“Shooting on an iPhone allowed us to capture the world in its raw, unfiltered state. The intimacy and mobility of the device helped us tell a more personal and immediate story, without the usual barriers that a large film crew would impose, says writer-director Neil Burger of Inheritance.

Neil Burger was inspired to make Inheritance by a New York Times article he read in April 2020. The article detailed a reporter’s journey from Serbia to France overland, encountering armed guards at every border and empty towns and cities due to COVID-19 restrictions. This sparked Burger’s curiosity about the “new normal” in a post-COVID world and inspired him to create a narrative set in that environment.

“With ‘Inheritance,’ I wanted to explore the idea of secrets and their impact on families. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique backdrop to examine how our lives have been fundamentally altered, and how our past actions catch up to us in unexpected ways,” says Burger, who is known for films like The Illusionist and Limitless.

The narrative is set in a post-COVID world, reflecting the new normal and the changes in society and travel. This adds a contemporary and relatable backdrop to the espionage story. The film takes the audience on a globe-trotting journey through New York, Cairo, Delhi, Seoul, and back to New York. This international scope is ambitious for a film shot with a small and mobile setup.

This guerrilla-style approach enabled the crew to capture real-world locations without drawing attention.

Steinhauer is an accomplished author of spy novels, which added a layer of authenticity to the screenplay. His experience in writing complex espionage plots helped shape the film’s intricate storyline, where a young woman discovers her father’s secret life as a spy and gets drawn into an international conspiracy.

Steinhauer’s novels are known for their intricate plots, morally complex characters, and global settings. His works often explore the blurred lines between personal loyalty and political intrigue, earning him comparisons to John le Carré and Graham Greene.

“Working with Olen Steinhauer on the screenplay was an incredible experience,” says Burger. “His expertise in the spy genre brought a level of authenticity and complexity to the narrative that was crucial for Inheritance. ‘ Together, we crafted a story that delves into the shadowy world of espionage while remaining deeply human and relatable.”

“I know the movies that I’ve liked, and I know the experience that they’ve given me, so the goal is always to try to create a movie that I would like myself and that would knock me out, challenge me or intrigue me in some way.”

Inheritance follows Maya (Phoebe Dynevor), a young woman who discovers that her father, Sam, was once a spy. This revelation propels her into the heart of an international conspiracy, forcing her to navigate a world of espionage, secrets, and unexpected revelations2. As Maya delves deeper, she uncovers the truth about her father’s past and the dangerous web of lies that surrounds her.

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DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT- NEIL BURGER

When most film productions arrive at a location, they disrupt the normal life there. They have lots of
equipment, crewmembers, trucks; they close roads, block sidewalks, and generally become the center of
attention. I wanted to do the opposite, to film under the radar, so I could look at the world as it is, rather
than have the world look at us, the filmmakers. And we did see the world– we literally went around the
world– New York, Cairo, New Delhi, Seoul, New York– shooting with a tiny crew, no lights, no boom
mikes, trying to make ourselves invisible. So we could see life as it was being lived at this moment. We
took the same trip the characters take, shooting in all the real places, everywhere they go.

The story is a gritty international thriller, so it’s tightly scripted. There’s no improv, it was all carefully
prepared and crafted. And yet, because the production was so small and nimble, if something
unexpected happened, we would go with it. I told the actors to stay in character no matter what. So, the
movie has a caught live feel, a stolen esthetic, which makes sense because much of it was stolen– shot
without permission. And also Phoebe’s character is a bit of a kleptomaniac.

At the airport in New York, we walked into a luxury jewelry store and filmed Phoebe, in character,
stealing an expensive pair of sunglasses. For real. She did it. And got away with it. Walked away, put the
sunglasses on and went to her gate. Later, of course, we quietly put them back and the store never knew
they’d been gone.

On the airplane across the Atlantic, we shot three full dialogue scenes in flight, without permission,
while the flight attendants served dinner around us. They looked at us curiously, but didn’t stop us. We
didn’t look like a movie– rather it seemed like a friend was taking some video of Phoebe and Rhys Ifans
(who plays her father). Later the flight attendants asked if Phoebe and Rhys were famous, and we said
yes and that they were on their way to make a movie and we were taking pictures of their journey
which of course was all true.

In New York, Phoebe stole a bottle of tequila and drank it on Eighth Avenue– all part of her troubled
character. The cameraman and I stood a short distance away, so she just seemed like a messed-up
person drinking in public alone. Suddenly, three large New York Police Officers were right on her, taking
the bottle away and questioning her. Phoebe stayed in character the whole time: They asked, “Why are
you drinking tequila on the street?” She responded, “Because I like Tequila. Want some?” And so on.
After a bit of that, I stepped in and explained what we were doing and they let us go.

In Cairo, we shot in the extraordinarily crowded Khan Il Khalil market and no one looked twice at us. It’s
the kind of energy and production value you can only hope to recreate on a conventional movie set. We
were looking for the intensely real, and we got it.

There’s a busy highway next to Khan Il Khalil with a high iron fence down the median to prevent people
from crossing the road to the market. But there’s one place where a bar of the fence is missing and so
there’s a stream of people– men, old ladies, children, crossing the busy thoroughfare to squeeze through the opening. And Phoebe did it too– it’s the quickest way to get to the market. We shot her working her way between moving cars– it’s crazy but uniquely dynamic.

We shot a motorcycle being chased by the police on open roads in Delhi. Sounds dangerous but it’s so
crowded that you never reach high speeds. Even so it was exhilarating and unlike any kind of footage
you’ve seen before. We shot at the New Delhi train station, waiting on the platform with everyone else,
getting onto a working train, filming as we went across the Indian countryside.

We shot at the airport in Seoul, going through passport control, keeping our small camera as concealed
as possible, and watching Phoebe being questioned and waved through. In a normal movie you can’t do that.

Shooting this way changed the way the actors worked. They’d get ready at the hotel, then come directly
to where we were shooting. They’d walk to a spot, say, on the street, I’d give them a little wave, and
they’d begin. Again, it was tightly scripted– like any thriller, it’s an intricate puzzle– and yet whatever
happened we’d film and incorporate. Life flowed around them, and we went with it. We didn’t do
conventional coverage– establishing shots and complimentary close ups– instead we deliberately
avoided match-cutting and shot with a moving camera that covered it all quickly, sometimes in one
setup. We’d be in and out of the locations fast, again, to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. The movie
has its own, unique cinematic language because of that– a rawness and a realness with an epic beauty
on a global stage.

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