Dominic Fike, Jena Malone, Gaby Hoffman, Talia Ryder and Director Jack Begert stopped by The Hollywood Reporter's studio during the Sundance film festival to chat all about their film 'Little Death.' The film, which mark's Begert's first feature, sees David Schwimmer play a screenwriter on the verge of a breakthrough. Malone revealed that she rewatched the sitcom 'Friends' to prepare to work with Schwimmer. Plus, Fike opened up about working with Begert on several music videos before shooting 'Little Death.'
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00:00 I went back and watched some Friends to kind of take in David.
00:06 It's prepared, I love that.
00:08 Yes. And I just, I don't think I'd seen it in 20 years.
00:13 And there I was sitting there going, "God, this is a funny show. These people are comic geniuses."
00:18 The movie is really about perspective and it kind of follows
00:27 a bunch of different characters in Los Angeles that are kind of going through different versions
00:31 of life crises. So some of that has to do with addiction, some of that is mental health,
00:36 some of that is more kind of crisis of meaning. And I think, you know, there are parts of the
00:42 movie that get surreal in their representation of that. So that's, you know, more generally,
00:47 it kind of deals with people who are sort of dealing with their own internal crises.
00:51 I saw a short that he had done that was similar to this film, basically. And I just thought it
00:58 was very innovative and intimate, which I think those two things don't really sit next to each
01:06 other sometimes. And I felt like he had an ability to, you know, talk about really intense things in
01:13 a very human and kind of clumsy and vulnerable way. And so when I read the script, I was just
01:20 kind of in awe of how... I'm always, I mean, I love young filmmakers. I just think it's like
01:26 such an incredible thing to be able to be, you know, the nerves of it, the excitement of it,
01:30 of making your first film. And I could just tell that he had put so much of his heart into this
01:36 first script that I was just on board. I couldn't wait. I just feel like that kind of excitement is
01:42 really rare and it can be very tangible and other people get to sort of feed off of it, you know,
01:49 when you're on set. So yeah, I think it was just an instant hell yes.
01:53 - Hell yes. Now, Jack does all my music videos and it's going to be hard to get another one out of
02:00 him after this, but it's easier that I worked with him on this, you know?
02:05 - Yeah.
02:05 - And now we kind of, he still owe me a little bit, so I'm good. I'll probably give two more
02:09 music videos out of you before you stop doing them.
02:12 - So what was your favorite thing about him from working together on music videos
02:17 that you knew you could trust him for a feature?
02:20 - Just eyes and body language and just the, he's never really forcing me, even though the
02:26 things that we do take on, like sitting in the cold for six hours at a time or drowning me in
02:30 a Florida swamp, he's never like too pushy. It's always like for the greater good. And I
02:37 always understand that. He just knows what he wants, which is nice.
02:39 - I really think Jack is a visionary and like Dominic said, he knows what he wants, but he's
02:46 also such an open, collaborative, present, vulnerable, beautiful filmmaker. And I sensed
02:56 that just from our brief conversation. And then on set, I was just blown away by it. And so,
03:00 you know, that ended up being really kind of a wonderful place to be.
03:07 - You're quickly learning that a lot of being at a film festival is like accepting praise.
03:10 - Yeah, trying to figure out what to do with my face.
03:12 - Well, don't worry.
03:14 - It's happening.
03:15 - Did you pitch this to Darren or did he hear about it and come to you and say,
03:20 "I want to produce this"?
03:21 - I think he and his company, Protozoa, came across the material. Like, so Donnie,
03:27 my writing partner, and I had written this script and we had a short, there was, you know,
03:32 similar concept. And that's how I think they came across it. So it sort of was almost out of the
03:38 blue in terms of, you know, Darren liked it and they want to meet, you know. And I think that once
03:45 we got into it, it really felt like they kind of saw the same movie that I did and Darren liked the
03:52 same things about it that I did. And so that made me feel like I was, you know, in really good hands.
03:57 - And David's not here, so we can embarrass him by me asking, "Does anyone have a favorite episode
04:03 of Friends?" - I went back and watched some Friends to kind of take in David.
04:10 - It's prepared. I love that. - Yes. And I just, I don't think I'd seen it in 20 years.
04:17 And there I was sitting there going, "God, this is a funny show. These people are comic geniuses."
04:23 I really kind of didn't know that, that, you know, what I saw when I was 12 was this like
04:29 incredible, masterful, comedic thing. I guess the whole world knew that. But, so I didn't take in
04:38 enough to remember what a favorite episode might be, but I was just kind of blown away by how
04:42 incredible they all are. - We're obviously at the very beginning of the year with like lots of,
04:47 especially coming off of like strikes and stuff like that. What is everyone really excited to do?
04:53 - It's interesting. You have to strike, right? You have to say no before you can say yes. I mean,
04:58 that is sort of the path of any artist because you can't just give things away for free. And,
05:03 you know, boundary work is sort of the unromantic language of an artist, but we should romanticize
05:10 it, you know? And so it's taking a while, I think, for things to kind of come back and find our feet
05:15 again. But maybe, amen. I mean, maybe it's a good thing that it takes some time because we really
05:21 have to, you know, the film industry is changing. Everything is restructuring. And I think instead
05:26 of, you know, trying to go full steam ahead back 10 years, we should really embrace what 2024 is
05:34 and the next 10 years and try to sort of build new bridges. So that's what I'm excited for in this
05:40 year is some bridge work. - Are you going on set for Euphoria? Is that in 2024? You don't know?
05:46 - I don't know. I know we're going on tour. - How sweet, that'll be fun.
05:51 - Yeah. - What city are you most excited for?
05:54 - Probably Brisbane, Shetland. We're going to Australia, New Zealand, and things like that.
06:00 There'll be many more. I'll probably be touring until I'm unable to.
06:04 - Like broken or... - Like you just give out?
06:09 - You're severe or your body? - You know what?
06:13 Whatever one goes first, who knows? It's a hard one to tell.
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