Respire was shot in and around the city of Hampstead, Maryland. Among the locations were the historic Mill of Hampstead and Snyder's Auction House, both staples in the small town. The production crew also turned a house into a mini soundstage, turning rooms in the house into 11 different sets by constantly painting, wallpapering and rearranging doors and furniture to create the illusion of different locations in different time periods. With the exception of 2 exterior locations, the entire opening credit montage was shot in one room. This same location also housed the Curio Shop, Apartment and Raif's House sets.
While trying to figure out my next project, my sister came to me and told me a dream that she had about people who were dying and saving their last breaths in small boxes. The more she told me about it, the more interesting it sounded. As I started to research it, I found out that this was actually practiced by the Romans who believed that the soul escaped the body with the last breath. They were preserve it in bottles or a family member would inhale it at the moment of death in an effort to stay close to them after they had passed on. After gaining the basis for a story around which I could build a horror/thriller plot, I came up with a way for the last breaths to not just be saved but to be passed on to others, sometimes with healing qualities, sometimes with disastrous consequences. Hopefully this theme, that sometimes you should just let nature take its course and not interfere or try to cheat death, resonates in the story.
Since we wanted to see the largest range of actors possible, an open call was held when principal casting began for Respire. The roles of Susan and Raif (the two main characters) were our primary focus and we spent three full days auditioning over 500 people for the roles in the film. The first two days, we saw some good talent but no one who seemed to fit either of the main roles. On our last day, Tracy Teague and Mat Wright came in back to back and we knew we had found our leads. The way they played off of each other and the dynamic between them when they performed together was exactly what we were looking for. Vince Eustace, who plays the role of Alex, was in a previous film of mine, GhostWatcher II. Even though he had the part from the get-go (it was essentially written for him), he came in and auditioned anyway, trying out different takes on the character. When we got all three of them in a room together and saw the chemistry developing, we didn't have to look any further.
