December 31, 2025 • 11 mins
Set over the course of a single summer day, POOLS is a retelling of a classic coming-of-age story. The film balances dark humor with tension, using its contained setting to amplify character and mood rather than spectacle. The cast is led by Odessa A’zion (Marty Supreme) in a striking supporting role. The film is directed by Sam Hayes, who recently discussed POOLS during a live appearance on CBS Chicago this morning. The film celebrated its TVOD release earlier this month, will screen in London on January 16th, and has been invited to the Oscars and Director’s Guild FYC apps at a discounted rate, reflecting strong respect within the industry.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's all about making a connection arrow dot net a
r r oe dot net. I am a podcast listener
that just happens to have a podcast. So when I
go searching for things that I want to be entertained by,
I want to have the power of choice. Oh you do.
On ero dot net. There are seventeen podcasts to choose
from a r r oe dot net. Enjoy your exploration.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
This is Sam Hayes.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Sam Hayes, you have done an amazing job when it
comes to this movie. There are so many things in
it that are legendary. For instance, like the quote if
you hear your shadow whispering you're listening. I still hear
that in my heart even today.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Wow, thank you. I'm I'm so glad to hear that.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
To bring a movie like this together, what all did
it entail? Because I mean everything that I picked up
and read about, everybody on the set worked as a
solid team on it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So how did it all come together? Is basically yes, question.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
To create the harmony? And I mean you were right
there the heart and soul and everything and everybody works
as one. I mean that that right there is a miracle.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean it obviously you know, came
together over over years. You know, it started and I
wrote the script, you know, back in like twenty nineteen,
you know, twenty twenty, was trying to put the movie together.
Spent the summer in Chicago scouting locations around Lake Forest,
trying to get these magnificent mansions, you know, ready to go,
(01:32):
and found some amazing collaborators who wanted to help make
the movie. Let us film there and then yeah, and
then you know, eventually we shot the movie. And I
don't even know where to begin, but you know, the
cast was the cast was a super important part of
the package. From the get go, I wrote, you know,
some of the main roles for some of the main actors.
(01:54):
I wrote the role of the air conditioning man, the
air conditioning King of Chicago, for Michael Fomus.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
From the get go, and he was always the ac man.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
He's somebody that's one of my best friends from la
that we've been we've been working together and making stupid
videos together for a while. And uh, and then the
lead role in the movie of Kennedy, I wrote that
for Odessa A Zion And this was you know, way
way before you know, Marty Supreme and I love La.
(02:26):
It was just, you know, I had been bobbling the
idea for the script around in my mind for a
while and and starting to do some rough writing and
had an idea of this character and what her problems
were and who she was.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
And I saw Odessa.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
In a friend's Instagram story and just like immediately knew
it was like, oh my god, that's Kennedy, that's the girl.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
And so I was able to get a coffee.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
With her, and she was amazing, and you know, we
we vibed over the story and from that point, and
I wrote it with her in mind, and you know,
it was amazing that these actors were willing to do
that and collaborate from such an early point, because I
think it it UH. It was a really cool part
(03:09):
of the writing process to write for these UH specific
actors and you know, have that package going forward of
you know, the two of them, and.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Plus Tyler Albarez.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I wrote a role for him as well, and then
and just slowly build it from there and slowly put
the team together from there, and then of course eventually
we we shot it here in Chicago and had incredible
Chicago crews and Chicago producers. You know, shout out to
Mike ware Seths The Boy and and Mark Glasgow Chicago
(03:41):
Media Angels, and yeah, I think I'm I think I'm
rambling now, but uh but uh but yeah, it's been
a long journey and we're finally at this uh finish,
this incredible finish line, which you know, feels great after
so much time and effort from so many people have
gone into it.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
You talked about those the mansions. One of the things
that I felt as the viewer was that every time
they would go into the swimming pool area, what happened
was I would go oh oh, and you know, and
all of a sudden, you created those emotions in my
own heart in the way of going. He picked the
right ones because he knows that's where dreams began.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, I mean those locations were important to me because
they needed to feel magical and like otherworldly. And there's
something about Lake Forest, Illinois that is just it's just
another world with these like old money mansions, you know,
built back in the late eighteen hundreds or whatever, and
(04:41):
so so yeah, I wrote it for the area and
was fortunate to get to, you know, film in these locations,
and of course I had some inspiration from doing a
bit of pool hopping myself in Lake Forest growing up. Yeah,
I didn't grow up there.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I grew up in Highland Park. But you know, not
too far away.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Please do not move. There's more with Sam Hayes coming
up next. The name of the movie Pools. You can
download it now, you can stream it is ready for you.
