- 3 days ago
Nora Kirkpatrick is a multi-talented artist with a variety of credits in front of and behind the camera over the course of her career. Her feature film directorial debut is the dark rom-com "Couples Weekend" (formerly titled "A Tree Fell in the Woods," as previously reviewed by EoM contributor Justin Waldman at the Tribeca Film Festival 2025).
In this episode of EoM Presents, Kirkpatrick talks with Thomas Manning about the confined setting of the single-location film, the talented cast, and collaborating with her composer and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros bandmate Mitchell Yoshida. Starring Josh Gad, Alexandra Daddario, Daveed Diggs, and Ashley Park, "Couples Weekend" hits theaters and VOD on May 8.
Official Synopsis:
Trapped in a cozy cabin by a blizzard, two couples ring in the New Year with a mysterious cocktail that strips away their inhibitions, turning their romantic getaway into chaos with a showdown of secrets, betrayals, and rapidly shifting loyalties.
Official Trailer: youtu.be/lAKTiVZT-lw?si=Gt6-MNDhdqZiOwAh
Official Webpage: https://www.vert-ent.com/library/couples-weekend
Directed/Written By: Nora Kirkpatrick
Cast: Alexandria Dadarrio, Daveed Diggs, Josh Gad, and Ashley Park
In this episode of EoM Presents, Kirkpatrick talks with Thomas Manning about the confined setting of the single-location film, the talented cast, and collaborating with her composer and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros bandmate Mitchell Yoshida. Starring Josh Gad, Alexandra Daddario, Daveed Diggs, and Ashley Park, "Couples Weekend" hits theaters and VOD on May 8.
Official Synopsis:
Trapped in a cozy cabin by a blizzard, two couples ring in the New Year with a mysterious cocktail that strips away their inhibitions, turning their romantic getaway into chaos with a showdown of secrets, betrayals, and rapidly shifting loyalties.
Official Trailer: youtu.be/lAKTiVZT-lw?si=Gt6-MNDhdqZiOwAh
Official Webpage: https://www.vert-ent.com/library/couples-weekend
Directed/Written By: Nora Kirkpatrick
Cast: Alexandria Dadarrio, Daveed Diggs, Josh Gad, and Ashley Park
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00We're alive! We're alive!
00:33You can find the film in theaters and on digital on May 8th.
00:37Thank you all for watching and listening, and I hope you all enjoy the conversation with Nora Kirkpatrick about Couples
00:42Weekend.
00:43Thank you again for your time. I love the film Couples Weekend, and I'm curious to talk about the setting
00:50for this film.
00:51With the isolated setting, it almost made it feel like a horror movie in some cases.
00:57Of course, there's a great history in cinema of films that take place in a cabin in the woods, but
01:03the horror here comes from a more relatable place.
01:06It's not supernatural. There's no zombies or curses or anything.
01:10It's just people dealing with an extremely unfortunate situation, and some of that is of their own making.
01:17But now they have no choice but to face all this mess together.
01:21Sure. So, I'm curious for you, at what point in the writing process did you decide that you kind of
01:27wanted to put them in this pressure cooker?
01:29Did you formulate the characters first and then the situation, or did it kind of all merge at the same
01:34time?
01:36Great question!
01:38I knew that in order to have the actors stand and deliver and really explore these relationships in depth, they
01:47needed to be in a situation that they could not escape from.
01:50Because I thought, well, if you're in the city and this happened, you're heading out.
01:55You're driving over here and you're not going to have these same conversations.
01:58So, I knew I needed them to be stuck.
02:02And having them stuck in the snow, you know, to me felt, A, very beautiful to shoot, and was something
02:11I didn't get to see a lot of.
02:14Because snow is hard to find, you know, and hard to make it stay.
02:18So, I would say the characters, I always knew that in order to tell the story, I needed them to
02:23remain for a day.
02:27And so, I think you filmed on location in Utah.
02:31And so, did the weather bring its own set of challenges for the production itself?
02:36Oh, God.
02:37Yes, because, you know, we didn't shoot.
02:39We didn't actually get up there and start shooting until, like, May, June.
02:46And because of, who knows what, global warming or for whatever reason, there was still snow.
