In THE FRONT ROOM, from writers/directors Max and Sam Eggers, everything goes to hell for newly-pregnant Belinda (Brandy) after her mother-in-law (Kathryn Hunter) moves in. As the diabolical guest tries to get her claws on the child, Belinda must draw the line somewhere.
For the release of THE FRONT ROOM, Creepy Kingdom's Shannon McGrew spoke with writers and directors Max and Sam Eggers. During their chat, they discussed everything from the dark humor of the film to Brandy's powerful return and the symbolism of mirrors.
Thank you both so much for speaking with me today! I could never have thought this film would have so much shit and giggles. With that in mind, what inspired you to take on this project? Had you read the short story by Susan Hill prior?
The Eggers Brothers: We've been fans of Susan Hill forever. "The Woman in Black" is so scary. Our producers, Lucan Toh, Bryan Sonderman, and Babak Anvari, brought the short story to us. They'd seen The Lighthouse and thought we'd be a good fit.
We cared for our grandfather as he declined so when we read [the short story] we were like, we know what this is. I think if anybody's had that experience, it's tragic, of course, and frightening sometimes. To the shits and giggles point, it is all so bizarre and hilarious. We knew tonally what we could do with the movie and what we could provide it with, which was this sort of honest truth about that experience.
Seeing Brandy on the big screen again was great, especially in a horror film. Can you discuss bringing her on for this project? Did you always have her in mind?
The Eggers Brothers: We always had a Cinderella in mind, and truthfully, it was a matter of who would be willing to subject themselves to this but who would be somebody an audience could immediately connect with and root for. You can't do better than Brandy [who played Cinderella in the 1997 TV Movie "Cinderella"). The fact that she was willing to read it, meet us, do it, continue doing it in the mess that we put her through...she's in every scene and nearly every single shot. She was utterly committed to the role, film, and story. Kathryn Hunter and Andrew Burnap are joys to work with and were very supportive. We had a great crew, and everybody was so supportive of each other, especially of Brandy. She hasn't done a lot of horror film roles but she committed. She understood Belinda from the beginning, which really shines through.
Kathryn Hunter's performance as Solange is one of my favorites of the year. It's a tornado of chaos that's hard to forget. How did you prepare her for this role?
The Eggers Brothers: In adapting this, we moved the story from England, updated it to the modern day, and flipped some things around, including making Solange a Southern conservative Christian. Our grandfather was a Southern gentleman who was wonderfully progressive for his age, secular, so nothing like Solange. We had recordings of him, and we gave Kathryn a lot of that to inject that accent into the character and sort of, in some really surreal ways, inhibit him, which was crazy. She got the accent right away, so that's how we technically prepared her. But Kathryn, I mean, she is a physical performer. When we saw The Tragedy of Macbeth, we were like, that's Solange. The fact that she read it, was willing to do it, and understood it...she brought so much [to the role]. She's such a physical performer and so incredible with language. She prepared us, she prepared the film, she made the film what it is.
In the film, there's a montage where Solange uses a whistle every time she needs the bathroom, yet she still soils herself. Sound plays a crucial role in this. Can you discuss how you use sound to heighten the viewer's discomfort?
The Eggers Brothers: Shout out to Ric Schnupp, our incredible sound designer. He's a master. Our grandfather had a whistle, and in the middle of the night, you'd be asleep, and then you'd hear whistle whistle whistle [which would signal his need for the bathroom]. It starts weird taking care of somebody, but then it gets worse and worse until you become the caretaker. Belinda doesn't have a job at the moment, so it's all dumped on her [by her husband] even though she's pregnant. In being responsible, the walls start closing in and getting tighter.
With that montage, specifically, we were literally and figuratively covered in shit all the time. If you've been through that, it's what it's like. We want people to confront uncomfortable subjects, not because we're masochists. Dying, that process, nobody knows what that's like unless you're going through it. We don't want to make fun of anybody. We don't want to make light of it, but I think it's important to pull back that rock and look under and say, okay, if we can confront it, then we can deal with it, and it's uncomfortable, but it's important.
Many shots in the film feature mirrors or reflective surfaces. Was there a deeper meaning behind their use?
The Eggers Brothers: I'm going to say yes [Laughs]. You're keying into something very intentional about the subjective nature of perspective. We were heavily inspired by an amazing film called The Servant, starring Dirk Bogarde. It's full of mirrors and all about the subjective nature of a perspective, identities flipping, and all that stuff. Additionally, how do you make staying in a house interesting? I apologize to our sound designer, Dan Bricker because trying to have a boom in all those mirrors was utterly impossible, so thank you [Laughs].
Given the film's themes and the son's name, Norman, were there any intentional references to Psycho?
The Eggers Brothers: You'd have to ask Susan truthfully. I will say that there were many times when we talked about how Norman and Solange are the living Norman's mother, you know? Andrew keyed into that for sure.
A24's THE FRONT ROOM arrives in theaters on September 6.
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