Strange Darling‘s Willa Fitzgerald, Z Berg, JT Mollner, and Giovanni Ribisi discuss their twisted horror film as much as they can without spoilers, in this interview.
Strange Darling is sure to be the next cult classic horror film as it goes completely off the rails and will have viewers on the edge of their seats the entire time. We highly recommend going into this film as blind as possible.
We spoke with some of the cast and creatives involved in the film, but do not worry, these interviews are spoiler free.
Included in the interview are:
- JT Mollner (Writer/Director)
- Giovanni Ribisi (Director of Photography/Producer)
- Z Berg (artist, singer, songwriter) Strange Darling Original Soundtrack Album features new music created, recorded, and performed by acclaimed L.A. music maven Z Berg.
- Willa Fitzgerald (The Lady)
Where Did This Idea Come From?
JT Mollner: It was interesting. It just came from this single image of a woman running through the woods in hospital scrubs, being pursued by an unspeakable evil that I realized was probably coming from my love of horror and some of those tropes like Laurie Strode from Halloween, the ending of films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the idea of the final girl.
So when I first saw this image and thought, maybe a script could come of this, I didn’t know why or how, because it seems so conventional. But slowly, as the film came to me in the order you see it, I realized it was a movie about expectations and subverting those expectations and stereotypes and the judgments we place on people without knowing the full story.
We start in the third act and see these people behaving a certain way, but why are they behaving that way? Let’s go and find out. And so as I discovered why they were behaving in certain ways, it started to really interest me to put it on paper. And when I did, thank God. People like [Gionvanni Rivisi] and the producers, Roy Lee and Steven Schneider and Miramax, liked it and decided to make it.
What Drew You To Strange Darling?
Giovanni Ribisi: Well, [JT] sent me the script, I think it was two years ago now, and I read it, and it was like nothing I had ever seen. Within 15 minutes, I called them essentially begging to be a part of it. And then those conversations evolved, and I convinced them to let me shoot it.
Z Berg: The script. JT sent me the script. I was the second or third person to read it. He sent me the script, and I couldn’t call him back fast enough. I read it the second he sent it to me, and I read the script, and I just said, you don’t understand. Boy, am I your girl! Particularly reading it because it is incredibly realized as a script. It’s not like we shot it and then we jumbled it up. It’s a very modernist work. It’s a script that is as much about the plot as it is about storytelling and the telling of a story. It’s about making you examine your reaction to the things this movie makes you feel. It’s as much about you the viewer as it is about us, the creators. And that’s my catnip. I live for it.
Willa Fitzgerald: The script. It’s an amazing script. The moment that I finished reading it, I called my agent back right away, and I was like, I have to do this movie. How can I get this movie? And then, luckily, I did, which is not usually how that conversation goes, usually you don’t get the thing that you really want to do. But I don’t know there was something kind of undeniable about the script and there was just a real pull that I felt after reading it,
Be sure to watch the full interview with Willa Fitzgerald, Z Berg, JT Mollner, and Giovanni Ribisi to learn more about this incredible film. Strange Darling comes to theaters on August 23rd.
About Strange Darling
In Strange Darling, nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.
Written and directed by JT Mollner (Outlaws & Angels), Strange Darling stars Willa Fitzgerald (The Goldfinch, Reacher), Kyle Gallner (Smile, Dinner in America), Ed Begley Jr. (Better Call Saul, A Mighty Wind), and Barbara Hershey (Black Swan, Insidious).
Distributed by Magenta Light Studios, Strange Darling is a Miramax and Spooky Pictures Production.
The film is produced by Bill Block, Roy Lee, Steven Schneider, Giovanni Ribisi and Chris Ivan Cevic, with Giovanni Ribisi also serving as the Director of Photography.
Strange Darling comes to theaters on August 23rd.
Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. She is also a Freelance Writer. Tessa has been in the Entertainment writing business for ten years and is a member of several Critics Associations including the Critics Choice Association and the Greater Western New York Film Critics Association.