02:51But we were, you know, by the end of it, driving up the mountain, putting the snow in the back
02:56of the truck, and driving back down to, like, pat down our areas.
03:01But when we went to scout, the snow was taller than me.
03:05And I'm almost six feet tall.
03:06So, it was, I was like, we're going to be great.
03:09And then every day, I was like, it's melting.
03:12So, it was a stressful, we had to shoot all the outside stuff first.
03:16Right, right.
03:18And with the set decoration and production design of the cabin itself, every room in the cabin almost has its
03:26own feeling and character to it.
03:28And I know your production designer was Liam Moore.
03:31Yeah.
03:32So, you know, what were some aspects of the production design that kind of you were especially attuned to as
03:39you really developed just the atmosphere?
03:42Yeah, you know, Liam is amazing, and you should check out his other work.
03:47He does, like, Adele music videos and all these incredible covers of magazines.
03:52He's incredibly creative.
03:54There was a stage direction in the script that said, this house hasn't been updated since the 70s.
03:59And that's kind of where we took all the inspiration.
04:03And he redesigned every room.
04:05So, all the wallpaper, all the carpeting, the curtains, he was ordering these fabrics off of eBay.
04:12So, they actually are from the 70s.
04:14And the house really smelled like that when you walked in.
04:17You're like, whoa, it smells like, you know, kind of when you're walking through one of those places.
04:23And that really helped us get into the zone of the space where Gary, the neighbor's house, he's just kept
04:32it this way his whole life.
04:34So, Liam did an incredible job.
04:36And I'm very impressed with, on this budget, what he was able to create.
04:41Yeah.
04:42And something that I think is in conversation with the production design is the costume design for each of the
04:47characters.
04:47And they each have their own distinct look.
04:50And there's, like, an item of clothing for each character that stood out to me.
04:55Whether it's for Daveed Diggs, the sweater.
04:58And then, later on, the tank top and the beads and his necklace.
05:01Then, of course, Josh Gad with the silk shirt.
05:05Alexandra Daddario has a robe.
05:07And then, Ashley Park's dress.
05:11And for you, can you take me through some of those talks with your costume designer to kind of give
05:17each character a direct physical extension of their selves like that?
05:24Yeah.
05:25Great, great items to notice.
05:27The costume designer is Brynn Carter.
05:29I've worked with her many times.
05:32These characters are very specific archetypes.
05:35And so, I described in this script how they may dress.
05:39But Brynn really took that and expanded upon it.
05:42And she brought in references, you know, from people she's known or people we see on the street.
05:46So, there's a lot of how do these people fit into the world?
05:50How has their place in the workplace affected every clothing decision they've ever made?
05:55You know, Deb's probably stole her leather jacket when she was a teenager and held on to it.
06:01Josh Gad wears a puppy vest because that's what all the guys at work wear.
06:04Like, all of those decisions are really tied into their work life.
06:08And Brynn did an incredible job of finding and sourcing those elements, many of them being vintage and some of
06:14them specifically being new.
06:16But it was a nice mix of both.
06:18She and I worked together on some weird stuff and some straightforward stuff.
06:23So, this was maybe a little bit in the middle.
06:26Yeah, yeah.
06:26And focusing specifically on Alexandra Daddario's character, you know, she's a struggling writer and she hates that she's trapped as
06:35an editor editing other people's work that she would like to be doing herself.
06:39And, you know, I know for you, you've worn many creative hats over the years.
06:44So, what is that experience like when you're developing a character who is a creative in her own right?
06:50You know, does that exploration challenge you in any way or cause you to kind of, you know, just open
06:56up any new perspectives for you?
06:59Yeah, I mean, it's interesting.
07:02There was a part of me that almost wanted to, like, write the book that she had written because just
07:06so I knew what it was.
07:08But that seemed like quite an undertaking to write a book that we'll never hear of.
07:14But, yeah, I thought, you know, I'm also usually hesitant to write characters that are artists because it is so
07:21close to me.
07:22I almost want to write things that aren't that because I'm like, I don't want someone to think that I'm
07:26just making this autobiographical, which it was not.
