After nearly two decades in indie film, Mel Eslyn finally takes director's chair with 'Biosphere'

Mel Eslyn has been making movies for nearly two decades, but not in the role she thought she'd be in.

Eslyn, a Menomonee Falls native who graduated from Pewaukee High School, is president of Duplass Brothers Productions, an active independent film and television production outfit formed by actor-filmmakers Jay and Mark Duplass. She has more than 50 producer credits, from the 2011 Lynn Shelton gem "Your Sister's Sister" to the acclaimed HBO series "Somebody Somewhere."

But what Eslyn really wanted to do was direct.

While she has directed some short films and TV episodes, she's making her feature-film directorial debut with "Biosphere," a sci-fi-ish indie comedy starring Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown ("This Is Us"). Eslyn co-wrote the original screenplay with Duplass.

The movie opens in theaters July 7, including at Marcus Theatres' Menomonee Falls Cinema. Eslyn will be on hand for a Q&A session after a screening at 7:30 p.m. July 8 at the Marcus Menomonee Falls. ("Biosphere" also will be available on demand starting July 7.)

“I was always planning to be a writer-director, and somewhere along the way took a very big detour named Mark Duplass," Eslyn said.

A pretty productive detour

For Eslyn, it's been a pretty productive detour.

She and Duplass first bonded on the set of "Your Sister's Sister," for which Eslyn earned her first feature-film producing credit.

“Mark and I met when I was filling all these different roles on productions, and then you realize what you’re doing is actually producing,” Eslyn said.

They worked together on a string of projects, until, after Eslyn produced the 2014 drama "The One I Love," she ended up running the Duplasses' company. ("It's only for Mark and Jay that I would end up in this situation," Eslyn said.)

But she never lost sight of her original career goal — nor, she said, did Mark Duplass.

Over the years, he and Eslyn tossed around a number of ideas for her first directing gig, and, at some point, "he pitched me this kernel of an idea that eventually became 'Biosphere,'" Eslyn said. "And for whatever reason that one just kind of got me in the gut."

To get the project rolling, in early 2020, Duplass suggested they go off on a writers' retreat. He worked on a first draft, then told Eslyn: "I don't think there's a movie here. I'm fine to let it go."

"And I was like, 'No way, dude — I see a movie. Let me take the first pass,'" she said.

Inspired by director Lynn Shelton

Two big events then put the project in a different light.

Not long after their writers' retreat, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, bringing a halt to many works in production. And, in May 2020, Lynn Shelton, the "Your Sister's Sister" director who had become a close friend and mentor, died of a blood disorder at age 54.

After Shelton's death, Eslyn was cleaning out the filmmaker's house when she remembered a conversation they'd had.

“When I first met her, I was in my twenties, and she had said, ‘Mel, it took me so long. I was a late bloomer; I made my first film at 39.' And at the time, I was like, 'I have so much time,'" Eslyn said. "And then I'm cleaning out her house, dealing with this horrible loss, and realizing I’m about to turn 39 in less than two years. I have to do this.”

So, over the following month, Eslyn, who will turn 40 this August, sat down and wrote the screenplay for "Biosphere."

"It was almost me like me being forced by Mark and then by world events to create … my own vision in what I wanted to do,” she said.

Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown: The last two men on earth

Describing "Biosphere" is tricky; Eslyn begs for a minimum of spoilers to avoid tipping too many of the movie's bigger ideas. Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown are the last two people on earth, living in the title abode after an end-of-the-world-type event that Duplass' character — who was the president of the United States — caused. Brown is his lifelong friend, closest scientific advisor, and the guy who thought up the biosphere.

He's also determined that, unless something changes, they are doomed. Even with the end of the world hovering over the proceedings, the movie has a lot of comedy, with Duplass and Brown riffing off each other in the way that only people who have known each other forever can do.

Trailers for "Biosphere" keep everything vague for a reason, Eslyn said.

"We’re having so many conversations about film these days, and you’ll see four trailers before you see it in the theaters," she said. "The conversation is happening before you see the film, and with this one I really wanted it to be after because there are a lot of unexpected themes and conversations it will bring up that I think work really well going in not expecting.

"And I think a lot of them are themes that will challenge certain people.”

At its heart, "Biosphere" is a running conversation between two lifelong friends, a confrontation with the likelihood of death and the end of the world, and the complicated role that gender plays in life.

Eslyn said "Biosphere" offered her the "potential to explore a lot of gender politics, especially with it being the last two men on earth."

Once the production began, she said, she didn't feel like a first-time director.

“The thing that clicked right away was I realized I have been through this so many times … ," she said. "It was like going to film school for 15 years.”

Wearing many hats

While Eslyn was writing (and rewriting) and directing "Biosphere," she was still running Duplass Brothers Productions. She'd work all week on her movie, then on the weekends watch dailies and rough cuts of other projects.

"It was a little bonkers," she said.

But for Eslyn, it was business as usual.

Duplass Brothers Productions is a small company — eight employees — but it has a lot of projects in the works, from feature films like "Biosphere" to TV series like "Somebody Somewhere" and documentary projects like "Wild Wild Country."

Years as an independent-film producer have taught Eslyn to be nimble — and productive. Her next project with Mark Duplass hasn't been announced but is already "in the can."

But getting her directorial debut out there with "Biosphere" feels like a signature moment, and one that has Eslyn thinking about her late friend Shelton's words.

“Her dad actually emailed me a few days ago, 'You realize it’s coming up on your 39th (birthday) and that was your goal," Eslyn said. "It’s a nice kind of full-circle thing.”

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin native Mel Eslyn takes director's chair with 'Biosphere'