Bill Hader says They Know wrapped filming in May and is now in sound mixing before it is shown to potential distributors. The feature debut pairs him with Linda Cardellini and moves the project one step closer to a distribution decision after post-production.
Bill Hader and Duffy Boudreau
We’re both divorced. We were talking about how lucky we were that we were on, like, we had really good terms with our ex-wives, and we have kids with them, Hader said, describing how the idea formed with Duffy Boudreau. He added, We started talking about the worst-case scenarios of, ‘Oh, my god, this person is going through this, and this person is going through that.’ And then this idea came up.
The movie follows a divorced dad played by Hader who grows suspicious that his ex-wife is secretly dating a mysterious man who is having a strange influence on their children. That premise gives They Know a narrower lane than a broad horror setup, and the production timeline now suggests the film is being readied for buyers rather than left in development.
May and the sound mix
Production wrapped in May, and the cut is already in sound mixing. Hader said the script went through multiple drafts, with the first third working before it slowly devolved into being like every other horror movie. That kind of mid-script drift is usually where a feature either sharpens its point or loses it, so the fact that he kept pushing it forward says the material survived more than one pass.
A producer told him the idea was too mean-spirited, horrible, and cynical, but he still finished it. Hader said he was pulled back in by Ari Aster’s Eddington and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cloud, then kept going after encouragement from Alfonso Cuarón and a conversation with Steven Spielberg before production. He has also shown a cut at friends and family screenings, including one attended by Zach Cregger, which means the film is already moving through the early reaction phase that often precedes distributor talks.
They Know and the next step
For a feature debut, reaching sound mixing before distributor screenings is the useful marker here: the film is far enough along to be judged as a finished package, not just a script with a cast attached. Hader’s move from idea to cut to screening puts They Know in the last stretch before a release path gets decided, and that is where the real business starts.