07:30So, I think that's why I always hesitate.
07:32But her journey as an artist from being, have written, have her first book she wrote not as herself.
07:41She wrote what she thought everybody else wanted to hear.
07:43And then the second one that she's writing now or by the end of the book, what she's going to
07:47go off and do is something she's writing from her own voice, who she really is.
07:51So, that's also part of her journey.
07:53And that journey is something, you know, of course, I can relate to.
07:57It's like, are you writing for yourself or are you writing what you think might be received in a certain
08:03way?
08:04So, there are, I will say there are little parts of me in every character.
08:09That one is perhaps maybe more a clear path.
08:12Right.
08:13Yeah.
08:13Yeah, yeah.
08:15And just a small physical aspect of her character, the glove that she wears for the smoking.
08:21You know, how did you find, how did you find that detail?
08:24You know, just living.
08:28I mean, that's something I pulled from life or from friends and, you know, a moment of people wanting to
08:35smoke but not wanting that smell to permeate their life.
08:39Is, you know, as you live, I think you pick up these little windows and characteristics and things you see
08:45people do or things you do and you file them away you don't even know where.
08:48And then when you're writing these characters, you're like, oh, that fits really well here.
08:53That fits really well here.
08:56And, you know, even like Josh Gad, when he says, oh, he wants to be a still life painter, but
09:01he's like, you know, in finance, that was from a conversation I had with someone at some point who was
09:06like very locked into the financial world.
09:08But they're like, I'm an artist and no one will listen.
09:11And so all of those things are, the brain is such a labyrinth.
09:16It's like, I don't even know where they go because I would never be able to remember them.
09:19And then I'll be writing and I'll be like, oh, shit.
09:23And then it's very comforting to give those things a place to live.
09:29It's very fulfilling to me to take something from the past, make it an analogy, change it into something else
09:34and have it live in a movie or a show.
09:36I'm like, oh, I think that's the point of living for me.
09:39It's like this filtration system.
09:41Right.
09:42Yeah.
09:42And there's a few aspects of the music I want to talk about.
09:45Um, the, the score from Mitchell Yoshida and I know you're a musician in your own right and, uh, you've,
09:52you've quite the accordion player.
09:55Um, and so for you, when you're working with a composer and you have your own musical background, what does
10:01that director composer relationship look like for you?
10:04And how do you think it might be different than another director who doesn't have that background?
10:10Great question.
10:11And also Mitchell is someone who was in the band that I was in.
10:14So we've worked together for 20 years at this point.
10:17Um, so we have a real musical shorthand we've played on stage together for years and years and years.
10:23So when I started working with Mitchell, it was just so easy to be like, oh, what if it's like
10:28this?
10:28I'll sing them a little ditty and then we can work off that.
10:31Or, I mean, oftentimes he's just sending me voice notes and things all the time of ideas he's having and
10:37we can go back and forth on it.
10:40I mean, he is, he is absolutely composing the music, but in terms of notes and changes as we go
10:45along, I feel like that's a conversation we've been having for a really long time.
10:49Right, right.
10:50And, uh, there's, it's mostly score, but there's like one specific needle drop that stands out.
10:57Um, and it's, uh, the song, where am I by Duffy Power, um, and Josh Gadd.
11:02Oh, it's a great song.
11:03It's, it's wonderful.
11:04It's, it's wonderful.
11:05And especially when it's set to, uh, you know, Josh Gadd drunkenly dancing.
11:09Um, so, um, how did you find, how did you set on that specific song for that specific moment?
11:16I, you know, originally I wanted a Roy Orbison song, but then once we checked how much that costs, I
11:24knew that was not going to happen.
11:26So this was a song I had been a fan of for a really long time.
11:31Um, and we worked with our music supervisor as well to figure out how much it would cost.
11:38And surprisingly, I think we learned through this process, it had never been sunk in something.
11:43Um, so we might have been the first people to sink it, which I was shocked by.
11:49Cause to me, it sounds like classic.
11:51Um, but yeah, I was, I was very happy that we found it, that it felt like it could be
11:55in the place of the Roy Orbison and even perhaps be more appropriate for the moment.
12:00And, um, it all happened very quickly.
