Your Monster is now playing in theaters worldwide and we were recently able to catch up with director Caroline Lindy and producer Kayla Foster to talk about the unique horror romantic comedy that stars Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey in the lead roles.
Loosely based on a true experience, the film is "the story of the soft-spoken actor Laura Franco, who is dumped by her longtime boyfriend while recovering from surgery and retreats to her childhood home to recover. With her future looking bleak, insult is added to injury when Laura discovers her ex is staging a musical that she helped him develop. But out of these gut-wrenching life changes emerges a monster with whom she finds a connection, encouraging Laura to follow her dreams, open her heart and fall in love with her inner rage."
Lindy breaks down the cathartic movie making process, between both writing and directing the movie, while Foster walks me through pairing Barrera and Dewey and finding their absolutely magnetic chemistry that is on full display throughout the movie.
Watch our full video interview with director Caroline Lindy and producer Kayla Foster below and/or keep scrolling to read the transcription. Plus, please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more exclusive content!
ROHAN: I was reading your letter and saw that this film was loosely based on something terrible that really happened to you. So, what proved to be more cathartic, was it writing the movie? or actually making it?
CAROLINE: Oh, my God. I think probably the writing was the most cathartic part. That was when I really, because it was such a solitary experience. I really had to sit with what had happened and move past it, and, you know, it was like, this bad thing happened to me, and now, I'm taking it and turning it into something completely different that's not just for me, that's for other people. So, I think the writing was the most cathartic process or phase of this whole process, and once I had it all down in script form, it became something else. And then, I felt like, oh, you know what, this doesn't have to bring me pain anymore. It's now become something that's bringing me joy. So, after it became a movie idea, I was like, great, I love it. You know, this thing has changed, it feels different. It exists in a different place within me. So, when I got to the shoot, I was just happy. It didn't feel bad anymore.
ROHAN: These are very interesting roles for any actor to play - what went behind casting Melissa and Tommy?
KAYLA: Well, starting with Tommy, he played the monster in Caroline's short film. She got a grant to make the short, so we had a proof of concept that, you know, the idea of not having Tommy as Monster was kind of terrifying because we knew that he just was Monster. He was going to set the tone for the film, and Monster being charming and cool and emotional, that was such a pivotal piece to the film. So, we at least got to try it out, and it worked. Caroline got to try it out. And, then, with Melissa, you know, this role requires, and Caroline can speak much more to this, but the role requires so many specific skills that Melissa has - the Scream Queen thing, she's charming and funny and beautiful, and has this beautiful singing voice, and the role needed so much that she uniquely could absolutely nail for us.
ROHAN: While the film is billed as a romantic comedy, there are a lot of different genres at play here. What kind of challenge did that present when you're making this movie?
CAROLINE: Well, I think that, you know, we say this a lot, that the experience that I went through that this movie is based on, it was not a one genre experience. So, then the movie couldn't be one genre. And so, our North Star was always finding the truth in every moment and in our real lives, you can go from being hopeful to feeling terrible, you know, in a span of like 10 minutes, and that's just what it feels like to be alive. One thing can set you down a bad path, or one thing can change the rest of your day, and so, it was always kind of trying to find the emotional truth of every moment in the story, and that kind of kept us all, you know, in this very grounded, real place, even if it was kind of big and absurd and fantastical, and there was all these genres swirling around us, if we kind of always play the truth of the scene and really just try to make it as authentic as possible, then it was helpful for navigating the rough genre waters.
Your Monster tells the story of the soft-spoken actor Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera), who is dumped by her longtime boyfriend (Edmund Donovan) while recovering from surgery and retreats to her childhood home to recover. With her future looking bleak, insult is added to injury when Laura discovers her ex is staging a musical that she helped him develop. But out of these gut-wrenching life changes emerges a monster (Tommy Dewey) with whom she finds a connection, encouraging Laura to follow her dreams, open her heart and fall in love with her inner rage.
Your Monster is now in theaters!