You're gonna love it. We're back with Sam Hayes. You
know you talk about everybody being up from the Chicago area.
Right away, I went to the music. The music. Please
(05:20):
tell me the music came from Chicago as well.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Actually, yeah, Cody Fryy is our composer.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I grew up with Cody.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Cody actually edited and helped me make my first short
film in high school, even though we went to different
high schools, because he was just so passionate about it
and such a good friend. And he scored it as well.
He wrote in an original score for this high school
there's film. He's now you know, fast forward, you know,
(05:49):
fifteen years later, Cody's now a three time Grammy nominated composer.
He's yeah, He's nominated for a Grammy again this year
for his arrangement of what a Wonderful.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
World, I believe.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
And uh, yeah, when I when I was on set filming,
Cody was replying to my story and he hadn't scored
any movies by that at that point, because you know,
his his career had all been like as a pop
singer and as a composer, you know, just for like
a symphony or an orchestra. And he replied to my
story saying, Hey, I want to take a crack at this,
(06:25):
and he wrote a he wrote a sample for for
one of the scenes when they first discovered this incredible
mansion and uh, and just knocked it out of the
park and uh and brought him on board. It was
his first movie, and yeah, he just he did an
incredible job.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
But he went to New Trier High School. He's from
you know, Chicago as well.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
And yeah, there's such an amazing inspiring story here. I mean,
first we we we found out about Odessa and how
you've helped open up her dreams, her ambitions and things
are really rocking. And now we find out about Cody's.
It's like this set was like this giant meeting of
this is who's going to lead in the future, and
you opened that door for these people that is Wild.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
You know, I think they would have done it on
their own without me.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
But but I feel lucky and fortunate to have gotten
to collaborate with such such amazing people. That yeah, I
mean since we filmed, Cody's been nominated for Grammy three times,
and Odessa has been you know, just just killing it
and now obviously is in like one of the biggest
(07:32):
movies of the year that's in theaters now with with
Marty Supreme and you know, Timothy Shellman. So so yeah,
I feel fortunate to have worked with such great people
and and you know, we'll see where the movie goes
from here now that it's available for rent and really
anybody can access it.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
We did our theatrical run at the end of the summer.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
We were in one hundred theaters nationwide, and now it's
out for to rent and buy on any you know,
on demand service like Apple or Amazon.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
I love that. Now. When it came to that music,
I mean, how did you make it so timeless, because
this is going to be like Fast Times at Ridgebont
High that one has that kind of an eighties beat
yours is whenever it will fit in perfectly. How were
you able to do that? And did you do that
on purpose?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, I mean, like with Cody.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Working with Cody, it was such a cool process because
it was the first time he'd scored a movie and
it's the first time I directed a movie. So neither
of us knew what we were doing, and I didn't
really know how to communicate in terms of music. So
it was all Cody trying things and me being like, ah, well,
this makes me feel like this, and I want to
feel like this. And you know, I wanted the Pools
to feel magical and spiritual, and I wanted it to
(08:45):
have sort of an epic, timeless nature and be full
of nostalgia.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
And yeah, I mean, Cody was just a natural.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
And also, you know, we had an amazing music supervisor
in paym and Masking who found all the you know,
big sounding songs that sound like hits or sound.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Like they're from the seventies.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
But you know, we were able to get at more
of an indie movie price. You know, we don't have
to buy like a Rolling Stone song for five hundred grand.
