It’s the End of the World in Apocalyptic Comedy ‘How It Ends’

Sandra Miska

While many non-essential workers in Los Angeles and elsewhere spent the lockdown binging television, going for walks and indulging in Zoom happy hours, and the most ambitious among us started a project or two, actor and director Zoe Lister-Jones and her husband Daryl Wein wrote, directed and produced a feature. “How It Ends” is an apocalyptic comedy that follows Liza (Lister-Jones), a single woman who spends her last day on earth before an asteroid strikes walking through Los Angeles on a quest for closure. Joining her on her journey, offering her support and some tough love, is her younger self, Little Liza (Cailee Spaeny). 

On most days, only Liza can see her mini-me, but on this last day on earth, everyone else, in their heightened state of awareness that only the impending apocalypse can bring, can see the teen. While this all may sound heavy, “How It Ends” is actually a life-affirming dramedy that contains more light than dark. One of the first people they encounter is Manny (Fred Armisen), the younger version of an old man who shares Little Liza’s excitement in finally being seen. Before that, it’s Gary (Nick Kroll), a man who buys out the local weed store and offers the women CBD vaginal deposits. Other interactions are a little deeper, such as the ones with Liza’s estranged parents, Lucinda (Helen Hunt) and Kenny (Bradley Whitford). Her ultimate destination is a party thrown by free spirit Mandy (Whitney Cummings). There, she hopes to hook up with the love of her life, ex-boyfriend Nate (Logan Marshall-Green).

“How It Ends” was written, filmed and edited in mere months. The time between its initial conception and its premiere at Sundance was less than a year. “It was all expedited, but we didn’t have a lot to do,” recalled Lister-Jones with a laugh during a recent phone call with Entertainment Voice. “We were trapped in the house. It really did serve as a lifeline for us.”

“I think we were struggling to navigate the overwhelming emotions that I think the world at large was also struggling with,” Lister-Jones explained when asked what inspired her and Wein. At the time, the couple were both engaged in virtual therapy, which included a lot of getting in touch with their respective inner children. “I think so much of what quarantine and the pandemic sort of forced us to do is face our most vulnerable selves in such an uncertain time, and so we started conceiving of a story that was sort of not centered in the pandemic, specifically, but was still navigating similar themes and a similar emotional landscape in this apocalyptic universe in which we were having conversations with our younger selves.”

When it came to casting Little Liza, Spaeny was the natural choice, not only because Lister-Jones previously directed her in “The Craft: Legacy,” but also because the two women had a solid friendship off set that deepened while they met up for pandemic walks. Said Spaeny, “Those talks that we were having, she was sort of my lifeline during that time, and we got to put it into a film and sort of process all of our emotions through that art form, and I felt really lucky to have Zoe and Daryl kind of give me that playground to process all of that.”

Because her car is stolen, Liza and her younger self are forced to get around on foot all day. Los Angeles is not really known as a walking city, and this mode of transport showcases L.A. in a way that is not usually seen by outsiders. The fact that the “How It Ends” was filmed during a time in which the streets were mostly empty added to the apocalyptic feel. Although the emptiness was intentional on the part of Lister-Jones and Wein –– production blocked traffic and passerbys –– they found that the work was mostly already done for them.

“I think that Daryl and I were just so floored by what the streets of L.A. looked like at time in quarantine,” recalled Lister-Jones. “It was so unprecedented for there to be so few cars and even pedestrians. I think we also wanted the film to sort of serve as a time capsule of this moment, in history, that we hope we never have to face again.”

Due to Covid restrictions, the filming of “How It Ends” was very DIY. Not only did the actors do their own hair, makeup and wardrobe, many of them filmed their scenes in their own backyards. Zister-Jones and Wein not only acted as location scouts, but also as casting directors, as they rounded up their very talented friends, including Olivia Wilde, Lamorne Morris, Glenn Howerton, Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer, Colin Hanks, Charlie Day, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, and Finn Wolfhard, who appears all too briefly via FaceTime. Pauly Shore even pops up.

“We just were calling our community to see if they were down to play in this sort of experimental realm,” recounted Lister-Jones. “Luckily, they were all game. We had a very detailed outline, and I’d say about half of the scenes were written and we stuck to the script strictly, and then half of the scenes were improvised around a structured outline. I think that was just dependent on the scene and the actor that we were working with. Regardless of whether they were improvised or scripted, there was a real intimacy on set that allowed for us to just have a lot of freedom as actors, which was really nice.”

“How It Ends” was Spaeny’s first time acting in a comedy. She really shines in her one-on-one scenes with Lister-Jones, especially in the third act when the Lizas reach a boiling point with each other. Even in the scenes in which Little Liza hangs back in the background while Big Liza meets with her friends and family, Spaeny was hard at work. She explained, “The moments I would sit back and watch her do her thing were just such a joy. I was just trying to learn as much as I could and stay present and watch the process. It was a very small crew the whole time. It was just us, so I saw everything. It was a real honor and a real joy.”

Lister-Jones and Wein had the task of directing tonal shifts, and they do this in a way that is very natural. While some scenes are played for laughs, such as when the Lizas encounter those in altered states, some of them feel almost too real, such as when Liza meets Kenny and doesn’t get the closure she came for. In other scenes, we see the weight lifted off of her shoulders, such as when she finally makes amends with an old friend, Alay (Wilde). Perhaps the funniest moment is when she shows up to tell off a terrible ex (Morris), even spouts Alanis Morisette lyrics, only to discover she’s only one in a line of women to take time out of her last day to tell off this man.

“Daryl and I just wanted to create something that could bring some levity at a weak moment in the world, that also didn’t deny the impact that we are all going through,” said Lister-Jones. “Navigating the tone of that was something that we put a lot of thought into, because it’s nice to have some sense of escape and to be able to have some fun and go on a journey, but also to have viewers feel reflected in what our characters are going through and facing, and the crisis that we’re up against in such high-stake moments.”

“How It Ends” releases July 20 on VOD and in select cities.