Filmmaker David Robert Mitchell and producer J.J. Abrams have discussed the biggest twist in their new sci-fi thriller *The End of Oak Street*, in which a suburban American family wakes to find dinosaurs overrunning their 1980s neighbourhood. Speaking to Collider, the pair explained the film's origins, its journey from a near-R rating, and the death of Ewan McGregor's character, while also using the interview to preview upcoming projects, including Mitchell's long-gestating *It Follows* sequel and Abrams' return to directing with *The Great Beyond*.

Mitchell said the idea came from an ordinary walk through his own neighbourhood, when he imagined a dinosaur lurking in a suburban alleyway and decided to build a story around that jarring contrast. The script, developed with Abrams' Bad Robot production company, was shared with star Anne Hathaway within months and received a strongly positive response. In the finished film, Hathaway and McGregor play a couple, Denise and Greg Platt, whose marital troubles are overshadowed when dinosaurs suddenly appear and start killing their neighbours; Denise and the children survive and rescue Greg, though not without cost by the story's end.