And he just didn't you know, the music was really
important to us from the beginning, and so we spent
a lot of time on it.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Wow. Well, it's I'll tell you what, I appreciate it
because that music is important to me as a viewer
as well. Where can people go to find out more
Sam as to what you're doing with this film? Where
can they find it? Because you were talking about they
can download it or they can buy it. And and
number two, what where can they go to find out
more about you? So they can, you know, give you
that love and support?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
One last thing about the music.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Odessa has an original song in the movie that she
wrote and performed, wrote for the movie and performs in it.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Was that the one with her on the piano. Is
that the one? Oh my god, dude, if you don't
do something with that song, Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yes, I know, I know. We haven't released it yet.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
The only place you can get it is in the movie,
but we will at some point.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
And yeah, but.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
So yeah, the movie is available, like I said, to
rent or buy on Amazon or Apple or fandango, whatever
service that you like to use. It's only five ninety
nine to rent. So yeah, so you grab it today.
And as far as finding out more about me, I
don't know.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
This is a this is a for Chicago area, right
this radio, Yeah, so I was just there's this little
magazine publication called The Chicago Reader, and I just saw
my friend just sent me this morning that I was
nominated for Best Filmmaker of the.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Year in the Chicago Reader.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
So if you want to give me some love, go
on the Chicago Reader and vote for me, Sam Hige
for Best Filmmaker.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I love it, but no, really, just just watch the movie,
you know, give it a watch.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Especially if you love Chicago, if you love John Hughes
Type's films. You know, those are some of the biggest
inspirations for this film, and it was shot in those
areas as well, and you know, just yeah, give the
movie a watch, you know, give us and uh, you know,
leave a review somewhere if you know whether you like
or you don't, you know, you can be honest.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
But uh but yeah, check it out. That's that's all
I would ask ye.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Will you be brilliant today and please come back to
this show anytime in the future. The door is always
going to be open for you. Mister Sam.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
All right, thank you so much.
It's all about making a connection arrow dot net a
r r oe dot net. I am a podcast listener
that just happens to have a podcast. So when I
go searching for things that I want to be entertained by,
I want to have the power of choice. Oh you do.
On ero dot net. There are seventeen podcasts to choose
from a r r oe dot net. Enjoy your exploration.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
This is Sam Hayes.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Sam Hayes, you have done an amazing job when it
comes to this movie. There are so many things in
it that are legendary. For instance, like the quote if
you hear your shadow whispering you're listening. I still hear
that in my heart even today.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Wow, thank you. I'm I'm so glad to hear that.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
To bring a movie like this together, what all did
it entail? Because I mean everything that I picked up
and read about, everybody on the set worked as a
solid team on it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So how did it all come together? Is basically yes, question.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
To create the harmony? And I mean you were right
there the heart and soul and everything and everybody works
as one. I mean that that right there is a miracle.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Oh yeah, yeah, I mean it obviously you know, came
together over over years. You know, it started and I
wrote the script, you know, back in like twenty nineteen,
you know, twenty twenty, was trying to put the movie together.
Spent the summer in Chicago scouting locations around Lake Forest,
trying to get these magnificent mansions, you know, ready to go,
(01:32):
and found some amazing collaborators who wanted to help make
the movie. Let us film there and then yeah, and
then you know, eventually we shot the movie. And I
don't even know where to begin, but you know, the
cast was the cast was a super important part of
the package. From the get go, I wrote, you know,
some of the main roles for some of the main actors.
