The director of Strange Darling confirmed that the film was almost cancelled, and came to not coming across the finish line.
The new horror tale follows Willa Fitzgerald’s 'The Lady' as she tries desperately to escape 'The Demon,' a man played by Kyle Gallner. The story is a tense one, which is told out of order, making the experience that much more intriguing.
Strange Darling was shot in Portland, Oregon in 2022, and was done entirely on 35mm film.
Strange Darling Was Almost Cancelled, According to Director
While speaking to The Direct's Russ Milheim at the red carpet premiere for his newest film, Strange Darling, writer and director JT Mollner confirmed that the movie was nearly cancelled.
"The movie got shut down for about five days early on," Mollner explained, adding how they "thought [they] weren't going to get back into production:"
"The movie got shut down for about five days early on in production for a number of reasons, and it was terrifying. We had a lot of challenges in the beginning, and we had to take a pause for a minute because of external forces, and we almost thought we weren't going to get back into production. And so that was a big challenge."
The filmmaker sees it in a positive light, however, noting how "it was a major learning experience:"
"It was a major learning experience, keeping a positive attitude, keeping everybody interested, getting back into production, and going even harder. So, it was a really tough shoot for various reasons. The crew and cast were amazing. Everybody we're working with is amazing, but there were external forces that were hard to deal with, and we learned a lot of lessons. We came out better for it on the other side."
The director went on to explain what his North Star was when making this film, which wasn't just one thing, but rather three:
"It wasn't one thing, but there were three things. The look had to be candy-coated. It had to really pop and be consistent. So, color control all that... And then it had to be--It was an exercise in minimalism. So I wanted to keep it as spare as possible. I wanted to keep cutting pages, cutting dialog, and cutting things because I wanted it to be compact. The final thing was just performances like and, and that's the most important thing. I knew the whole movie would live or die on these two performances, and they had to be great. And so we got lucky."
Other cast and filmmakers were able to speak to The Direct as well, including the lead actress herself, Willa Fitzgerald, who played 'The Lady.'
Fitzgerald confirmed that what she was "most concerned" about while making this film was maintaining "the authenticity of the character's journey:"
"I think that I was most concerned with the authenticity of the character's journey. It's a story that's told out of sequence, and I wanted to make sure that the emotional, physical, psychological arc was intact, and would make sense if you watch the movie in order. That was what I was most focused on."
As for what the hardest part of the process was, the actress admitted that what the film asked of its actors was "significant:"
I would say the amount that the movie asks of the actors is significant. I think that it was a very heavy lift daily in terms of what we had to do physically and emotionally.
Giovanni Ribisi, the Cinematographer for Strange Darling (who fans might also know from his acting in the Avatar films), also had his own North Star for the piece, which he admitted was "hard to explain:"
"That took a couple of weeks of establishing what that was in the best way and in the most creative, through conversations with [director] JT [Mollner], but it was really, and I guess it's hard to explain, but it was the idea of looking at what had been––we'd been seeing in the industry and in filmmaking and streaming and trying to do the opposite, in other words, in the sense like trying to do what was wrong and really just going, okay, so this is what it is. And you know, people are going to do with it, what they will."
Ribisi conceded that a mentality like that wasn't the easiest to get financiers or studios onboard with:
"And ultimately, that's a fight, you know, that doesn't sit well with people who are financing it, or, you know, whoever. Like, the first day we were shooting, we were doing, you know, supposedly, a horror film, and it was the pancake scene, and we had half a day of just shooting someone making pancakes and sausages, and the studio was like, 'what is happening.' And that's understandable. Don't get me wrong, but I think that was really sort of the launching pad or the foundation."
For Barbara Hershey, the woman behind Genevieve in the movie, the most important thing to get right for her time in Strange Darling was the "core of goodness:"
"When I read this script, I felt like these two characters, the husband and wife, were one character; [they] were good. You know, everyone says old hippie and all that. They were goodness in the tornado of this, what's going on with this movie. There's this core of goodness, which are these two characters. Also, humor, like that breakfast, which should go down in film history, that breakfast, as well as Lassie or that, should go down."
Ed Begley Jr., who plays Frederick, Genevieve's wife, confirmed he wanted to "be true to the characters" while also exclaiming how he hasn't "been in a movie this good in quite a few years:"
"To be true to the characters. I read it as I understood it. But I quickly seized all control to the wonderful and talented JT Mollner. I knew he was good for meeting with him and getting to know him over the years through his aunt Deedee. I knew he was very good, but when he started to come up with different ideas, and [when] I was brought into the show, I was like, thrilled. His ideas were much better than mine. And the end result is this wonderful movie. I haven't been in a movie this good in quite a few years. He's getting all the praise he deserves."
Strange Darling hits theaters on August 23.
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