Interview With "Immaculate" Director Michael Mohan

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[00:00:30] You are listening to the next Best Picture Podcast and this is my interview with the director

[00:00:36] for Immaculate Michael Mohan. The name of the father and the son. Oh it's gay. Hello?

[00:00:58] I know God saved me for a reason but I guess I'm still searching for what that reason is.

[00:01:16] You are with child. All right everyone I am being joined right now here on the podcast by the

[00:01:22] director of Immaculate Michael Mohan. Michael first of all you're coming off how to off the heels

[00:01:28] of the world premiere itself by Southwest where the film got such a strong reaction from folks I

[00:01:33] imagine you must be feeling good but I'll ask anyway how you doing? I mean I am living the

[00:01:39] literal dream right now man it's been amazing like this whole thing has been amazing and thank

[00:01:44] you thank you for having me on. Absolutely I have a lot of questions here to ask regarding this project.

[00:01:51] I want to start off first and foremost because you know a lot of times I tend to get people who

[00:01:56] writing director on scripts but this screenplay found its way over to you. Can you tell me a

[00:02:01] little bit about like just how that all came together first and then what connection did you have

[00:02:08] to the material maybe something from your background pertaining to religion like what made you

[00:02:13] want to come aboard this? Yeah so Sydney and I had worked together a bunch in the past she was

[00:02:18] she was in a Netflix series that I co-created a few years ago called Everything Sucks then we

[00:02:24] worked together again on the erotic thriller The Voyers for Amazon and we had been looking for

[00:02:30] for what to do next and so she had sent me a couple scripts and you know in the past that I didn't

[00:02:36] quite feel like I was right for or that you know I couldn't I couldn't find my way into them

[00:02:42] but then she texted me hey have you ever thought about doing horror or thriller at

[00:02:48] and I was like yes because I love horror movies I'd actually been writing a horror movie

[00:02:53] and she sent over this script and and this one she was definitely making she had this whole inner

[00:03:00] schedule and she was filling it with a maculet and and so there was a there was a definite window in

[00:03:06] which we had to get this done. So there was a lot of pressure reading the script because I wanted

[00:03:11] to love it and when I got to a certain reveal midway through the movie I was like oh that

[00:03:21] that took me by surprise I didn't see that coming and it takes it takes a lot to impress me you know

[00:03:26] um and so at the end you know when I when I finished the script I sort of you know we talked I

[00:03:32] put together this lookbook I talked about sort of the ways in which I thought we could evolve

[00:03:36] the script to more naturally suit you know who Sydney is today versus you know she had auditioned

[00:03:41] for the script 10 years ago and then the film fill apart and so originally it was written to be a

[00:03:46] high school student and and we just sort of hit the ground running and three months later I was in

[00:03:52] Rome prepping the movie. Wow yeah I love the atmospheric setting of this tremendously thank you

[00:03:58] and you can only achieve that when you shoot on location so can you tell me a bit about just

[00:04:03] challenges that are presented by that and also I mean outside of the obvious benefits uh what

[00:04:08] else you get from that? Yeah I mean the main benefit is that you get to eat incredible pasta while

[00:04:13] you're making the movie and I gained about 40 pounds during the making of the film none of which I

[00:04:20] regret because it was amazing and unfortunately has ruined pasta for the rest of my life. No um

[00:04:27] the benefit of shooting there is just the atmosphere you know yeah I mean there's a million benefits but

[00:04:31] the atmosphere the location we shot in Villa Parisi it's where so many are like fantastic

[00:04:38] geolofelms were shot in the 70s and so you can kind of feel the energy dripping from the walls

[00:04:43] on top of that the crews there they really care about their craft like they

[00:04:49] they are so meticulous and so um just they just really care they really care and the movie looks

[00:04:57] incredible because of because of that passion I love this praise it's being given towards Italians

[00:05:02] right now yeah yeah well I'm also I'm also a battalion you know I my my ancestors are from a town

[00:05:08] an hour south of there so that was cool too to just like see a bunch of people walking around who

