Robyn Candyce
“The Intervention” written by Clea DuVall (The Lizzie Borden Chronicles) is her directing debut. The creative artist also stars in the film as well in the role of Jessie. The film also features the talents of Natasha Lyonne (Orange is the New Black) as Sarah –Jessie’s girlfriend, Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother) as Ruby, Melanie Lynskey (Two and a Half Men) as Annie and Jason Ritter (Girls) along with others. The film follows four couples who are get together for a weekend getaway but things go comically wrong when three of the couples try to host an intervention for the fourth couple’s marriage.
I had the opportunity to correspond with DuVall about the film and her work on it recently. The interview is below.
Q) How was this project born?
DuVall: I was feeling very inspired by this wave of actors I knew who were making their own films. I had always wanted to write and direct, but I never felt ready. After writing the script, I had a couple of people read it to see if they would be interested in directing. No one felt like the right fit. Eventually I decided that I was ready to take the leap and direct the movie myself.
Q) ” The Intervention” isn’t just written by you, its your directorial debut and you also play a leading role which can be just as risky for a project as it is ambitious? What propelled you to wear so many hats?
DuVall: Couple of reasons. One, I had a very specific vision for the film, and I knew if someone else was directing, I would never feel like the story would be told in the way I felt it needed to be. Two, the only reason to not direct the movie would have been fear. It was scary to think of wearing all those hats, but being afraid to do something only makes me want to do it more.
Q) From the prospective of a spectator what do you find most interesting about the relationships in this film?
DuVall: I worked really hard to make the relationships in this movie feel authentic. The actors did an incredible job making these characters and their relationships feel complex and emotional. Each actor gave so much thought to their roles, and because of that, each couple feels unique, but also very relatable.
Q) Funding is always an interesting topic, how did that affect the production of this film?
DuVall: When we went out to find money for the project, we had half of the cast attached. That really helped draw attention from not only investors, but also other actors who we hoped would round out the cast.
Q) “The Intervention” has been getting a lot of really notable attention from major film festivals. From start to finish of this project did you ever think that it would become so recognized?
DuVall: Honestly, I had no idea what was going to happen. My goals were very micro, and changed with each stage of production. I just wanted to make a film that everyone involved could watch and feel like they didn’t waste their time. Sundance, selling the film, getting positive response…I hoped for those things, but my goal was always to just make the best movie I could, because that was the only thing I could control.
“The Intervention” will hit theaters on August 26th.
