ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to It’s What’s Inside director Greg Jardin about the body-switching horror comedy. Starring Brittany O’Grady, James Morosini, Gavin Leatherwood, Nina Bloomgarden, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Reina Hardesty, Devon Terrell, and David Thompson, the film will stream worldwide on Netflix starting October 4.
“A group of friends gather for a pre-wedding party that descends into an existential nightmare when an estranged friend arrives with a mysterious game that awakens long-hidden secrets, desires, and grudges,” says the synopsis.
Tyler Treese: I was just so impressed with your direction and especially the cast for It’s What’s Inside because you’re definitely asking a lot of them. How was it finding this group of actors that couldn’t just play their base role but were also up for the task of playing other characters inside their bodies? They’re sometimes doing three or four characters.
Greg Jardin: Yeah. it was wild. I absolutely was trying to cast actors that had broad ranges, but a lot of it was also every actor I met, I just kind of gave him the spiel of, “I came from film school. I love the film school vibe of we’re all there together. It’s a very collaborative environment. It’s almost like you’re just making stuff with your friends and there’s an inherent safety that you feel.”
So I was really just trying to suss out if everyone had that kind of vibe, and then bringing that vibe along with talent, of course, kind of just helped everyone feel safe with one another. Willing to work with each other and not be precious about their egos and their characters, and just be able to share ideas with one another. Fortunately, it worked out.
The film is inherently kind of confusing, and I think even purposefully so in some points, but it’s still just such a fun ride even if you’re like, “Who’s inside this person?” If you forget for a bit, you’re reminded later. How was it kind of constructing this to where people who are really on the ball are gonna get a kick out of it, but you’re still having fun either way?
I think my biggest directorial challenge going in was just making sure that there’s enough clarity so that people didn’t get so frustrated that they just mentally tuned out. So I thought about those moments where we needed to remind the audience of who’s who a lot.
I agree that there’s certain points where confusion is good and like adds to the mystery and hopefully engages you. Bu I really had to think about those red light moments when people were wearing polaroids, et cetera, to just make sure that the audience was, was still with us, really.
I definitely appreciated those moments for sure.
I did it for you!
Some of the actors said when you were shooting this, it was like you already had the edit in your head and you were very direct with like what you wanted. Does that come from also writing the script and imagining what was gonna happen, or how was that?
Yeah, it certainly helps to have written the script to sort of work as the director. Because it gives you a very intimate relationship with the writer. Prior to this movie, I had done a lot of short-form stuff, music videos, and promos, and especially, I’d done promos for Netflix TV shows, and with those, I had to be very specific about what we shot and just knowing the edit. So I think I had really just kind of trained my brain as a director to just plan with the edit in mind, to just be able to shoot as efficiently and economically as possible.
