ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Desperation Road director Nadine Crocker about the Southern noir thriller. Crocker discussed working with Mel Gibson and learning from previous directing experiences. Desperation Road will premiere in select theaters, digitally, and through video-on-demand on Friday, October 6.
“In a small Mississippi town, justice and the law are two very different things,” reads the official synopsis for the film. “Academy Award Winner Mel Gibson (Braveheart), Garrett Hedlund (TRON: Legacy), and Willa Fitzgerald (Scream: The TV Series) star in a modern noir thriller based on the acclaimed novel by Michael Farris Smith about two lost souls tortured by the mistakes of their past and bound by a secret that keeps them running.”
Tyler Treese: There’s a very heavy start to Desperation Road, as we see a police officer committing sexual assault. Can you speak to starting with that scene and what went into that portrayal because? It’s a very powerful scene.
Nadine Crocker: Oh, thank you for saying that. It’s the scene and the act that thrusts this entire story into action. For me, it was a delicate balance. I mean, I like to start all of my films with something that shows you exactly the ride you’re going on from the start, which is always important to me, but when you’re covering sexual assault, it’s also really important because there are a lot of people that this is their experience. So you want to portray it and … I don’t want to say honor, but not shy away from it because it is something that a lot of women experience and people experience. I don’t want to re-traumatize and all of those different things. So for me, I tried to put you in the seat and in the feeling while also showing the disassociation of it all and just put you in the ride, but also not have it be too traumatic an experience.
And even the way that we shot it, I was very specific about never wanting my two actors to be in the same car and experiencing that at the same time, because I don’t ever want anyone to feel uncomfortable. Not that they ever would, but I just take extra precautions. That is part of my past, sexual assault. So for me, it was a very important part of the story. What happens to this young woman is tragic. Everything that happens afterward and the fact that she has to — I’m trying not to tell too many of the secrets — but yeah. With having to fight to get away from that cop and the whole way that the movie goes, it’s a heavy ride. I think it shows you where we’re starting from and why she had to do what she had to do.
I really enjoyed the themes and how you portrayed redemption and how people react to trauma in Desperation Road, because you can use those moments to build yourself up to become better. We see people struggle and we see a lot of different sides of pain and loss and tragedy in this movie. Can you speak to those themes?
Yeah, for me, that was one of the really important things upon coming on board on this film: that we all experienced trauma in our lives and that trauma shapes who we are and who we become. That’s why, to me, no character is unlikeable. They’ve just been through terrible situations. So for me, even someone like Larry who should be someone that we don’t like — I love him. I feel for him. I understand his struggle. I understand the trauma he comes from. So you can kind of start to understand why some people do what they do. I guess all I’m ever trying to show is that we’re all battling our own experiences and our own trauma, and we all heal from trauma in a certain way.
I guess what I’m always just trying to portray, especially through this film and the redemption and the forgiveness and all of that, is that we don’t have to be our biggest mistakes. We can also be our biggest act of kindness, you know? So Russell essentially messed up and he’s done some things that deeply affected every person in this story, but he also helps them. He’s also the person who essentially helps to save her life and her little girls and gives them their first place of family and home. I always feel that film is a beautiful way for us to empathize [and] to show the audience an existence outside of their own. So with these performances and with these sad tragedies and things that they go through, I’m just trying to, hopefully, open up the audience’s eyes to maybe look at someone in their own life who’s struggling in a different way or show an act of kindness to someone they pass on the street. We all have the power to do that.
I thought it was pretty unique that Michael Farris Smith, who wrote the original Desperation Road novel, also did the screenplay here. How great was it having him actually adapt his own work and lay it out as a film? I’m sure that had to be very helpful to be true to the original book.
100%. Me and Michael had such a beautiful relationship and collaborative relationship from the second I came on. I’m very hands-on because I normally write my projects and everything is deeply important to me. That’s who I am. I care about every character, I care about every aspect of the story and all of these different things. So from the second I came on, he was just so open to all of my notes and collaboration and let me really dive in deep on the script with him. We had a beautiful collaborative relationship on this film. Yes, I could ask him questions about the story and he could ask me questions and through all of these different things, we were able to elevate in such a beautiful way.
But it is hard. Novels are like 280 pages. The first script when I got it was also, I think, 130 pages. I was like, “We have 16 days.” Well, first of all, it wasn’t supposed to be 16 days, but that just happens. You lose production days. But either way, I am like, “Either way, we don’t have the time for that many pages.” So we had to really go in with a scalpel and sculpt and make sure that we were honoring everything from the novel and all of the characters and all of their storylines, but also staying true to the overall experience of the film. You want people to be excited. You want it to move, you want them to be on the journey, and you don’t want it to be too long. It’s just a balancing act and I feel really lucky that I was able to collaborate with Michael in that way. He’s a very collaborative person.
