, currently … [everything makes] no sense, [it’s] terrifying, and then you just get used to it.”

The It Ends Cast Built Their Best Hellscape Playlist

Ullom Also Revealed A Cut Scene Centered On A Coldplay Song

Music plays a big part in It Ends, so it felt natural to collect playlist must-haves from Ullom and the film’s cast, with each creative picking one song to include. Cole answered first with a confident “‘Down’ by Social Burn.” Toth was next: “‘Instant Crush’--Daft Punk.” “I think ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’ by Olivia Newton-John,” said Yoon, changing genres drastically, while Jackson was more drawn to "Consume" by Chase Atlantic.

Ullom’s pick led to the reveal that at least one scene was cut from It Ends. “We had to cut this scene out of the movie because it took five minutes,” the director said, “[but] there was a huge argument where Fisher was trying to squeeze ‘Viva La Vida’ by Coldplay.”

It Ends premiered March 7 at Alamo Lamar 5 as part of SXSW 2025 and is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

Check out our other SXSW 2025 interviews here:

• How Was Your Weekend?
• The Astronaut

Source: Screen Rant Plus