Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice reveal The Creep Tapes Season 2 details, including a dream casting in David Dastmalchian and filming in the same room SAW did.
Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice are back with a second season of their found-footage series, The Creep Tapes. The new season dives deeper into the strange world of their unsettling main character, Peachfuzz while also challenging the very format they’ve become known for.
Mama’s Geeky caught up with them at Fantastic Fest to five into the second season, when they revealed quite a few exciting details. The duo spoke about the show’s evolution, the thrill of found-footage filmmaking, and a surprising SAW related detail.
Filming A Saw-Inspired Episode In The Original Room
Mama’s Geeky: I have to ask about the episode that’s clearly Saw-based. What was it about the Saw franchise that inspired you?
Mark Duplass: We’re always trying to challenge ourselves and find a new form that will surprise people. The idea came up that my character is too scared to watch scary movies, but he hears about them. We thought, “What if someone tries to set up the premise of Saw but they’ve never seen the movie and they get it a little bit wrong?” That felt very funny to us.
Patrick Brice: I’ll never forget, I was looking for locations, and I emailed the guys, “I found the room they shot Saw in. We can shoot in the room!”
Mama’s Geeky: That was the actual room?
Mark Duplass: It was the actual room. We shot in the room.
Patrick Brice: It was crazy. The room itself is very different from how it looks in the movie, but it still feels like you’re in the film. For our found-footage style, we’re always looking for “found production design” so we don’t have to set up much. Being able to go to the actual room was perfect.
David Dastmalchian Was A Dream Casting
Mama’s Geeky: David Dastmalchian being a copycat killer in the first episode is brillaint. Can we talk about that?
Mark Duplass: I think we would be the first ones to admit that if we hadn’t yet made the movies and the TV series, and we were just casting Creep right now for the first time, we would have cast David over me. Nobody can hold the screen. Nobody can do what he can do. Because we lost that opportunity, we thought, “Well, this is the second best thing we can do, is have him trying to impersonate my character.” It was such an unthinkable idea for us for a while. But then we realized, wait a minute. There’s two movies. There’s been six episodes of the show. People know this lore. We’re at the point where we can reference ourselves.
Patrick Brice: We didn’t know David very well. We knew he was a fan of the show. I think we sat next to him during the premiere of The Creep Tapes Season 1. It was me, and then my wife, and then David. And there’s a moment in the last episode of Season 1 with Mark’s character and his mom, where during the episode, David leans over to me and goes, “You’re so fucked up.” Before I ever met him or anything. So I was like, “Oh, he’s one of our brothers.”
Mark Duplass: It was so fun to make that episode with him because you’ll notice when you watch The Creep Tapes, there are all different kinds of things that make the episodes work. But one of the things we love the most are the uncomfortable, long pregnant pauses and silences. You really need someone who can hold the screen in order to pull that off. And David afforded us that in spades in that one.
The Appeal Of The Found-Footage Genre
Mama’s Geeky: What do you think it is about the found-footage genre that has fans so in love with it?
Patrick Brice: There’s an intimacy to the genre that doesn’t exist in bigger movies, where you feel the artifice even more. We’re a small crew, and the audience is essentially the other person in the room. It’s almost like a 3D experience.
Mark Duplass: There’s nothing to hide behind. There’s no good lighting, no score, no fancy editing. We have none of those tools. If the scene isn’t true, real, and interesting, it’s just going to fall flat. I think audiences sense that. When it’s good, it’s so exciting. When it’s bad, it’s so bad, and that’s what’s so cool about the form.
Mama’s Geeky: Mark, are you filming when it is you all the time, or do you have people filming?
Mark Duplass: I film most of the time when it’s me. We offer the option to the other actors. If they want to film and feel the character that way, that’s great. If not, Patrick will hold the camera right next to them.
Mama’s Geeky: Do you have thoughts for more seasons?
Mark Duplass: We have a lot more material to come. We have about 60 episodes in our documents that we want to make. Our goal is to make a season of the show every year until we’re dead.
Playing A “Weirdo” And Fantastic Fest
Mama’s Geeky: What do you love about your character in The Creep Tapes?
Mark Duplass: I love him. I continue to discover that he’s a hyperbolized version of things that exist in me that I’m lightly ashamed of or that I actually like about myself. I’m a real early hugger, and I’ve noticed it makes people uncomfortable sometimes. To be able to use that and dial it up to a thousand is part of what people are connecting to.
Mama’s Geeky: Which of your past characters would you like to see him come face-to-face with?
Mark Duplass: I would love to see him in close proximity with Brendan Delaurier, the midwife doctor I played on The Mindy Project. They both have quite strange energy to them. I think it would be a weirdo-on-weirdo showdown in a lovely way.
Mama’s Geeky: What would you say it is about Fantastic Fest that makes this the perfect place to premiere?
Mark Duplass: I used to live two blocks from here. It’s a homecoming for me. What we’ve learned is that the loyal fan base of horror and found-footage fans has so much heart and appreciation for what we do. Not only do we get “I love it,” but we get, “Thank you so much for making this.” It’s just so wonderful. We premiered Creep here in 2014, and we premiered season one of The Creep Tapes here in 2024, so it’s a home for us.
