Halsey is executive producing How to Shoot a Ghost, a new short film directed by acclaimed filmmaker Charlie Kaufman, which premiered out of competition at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival.
The 27-minute short is produced by Unmade, a company co-founded by the Badlands singer, her manager Anthony Li, and her fiancé Avan Jogia.
How to Shoot a Ghost features Jessie Buckley and Josef Akiki as a translator and a photographer, respectively. The screenplay, penned by poet Eva H.D., explores themes of mortality and belonging as the characters navigate a surreal version of Athens in the afterlife. This collaboration follows their previous project, Jackals & Fireflies.
Additionally, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, a sibling duo of singer-songwriters, have collaborated on a cover of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” for the film.
The trailer’s release and the film’s premiere come after the singer celebrated the tenth anniversary of her 2015 debut album, Badlands, with the release of Badlands Decade Edition and the Badlands: Anthology vinyl set.
She also announced her sixth headlining tour with the ‘Back to Badlands Tour,’ which will kick off this October at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles before making stops in North America, Europe, and Australia.
Kaufman previously wrote and directed Netflix’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things in 2020. He won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and also directed the 2015 stop-motion animated film Anomalisa, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
