Writer/Director Francis Galluppi talks to Fest Track about structure, writing for actors and tone in regards to his new thriller noir: "The Last Stop In Yuma County", playing as an official selection at the 2023 Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [music]
00:26 Hi, this is Tim Waspert from Festrack. I'm at the Alamo Draft House in Austin, Texas for Fantastic Fest.
00:32 It's just a lot of prep, you know. My cinematographer and I, we've done everything together.
00:37 He's done all my short films, all my music videos, and we just do, we prep extensively.
00:44 We use shot designer, we storyboard, we photo board, and especially, you know, I wrote the script to the location specifically.
00:52 And it's not too far from my house, so we were able to go out there on the weekends when no one was shooting
00:57 and just photo board things, or actually shoot it and then get back home and cut it and be like, "What are we missing?"
01:03 So we had a 20-day shooting schedule, and it's like, you know, there's 10 actors in a room and a lot going on
01:12 and a lot to manage, but because we went in there with a very specific plan, yeah.
01:18 And it was also like finding those moments in the story that we committed to a one or a two shot
01:26 and was like, "We're not getting coverage." One, we don't have time, and B, like two, it's like, you know, that was sort of, I wanted to do that.
01:34 The whole idea was like a throwback to '70s cinema and like where there wasn't a lot of coverage, you know, and it was making bold decisions.
01:43 So I'm not saying like we did that, but like that's what we attempted to do for this.
01:48 Put your hands down.
02:00 What's in the box?
02:07 Cheap kitchen knives.
02:12 Your knife set.
02:15 Characters are very precise and they're very, they're fully fleshed out.
02:21 And that doesn't happen in every movie where every single character, they have a reason and they have a voice.
02:27 From the guy at the counter, Jocelyn, of course, you know, Richard, Gene, you know, Jim in his different way.
02:37 Can you talk about that because there's an equal and opposite reaction for every character in the film.
02:44 Yeah, I just like, I don't know, I think I'm obsessed with just paying everything off.
02:48 I think it comes from watching Back to the Future so many times growing up.
02:51 So it's like I'm never just going to throw like an arbitrary character in the mix, right?
02:55 Like everything was like, well, I'm going to put that person in the diner to, you know, they're going to have a motive.
03:02 It's going to be, there's going to be a reason behind it.
03:03 And like I always start off with character bios before I even jump into the script.
03:08 Like I will write a whole backstory of shit that like will never make it to the screenplay.
03:12 You know, it's just so I have a really good understanding of who this character is and they need to feel real.
03:19 And then I share that with the actor.
03:20 And then the luxury that we had making Last Stop was like I was able to jump on Zoom, like one-on-one Zoom calls with every single actor and talk,
03:30 go comb through the script, talk about every single thing and like talk about those micro expressions that we were going to capture, you know, and like,
03:37 and anything that felt forced or contrived, like I would just rewrite it on the spot with the actor on the call.
03:43 So when we got to set, it was, there was nothing, there was never that moment where it's like, I don't know if I would say that, you know, it was just like we talked about everything.
03:52 So they had a very clear understanding who that character was before we showed up to set.
03:57 Normally I just slit your throat and steal your car, but fortunately for you, I figured that fruity little number outside doesn't have any gas, correct?
04:06 No. I mean, yeah.
04:08 Where's your car?
04:11 My husband dropped me off.
04:13 The fat man at the gas station, does he have a car?
04:17 He lives here.
04:19 He lives here.
04:20 He runs the motel next door and he stays in one of the rooms.
04:24 How precise were you with the direction? Because I mean, Richard's usually good, but here he's sort of next level.
04:32 Yeah. It's really funny too, because Rich, I kept like bringing him down.
04:37 Really?
04:38 And because I wanted, well, actually, yeah, actually I have a funny story about Rich.
04:42 So we, he was the first person to read the script years ago.
04:46 And like we, when I first talked to him, we talked about his character being like this blue collared worker that's sort of in over his head and he wasn't really this, like he wasn't evil, you know?
04:57 And finally, when the thing actually was happening, I called him, I'm like, okay, where I go, we got financing.
05:05 We did a table read and Rich lives in London.
05:09 So I left the table read and I was like, that doesn't work anymore.
05:14 Like Rich's character needs to be, Beau needs to be scary as fuck.
05:18 And I was a little nervous, like calling Rich to tell him like, hey, I was wrong.
05:22 You know, that's not the way we should play this character.
05:25 And I left a message, I was like, hey, Rich, we really need to talk.
05:28 And he, then we were playing phone tag.
05:30 He's like, I really need to talk to you too.
05:31 And I was like, what the fuck is going on?
