First off, I should mention this is pre-premiere tonight. How are you feeling?

I am somewhere between total elation and abject terror. It changes every minute for me. I’m really excited to finally get to put this out there and see it with a really big audience, especially this audience, because this is the coolest festival, I think, in the world. I love the audiences here. I lived here a long time ago.

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Oh, did you?

I did. So I’ve been part of this cinema community for a long time, and so I’m excited to be back here. So yeah, a lot of feelings. It’s very emotional for me.

Well, I think one thing, I don’t know if you get enough credit for this in recent years –

No. [laughs]

[laughs] Good answer. It’s tough to get original stuff made, especially now, and you have managed to get original stuff across the finish line. How hard is that with a movie like this, particularly right now, post-pandemic, post-strikes?

It is harder than it’s ever been, yeah. I’m very sad that, at a very difficult time, everyone panicked and did things that changed the behavior of audience members, and I think in a lot of ways irreversibly so.

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Agreed.

So that’s a bummer, but I think people are slowly warming back up to the idea of, “We can’t have nice things if you don’t take care of them.” I do think that people still appreciate the experience of going to a movie, and this is the perfect movie for an audience. It’s such a fun, communal experience to have. I’m hoping that people are going to show up.

I think we have two amazing stars that are on the rise. That, I think, helps. I think we have a really clean and exciting premise that helps and a certain relatability since we’re all chained to these f***ing things [holds up his phone]. More than anything, I think word-of-mouth is still the best weapon that you can have. I’m praying that people like the movie and talk about the movie. Especially after tonight.

Look at Brandon, who was in “It Ends With Us” last year. How stoked were you when that happened? You’re like, “He’s in my movie!”

It was both amazing, then became something terrifying. [laughs] It’s so funny, because I knew of the movie because he had just finished filming it when I cast him, but I didn’t know anything about that movie. It’s not my wheelhouse. So it came out of left field for me, and I think for a lot of people, the success of it. But it was definitely a blessing.

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You’ve worked with Blumhouse quite a bit. You worked with Blumhouse years ago, and you’ve worked with Blumhouse now. I think Blumhouse has had to change as the business has changed. Before, Jason Blum was like, “Here’s $5 million, go make your movie.” I don’t know if Blumhouse gets enough credit for being a purveyor of original cinema, but how much has it changed working for them over the years? Or has it not?

I think that their mission has maintained. I think that they still really do strive to make original stuff and they like to take risks. They’re the only risk-takers, I think, out there, to be honest. Unless you’re talking about the deep, deep pockets of a couple places like Amazon or Netflix, which they do take certain risks. I don’t know what they are. They’re algorithmic risks. I don’t know.

Sure.

But I think that what [Blumhouse has] been able to really maintain and protect is original films, and also protecting filmmakers and their vision. That’s still the best and the greatest reason to go and work with them, and it’s why I continue to go back again and again, because you just have freedom. You have autonomy, they don’t bother you, they don’t tell you what to do. It’s very collaborative and it’s your movie, for better or for worse. I think that’s a great thing to have when most things are made by committee now.

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