12:02Yeah.
12:03Yeah.
12:04And, uh, there's a couple of scenes in particular that I love to talk about the editing and bring them
12:09together.
12:10And one is when they're all four, all four of our main characters are in different rooms yelling at each
12:16other, basically having a, an argument throughout the house with each other.
12:20Um, what about that particular sequence?
12:24Um, what were some, you know, challenges that you noticed and how did that kind of, how did you formulate
12:30that?
12:32Yeah, that's a great question.
12:33I mean, the timing of it was so specific.
12:36I had imagined that scene as one of the first scenes when I was writing the movie is I knew
12:41I wanted everybody in different rooms talking to each other.
12:44Um, so, you know, we thought a lot about the timing.
12:48I was reading the other lines off camera so we could leave space, appropriate spacing.
12:53But our editor, you know, Henry Hayes did a great job of, of making that feel really seamless.
12:59And I, I was surprised at how easily some of these sequences edited together, um, and how whole they stayed.
13:08You know, I just did another movie where a lot more things were moving around in the edit.
13:14This was going here.
13:15This was going there.
13:15Just because when you get into the edit, it's this whole other beast.
13:19Um, but this, this movie surprisingly like stayed fairly intact.
13:25Like one thing that you guys never will see, but was maybe my favorite part of the script is like
13:31when they're outside and they see the act through the window and then they're coming back.
13:37There was maybe like four or five more pages of dialogue from, from them before they go in the house,
13:43deciding what to do, running themselves through different sequences.
13:46Well, this is what I'm going to say.
13:47This is what you would say.
13:48And it's probably my, one of my favorite parts of the script.
13:50But when we got to the movie, we were like, we can't have it.
13:53It like, it takes away.
13:55We want to just see what happens and not project what could happen.
14:00Um, but that's some of the most exciting parts of, of editing is, is, um, taking that stuff out.
14:07Yeah.
14:08Yeah.
14:08And another scene that I think is kind of a companion to that one where they're all separated is later
14:14on two couples are in separate rooms and they're having conversations.
14:19And those conversations they're having are kind of in dialogue with each other in different rooms.
14:25Um, you know, what was memorable for you in constructing that particular sequence?
14:29And maybe, um, what, what muscles did it flex for you that were different from the one where they're all
14:35four separated?
14:37Yeah.
14:38You know, we shot each of those sequences in a day.
14:41So everything upstairs was a day and everything downstairs was a day.
14:45And I remember the first day with it was Alex and Daveed downstairs.
14:49And by the end of the day, they were so exhausted and they told Ashley and Josh, they're like, get
14:53ready.
14:54Like it's like, you know, a marathon.
14:55And by the end of the second day, Josh and Alex were actually had like collapsed on the bed.
15:00And it, we were shooting so much every day and the actors were absolutely unbelievable in not only being prepared,
15:08learning an incredible amount of dialogue, but being ready to play and be malleable once we were there.
15:13So that, those sequences are a huge testament to the actors.
15:17Um, and we're really, really fun to shoot because usually you're shooting one scene and you're over here shooting something
15:24completely different.
15:25And we shot those linearly to retain the emotional, um, through line all the way.
15:30Okay. Oh yeah. I love that.
15:33And, um, there's later on, there's, um, there's a moment where all the characters open up to each other, but
15:40it's with the aid of, of, of an intoxicant.
15:44And, um, I'm just, you know, this isn't really, I guess, pertaining specifically to the movie, but I'm curious what,
15:50what your thoughts are on how do we get to the point as human beings where we're, where we allow
15:55ourselves to open up to each other.
15:57But like without that chemical push like that, um, how do we do it purely from an internal place?
16:03Wouldn't that be great?
16:04Yeah. Yeah.
16:05I mean, I think there absolutely is a way to do that.
16:07I think extreme honesty can exist in all different parts of our life.
16:11But I think what it made me realize is how often the truth is fudged or protected, or it's almost
16:20the truth, but you're withholding this piece, which is important.
16:23And makes it not like the, the truth and nothing but the truth, I think doesn't actually occur as much
16:31as we'd like it to.
