What was your first reaction when you read the script?
It scared me because I thought, ‘am I delusional in thinking this is genius?’

Was the screenplay surprising to you?
Yeah, I’d never read anything like it or in this style.
There was so much surprise.
Usually there is a formula everyone is married to in Hollywood, and this didn’t seem to follow that.

What attracted you to the project?
I felt it was such an intelligent way to use political and social undertones as the sidebar, even though they’re present through the whole movie.
It’s so apropos of today but it’s not meant to be a slap or an affront or even a thriller.
What it’s about is how people get into self-hatred out of loneliness.
This is what happens to human beings, look how far it can go.

Your character is quite complicated, how did you prepare to play that role?
Jeff and I spoke at length. It was almost like therapy instead of, ‘what’s her
motivation and who’s the protagonist?’—the pat questions and answers.
I thought I was on the right path, and I kept coming back to the emotional conflict that she’s in, that’s all it is.
And I think that was the most liberating way to approach it, to talk about it as you would any human relations, what happens to our psyche when you talk in these tones.
I wanted to let the movie speak for itself, which I think it does.

Was it difficult to get into that place?
Yeah. I used different techniques to go there, I didn’t want to go there [personally]. It’s not literal.
But there is something so delicate and so fragile that we can all find in being alone.
In a very general sense, her loneliness is the crux of the film.
Really and truly it’s about two people who are different animals with mutual and dire needs and motivations.
And they just happen to meet and become an orchestra together, however off key and slightly demented it might be.

Your character goes through a lot emotionally, did you feel wrung out when the film was over?
No, there was something enlightening in the end.
But everyday after we shot, because our days were so long and we shot it in fifteen days, I was exhausted from doing so many scenes in a day.
But that process is incredible, I would recommend it. It’s not only the most cost-efficient filmmaking, it’s the most emotionally costefficient for an actor because you keep working, you don’t have that two-and-a-half hours in the trailer and then suddenly there’s a knock on your door: ‘Okay, you ready to go? Okay, cut your heart out and lay it on the table, we’re ready.’
This way you’re in the zone all day. It’s much more spontaneous because there’s something that kills the emotions when you stop and start.

Had you ever worked this way before?
No, I had never worked on DV. I would definitely do it again.
I’m not knocking it, but there’s something about having too much [comfort], which the big studio movies give you.
There’s something that you loose.

What was the hardest part of the production for you?
I really didn’t want to play a color that wasn’t called for. I really didn’t want to screw it up.
And I wasn’t quite sure and Jeff is so smart and so creative and a good director.
The guidance he gave me was to keep telling me I was wrong in thinking that this was not the right choice to play.
And he was steadfast and he wasn’t going to relent and he was right in the end.

Was there something that unlocked the character for you?
I think it was when the word ‘self-hatred’ became a part of the canvas we were trying to paint together.
When he said that word it felt like a light bulb went off. Now I knew how to be in that body, it gave me something so accessible, something that was raw. That’s just such a raw emotion.
I didn’t want to talk about any of the other stuff.

What does the title mean?
It’s a play on words for me. It’s like the haters calling the kettle black.

How do current events figure into the film?
To be honest it’s almost like a set dressing, but that’s not what we’re talking about in the film.
Now, does it help that it’s so apropos of today? Sure. But it’s part of the mechanics.
It’s like what you would need when you’re building a scene in any movie or the storyline in a book.
Why don’t we use this to provoke the actions of that character? It’s just extreme in this case.

So what is the film about for you?
I would say it’s about a state of mind that’s so psychologically deranged and hurt and angry and wanting retribution, and how those things come out.
What is the answer to my needs? How can I make them go away? It’s almost like a cyst or a boil that keeps gnawing and gnawing.
And the audience gets to watch it unfold.