CraveOnline: Would you make up your own bets between takes, off camera?
Pat Healy: I don’t ever remember doing that.
Ethan Embry: I used to bet you that the movie was going to suck.
Pat Healy: [Laughs]
Ethan Embry: I bet you this would be a piece of shit.
Pat Healy: There were times where we weren’t sure. We knew what we were doing on the set was great, but you never know if it’s going to cut together.
Ethan Embry: I had no idea what they were shooting. This was, A, the fastest movie I’ve ever made and then I’ve never shot a film in this style.
Pat Healy: I remember you saying, “I don’t know how this is going to cut together.” You were literally, because it was shot in that verite style, it wasn’t like okay, the camera’s here and we play this. It was two cameras, we never really knew where they were.
Ethan Embry: Never did a master, never did close-ups. Normally you shoot a master, you get the layout of the fucking scene. Then you pop in for your two shot, then you pop in for the close-up, turn around and do the reverse.
Pat Healy: We didn’t do that.
Ethan Embry: None of that shit.
Pat Healy: Everything was done, A, because it was done on the fly and Evan was kind of figuring things out because he hadn’t directed before. There was some pressure from the producers to do things a certain way but I think also, I have to believe in my heart, knowing Evan more now, that he was really discombobulating us in order to get us into that frame of mind.
But you had read the script, so you knew the elements were there.
Pat Healy: That’s the first thing. You know the script is good so the chances of it being good are pretty good and all the actors are good, and we’re acting together, we feel it happening on set, but you just don’t know how it’s going to cut together, especially when it’s shot so scrambled eggsy.
Ethan Embry: The script is really just an outline. It always is. It’s very rare that the script you read is the movie you watch. For instance, the house in the script was completely different than the one that we ended up getting to shoot in. That house is a character in the movie, and in the script it was this very modern – –
Pat Healy: Posh mansion type of thing.
Ethan Embry: Right, with the wraparound fucking couch that goes around the whole living room. When I was reading the script, I’m reading like big windows, white, white, white, huge stereo system, massive flatscreen TV. Then we show up and it’s this artistic ‘70s bungalow. It couldn’t have been more different than what the script said.
Pat Healy: But it’s where hipsters live now, so it’s like where a rich hipster in L.A. would live. It makes more sense.
Ethan Embry: So you adapt it and you make it work. The character Colin, completely fucking different than what Koechner brought. When you first read the script, I had a different thing in mind. They said, “Dave is on as Colin.” Immediately, it becomes something else. The script is really just an outline. It’s not as simple as the ingredients of a fucking cake and you know what you’re going to make while you’re mixing it all together. You throw all these different fucking ingredients in it, it’s mystery fucking pie. Each time, that’s the beauty of filmmaking.
Pat Healy: And the chemistry that we all have together depending on what the day is and what the hour of the day is, can be either explosive or touching. You just never know. We both have our moods. We might be really explosive. We both hurt each other unintentionally. Anything could happen, but the script is the guideline. There were definitely things that happened that were unanticipated.
Ethan Embry: Mystery element.
What was a surprise that ended up in the movie?
Pat Healy: I keep talking about this but it’s the scene after the big thing that happens in the movie, that big moment which is kind of a throwaway scene that’s in there to make some time pass for the thing that happens next. Because what we’d just been through was this deeply emotional scene between the two of us, of just us sitting there talking to each other, this is I think one of my favorite things in the movie, if not my favorite thing in the movie. Everything about the movie is laid out there.
We were rushing to get through that because that was just supposed to be a throwaway scene. We had the two camera setup, we did it a couple times and it’s great. We were able to do it until we got there because of what we went through before. We were lucky that we were shooting in sequence. That’s really surprising. As good as I thought the script was and everything, I’m truly surprised and happy with how good it is. It far exceeds my expectations. I thought it would be good but I think it’s great.
How was Colin different from David Koechner in the original script?
Ethan Embry: I think even my character when I first read it was different than how he appears on the screen. It’s like when you read a novel and then they come out with the film. Everything is the same but it’s painted in a different light. It comes across differently than you brought it to life in your own imagination. I think that even happens with directors. Maybe when you reach a certain level, there are directors out there that know exactly what they want and are able to convey it to a tee, but I think for the most part, it takes on a life of its own and it conveys itself the way that it wants to in the end.
Was it necessary to shoot Cheap Thrills in chronological order?
Pat Healy: I don’t know that it was necessary but it certainly helped us, so I would say yes because I think Evan understood what we understand, was that if the performances don’t work and the performances together don’t work, then the movie doesn’t work. The performances work because we actually get to go through the thing and then the next thing logically follows. You’re already there, you’ve been through it.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and The Shelf Space Awards. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
