'Freaky Tales' stars Pedro Pascal and Jay Ellis, as well as filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, stopped by The Hollywood Reporter's studio during the Sundance film festival to chat all about their new film, which defies traditional genre definitions and is set in 1987 in Oakland. Boden and Fleck spoke about the "lookbook" they sent along with the script to actors, like Pascal. Plus, the stars and filmmakers opened up about the "collage of styles" and numerous references present in the film.
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00:00 When we talked the first time, I said,
00:02 "This is a movie that I want to see really badly."
00:05 And with not skipping a beat, was like,
00:07 "Is it a movie you want to be in?"
00:10 And I was like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:12 I want to be in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah."
00:13 [ Music ]
00:16 We wrote the script, right? So we had the script first,
00:19 and then we created, like, a deck, like a lookbook,
00:21 with all kinds of images and a description.
00:23 It was fun.
00:24 It had all the references that we had in the movie.
00:27 And we just sent that with the script.
00:29 Did you get it with that? Were that helpful?
00:31 Yeah, it was super helpful.
00:32 It was just beautiful, kind of like, you know,
00:35 a visual storybook in chapters referencing
00:39 all of the amazing movies that I saw on repeat
00:44 through my childhood way too early on cable.
00:47 And just the idea of what you were after
00:51 in terms of genre, in terms of what was personal to you guys,
00:55 nostalgia, and this collage of styles.
01:03 For us, it was just -- we really wanted it to be
01:07 a fun, wild, freaky ride.
01:11 And above all, you know, as we were kind of, like,
01:15 exploring these themes of, like, underdogs who --
01:19 you know, this, like, wish-fulfillment fantasy
01:21 of underdogs who were, like, having their day,
01:23 we wanted it to be, like, a, you know, blast to watch.
01:30 And I think that, you know, in our pitch deck
01:32 and as we were kind of, you know,
01:34 talking to people about it, we wanted to express
01:37 that, like, enthusiasm and that kind of, you know,
01:40 liveliness that we wanted to bring to the movie
01:42 so that, you know, the audience and the people involved,
01:45 like, everybody should just be having fun,
01:47 like, making and watching this movie.
01:49 Whether you looked at the deck first
01:51 or whether you read the script first, either way,
01:53 you knew, like, if you read it,
01:55 it immediately, like, put everything into context
01:58 because it is in the different chapters.
02:00 So, like, there was just this thing of, like,
02:02 "Oh, that's what they're going to do with this.
02:04 Oh, that's what they're going to do with that."
02:05 I just remember having that feeling.
02:07 And then also, like, this, like, graphic novel,
02:11 comic book thing that was, like,
02:13 really just jumping off the page.
02:15 I remember feeling that.
02:17 My thing was slightly different with Babe than Pedro's.
02:20 I had worked with Ryan and Anna before,
02:22 so I didn't even read the script, and I was like,
02:24 "Yeah, I'm in."
02:25 I was really lucky to start my character's storyline
02:30 in the first week of shooting,
02:32 and that felt like being a part of everybody
02:36 introducing themselves to the physical shooting
02:39 of the experience,
02:41 and it did feel a lot different than these, like,
02:44 as you say, big, overblown projects
02:48 where you're kind of just getting
02:51 into a much more intimate experience,
02:54 and you're fast-tracking a connection to one another
02:57 because there are just, you know, the elements are us.
03:01 It's sort of the thing that I've dreamt about as a kid,
03:05 seeing a lot of the movies that are being referenced in this,
03:08 being, like, you know, seeing sex lesson videotape
03:12 in the movie theater, half Nelson,
03:14 at what I thought was a little screening
03:16 but apparently was the premiere in New York.
03:19 I'm like, "Was that that tiny, tiny little screening
03:21 you have at Nelson?"
03:22 You're like, "Oh, the New York premiere?"
03:24 I'm like, "Yeah, that one."
03:25 Basically, as an artist, as an actor,
03:28 it's the experience that you're always after,
03:32 and weirdly, as great, as fortunate as I've been,
03:38 it's strangely been a very elusive one to me
03:41 as far as getting to be in that experience.