(01:54):
I wrote the role of the air conditioning man, the
air conditioning King of Chicago, for Michael Fomus.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
From the get go, and he was always the ac man.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
He's somebody that's one of my best friends from la
that we've been we've been working together and making stupid
videos together for a while. And uh, and then the
lead role in the movie of Kennedy, I wrote that
for Odessa A Zion And this was you know, way
way before you know, Marty Supreme and I love La.
(02:26):
It was just, you know, I had been bobbling the
idea for the script around in my mind for a
while and and starting to do some rough writing and
had an idea of this character and what her problems
were and who she was.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
And I saw Odessa.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
In a friend's Instagram story and just like immediately knew
it was like, oh my god, that's Kennedy, that's the girl.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
And so I was able to get a coffee.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
With her, and she was amazing, and you know, we
we vibed over the story and from that point, and
I wrote it with her in mind, and you know,
it was amazing that these actors were willing to do
that and collaborate from such an early point, because I
think it it UH. It was a really cool part
(03:09):
of the writing process to write for these UH specific
actors and you know, have that package going forward of
you know, the two of them, and.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Plus Tyler Albarez.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I wrote a role for him as well, and then
and just slowly build it from there and slowly put
the team together from there, and then of course eventually
we we shot it here in Chicago and had incredible
Chicago crews and Chicago producers. You know, shout out to
Mike ware Seths The Boy and and Mark Glasgow Chicago
(03:41):
Media Angels, and yeah, I think I'm I think I'm
rambling now, but uh but uh but yeah, it's been
a long journey and we're finally at this uh finish,
this incredible finish line, which you know, feels great after
so much time and effort from so many people have
gone into it.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
You talked about those the mansions. One of the things
that I felt as the viewer was that every time
they would go into the swimming pool area, what happened
was I would go oh oh, and you know, and
all of a sudden, you created those emotions in my
own heart in the way of going. He picked the
right ones because he knows that's where dreams began.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, I mean those locations were important to me because
they needed to feel magical and like otherworldly. And there's
something about Lake Forest, Illinois that is just it's just
another world with these like old money mansions, you know,
built back in the late eighteen hundreds or whatever, and
(04:41):
so so yeah, I wrote it for the area and
was fortunate to get to, you know, film in these locations,
and of course I had some inspiration from doing a
bit of pool hopping myself in Lake Forest growing up. Yeah,
I didn't grow up there.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I grew up in Highland Park. But you know, not
too far away.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Please do not move. There's more with Sam Hayes coming
up next. The name of the movie Pools. You can
download it now, you can stream it is ready for you.
You're gonna love it. We're back with Sam Hayes. You
know you talk about everybody being up from the Chicago area.
Right away, I went to the music. The music. Please
(05:20):
tell me the music came from Chicago as well.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Actually, yeah, Cody Fryy is our composer.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I grew up with Cody.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Cody actually edited and helped me make my first short
film in high school, even though we went to different
high schools, because he was just so passionate about it
and such a good friend. And he scored it as well.
He wrote in an original score for this high school
there's film. He's now you know, fast forward, you know,
(05:49):
fifteen years later, Cody's now a three time Grammy nominated composer.
He's yeah, He's nominated for a Grammy again this year
for his arrangement of what a Wonderful.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
World, I believe.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
And uh, yeah, when I when I was on set filming,
Cody was replying to my story and he hadn't scored
any movies by that at that point, because you know,
his his career had all been like as a pop
singer and as a composer, you know, just for like
a symphony or an orchestra. And he replied to my
story saying, Hey, I want to take a crack at this,
(06:25):
and he wrote a he wrote a sample for for
one of the scenes when they first discovered this incredible
mansion and uh, and just knocked it out of the
park and uh and brought him on board. It was
his first movie, and yeah, he just he did an
incredible job.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
But he went to New Trier High School. He's from
you know, Chicago as well.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
And yeah, there's such an amazing inspiring story here. I mean,
first we we we found out about Odessa and how
you've helped open up her dreams, her ambitions and things
are really rocking. And now we find out about Cody's.
