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How Daniel Diemer’s In My Blood Blends Sports And Psychological Horror

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How Daniel Diemer’s In My Blood Blends Sports And Psychological Horror


Percy Jackson & the Olympians star Daniel Diemer is stepping into a very different kind of story with his latest project, In My Blood, blending the worlds of sports and psychological horror in a way that feels both unexpected and deeply unsettling.

Diemer plays Jack Merrifield in the short film, a talented but inconsistent minor league baseball player desperate to live up to his father’s expectations. Determined to take his career to the next level and make his father proud, Jack turns to steroids, kicking off a dangerous transformation of both his body and his mind.

ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan spoke to the team behind In My Blood at SXSW in Austin, Texas, last week, where director Alex Bendo shared how he drew inspiration from psychological thrillers and body horrors like Black Swan, and a lesser-known 1957 baseball project titled Fear Strikes Out, to tell a story about what happens when you lean into the darker side of ambition.

Alex Bendo: For this, Black Swan was really the thing. And it’s interesting. I talk to a lot of people; “is that a genre? Is it not?” For me, it’s totally a horror film. It’s like body horror; it’s a psychological thriller. Those are the kinds of movies and pieces I want to make and work on. And on the baseball side of things, it’s actually funny. There’s this movie from 1957, called Fear Strikes Out, with Anthony Perkins — which not a lot of people know about, but it’s one of my favorite baseball movies — and it’s really good. And the rumor is, I can’t confirm this because I don’t know, it’s just the internet, that Hitchcock saw that movie, and loved Anthony Perkins. He’s like, “I’m going to put this guy in Psycho.” It’s about a player who’s going through psychological turmoil on the Red Sox. So it’s really cool.

In My Blood Originated From Bendo’s Obsession With Baseball In Genre Cinema

In My Blood at SXSW
ScreenRant

ScreenRant: I just want to get from you where the idea originated, and then we’ll get to how you got this guy involved.

Alex Bendo: I’ve always had this just absolute obsession with baseball in genre cinema. And those two things don’t really have a lot to do with each other. Until I thought about making a piece about steroids, which the further I got into it, and just researching and understanding, it is very monstrous. And there is this physical transformation that people undergo, but also a psychological one. And there’s a mental side to it, and all these side effects — physically and mentally. And it just kind of rolled out from there.

ScreenRant: And when you were thinking about casting, walk me through that process.

Alex Bendo: Actually, it was a very simple process. I worked with the casting director, Allison Twardziak, who had worked with Daniel before on a film called Little Brother, which was amazing, and I loved it. And I kind of had a few criteria for Allison: someone super committed. This is a very pull yourself-up by your bootstraps kind of piece. Someone had to be down to just do anything with us, and get a little dirty, and make something a little wild. So that was the first thing. Obviously, you had to have the acting chops, but then you also had to have that size, and just fill the screen and fill the frame. And Daniel’s obviously a very big guy, and kind of helped out there, and a very believable athlete. You don’t always get that, but he did a great job.

ScreenRant: So talk to me about what appealed to you about the story.

Daniel Diemer: It was a great little script that I got, but I think one of the big things was just the concept. Growing up, sports were my everything. My initial goal was to be a pro athlete, and I played at the pro youth level early on. My dad was one of the top tennis coaches in the country, back up in Canada. So, I was used to kind of the dynamic of that — mine was, luckily, a lot less abusive. I love the genre [body horror]. I love genre in general. Both were kind of more on the sports side. I’ve been looking for projects in that space, and with the script, the project, and the team, I thought, “This is such a perfect opportunity.” And Allison — I do pretty much anything she sends my way. So, it’s kind of a great marriage of all these different things that I’ve been such a fan of my whole life, and a character that’s so much fun, so intense, and so gritty in this kind of space, but has enough vulnerability, as well.

And again, even as an actor, we’ve been in the space of superheroes for the last decade, and that’s been a huge part of the conversation of my career, with my team, analyzing what we kind of go out for, and what we don’t. And in that same space, it’s like, “What do you look like?” Because I sit naturally pretty lean. I’ve done a lot of body transformations in my career, and it’s like, “Do you go to steroids? Do you take that risk for your health, and your mental space, and all these things?” Luckily, that’s been something that we’ve been able to avoid so far, but it was something where the idea has been so prevalent in our society. I think it’s a huge thing for young men right now. We kind of have an epidemic of it, and I think we’re not doing it in ways that are safe or healthy. And I think that was something that I really wanted to address with this project.

ScreenRant: So, I want to talk about the runtime. It’s a shorter film. For you, as an actor, how was it to just accomplish what you needed to say in that length of time?

Daniel Diemer: I think that ends up being a huge thing where the responsibility kind of goes to him, because, with me, I just take it scene by scene. But visually, there’s so much that you can do with the project, which he did wonderfully. I think with me, I’ll use creative shots to kind of get into the headspace, where I can just perform what’s on the page, and trust that everything around that is going to kind of take the audience on that journey. So, with something that’s that short, you also have the benefit of not having to have as clear an arc. You can kind of sit really into the emotional space of that moment, and let that kind of hit the audience like a truck, and then have these reveals do the heavy lifting for you.

ScreenRant: Would you want to expand?

Alex Bendo: Yeah, for sure. I mean, we’ve been building it out with my team, and just seeing where to take it, honestly. It’s still early days, but it’s been really fun, and it’s nice setting things up that, in the moment, you don’t know exactly 100% how they’re going to play out long term. But now, we’re kind of picking up those threads again a year later, or two years later, and trying to figure out where the story goes.

ScreenRant: Have you watched with an audience yet?