[00:05:11] kind of looked like they kind of look like my grandfather but the you know the challenges are really

[00:05:17] just you know there's the challenge in terms of um you know the the language barrier but thankfully

[00:05:24] I had experience doing that when when we shot the voyeurist that was in Montreal and so you know

[00:05:28] a good portion of that crew spoke quibble quaff wrench you know and so um so I was used to it you

[00:05:36] know um the other challenge yeah I'm gonna say it's a challenge but it's also a benefit

[00:05:41] is that they work humane hours they work 10 hour of days okay and if you want over time literally

[00:05:47] the producer has to go to every single person individually and say are you okay with going over

[00:05:53] and if one person says I don't want to go over then you can't so I had to be really careful in

[00:06:00] terms of how I was structuring my day um but that's also a benefit too because then you actually

[00:06:05] feel good like hey yeah like these this crew feels respected they're coming the next day at nobody's

[00:06:10] feeling like peeled you know and it was of their energy level and so it was a plus now is Cindy

[00:06:16] swinging the one that's going around because she's a credited producer on the film no it was

[00:06:20] it was the it was the it's out it was one of the Italian it was actually the UP the Italian UPM

[00:06:24] that would do it yeah so Cindy being the star of this film but also the producer of the film as well

[00:06:31] what is she doing on set on the day to day outside of her performance in this film or is it

[00:06:38] stuff that has been taken care of leading up to getting on set on this film everything she did everything

[00:06:44] okay yeah no it was she is not a like producer in name like this is her baby she was present for

[00:06:52] every every step of the process and you know because it wasn't like you know this was an independent film

[00:06:58] and you know we we had to get it going very quickly and the script changes that we made were

[00:07:06] very we're pretty significant you know we changed it from being a high school student to being a

[00:07:10] non and the the number of things that had to be addressed in the script it was like pretty much

[00:07:16] every page was touched so while we were prepping we just had to divide we had to I wanted to say

[00:07:21] divide and conquer but you know that's actually not the right way to use that phrase we had to sort

[00:07:25] of we had to split up duties so like there were things like she took the lead on like costumes for

[00:07:31] instance and you know but we were there together scouting locations after we'd wrap we would huddle at

[00:07:37] the hotel to try to figure out how to make the next day even better and it was just it was it was a very

[00:07:44] close knit collaboration and it was really scary and it was really freeing at the same time because

[00:07:52] like up until now everything I've done I wrote I wrote myself that I wrote it years in advance and so

[00:07:59] when I get to set I kind of I've already been able to play the movie in my mind and with this one we

[00:08:03] just had to rely on our instincts and hope that our instincts and that our north star led us to

[00:08:08] something led us to something that was great and it's really changed the way I'm going to approach

[00:08:15] movie making in the future for sure because I think this movie ended up being better than any of

[00:08:19] us could have ever imagined that's awesome you know one of the things about Cindy in general I feel

[00:08:25] like she's extremely underrated where she gets pigeonhole by a lot of people and when I love

[00:08:31] about this like stage of her career right now is that she's constantly revealing new layers of

[00:08:36] her talent and what she can do not just in front of the camera but like as you're saying too behind

[00:08:40] the camera as well absolutely that final shot of this movie is gut wrenching yeah yeah

[00:08:48] necessarily spoil um what it is and what happens although I think we also what happens is sort of

[00:08:55] also left up to interpretation as well man how do I how do we get how do we get it past the goalie

[00:09:01] I can tell I can talk about this yeah so when I when I when I finished when I finished reading the

[00:09:06] script that was the first thing was you know because the script was originally a studio movie so

[00:09:10] I had a very conservative ending and then when I read it I was like oh there's like I know what

[00:09:17] this needs like this should be cathartic this should be dark this would you know I'm a horror fan

[00:09:22] I love it when movies fucking go to from a 10 to a 12 you know like I wanted to like really just

[00:09:27] go for it I also knew that Sydney is such a bold actress she can bring herself to these dark places

[00:09:35] it's actually quite easy for her to do it and so you know for me it was just like I pitched this idea

