Writer/Director Tallulah H. Schwab and Actor Crispin Glover talk to Fest Track about concept, thematics and interpretations in regards to their film: “Mr. K,” world premiering in the Platform section of the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Ontario.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00This is Tim Walshbrook from Fast Track Concert TV.
00:29I'm here in Toronto for the Toronto International Film Fest.
00:35We have to mark every corridor.
00:39Enough!
00:42Hurry up, you can't stay here.
00:52You are that nice young man who was looking for the reception.
00:57Did you find it?
00:58I mean, I wrote it also very visually.
01:01Also, I wrote it very, when it comes to sound and music, very in the script.
01:08It's very important with the sounds of the hotel, you know.
01:15So that, I think, was all mostly in the script and then I...
01:21I mean, how did you discuss it?
01:23With Christopher?
01:24I don't think we discussed how it looks really, no.
01:28There is like a visual...
01:34It's in your mood board?
01:35Yes.
01:36So there was already a mood board when we met.
01:39And it was, yeah, it had to be like a Kafkaesque kind of feeling.
01:44I mean, his character is clearly a Kafka kind of character.
01:50I love Kafka and I love the way he treats character.
01:55Someone who comes out from nothing and you don't know who it is
01:59and you're wondering about that person
02:01and at the same time that person has to deal with a lot of things.
02:04So that was very clear and I had just a clear vision of how it was going to look.
02:12So he got that from me and I think that was one of the things you liked.
02:18It became very...
02:21The combination of the look that was sent in the kind of production design inspiration
02:32PDF, I think, is what I got.
02:38And that combined with the screenplay, it was pretty clear.
02:43It seemed similar to what the film was like.
02:48It was a good description visually and then the screenplay was
02:54obviously a good screenplay.
03:01I have missed my appointment.
03:04Hurry up, we haven't got all day.
03:06Get in line.
03:08Get. In. Line.
03:10Okay?
03:11Typo!
03:18I don't know.
03:31In terms of structure because he moves in different directions all the time
03:36and is reacting and sometimes there's jumps.
03:38I mean so you have to be in a certain place to play him
03:42or do you have to know exactly where he is and how he's functioning at that specific moment?
03:48Yeah, I mean it was pretty clear what the overall arc was.
03:56There were specifics that were discussed and differentiated
04:00but the overall arc was pretty clear.
04:06And it is a movie that goes...
04:10I mean he goes from the one thing into the other
04:13but they're quite physical, they're quite big what happens to him.
04:18So when you're in that kind of...
04:20I think it goes pretty much by itself.
04:23Yeah, but there is a dance, there is a movement.
04:26And when he walks in the room and he just starts...
04:29It's almost like a dance, it's a back and forth.
04:31But it had to be that.
04:32It had to be like a movement, you should sort of be washed through it.
04:37It happens before he knows it.
04:40When he thinks he has control
04:42or he thinks he's starting to understand where he is
04:44he gets swooshed over to somewhere else.
04:47That was how it's supposed to...
04:49And then before he knows it he's in the kitchen
04:51and then he's there.
04:52So that's how it should work.
05:10Where's your apron?
05:14Don't just stand here and get to it, ok?
05:16I'm not...
05:18You need to be here.
05:20Come on, come on.
05:21You're behind.
05:22Hurry up, asshole.
05:29They're jealous.
05:31But you can't really blame them.
05:33Most people have worked for years to get a job like yours.
05:35You swipe to just minutes after you set foot into the kitchen.
05:40How did you have to find sort of the energy of him?
05:44Because at times he's accepting, at times he's rebellious
05:48at times he's content, oddly.
05:52Could you talk about that?
05:55Yeah, well there...
06:00There were...
06:02You know, there are different ways that it could...
06:08The film, which is a good thing,
06:11has an interpretable quality by the audience.
06:16And the script was written in such a way
06:20that there were interpretations that could happen for the character.
06:25So I had certain thoughts
06:29and a certain kind of trajectory that was slightly different
06:33from what's in the film.
06:36But, you know, going through the filming
06:41and getting input as to what was
06:47in Tallulah's head is how it ended up being arrived at.
06:52It's important that he...
06:54It's also about what makes us happy.
06:58If we feel in control sometimes,
07:03even though we're not,
07:05it makes us feel secure.
07:08So then the scenes in the kitchen
07:12where he feels at home,
07:14that is where he's maybe most happy.
07:17But it's not the truth.
07:19It's like...
07:21It's an illusion of the truth.
07:23But you can be very happy inside that.
07:26And since there is no way we'll ever know everything,
07:30we will have to deal with, like,
07:33where will my truth be that makes me happy?
07:36Or do I want to go further and look further?
07:42Is no one interested in what actually is going on?
07:47Look, look!
07:49The hotel is shrinking!
07:53The game are you all playing?
07:54You have potential.
07:56You are special.
07:59You're all insane.
08:01You think you know the truth.
08:04But why is your truth better than mine?
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