It's like this set was like this giant meeting of
this is who's going to lead in the future, and
you opened that door for these people that is Wild.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
You know, I think they would have done it on
their own without me.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
But but I feel lucky and fortunate to have gotten
to collaborate with such such amazing people. That yeah, I
mean since we filmed, Cody's been nominated for Grammy three times,
and Odessa has been you know, just just killing it
and now obviously is in like one of the biggest
(07:32):
movies of the year that's in theaters now with with
Marty Supreme and you know, Timothy Shellman. So so yeah,
I feel fortunate to have worked with such great people
and and you know, we'll see where the movie goes
from here now that it's available for rent and really
anybody can access it.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
We did our theatrical run at the end of the summer.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
We were in one hundred theaters nationwide, and now it's
out for to rent and buy on any you know,
on demand service like Apple or Amazon.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
I love that. Now. When it came to that music,
I mean, how did you make it so timeless, because
this is going to be like Fast Times at Ridgebont
High that one has that kind of an eighties beat
yours is whenever it will fit in perfectly. How were
you able to do that? And did you do that
on purpose?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, I mean, like with Cody.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Working with Cody, it was such a cool process because
it was the first time he'd scored a movie and
it's the first time I directed a movie. So neither
of us knew what we were doing, and I didn't
really know how to communicate in terms of music. So
it was all Cody trying things and me being like, ah, well,
this makes me feel like this, and I want to
feel like this. And you know, I wanted the Pools
to feel magical and spiritual, and I wanted it to
(08:45):
have sort of an epic, timeless nature and be full
of nostalgia.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
And yeah, I mean, Cody was just a natural.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
And also, you know, we had an amazing music supervisor
in paym and Masking who found all the you know,
big sounding songs that sound like hits or sound.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Like they're from the seventies.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
But you know, we were able to get at more
of an indie movie price. You know, we don't have
to buy like a Rolling Stone song for five hundred grand.
And he just didn't you know, the music was really
important to us from the beginning, and so we spent
a lot of time on it.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Wow. Well, it's I'll tell you what, I appreciate it
because that music is important to me as a viewer
as well. Where can people go to find out more
Sam as to what you're doing with this film? Where
can they find it? Because you were talking about they
can download it or they can buy it. And and
number two, what where can they go to find out
more about you? So they can, you know, give you
that love and support?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
One last thing about the music.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Odessa has an original song in the movie that she
wrote and performed, wrote for the movie and performs in it.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Was that the one with her on the piano. Is
that the one? Oh my god, dude, if you don't
do something with that song, Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yes, I know, I know. We haven't released it yet.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
The only place you can get it is in the movie,
but we will at some point.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
And yeah, but.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
So yeah, the movie is available, like I said, to
rent or buy on Amazon or Apple or fandango, whatever
service that you like to use. It's only five ninety
nine to rent. So yeah, so you grab it today.
And as far as finding out more about me, I
don't know.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
This is a this is a for Chicago area, right
this radio, Yeah, so I was just there's this little
magazine publication called The Chicago Reader, and I just saw
my friend just sent me this morning that I was
nominated for Best Filmmaker of the.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Year in the Chicago Reader.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
So if you want to give me some love, go
on the Chicago Reader and vote for me, Sam Hige
for Best Filmmaker.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I love it, but no, really, just just watch the movie,
you know, give it a watch.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Especially if you love Chicago, if you love John Hughes
Type's films. You know, those are some of the biggest
inspirations for this film, and it was shot in those
areas as well, and you know, just yeah, give the
movie a watch, you know, give us and uh, you know,
leave a review somewhere if you know whether you like
or you don't, you know, you can be honest.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
But uh but yeah, check it out. That's that's all
I would ask ye.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Will you be brilliant today and please come back to
this show anytime in the future. The door is always
going to be open for you. Mister Sam.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
All right, thank you so much.
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