03:44 I know it got hard, but not the first week when I was there.
03:47 Everybody was, like, working really hard
03:50 to, like, pull something off that was nearly impossible, but...
03:56 With these guys, at last, we had, like,
03:58 an A camera downstairs setting up for Pedro
04:00 to come out of the house at the very end of the movie,
04:02 one of his last shots, and so we're set up for that.
04:04 The B camera's upstairs with Jay,
04:05 who's, like, destroying people, and spoiler alert,
04:07 he's killing a bunch of people upstairs.
04:09 So bodies are flying around, and then we're saying,
04:11 "Action downstairs," and Pedro's like,
04:13 "What? There's bodies flying around?
04:15 I'm supposed to walk?"
04:16 -Like, bodies falling down the stairs.
04:19 -It was crazy. So Anna and I were just jumping
04:21 from camera to camera, and sorry for...
04:23 -Oh, jeez, you would never know.
04:25 And you see it, and you can't believe
04:27 that this very, very immaculate sequence of action
04:33 starring Jay Ellis is...
04:35 You know, you'd think that they would have...
04:37 It was all kind of happening simultaneously
04:40 while the movie was getting finished,
04:42 and I sympathize deeply in terms of how challenging
04:46 that must have been, but the result is...
04:49 It's unbelievable.
04:50 It kind of unnerves you to realize
04:53 what you can get away with.
04:54 -I remember you calling me after you saw it
04:56 for the first time. Do you remember that?
04:58 -Yeah. -And you were like,
04:59 "Dude, I am so sorry.
05:00 I had no idea that you were up there doing that
05:02 while I was downstairs doing it."
05:03 He had no idea, because we were truly...
05:05 -Separated. -Same house,
05:06 but we were fully separated, and we were both locked into our...
05:08 -By just a flight of stairs. -By a flight of stairs,
05:10 but we were also both very much locked into our own thing.
05:12 We're going through both very big moments in this story,
05:16 and so we are fully separated and fully focused
05:18 on our own thing, and I actually didn't know
05:20 that that's what you were downstairs doing.
05:22 -Yeah, and I didn't know either,
05:23 so I was like, "They're really loud up there.
05:26 Do they know we're rolling?"
05:28 And they're like, "Oh, my God, it's coming for us."
05:31 -As directors, we really do try to protect the environment
05:34 for the characters and really give them the space
05:39 to, like, you know, get into their characters
05:42 and feel like they're just in their own worlds.
05:44 -We knew what we were doing.
05:46 Like, there was never-- We weren't, like, unsure.
05:48 It wasn't just, like, executing a thing.
05:50 It was, "Let's all come in. Let's create.
05:53 Let's all get in this together," and, like,
05:55 "Do you have thoughts?"
05:56 Like, I will say, you guys, for as little time as we had,
05:59 as much as you opened it up and were like,
06:01 "Tell me, what are you thinking? What do you want to try?"
06:03 Like, with the days that we had,
06:07 the space that you created for that, I think,
06:09 was just really amazing.
06:11 And I think it makes you want to lean in.
06:13 For me, it makes you want to lean in even more
06:15 and work harder and, like, get the moments.
06:18 -My vision born in '24.
06:20 I'm about to get a little embarrassing,
06:22 but somebody did my tarot.
06:25 There's this one card. It's, like, the sun card.
06:28 It's, like, this little baby on a horse,
06:30 and he's all, like, naked, and he's like,
06:32 "Here I am, world!" And that's my vision.
06:35 -I'm excited to get back to work.
06:37 I think that we've been working on this for a long time.
06:39 The movie's been done for a little while,
06:41 so we're happy to get it out into the world
06:43 and show people and start something new and stay busy.
06:47 -I think, for me, I think it's, A, work,
06:49 like, you know, ready to get back to work,
06:51 especially after last year.
06:52 And then I think also, too, like,
06:54 really excited to see this movie, like, go out in the world
06:56 and find an audience, and people will be super excited
06:58 to go see it.
06:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]