16:32And not that the lies are always as big as this, but the lies are protection mechanisms for ourselves and
16:40whomever we're speaking to.
16:41So it was an interesting exercise to say, well, if it can only be the truth, what does that mean?
16:49And how, how far back in one's life would they go?
16:52And it made me think of a lot of things from my life.
16:55And I'm like, you know, it's, the truth is so great.
16:59And I feel like maybe we should all get more comfortable with being like, Hey, this is what it is.
17:05And there's a real beauty in that.
17:07And when I had those conversations with people, like the most honest, honest and no substances involved, it feels very
17:15intimate in a really powerful way.
17:17Right. Yeah, for sure.
17:19And we've mentioned the central four cast members, but there is one additional cast member who's the only other actor
17:27that we see actually is facing the film is Kevin Pollack.
17:30And he is the owner of the cabin.
17:33You know, how did you find Kevin for that role?
17:35And, you know, why did you know that he was exactly what you were looking for for that particular role?
17:41I mean, I have been a Kevin Pollack fan since I don't even know when, as I'm sure many of
17:46us have.
17:46And so I think when we were, it might even be that we shot all of his scenes in one
17:53day.
17:53That could maybe even be what happened.
17:55So it was not a huge ask of an actor, but more can Kevin raise his hand immediately.
18:02And he was really excited to come do it.
18:03And he's a fan of the other actors.
18:06So, I mean, when he was presented as an option, I was like, are you kidding me?
18:12Like from the usual suspects, I mean, I've just, he's, he's been so a part of my life growing up.
18:17So I was honored to have him.
18:19He was a really great sport to shoot that many scenes in a day.
18:23Right.
18:24Yeah.
18:25And, you know, before we wrap, I want to mention the cinematography by Jeff Leeds Cohen.
18:30And I think you really shot every angle of this cabin and, you know, both interior and then exterior as
18:37well.
18:38You have various forms of lighting throughout the cabin.
18:41You've got the firelight you're dealing with.
18:44So, you know, what were some of the, what were some of the most difficult things to accomplish from a
18:48cinematography perspective?
18:51You know, shooting the window was incredibly difficult because as we all know, during the day, it's very difficult to
18:57see through a window.
18:58Um, but they wouldn't be hiking at night.
19:02If they're hiking at night, it's very difficult to shoot them on the hike.
19:05So it was like, how can we be shooting them on the hike when it's light and also see through
19:09the window?
19:10So what we ended up doing is plating it.
19:12So we shot the sex scenes through the window at night so you could see through them.
19:18But we marked where we put the cameras.
19:20So then during the day, we came back and shot their side of it.
19:24And then we played and shot the house exterior and played it in just the window of the sex scene.
19:30Um, and that was, you know, you know, not too complicated, but like marking out the cameras down to an
19:34inch.
19:35So make sure that all of it's going to match up later and doing all the same angles that you
19:39did on the way in.
19:40And so that's, that was a complicated thing to figure out.
19:43Originally, we were going to shoot day for night and I made the call to change it, I think, literally
19:47the day before.
19:48Wow.
19:49Because I just didn't think that that was going to be clear enough.
19:52Um, that was complicated, you know, shooting the dance sequence was, how do we make this feel a little bit
20:01different?
20:01That was really fun.
20:03I mean, we set that up, we put a light on the front of the camera and just kind of
20:06did a spotlight on everybody dancing.
20:09Um, and then, you know, of course, always the driving scenes are, especially on those windy roads, were just a
20:16little bit slower than, than they might be, uh, on another, in another place.
20:21But those, I think were maybe the hardest, but Jeff did an incredible job.
20:25Obviously the movie looks great.
20:27And on the budget that we were on, I think, you know, really beautiful outcome camera wise.
20:33Yeah.
20:33Yeah.
20:34Most definitely.
20:34Yeah.
20:34Well, Noor, it really has been a privilege chatting with you today and congrats on the film.
20:39And, uh, I know you've got a variety of other projects coming up, so hopefully, uh, we share more conversations
20:44about those.
20:45I would love to.
20:46Thank you so much.
20:47It's been a pleasure.
20:48Yeah.
20:48You have a great day.
20:49You too.
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