[00:09:41] to her you know when she sent me the script she was like please I just want to get covered

[00:09:44] head to toe in blood and I was like I can one up that I can go even further and um and so we

[00:09:51] conceived of this ending on the day we sort of mapped it out blocking wise with the camera just so

[00:09:57] that we knew it would be in focus and we didn't rehearse it and what you see what you see in the

[00:10:02] movie is take one no way yeah what yeah I mean I also I guess sort of not surprised because I can't

[00:10:10] imagine how much energy gets from her point of view put into delivering a take like that that

[00:10:15] if somebody said okay do one more like just how draining that must be but I imagine she would

[00:10:20] be game anyway yeah yeah I mean that's the thing that's that's crazy about Sid is that like

[00:10:24] this sort of shit is just so easy for her and so yeah you know you call action she like turns into

[00:10:30] this creature right and delivers this insane performance which when we were on set you know

[00:10:38] and we watched it back we were all like yeah this is you know when she's having like a 20 year

[00:10:43] retrospective of her acting career there's definitely going to be one of those screams it's

[00:10:47] going to be in it right in the montage that they cut out of all her work but literally I call

[00:10:53] cut and she snaps right out of it and she goes how was that should we go again what do you think

[00:10:57] and it's like it never happened it's like she it's like she's possessed really and so yeah so it's

[00:11:04] weird it's like the it's like the torta force part of the movie but it was actually one of the

[00:11:08] easiest scenes to film wow that's amazing yeah I have to imagine there's got to be lots of inspiration

[00:11:15] that you drew from classic non-horror pictures or maybe some other horror pictures too can you

[00:11:20] talk a little bit about those and what goes into just creating the aesthetic of this film because

[00:11:25] I mentioned earlier it's like just dripping in this intriguing yet dark atmosphere that like really

[00:11:30] sucks again yeah

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[00:12:18] yeah I mean I think the one thing we didn't take from Jalo was like sometimes there's

[00:12:22] sometimes in those films they have like the unnaturalistic lighting and I think you know to me

[00:12:27] when I saw last night in Soho I was like I can't I can't even come close to topping what he did

[00:12:32] aesthetically with that so I focused more on the more naturalistic um Jalo films a big influence was

[00:12:40] what have you done to Salange which I really loved how like there's a key sequence in that

[00:12:46] that's like an interrogation scene where these men are standing around a table asking this woman who's

[00:12:51] very small in the frame and she's seated and we have an interrogation scene in hours that I basically

[00:12:56] just stole the blocking from um that was a big influence uh the red queen kills seven times is another

[00:13:02] one I uh that was the one that that movie I was listening to the score for that film as I was

[00:13:09] prepping like I that was basically what I listened to exclusively over and over again um and I loved

[00:13:14] it so much that I ended up using one of the cues from that score in a montage sequence here

[00:13:21] and so there are other like you know there are other tropes of the genre they're the black gloves

[00:13:25] and things like that but um but yeah I think that the Jalo references are a little bit more um

[00:13:33] they're more deeper than they are surface level sure yeah i mean also at the same time too it's

[00:13:38] one thing to you know want to try your hand at crafting a film that is pain homage to films that

[00:13:45] you grew up watching or love but it's also an everything too to also try and put your own unique

[00:13:50] you know spin on exactly as well exactly like you said before like you really want to do a horror film

[00:13:55] this is your chance to knock it out of the park and I didn't want to cause play as another filmmaker

[00:14:00] you know i still wanted to bring my style to it and you know the the collaboration that I have with

[00:14:05] my cinematographer goes so far back i mean Elijah Christian he was my roommate in college

[00:14:10] and so he's shot everything i've ever done like when we our first film was this $21,000

[00:14:16] film that we shot on nights and weekends over the course of two years and like he would be

[00:14:21] operating the camera and i would be like pushing the dolly and holding a boom microphone at the same

[00:14:27] time and you know and so it's real joy to like now work with with more resources but the process

[00:14:34] that we have together hasn't changed yeah and just in regards to just the religious aspect of the film