You got some really great performances out of your actors in Desperation Road. Mel Gibson’s one of the highlights and he’s also an incredible director. What did that mean to get his co-sign here to be involved in this project and to really give his all in this performance?
Yeah, it was definitely surreal. It was just so exciting when he was first mentioned, and it all happened very fast. It was like he was mentioned then he was watching my first film and then we were getting on a phone call and we spoke for several hours. So it was just a really surreal feeling. Being an actor I’ve loved and watched since I was a kid and then a director I revere. I mean, literally. I don’t even know how many Oscars he has, but it’s that many. [Laugh]. So it was intimidating in those first moments of, “All right, I’m working with this legendary person and it’s my second film.” It was one of those moments. He was so supportive and he was so incredible to work with and so giving. Because you don’t know people’s creative process — some actors don’t want things and some do.
So you have to find the balance of how to work with each creator. It was such an easy balance to find with him. It was such an open experience and extremely collaborative, so I just feel so lucky. Also the fact that he’s such a great director. He was the easiest on set. That’s all I can say. You’d look over at him and he is just smiling. He’s like, “I’ve been there.” [Laughs]. You just know he’s experienced it, which is such a great feeling. When we went out to dinner right before production, me and his creative execs, we all went to dinner and were there for so many hours. That was when I got to pick his brain about Apocalypto and directing and all those things. So I got to geek out, a little too, which is so fun. To get to talk to him about film and films that inspire him … he watches so much cinema. He watches so many films and I don’t think there’s a film you can name that he hasn’t watched. That’s just so impressive. He’s like an encyclopedia of information. [Laughs].
Garrett Hedlund and Willa Fitzgerald are also very great in the film and they share some very heavy scenes. Can you discuss their on-screen chemistry and how it was? If those two performances didn’t land, you wouldn’t really have a film, but everything turned out great.
Yeah, thank you for saying that. They’re just both unbelievable actors, you know? [With] Garrett, you watch him morph into a different person before your eyes, you know? You watch how a little whisper in his ear can manifest into magic. It’s so impressive. I knew when hiring both of them that I was in good hands and that getting those performances is just as important to them as it is to me. They both want to do incredible work and they both take it extremely seriously. So there’s nothing more exciting than collaborating with someone who wants to be the best and do the best. That’s how I feel as a filmmaker. I have big goals and big dreams, and they’re the same way as as actors.
It was just so collaborative and everyone took it extremely seriously. These aren’t small messages we have here. They aren’t small. It’s big, big messaging. It’s deeply emotional scenes. It’s a beautiful ride and they just embodied it so well. I felt so lucky to be collaborating with them and to watch how this little bit of direction manifests through them. It’s so exciting, you know? That’s that magic. You don’t know you can prepare so much. And I do — I’m an over-preparer, but you can’t account for the magic that happens in between those moments. You don’t know what’s going to happen until you’re there and until you’re watching it. That’s the other thing, is knowing when to stay out of their way and be like, “Oh my God, there’s magic. There’s magic.” Let it breathe, let it go, let it flow, you know? They are two people who take what they do extremely seriously. So it was such a fun process, honestly. I want work with them a million times again. [Laughs].
We definitely see the results on screen. Your first movie, Continue, was your directorial feature debut and it was a very personal project that you also wrote. Can you speak to what lessons you really learned from it that you were able to incorporate into Desperation Road?
So many. I cut my teeth on that film. I figured out every aspect of filmmaking on that film. I had never been through an editing process before. I had never been through so many different aspects of post. I had experienced a lot of production because of acting and because of my production design work, like different things. I had done a lot of crew work and really tried to learn every aspect I could. But until you’re in it and experiencing it and the stress of it all … I always joke that the trauma I’ve been through in my life made me a really good director, because I can thrive in pure stress. [Laughs]. My fight or flight is sick.
I learned so much from that film and, honestly, because we made that film in such an indie/grassroots way of us literally having to do everything … I mean, me and my husband invested our life savings and went all in and produced that film together with our producing partner, Jay [Seals]. So if I hadn’t done something in such an all-involved, all-consuming way of, “How the heck do we pull this off and how do we complete this film and help people and save lives and all of those things,” I don’t know that I could have had the bravery to be like, “Sure, I’ll go make a movie with Mel Gibson, Hedlund, Willa Fitzgerald, Ryan Hurst — all these people I revere in 16 days. [Laughs].
I think because I had done it in a very short period of time and so involved on Continue, it made me go, “Buckle up. All right, we’re on the ride.” And I ate, slept, and breathed Desperation Road. There are no days off in indie filmmaking. There is no moment off. I’m the first person there on set. I’m the last person there. I’m then doing my prep work for the next day that night. Then you’re location scouting for locations that fell through in the morning before you get to set. We had two units and it was just pure insanity, you know? Because I had done so many things on Continue, it made me the right filmmaker to do Desperation Road in this way and I’m so proud of what we were able to accomplish in that time.
