‘The Last Straw’ director Alan Neil talks about working with Cucarolus and Neon Indian

Nikolai Mather: Hey Alan! How are you doing?

Alan Neil: It’s going well! Thank you for inviting me.

NM: So, please tell us the synopsis of your movie “The Last Straw”. What kind of content is it?

AN: The Last Straw is a thriller about a waitress who works the night shift at her family’s diner. A series of crimes occur right before her eyes in a small town. And this is the story of her fighting back to survive the night while so much is in store for her people. And all is not as it seems.

NM: That’s amazing. ──This is your first full-length film. What do you want your audience to see?

AN: Without giving too much away, directing this project allowed me to explore myself as a filmmaker by using different visual languages ​​for different characters to get into their headspace, their emotional headspace. I was able to try to really enter the space. That was kind of the exciting thing that drew me to this project. Especially from a screenplay standpoint. Our screenwriter Taylor Sardoni wrote this amazing script. And it kind of ruins expectations of what a horror or thriller should be.

NM: So you live in Brooklyn, and you’re showing the film this weekend at Cucarolus. Why did you want to return to Wilmington?

AN: So I went to UNCW from 2005 to 2009. And this is where I trained and learned filmmaking. And Cucarolus has always been near and dear to my heart. They screened all my short films. And they were such big supporters. In fact, they allowed me to create this feature. The connections I made through this film festival were to help fund the film. And this felt like a place to bring it back. We screened it in Sitges, Spain, played it at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles, then screened it in Austin, and now we’re bringing it back home. I was very excited.

NM: You’ve also done a lot of work with casting before this feature film, on shows like Euphoria and other films like Uncut Gems. How did that influence your work on Last Straw?

AN: I never thought I would be the one doing the casting! But someone saw a movie I did and liked my eyes and offered me a job. And over the last eight or nine years or so, I’ve really been given the opportunity to work with actors for eight hours a day and really hone my craft as a director…and I’ve had some really great filmmakers that I respect sit in a room and work with actors. I could also see him working. before me. So that in itself was like a master class in filmmaking. And in fact, I have saved many actors who have appeared in my films.[They were]people who had auditioned for other projects that I was casting for, and I had saved their auditions. So when I realized I had made them myself, I pulled them out of the folder.

NM: What really intrigued me when I saw the trailer was the score. Tell us more about it – how did you guys develop it?

AN: Well, Alan, I’ve always admired you as an artist. And I had a dream where I could hear his synthesizer in the movie. And I just, on a whim, reached out to a friend of a friend and said, “Hey, I’m a friend of a friend. “Hey, I made this movie, would you be interested?” He saw it and, luckily, he actually wanted to be a movie director and wanted to be a movie director. . He is working on a movie. So he was like, “Yeah, that sounds fun! Yeah, let’s do it. I love thriller horror.” And in developing the score itself, I really wanted something between New Order and Tangerine Dream. And I couldn’t think of anyone better suited for that than Alan.

NM: Okay, is there anything else you’d like to share? Do you have a plug?

AN: The last straw screen is Saturday night at Tulian Hall starting at 7pm. Tickets can be purchased at cucalorus.org. And I look forward to seeing you there.

NM: Okay, Alan, thanks for having me.

An: Of course! thank you.