[00:14:40] in general right because i've seen obviously so many movies that deal with the subject matter not

[00:14:46] talking religion i'm just talking in a way it's presented here let's say yeah yeah yeah like the

[00:14:50] iconic one is what rosemary's baby like always comes to mind for some people right so what is

[00:14:56] your stance that you wanted to communicate through this telling or was it just simply hey you know

[00:15:02] what we're going to create a genre film and have fun it's both it's both i mean i think i think the

[00:15:06] first things first is that i want people to come into this i hate when movies lecture to the audience

[00:15:12] you know or even when filmmakers are saying like this is important and here's why we have to say this

[00:15:18] is the message we need to get across yeah i don't want people to view this as a message movie i

[00:15:21] want them i want teenagers to go on a Friday night and like you know i want you know someone to

[00:15:26] scream and then they end up making it out in the back row like it's that's what i want you know

[00:15:31] if people walk away with the message even better great fantastic and i'm hoping that this does

[00:15:37] you know i'm hoping that the ending you know it's pretty controversial so we'll see what the

[00:15:41] discourse naturally evolves and i'm very happy that you know besit me and i have this sort of we

[00:15:46] talked about it a lot beforehand just going like the audience needs to own this conversation and we

[00:15:52] can't control what that conversation is so um and and it's better for us to like just speak through

[00:15:58] the work however i grew up Catholic i grew up super Catholic i was the leader of our youth group i

[00:16:04] was you know i was going to the local shrine every weekend on Friday nights and Saturday nights

[00:16:10] and you know praising the Lord while standing in a circle around a candle that represented the

[00:16:17] light of the Holy Spirit so there's a level of um and i didn't even realize it at the time like

[00:16:23] now people are pointing out to me like oh this really feels authentic and i'm like huh i guess

[00:16:28] i am bringing i guess i am bringing a lot of that past into this and and um i think the main

[00:16:34] thing is like to get in the head of Cecilia to to really buy into the fact that she is devout

[00:16:41] i needed to portray this content as like this really holy and larger than life place

[00:16:48] which is reflected in all of the visuals like when she walks into that chapel for the first time

[00:16:52] you see those doors open and the women stand up it feels so monumental you know to her and so now we

[00:17:00] as an audience even though we might not be religious we understand what she sees in this we understand

[00:17:06] that she has meaning and to me that communicates so much more than having a ton of scenes that

[00:17:11] where she's talking about their backstory which is like usually my least favorite part of any horror movie

[00:17:16] you know well i think you're uh spot on with regards to jump scares and like one of the things

[00:17:23] two that creates that is effective sound work and i have to imagine that the sound work for something

[00:17:29] like this you know a lot has to go into not just those moments where they do create those jumps

[00:17:34] but then also two crafting tension and moments of silence where you have the audience waiting on

[00:17:39] pins and needles can you tell me just a little bit about like how does one find the balance of

[00:17:44] that does it happen in the shooting does it happen in the editing like what how do you create that

[00:17:50] tension through sound yeah this was my first this was my first you know traditional horror movie right and

[00:17:58] so i was pretty like with the jump scares i just wanted to hit like a a base hit you know i didn't

[00:18:05] i wasn't going for like you look at something like smile and i think of what um what parker does

[00:18:12] there as like he's like the david copperfield of jump scares where he's like look over here no it's

[00:18:17] over there whereas with this it's just very classic very simple right and so i study i just

[00:18:23] studied them all like because it's all just you know it's all technique right yeah and it's

[00:18:28] what i learned is that it's very finicky you have to get options you have to like like the hardest

[00:18:34] one was the woman with the scissors like there's a moment for this one like lunges that are with scissors

[00:18:39] and it's one of the most effective jump scares but we had to reshoot it multiple times because uh

[00:18:44] because the coverage it just wasn't uh it wasn't having the impact that we needed and ultimately

[00:18:50] you know i learned i learned what the correct order of shots were for that sequence

[00:18:56] that approach didn't work for the other ones like when someone's behind her i had to like the timing

