| Director: | Stephen Herek |
| Producer: | Hudson Hickman Sara Berrisford Craig Roessler Irene Litinsky |
| Based On: | Dead Like Me by Bryan Fuller |
| Starring: | Ellen Muth Callum Blue Sarah Wynter Jasmine Guy Britt McKillip Christine Willes Cynthia Stevenson Henry Ian Cusick |
| Music: | Kevin Kiner Richard Marvin |
| Cinematography: | Bruce Chun |
| Editing: | Michel Aller |
| Studio: | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Distributor: | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment |
| Runtime: | 87 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Dead like Me: Life After Death is a 2009 American fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Herek[1] and written by John Masius and Stephen Godchaux, based on the short-lived 2003 television series Dead Like Me created by Bryan Fuller.
Laura Harris, who played Daisy Adair in the series, was unavailable to return to the role and was replaced by Sarah Wynter. The rest of the returning cast reprised their roles, with new character Cameron Kane played by Henry Ian Cusick. The film was released on DVD on February 17, 2009, one month after its debut on Canada's Super Channel.
A crew of "reapers", whose job is to extract the souls of people who are about to die, find themselves confronted by change as their habitual meeting place, Der Waffle Haus, burns down the same day their boss and head reaper Rube disappears (having "gotten his lights"). They soon meet their new boss, Cameron Kane, a slick businessman who died falling from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. He outfits them with color-coordinated smartphones and treats them to luxurious accommodations – teaching them, as Roxy (Jasmine Guy) puts it later, that "nothing we do here matters." This tutelage leads the reapers to perform such misdeeds as saving those they were meant to reap (Roxy); abusing immortality for financial gain (Mason, played by Callum Blue); letting a soul wander, instead of showing him "his lights" (Daisy); and otherwise selfishly focusing on their wants.[2]
Georgia "George" Lass (Ellen Muth), the movie's narrator, is fired from Happy Time, a temp agency, after she loudly reprimands an employee for delivering a report late. The employee quits and later sues for harassment. George ends up revealing her identity to her sister Reggie (Britt McKillip). George finds herself reminiscing with Reggie and helping Reggie prepare for the death of her boyfriend, Hudson Hart (Jordan Hudyma).[2]
George's fellow reapers confront Kane and learn that he had realized and did not care that the "pebbles" of their misdeeds would cause "waves" of misfortune elsewhere. Unhappy with his style of management, they try to deduce how exactly a fellow reaper can be killed. They shoot and drown him to no effect before finally dismembering and cremating him. His ashes are then shot into orbit along with those of Murray, the cat belonging to George's boss Delores.[2] At the launch, Delores tells George that the employee who had sued her for harassment had done so at several of the employee's previous jobs, and George is reinstated, now with a corner office.
The reapers walk away from the launch, wondering who their new boss will be. George, after seeing her sister and mother drive off on vacation, finds herself suddenly showered with Post-Its falling from the sky, like the Post-Its their former leader Rube had used to deliver their reaping assignments. George realizes she has been selected as the group's new leader.[2]
In June 2007, a casting call was posted on an entertainment industry website for the role of Daisy Adair, formerly played by Laura Harris, who was unable to reprise the role due to commitments with Women's Murder Club. It noted that John Masius wrote the film and also confirmed that Mandy Patinkin, who starred in the original series, was not in the film. In August 2007, it was confirmed that Sarah Wynter would take over the role of Daisy Adair from Laura Harris. Harris and Wynter previously played sisters in the second season of 24. Henry Ian Cusick would play a new character named Cameron Kane.[3]
The film's release date was set for July 2008[4] and later rescheduled and released on February 17, 2009.[5] An exclusive television debut occurred on January 16, 2009, on SuperChannel in Canada.[6] It has also been shown in the United States on Syfy.