Alex Bendo: Saturday was our premiere, and it was really great. I was nervous. It was definitely a big theater, and it was kind of a full-circle moment for me. I’m playing in an Alamo Drafthouse. It was like a real movie theater. It was great.

ScreenRant: I think the last time I saw you, I was in the audience. I’m no Liam Crowley, but he was doing a Q&A with you for Percy Jackson, and it was before the season had come out. I’m just curious what that experience has been like for you, because that fan base is amazing and huge.

Daniel Diemer: It’s incredible. It’s huge. It’s by far the most commercial project I’ve ever been a part of, so it’s been such an incredible, kind of world-opening space. But being able to be part of something that you’re also such a fan of makes that path so much easier to walk. I feel like I’d be a lot more nervous if it were a world I didn’t fully understand going in. But Liam’s been a huge champion of us, and ScreenRant in general. So that’s been really nice. We’ve been getting used to these interviews and that process. And the reception’s just been absolutely unbelievable. So, I couldn’t ask for anything better there, and it’s kind of translating into all sorts of different things with figuring out the career, and all that stuff. So it’s been really nice.

ScreenRant: Of these last few years in the project, what have they taught you about the type of projects you want to do going forward?

Daniel Diemer: I just want to do everything. I think I’ve stuck to mostly independent cinema for the last five, six years, and I’ve really, really enjoyed that. I’ve been able to do a lot of character work and get the craft to where I really wanted it to be. But now, being able to kind of step into that commercial space, and the size of the sets, and the building, and what money allows you to do on the craft side of things, is so phenomenal, as well. It’s been really nice to open up that side of things, opening up into a fan base, I think, has been really exciting. I’d love to do more of that. Being able to kind of step foot into an IP in general, and see how warm and welcome I’ve been received has been something that’s been great, where I’m like, “Okay, the nerves in that space are gone, and now I’d love to do a bit of a mix.”

ScreenRant: Is there something you would really, really, really love to do?

Daniel Diemer: Oh man, the obvious answer is, like, Batman. I think every male actor above five years old kind of says that. So I don’t know. I think there’s a bunch of things on my mind. I’m a huge fantasy fan: Wheel of Time, Game of Thrones. Brandon Sanderson just had a couple of deals announced, and I’ve been a huge fan of his for a decade now. So, I’ve got my eyes on a few different things. But also, as the wheel turns, it’s kind of waiting to see what comes out, what’s the right role at the right time, which creatives are involved, is a huge thing. I love working with phenomenal directors and people who see the world the same way I do — on both sides of the thing. I’m also a writer, so I am looking to write some independent projects that are a little more emotionally driven, and some commercial ones, as well. So just opening up the world seems kind of sick.

ScreenRant: And is your focus all on In My Blood right now? Or is there anything that you’ve learned through this process that you’re like, “Oh, I really want to direct, or write, A, B or C?”

Alex Bendo: For sure we’re developing this, but I have several features that I’m developing that I’m really, really passionate about. In particular, it’s a medical thriller. It’s real-time. I was just telling some people about it out in the hall. It’s a real passion project for me. It’s a 90-minute real-time thriller set in a major metropolitan hospital, and it’s about the death of a patient, a very influential politician, and the hospital and the higher-ups dealing with the fallout of that. And how do you tell the public, and how do you deal with that? And then, I also have a genre feature that I’m insanely passionate about, that’s kind of totally inspired by The Ring and Suicide Club — a J Horror film from the early 2000s — and it’s absolutely wild, and that’s the thing I’m working on right now.

ScreenRant: We’re blending movies and music at this festival, and I keep asking people and getting interesting answers. What is your favorite movie soundtrack?

Alex Bendo: The thing that immediately pops into my head is the original Halloween, and I used to freak my parents out when we would drive out in the country, and I’d be like, “Can I just put this on for two seconds?” And my mom would be like, “Turn this off immediately. I can’t do this. You’re freaking me out.” That original score, John Carpenter’s sting from the original Halloween. I taught myself piano when I was in high school, and the first thing I wanted to do was play that thing. So, I’d play it on my keyboard in my room. My mom would come into my room and be like, “Stop playing this. You’re freaking me out.” So that was it for me.

Daniel Diemer: Anything Hans Zimmer. I don’t have a favorite, but I got to see him live when he was doing his kind of run around, and that was just absolutely gorgeous. He just brings so much passion and energy to everything he does. And to be able to have that same sustenance for quality with a career as long as he has, it’s just absolutely stunning. So that was such a great moment.

ScreenRant: Well, congratulations on everything. Is there anything about the film that you want to express before I let you go?

Alex Bendo: I think something that I think I just tried to highlight recently is that it’s really a genre piece that has body horror, and it’s weird and twisted. But at the heart of it, it’s really my way of exploring this new generation of athletes, where so many of them are the children of very famous athletes, I find, over the last five to 10 years, for whatever reason. Just understanding that those people, those children, grow up with a different kind of pressure, and just wanting to tell that story. We’ve seen a lot of the other story, and I’ve not really seen this so much. So, it was really important to me to get inside someone’s head and understand how far they are willing to go to be successful, but also how far they are willing to go to be loved by a parent. And that was the heart of everything here.

In My Blood had its world premiere at SXSW on March 12.

Location

Austin, Texas

Description

The SXSW Conference is an annual event held in Austin, Texas, that celebrates the convergence of technology, film, music, education, and culture. It features a diverse range of programming, including keynote speeches, panel discussions, exhibitions, networking events, and live performances, attracting professionals, creators, and innovators from around the world to explore new ideas and emerging trends.

Dates

March 12–18, 2026


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