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00:00Hey, I'm Scott Shillstone in the Deadline studio at the 2024 Toronto International Film
00:15Festival. I'm joined by Crispin Glover, star of Mr. K. Crispin, thank you for being here.
00:20Glad to be here. Thank you.
00:21First off, this is a really interesting film. Tell me how you got involved in the project.
00:26I was given an offer with a screenplay and a kind of PDF with different images of inspiration for
00:38the look of the film. And it was apparent it was a good screenplay and it would be a nice
00:44production. And I met with the director, writer on Zoom and all worked out.
00:52So I want to hit on something you said about the PDF of the look of the film.
00:56I mean, it's a gorgeous film in terms of production design. And I'm just curious,
01:01as an actor, how important are those elements to you? Do
01:04they inform or kind of shape your performance at all?
01:08Well, this film in particular, it is a character in this film in particular,
01:14the hotel and elements having to do with the hotel. You can feel if something's going to be a nice
01:21production, if it is going to have a nice production value, and that can be a good thing.
01:27And often it is an important thing.
01:30And so can you talk to me a little bit about collaborating with Tallulah Schwab on this film?
01:35How was she as a director?
01:36The film is, which I'm glad of, is interpretable by the audience,
01:47which I like. As an audience member, I prefer to be able to have some variable feelings
01:57about what something could be. And the script, the screenplay, also had possibilities of ways
02:08possibilities of ways that it could be played. I had a certain interpretation
02:15at the beginning, which was somewhat different from what Tallulah, the writer-director had in
02:25mind. And so over the course of the film, I'd say about 98% of what I had in mind was
02:33on the same, in the same realm. But there were a couple of things that were, a couple percentage
02:39points that we really had to discuss out, and things changed over the period of the film.
02:46But ultimately, the main thing that I was always attracted to and like is the element of
02:56interpretation for the audience. And that remains in the film. So that's important.
03:01And speaking of interpretation, when you first read the script, who was Mr. K to you?
03:09What really kind of excited you about taking on this role?
03:12Well, like I say, there actually was a core differentiation of what it was to me,
03:19specifically. And funny enough, there was even a time in the middle of the film,
03:24which doesn't usually happen for me. I usually figure something out and can be set on that.
03:32But midway through the film, there were some things that Tallulah said to me that were,
03:38I started thinking, oh, I could have done it in this other way. But by that time,
03:43it would have been very, very different. It would have been a very different
03:46approach to the character altogether. But by then, we'd already shot almost half the film.
03:54So but I even kind of think now like I could have done it in this other way and it would
04:00have been interesting. But I'm glad because there's reviews have been coming in and
04:03it's being well-reviewed. And so I'm happy. I'm glad that it seems to be being well-received.
04:12One of the things you talked about is that this movie is great because it just opens it up to
04:16interpretation. I don't want to get into maybe a specific singular message, but is there any
04:22sort of message that you took away from it? I think it does have a positive message.
04:29Some of the things that, and I always thought it did, some of the things that I had interpreted
04:36had more perhaps dips in the character's psychology as opposed to a more straightforward
04:45path toward the end. But I always felt like it had a positive message or ending or idea or feeling.
04:55As an artist, and because you're so much more than just an actor, you're a publisher,
05:00a filmmaker, an author. I'm curious, as an artist, what inspires you most?
05:04I find that I usually am reactive to things. And it just depends.
05:10There's a film that I've been making for a long time. I had two films that I toured with between
05:192005 and 2020, right till the pandemic happened. My first film, What Is It? premiered at Sundance
05:27in 2005. My second film, It Is Fine, Everything Is Fine, premiered in Sundance in 2007.
05:34And I, like I say, at least, yeah, every year from 2005 until 2020, I continued with the tour.
05:40I perform a live show that has the books that I dramatically narrate. And then I introduce the
05:48film, then there's a Q&A after the film, and then I have a book signing. But I realized when there
05:53was the pandemic, it was a good time to take the natural pause and wait to this new film. I started
06:01shooting it in 2013. And so it's really, it's been a long time. I funded the film myself, and
06:09I tend towards shooting in production segments. There's been a lot of reasons why it's taken a
06:15long time. But I do believe I'll be, it's going to be done very soon, within the next few months.
06:22And I plan to start touring with it next year. So I'm very excited about it.
06:32Which is what inspires you as an artist?
06:35My father's an actor, Bruce Glover. He's in films like Diamonds Are Forever and Chinatown.
06:42And he and I had never acted in a film together before. So I purposefully developed this for
06:47he and I to act in together. And it's taken a long time to get it done, but it's almost done.
06:56But there is a reaction to various elements. First off, what can I make with he and I? And then
07:06what were the, I own property in the Czech Republic, and the former farm buildings of
07:15the chateau. It's an old chateau that was built in the 1600s. 18,000 square feet,
07:20but they're in very specific shapes. So I had to think of sets that would be able to be
07:26built in those specific shapes. And that influenced things that I thought in the screenplay.
07:32So it's, I find that it's often reactive and making what can work, work, or what is at hand
07:41work and how one reacts to that thing. And of course, when you're acting in a film, you're
07:47reacting to the story or the character, the lines, or what the other actors are doing. So
07:55often reaction. Well, Crispin, I really appreciate your time. Congratulations on the film.
08:01Thank you. I appreciate it.