[00:19:01] of that has to be all um just carefully carefully choreographed and done a million times and so

[00:19:08] i think half of it is half of it is the timing of the camera movements half of it is the timing of

[00:19:14] the editing in terms of when is the staying happening when are we seeing the reaction and uh and when

[00:19:20] is the reveal of the of the thing that's making us jump happening but then you're right sound design is

[00:19:26] the is the is the thing that creates the jump without the sound design there is no jump and i had a

[00:19:34] i was so lucky to work with um Brian Parker who uh sound supervisor who who he did get out you know so

[00:19:41] he knew his shit um and then mixing the film was Christian Minkler who did once upon a time in Hollywood

[00:19:46] and so this is like the dream team top notch people to to help me make these jump scares be as it's

[00:19:54] like sort of elegant as possible you know if a jump scare could be considered elegant sure

[00:19:59] and i'm just like i have to say dude like i am so excited to make my next film because i feel like

[00:20:04] i learned so much making this one and i know i can do an even more creative job on the next one

[00:20:09] you know so i can't i can't wait to get back out there you know that was actually going to be my

[00:20:12] next question to you because i'm like getting a sense of like you learning a lot from this uh

[00:20:17] particular experience so yeah like definitively speaking um what would you say was like the number

[00:20:23] one big learned that you took away from the making of this film well i think i think the big lesson

[00:20:29] for me was because i because i didn't have the ability to do the deep level of prep before the

[00:20:35] prep i learned that i can rely on my instincts more and i don't need to overwork something before

[00:20:42] hand before i show up to set that i can actually like i can thrive in the chaos of production

[00:20:49] and that i've surrounded myself with a great team of people who have my back and who all want to

[00:20:54] make this thing fucking awesome and and so i i think for me it's it's allowed me to loosen up and

[00:21:00] just embrace my own my own sensibilities that much more i think with the jump scares uh specifically

[00:21:07] i've i've now learned the way to do it the traditional way and now the next time out i want to break

[00:21:12] all the rules and that's what i'm most excited for is to put jump scares where you really don't

[00:21:17] expect them to be and that's that's um and also to deploy them in a way that's a little bit different

[00:21:23] like i just i have this thing that i want to try and i can't really say it out loud because it's

[00:21:28] specific to this one project but like it's it's way it's like a completely new approach to how

[00:21:34] jump scares are implemented and that's what i'm most excited about. That is very exciting yeah

[00:21:40] so over here at next perspective when we wrap up we like to ask everyone what they have coming up

[00:21:43] next you're already alluding to that right now but i guess really the main two questions i have are

[00:21:51] is it going to be another project with Sydney Swini and outside of like you know revisiting horror again

[00:21:58] which clearly i could see you are anxious to do is there another genre that you haven't tackled

[00:22:03] that you would like to tackle. Yeah i mean i'll do i'll hopefully be working with Sydney for the

[00:22:08] rest of my life you know whether that's the next film or not i have no idea i mean she's also very

[00:22:13] very busy so you know i would love for it but i'm you know who i don't know the the genre the genre

[00:22:22] that i would really love to you know i i i love erotic thrillers and i have this i have i i just

[00:22:32] have the skill set for it and i have the personality for it and there's still so much i want to do

[00:22:37] in that genre that i didn't get to do on voyeur's and so i do want to return to the erotic thriller

[00:22:44] that said i would also really love to do a musical one day so you know that's that's another

[00:22:49] like sort of lifelong dream but whether that will happen or not it who knows. An erotic horror musical

[00:22:55] oh i'm in done. It's making it happen. Amazing. All right well Michael thank you so much for your time

[00:23:02] here today the film is called Immaculate it's coming out in theaters this weekend from neon thank you

[00:23:07] so much for your time here today i really appreciate it yeah thank you Matthew i really appreciate it

[00:23:11] all right take care. Hey everyone thank you so much for listening to my interview with the

[00:23:15] director for Immaculate Michael Moffand here on the next best picture podcast Immaculate will

[00:23:21] be releasing theaters from neon on March 22nd you have been listening to the next best picture

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