Any horror fan knows the name Larry Fessenden. He has written, directed and acted in over 100 movies throughout his career, which goes back more than four decades. In that time, he has helped jump-start the careers of dozens of filmmakers, and his newest film, Crumb Catcher, is no different.
The feature directorial debut of Chris Skotchdopole, Crumb Catcher is a potboiler about a married couple who, on the first night of their honeymoon, find themselves blackmailed by one of the waiters at their wedding. Co-written by Skotchdopole and Fessenden, the movie stars Rigo Garay and Ella Rae Peck as the newlyweds, and Lorraine Farris and longtime Fessenden collaborator John Speredakos as the couple blackmailing them.
The movie gets pretty dark but is a lot of fun. So are Skotchdopole and Fessenden, who have been working together for years. They spoke to us from New York.
Where did the idea for Crumb Catcher come from?
Chris Skotchdopole: Y’know, I just follow characters and things start to happen. As the movie was developing, it was about a blackmail plot, and I just thought a guy wanting money seemed a little boring. And he was a waiter.
John’s voice came early as this positive can-do spirit, only looking at the bright side when it comes to getting his thing off the ground sort. I remember talking to my lady, who works in restaurants. I asked her, “What would a waiter want?” She said, “What about a crumb catcher?” I didn’t know what that was. At our company, it’s a lot of creative people laughing a lot. I remember talking about it with people in our separate corners, and everyone was excited. But the answer is, who the hell knows?
Larry, what drew you to this?
Larry Fessenden: Chris has worked for me for 10 years, and we’ve done a lot of projects together. He came in as an office manager, which he was very bad at, but he was good at editing and shooting, and he has a history with what we might call “real movies.” We became collaborators over the years, [he was] somebody who would watch my cuts.
I don’t show anybody my movies, but Chris always had insight. We liked the same types of movies, so I was there to be his advisor when he needed some help on a couple of projects, and we were buds. Eventually what happens at my company is, if somebody gets serious, then we say, “How do you build this movie?”
What I did is, I invested in the creation of the Crumb Catcher prop long before we had a way forward with the full budget. I believe in that sort of risk because it says we are going to do this eventually, but it also gives us something to marinate, like you’re sort of starting to make the movie.
Watching the movie, it seems like John, played by John Speredakos, was exactly the kind of role I’ve seen you play. How come you didn’t play it?
LF: It just never came up. I’d never felt the urge, and there were too many lines to learn. (Laughs) Whereas John can recite the phone book.
A movie like this only works because of the casting and the chemistry between the actors. Can you tell me how you cast it and what you were looking for?
CS: Once I cast someone, I change the script for that character a little bit. In the casting process, we looked for opportunities to cast some names during the pandemic, when we were all in our little corners. We talked about bigger names, but I chose to cast my friend Rigo. He had been in a short of mine, and I’ve always loved him as a performer.
I started massaging the script to be more about his experience, and the same when we got Ella. She started coming to rehearsals —we did months of rehearsals before shooting— and the idea is to do whatever you can do to take the performers’ instincts and sensibilities of who they are and try to attach them to the character. They’ll just start breathing together as one.
But was that process difficult? Putting the group together?
CS: It was very organic. Lorraine was such a great addition to our team. Extremely last minute. She came up, I want to say, what was it, Larry? A week before we started shooting?
LF: No, it was less. Chris had followed his usual process with the fourth member of the team, but then she had to drop out, unfortunately, to care for her ailing mother. We found Lorraine through some mutual friends, and we’re just so blessed. She showed up and, to be honest, in the same way that Chris works very organically with the fact that she was an outsider, even to the core team, it gave her an anxiety that played into her character.
CS: I want to add that working with Lorraine taught me a huge thing about casting. Lorraine as a person is so emotionally accessible and just the warmest person you could ever imagine, and she had to put on this suit of a tough girl the whole movie, which is not who she is.
I think it was Robert Altman who talked about the idea of casting your characters for who you want them to become, not who they are in the beginning. I think it’s interesting when you look at the two roles and the people who play them. Rigo is such a wonderful, lovely, friendly person, he’s not this prickly person that he plays in the movie. But then, when he has to find redemption in the movie, it’s like he can put on that glove immediately.
Similarly, when Rose breaks down, you see that there is a woman who has something to offer the world. It wasn’t by design, but as I look back on it, I take that as a learning experience.
You said something interesting, which I just want to follow up on, about how you had months of rehearsal. I think that most big films don’t have that. Certainly, most indie films don’t have that. Can you tell me about that process?
CS: It was during the pandemic. When I decided to cast Rico in the role, instead of some of these bigger names that we had attached, I remember Larry and I having a conversation about how I could have control in the way that I want to have control with this group of people, because they want to give everything. It’s not like they’re waiting for their ABC show or whatever they’re going to do, they want to prove themselves.
LF: Chris insisted on rehearsal, that it was so important to him. As usual, I was saying, “Yeah, well, that’s what you want, and they’ll say they’ll give you three days.” Before you know it, they show up on the day and said, “Let’s just do this.” They’d lost the spark of ingenuity as they’ve worked in the industry.
People say, “Oh, you mentored Ti West,” or, “You mentored Kelly Reichert”, or, “You mentored Chris Skotchdopole.” What it is, is that I learned to understand what kind of artists they are. I completely supported and was so excited when Chris finally realized I should cast people that I know who will come aboard my way of doing this. That’s how I produce. Simply listening to the individual artist and trying to understand the way their process will be most effective and realized. And of course, because of that process, we have these very sweet, unexpected performances.
Now that you two have done this, have you already started thinking about what’s next?
CS: Yeah, our next movie is about a dry cleaner.
LF: Chris’s movies are all about tidying up, as you can see. (Laughs)
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