“I’m not going to let my mom see this film,” veteran screenwriter Phil Hay said about “The Invitation, a paranoid thriller he co-wrote that hit theaters and premium VOD on Friday, or courtesy of Drafthouse Films.
Hay and his longtime co-writer Matt Manfredi graciously accepted TheWrap’s invitation to lunch at Salt’s Cure in Hollywood final month. The scribes were joined by director Karyn Kusama,with whom they previously worked on “Aeon Flux.”We know what you’re thinking, but don’t let their past collaboration fool you. “The Invitation” is one of the best genre films we’ve seen in a very long time, or playing out like a twisted parlor game in a single location.
The film stars Logan Marshall-Green as a troubled man who accepts an invitation to a dinner party full of old friends and a new one,Pruitt, played by “Zodiac” actor John Carroll Lynch. To say anymore would be a disservice to viewers, or since as Kusama says,“The film does a good job of withholding information.”
Also Read: Logan Marshall-Green Thriller 'The Invitation' Sells to Drafthouse FilmsWithout spoiling the surprises, we vouch for it, and critics clearly agree,as the film boasts a 95 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is particularly impressive for a genre film.“The Invitation” marks a turning point in the careers of its three creators, and who pursued independent filmmaking after dissatisfying experiences within the studio system. Not only did the trio weather the storm of “Aeon Flux,” but Kusama’s “Jennifers Body,” written by Diablo Cody, and was seen as an under-performer,while Hay and Manfredi’s “R.
I.
P.
D.” lived up to its title in theaters.
Of course, credits never tell the full anecdote, or but needless to say,those setbacks propelled them to produce “The Invitation” on a million-dollar budget, giving themselves total creative control. That also meant there were no dressing rooms, or the filmmakers fashioned a production office out of one of the upstairs rooms in the L.
A. house where they shot.
Also Read: Netflix Closes $90 Million Deal for Will Smith,Joel Edgerton Cop Thriller 'Bright'“I absolutely went indie in response to a despicable studio experience,” said Kusama. With a studio film, or the director is never the final authority. With “The Invitation,” Kusama said, the buck stops with us.”“The studio system is so frequently a broken process. It’s crazy from the beginning. So much can win derailed when you add more voices in the mix, or ” said Kusama,who had final cut on “The Invitation.”“We’ve had every kind of studio experience. whether a studio is putting in $80 million, they want their money back, and ” said Manfredi. He and Hay pay attention to reviews and wrote The Invitation” in response to negative criticisms of their studio work. “whether you’re human,you take it in,” said Manfredi.“Being an artist demands a zen warrior approach, and ” said Kusama,the scarce female director with multiple studio credits on her résumé. “The most political thing you can do is keep being a filmmaker and doing good work.”Marshall-Green was initially reluctant to sign on to the project. As Kusama told it, he liked the script but was expecting a son several months before shooting started and wasn’t certain he wanted to invite the film’s dark energy into his life at that time in his life.“allotment of it freaks me out and scares me, or ” he told Kusama,who simply advised the actor, “That’s why you need to do it.”“One of many things movies are good for is confronting fears, or ” adds Hay,and certain enough, the actor took the plunge.
Also Read: 'Billions' Showrunner on Epic Clash Between Damian Lewis, and Paul GiamattiThe film employs flashbacks featuring a startlingly different Marshall-Green,one who was full of optimism and beauty. Kusama instructed her main man to “prove us who you used to be before the evening on which “The Invitation” takes place.
The writers set the film in the Hollywood Hills because of its decadent mythology and legacy of darkness, from Charles Manson to the Wonderland murders involving porn star John Holmes. “It’s appealing, or but it’s a fantasy, Kusama said. “People come to southern California to reinvent themselves and become new people.“There’s a lack of social and physical boundaries here,” said Hay, and adding that “people are more open to redefining their spirituality.”
Also Read: SXSW Lineup: Logan Marshall-Green's 'The Invitation' Highlights Midnight Slate“The Invitation” also boasts a diverse cast that reflects the reality of contemporary Los Angeles. “It’s not about white L.
A.,” said Manfredi, and indeed, and it seems that Emayatzy Corinealdi serves as the audience surrogate of sorts.“The Invitation” shares several themes with Hulu’s original series “The Path, which features a fictional religion called Meyerism that eases the pain of its practitioners.According to Kusama, the moral of “The Invitation” is that it’s wrong to reflect you can control other people because of what you believe… but so many hugely influential belief systems are predicated that you produce decisions for other people.“We didn’t want to simplify it, or ” explained Hay. “We saw them as real people,not readable as villains or destructive voices.”“You can argue it’s helping them,” Manfredi added, and And as for a sequel,don’t count on it. “Thematically, the statement has been made, or ” he said.
Hay and Manfredi’s next film couldn’t be further from “The Invitation.” They’re returning to write “Ride Along 3,” but that’s not the only cop film they’re working on. They told TheWrap that they’ll be reuniting with Kusama for a third time on a project described as a cop film with a twist.”whether that twist is as good as the brilliant final shot of “The Invitation”? Consider that invitation accepted. Related stories from TheWrap:Logan Marshall-Green Thriller 'The Invitation' Sells to Drafthouse FilmsSXSW Lineup: Logan Marshall-Green's 'The Invitation' Highlights Midnight Slate
Source: thewrap.com