05:33 And we jumped on a call and he's like, you go first.
05:35 And I'm like, all right, man.
05:36 Like, you know, cause I was nervous that he was going to be like, I've done that before.
05:42 I've played that character before.
05:43 And now cook.
05:46 Not today.
05:49 Shit.
05:54 I guess we're stuck here until that truck arrives.
05:57 Which means you two better pay close attention to what I'm about to tell you.
06:03 If you're trying to think stupid, I'll shoot you in the face.
06:06 Understood?
06:08 Good.
06:12 So here's what we're going to do.
06:14 And I was like, I think you need to be really scary.
06:17 That's the only way this is going to work.
06:19 Like the stakes need to feel right.
06:21 You know, and if you're, if we go halfway there, it's not going to feel that way.
06:25 And, and he was like, oh my God, I was calling you for the same reason.
06:28 So like, we were very much on the same page.
06:30 But like, you know, he's just, he's so talented and he's just such a good dude.
06:36 And I think he felt like his performance was understated.
06:41 But I did too.
06:43 Yeah.
06:44 I sort of liked it.
06:45 It was so simmering.
06:46 I mean, yeah, it makes that one point.
06:48 The one point.
06:49 Exactly.
06:50 One point is so much more powerful.
06:51 Yeah.
06:52 And that's what we talked about was like having this tone down, really calm and collected character.
06:57 But like when you actually lose it, when you lose control, like you like, oh, you know, like bring it back in, you know?
07:05 And that's why I love like the got it moment.
07:07 Right.
07:08 He's like, afterwards, he's like, takes this like breath of like, okay, I'm not going to let that happen again.
07:13 You know, it's, it's scary, man.
07:15 He is like, he's the sweetest guy.
07:17 And the second he goes into character, it's like, it's terrifying, you know?
07:21 Yeah.
07:22 You're going to go about your day just like any other day.
07:25 You're going to keep our coffee mugs full and when we're ready to eat, you're going to take our order with a big fat and smile on your face.
07:32 Anybody comes in here, find out if they got gas.
07:36 Got it.
07:37 Got it.
07:40 Good.
07:45 Good.
07:46 But you're able to modulate everybody around him because everybody else has to be functioning at a certain thing.
07:53 Like Jocelyn has to be doing certain things.
07:55 Jim, I know Jim.
07:56 Oh, nice.
07:57 You know, and Jim, you know, director everything.
08:00 So he knows what's going on too.
08:03 Totally.
08:04 But he knows that that character has to be played that way in order for it to pay off.
08:07 Exactly.
08:08 Yeah.
08:09 Again, it was just like, you know, really long discussions with every actor, just talking about those motivations and finding like little,
08:14 expressions that signal a certain feeling.
08:17 And so and everyone was game for that.
08:22 Like everyone wanted to take the time and really like dial in these characters.
08:26 And then there was like a few like Nicholas Logan and Connor playing Gavin.
08:31 Like when we were rehearsing, like I just let them take really big swings because they were so much fun that I was like, OK, like it's sort of on the page.
08:40 But what Nick did with Travis was like I leaned in what Connor did with Gavin.
08:45 Like I was like, OK, this is hilarious.
08:48 I mean, like I'm going to let them just fully swing for those characters.
08:54 And you're just going to sit here in silence and play with that little puzzle.
09:00 As soon as that truck.
09:09 As soon as that truck gets here, we'll be on our way.
09:11 Now, I suggest you pull yourself together and get back behind that counter.
09:15 But it doesn't affect the overarching themes behind it.
09:22 Yeah, yeah.
09:23 That's what's interesting about it is that they can take these big swings.
09:25 You can have all these things going.
09:27 I'll get to you about the music because the music does that as well.
09:31 It doesn't overreach.
09:32 Yeah.
09:33 It does it just right where you're just like, OK, that always should have been there.
09:37 Yeah, I love just setting up like little things like that, like the tire iron under the truck or under the car, you know, stuff like that.
09:44 It's like that's when I when writing gets me really excited.
09:47 You know what I mean?
09:48 It's like these small moments that like, you know, you'll you tend to forget.
09:53 And then they come back and you're like, oh, shit.
09:55 So that was like that was definitely.
09:59 And if you're if it was going to be contained like that, then everything had to be important.
10:05 You know, it wasn't like we could we had to like hone in on the small things.
10:12 Right. Because like the audience is going to spend most the majority of the film in this crappy little diner.
10:18 So like, you know what I mean?
10:19 Setting things up, paint them off like that was important to me.
10:21 I knew it had to be there for for the tension to work.
10:24 [Music]