Exclusive Interview: Anson Mount on All the Boys Love Mandy Lane

It took seven years for All the Boys Love Mandy Lane to be released on VOD and theaters this year, due to complicated legal entanglements. In light of that, another couple months wasn’t too much to wait for the DVD and Blu-ray. Amber Heard plays the title character, a much coveted high school girl invited to a weekend getaway in Jonathan Levine’s directorial debut. Anson Mount plays Garth, a nearby adult who keeps checking in on the teens. Then murders start happening. We got to speak with Mount, who since filming Mandy Lane became the star of AMC’s acclaimed series “Hell on Wheels,” before the Thanksgiving holiday. All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.

 

CraveOnline: You must really care about All the Boys Love Mandy Lane to still be promoting it seven years later.

Anson Mount: I’m really happy with how it turned out actually. I was really depressed when it got caught up in legalities and we found out it wasn’t going to get released when it should have been. I think it would have been a lot more impactful at that time, but these things happen so I’m just glad people are finally getting to see it because I knew we were making something different in the horror genre, but I didn’t realize how extremely well made it was going to look. It just looks awesome.

 

Did you get to see it back when it was done?

Yeah, I saw it in the production offices in Los Angeles.

 

In your performance, did you want us to be suspicious of Garth, like everyone could be a suspect?

I don’t really think about that too much as an actor. I let the director think about that and then paint the picture or the scenes and behavior in ways that amount to that. As an actor, I can’t really be thinking about how to make my character suspicious or not. It’s not my job.

 

Then what were the layers you talked with Jonathan Levine about?

You know, it’s been so long. I don’t really recall. Jonathan is a really good director partly because he is just such a good guy to hang around. He’s so relaxed about the process. Most directors, especially first time directors, are mental cases. John just had a lot of fun and wanted us to have fun. 90% of directing is casting and I think he brought together a good group of actors.

 

Was it fun with all those kids?

Yeah, it was. I was the old man of the movie at the ripe old age of, what was it, 33? Yeah, it was fun.

 

When you were cast as the adult in essentially a teen movie, did it seem like a transitional role for you?

Nah. [Laughs] Not really.

 

You made Mandy Lane the same year as Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror. Were you hoping Mandy Lane would be a transition for you as an actor?

Oh yeah. [Laughs] Well, that was a very different kettle of fish because that movie falls squarely in line with what has become a tradition of ironic horror movies that kind of began with the Scream franchise. If Mandy Lane does anything, I think maybe it helps to bring us out of that because I thought that we’d lost the sense of what it was we were scared of.

In the ‘70s and ‘80s, we were scared of the masked serial killer or the unknown guy who’s going to kidnap us from our front line. What we’re scared of now is the disgruntled teen and I think that Mandy Lane recognized that, capitalized on it and got us out of this sort of ironic comedy phase.

 

In a way, is it better that it came out now that we’ve seen you on “Hell on Wheels” and things like that?

Is it better? I don’t know. It’s certainly interesting. I guess it’s interesting to be able to see a facet of myself that’s sort of gone now. If people are a fan of my work then I guess that would be interesting, but I don’t know.

 

What facet of you do you think is gone now?

Just the person that I was at that time. They say that you literally are a different human being every seven years because every cell in your body regenerates itself within about seven years. It’s been seven years so I’m a different person than I was at that time.

 

How intense a shoot was Mandy Lane?

Not very. It was really very well organized by the producers. All we had to do was show up to work and have a good time. It was a very aggressive production by what was then a very young company, Occupant.

 

What feedback have you gotten since Mandy Lane started coming out on VOD and in theaters?

Not a lot. I’ve been all over the place though. I’ve been really, really busy and haven’t really had time to tap into social media and see what the response was. I should ask you, how was it received?

 

Very well. People were excited to finally see it.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do any in person press at the time of the release. I wasn’t able to be in Los Angeles at that time because I was touring Israel, and I didn’t want to abbreviate that trip. So I was overseas and just having some personal time.

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