Creative team of ‘I Don’t Understand You’ talks mixing horror and comedy
When Andrew Rannells was offered a role in the new horror comedy film “I Don’t Understand You” and realized that Nick Kroll would be his onscreen husband, he knew the project was going to be a special one. The fact that the production would be filmed in Italy was just an added perk.
In the new film, Rannells and Kroll play Cole and Dom, a gay couple who take an Italian vacation to reconnect before they adopt a child and their lives get a little noisier. The trip turns rather stressful, however, when they find themselves stranded alone on a dark, rainy night. It’s written and directed by real life couple David Joseph Craig and Brian Crano and based somewhat on their own getaway.
While they were in the middle of the adoption process, Craig and Crano took a 10th anniversary trip to Italy. One evening proved to be especially eventful.
“On the night of our anniversary, Brian directed me on the side of the road in the pitch pouring rain and we got stuck there for about five and a half hours,” Craig said. “In that time we were able to discuss how wonderful this would be for a horror film.”
Their own experience didn’t involve bodies and blood, though – at least, that they are willing to reveal.
Craig and Crano previously worked together on the 2017 film “Permission,” with Crano directing and writing and Craig acting. Their similar senses of humor helped on “I Don’t Understand You.”
“It is nice to have an ally that I can completely and utterly trust through the process,” Craig said. “Usually as a couple you only get to see the final product so it was wonderful to be able to see each other at work succeeding in the moment. It’s a rarity that you get to do that.”
With Rannells aboard already, the pair set out to determine a co-star. As fate would have it, they soon found Kroll.
“So much is vibe – who do I like to watch, who could you put in any situation that would still be interesting and funny in those heightened moments,” Crano said. “We cast Andrew first, and at the same time heard this podcast about Nick becoming a father and his fear of everything that can go wrong. That process matched our fear. They had worked together so much and loved each other as people. It felt organic to have them work together.”
“I Don’t Understand You” veers successfully from comedic to brutal and bloody. The two actors have known each other for a while, and their comfort shows.
“The tone was there from the beginning, and you either got it or you didn’t,” Kroll said. “What was so great about working with David and Brian was they were really open to collaborating with us and letting us separate it from their story. There has to be trust on both sides. They put it in our hands to find the right moments to hit.”
Kroll and Rannells were both surprised by and attracted to the script.
“It’s about a gay couple, but it’s not a coming out story,” Rannells said. “They are not struggling with their sexuality in any way. We quickly find out that even gay people can murder other people.”
At the core of the film is a couple longing to have a child – and stopping at nothing to achieve that.
“It speaks to the extent people will go to, in this case, to adopt a child and how desperately they want that to happen,” Kroll said. “We relied on so much of that, and luckily we’ve had such a long-standing and fun relationship. In the lighter moments, we were able to rely on that.”
It was important that the characters were rooted in reality. The directors deliberately set up the opening scene of the film to show the men in pursuit of becoming fathers.
“It allows you to invest in them,” Crano said. “When we saw [on set] how good these two were together, we said let’s make this as funny as we can and as scary as we can, and the tone will resolve itself in a cool way.”
For an independent film to get a theatrical release is rewarding on its own, but the two are especially happy that “I Don’t Understand You” is playing in theatres around the country.
“To be nationwide with this is exciting,” Crano said. “It feels like a huge win.”
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