00:26This is Tim Wasprick for Fast Trek on CERC TV.
00:29I'm here in Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest Film Festival.
00:33Reflexivity in society, obviously, is a big motif with this film.
00:38You know, how we see ourselves, how others see us, that perspective and perception.
00:45Could you both talk about that? Oliver first, since I know, and because, of course, Henry wrote it as well.
00:51And there's that interpretation.
00:52But can you talk about that, that element of it?
00:56And then, Peter, about sort of manifesting that physically, emotionally, you know, primally, if you will.
01:03Yeah. Yeah, I think that, like, it's an interesting idea because so much of today's, you know, like, culture is
01:11obsessed with, like, how we see, how we project ourselves and the image we project of ourselves, which obviously a
01:19lot of the time isn't actually how we are.
01:23And that's, like, on this kind of, like, societal social media level.
01:27And then there's the other side of it, which has been truer for a very long time, which is just
01:32kind of, like, how you want to be perceived by your family and friends and those around you.
01:38And I think that, like, that idea has become kind of, it's like, you know, kind of on steroids now.
01:49And so we're seeing this weird manifestation of, like, this is what I want to look like to people.
01:58And people are able to even augment that in a crazier way with, you know, again, like, how you kind
02:04of portray yourself on a profile or a dating app or anything like that.
02:08And I think that that idea is really interesting and really insidious and kind of like one of the things
02:18that we tried to tap into in the movie, which are just like, you know, there are so many issues
02:25we're facing today in society and modern culture.
02:29And how does that make us a monster kind of, or how does that make us look like we're, you
02:36know, externally facing this and then internally facing that.
02:41And I know it's just like a very fun dynamic to ultimately play with.
02:44I think anything that kind of, you don't really know what the answer is.
02:49And this is not even a great answer to your question, but anything that's just dynamic is like a fun
02:56theme motif to see what you can do with it and then how you can, like, portray it in the
03:02story.
03:03What does Rod sell?
03:08Double-sided screwdriver and pink wrench.
03:12Well, I have an idea.
03:14Why don't you send the board in some of these and you can decide which tune to whistle.
03:19I do want to get back to that, but Peter, can you talk about then taking that?
03:24Because there's so many ways you could interpret this and that's what I'll talk about next.
03:29But on a baseline level with this guy, you know, where you have to start and then how do you
03:35expound upon that?
03:37Yeah.
03:38Well, Tim, thanks so much for taking the time, by the way.
03:40This is really exciting.
03:41I'm happy to be here.
03:43And, yeah, I think, you know, when I first read this, I told, I ran into Henry, who's Oliver's brother,
03:49at a party.
03:51We hadn't seen each other in a really long time.
03:52And he was like, hey, we got this script.
03:54Will you read it?
03:54And I was like, yeah, I'll get to it.
03:56And I sat down at, like, midnight one night.
03:59I was like, I'll read the first ten pages and see if it hooks me.
04:01And I just, I couldn't put it down.
04:03And I think part of what was so attractive was the themes that you're talking about right now.
04:09The ambivalence, you know, or excuse me, the ambiguity of reality.
04:14And, you know, but from a performance perspective, it was like, how do I make this guy as real and
04:19in pain and relatable as possible?
04:23You know, and that's like basically separating from separating facts from, you know, what the audience could interpret.
04:30I mean, the rest of that is like up to you guys.
04:32And the, you know, the process with Oliver and Hank was we're going through scenes.
04:37We're rewriting things on the day.
04:39And we're like, is this enhancing the theme?
04:41Is this funny?
04:42You know, all that stuff from a production writing standpoint.
04:46And then performance was like, how do you just ground all this?
04:49You know, because the more grounded we are, the more we, you know, hook the audience into like, this is
04:55a real plight that this guy is experiencing.
04:58The more effective the, is all this shit really happening?
05:02Is going to be so.
05:04So, yeah, I hope that that answers the question.
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