Directed by William H. Macy, the dramedy Krystal tells the story of Taylor Ogburn (Nick Robinson), a young man who is afraid that if he lives his life fully, his heart will explode. But from the moment he sees Krystal (Rosario Dawson), he decides that nothing – not his overprotective parents (William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman), not his opinionated older brother Campbell (Grant Gustin), not her teenage son (Jacob Latimore), who’s barely younger than he is, not her crazy ex (Tip “T.I.” Harris), and definitely not her crazy past as an escort and drug addict – will keep him from falling in love with this women, even if it kills him.
During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actor-turned-director William H. Macy, who wears both hats on this project, talked about the kind of films he likes to make, why he wanted to direct Krystal, the biggest challenges of this production, working with his wife, Felicity Huffman, the casting process, and what he most enjoyed about the relationship between Taylor and Krystal. He also talked about returning to his Showtime series Shameless for Season 9, how he’ll be directing another episode this season, and the process the writers’ room goes through, at the start of each season, when they’re figuring out the arc.
Collider: We’ve spoken about your other two films, as a director – Rudderless and The Layover – so talking about Krystal feels like it completes the set.
WILLIAM H. MACY: It does! Thank you for your support, and thanks for talking to me.
It’s interesting because when you look at these three movies, you wouldn’t necessarily guess that they were from the same director. They’re so very different from each other. Is that something that you intended to do, or are you surprised by how different they are?
MACY: I knew they were different. I’m embarrassed to say that it’s more of a function of what I could get made. The reality is, on this level, with me being a new and untried director, one gets three or four scripts that you think are great and that you would love to do, and sometimes it’s a surprise as to which ones get off the ground. I think the one thing that they all have in common is that I love surprises. I love surprising films that are plot-heavy, with lots of twists and turns. I do like music in films, and comedy. I love funny. I’d rather laugh than anything.
Was it a weird adjustment for you to go from having a very established career, as an actor, to have people saying, “We don’t know that we can trust you as a director”?
MACY: No. I don’t blame them. Just because you’re an actor with success doesn’t mean you can be a director with success. They’re completely different jobs and have completely different requirements, and one doesn’t prepare you for the other.
When this script was sent your way, what was it that made you want to direct it?
MACY: It’s visual. I saw the whole film in my mind’s eye, clear as a bell. It was very funny. It made me laugh. It was unexpected. I loved all the characters, and I loved the way (screenwriter) Will Aldis also loves his characters. Everyone has a complete story, with a beginning, middle and end. No one just fades off. He gives them all a punchline, which is not easy to do. It takes some pages to do that, but he wove this tale, really, really well. And at the end of the day, I found it profound. It’s a coming-of-age story, but it’s about fear and addiction, and it has very profound parts to it. I really loved the mixture of farce with high drama, back-to-back, with very little transition.
What did you think would be the biggest challenges going into this, and did any challenges come up that you weren’t expecting?
MACY: It’s a lot of movie, for the amount of money we had, and there are some things that just eat up your funds. One of them is that normally an indie like this would have three leads, and we had eight or nine. That’s expensive. And I don’t care what they say, CGI is time-consuming. You’ve gotta go round and round and round to figure it out, and we had to figure out how to do the character of Satan. I thought it would be logistics that would get me. What I wasn’t prepared for and what surprised me was the tone of the piece. It was so much more delicate than I thought it was. When you read it, the transition from a very sad scene to something that’s very comical happens in your mind, and it’s fine. I was shocked that, when I put it on its feet, I would have to ask myself, “Why is this not working?,” and it was because there was some material and transitions that it needed, in order to keep the tone consistent, but allow you to go from high drama to high comedy.
This is certainly not the kind of story you would expect Satan to be a character in, so how tricky was it to figure out the way you wanted to portray that, throughout the film?
MACY: It was delicate. It was very tricky. At the end of the day, our finances dictated how fanciful this could be. I toyed with doing no CGI and no trickery, whatsoever, but that raised other problems that I didn’t know how to overcome. It was ongoing. Even in the post-production, after we’d shot the thing, there was still a lot of tweaking to that Satan character. It was very delicate. I added scenes with Satan, to give it a through-line.
You recently did an interview with your wife, Felicity Huffman, where you said that when you guys work together, you try to make it special. So, why was this a project that you felt was special enough for the two of you to also be in it together?
MACY: Well, to be candid, I didn’t want to be in it. I find that very difficult. I’m not comfortable taking off the director hat and getting in front of the camera and giving up that authority. I just don’t have the confidence in myself, as a director. I did it once before, when I directed an episode of Shameless, although I didn’t act very well, in the scenes I directed. I also didn’t direct very well, in the scenes that I acted in. But, this one was different. We ran out of time, and I hadn’t found anyone who was available to play Wyatt, the character I played, so I said, “Okay, I’ll play Wyatt.” It was just five scenes, so I thought, “I can handle this,” and I insisted that we rehearse them. I immediately called Flicka, and I said, “I’ve got a role for us. This is great!” She had read the script and she agreed that it was good for us. So, although we don't do it that often and we try to make sure it’s a perfect fit, even though this came at the last minute, it was a perfect fit. I love those scenes. I loved acting them, and I love watching them. Flicka is just so fabulous. I love her!
What did you enjoy about directing her?
MACY: She’s skilled. We did a read-through and then some rehearsal on those scenes, and the first time she read it, I could exhale a little bit. I knew those scenes were going to be fine. I love the fact that you can count on her. She’ll be there, and it’ll be great. It sure is nice to have my wife around. It makes me feel more confident. We get to go home together, at the end of the day. When she’s there, she takes care of me. I’ve directed her a couple of times, and you have to be very careful to not fall into, “It’s Felicity. She’s great. She doesn’t need anything,” and to bark at her and say, “Hey, don’t ask me about your character. Don’t you see, I’m trying to direct a movie?” I had to guard against that, to make sure that I’m generous and treat her with respect. It’s really easy to grow short and I have fallen afoul of that, and I’m dedicated to not doing that, ‘cause she deserves better.
Do you have any idea what you might direct next? Are you already thinking about working towards your next feature, or might you direct another episode of Shameless?
MACY: I’m gonna do another episode of Shameless this season, and I’m looking forward to that. I think every time I direct something, I get just a smidgen better and a smidgen more comfortable. There’s nothing like experience. But, I don’t know what my next project is. I’ve directed three independent films, in the last five years, and that was a little rough on my family. I would do Shameless half the year, and then the other half of the year was directing a movie, and I turn into something of a monster when I’m directing. It was rough on the family. I missed too many vacations. So, I think Shameless is winding down. We’re about to begin our ninth season, and I have a feeling there’s gonna be a tenth season, but it is coming to the end. It’d like to do something a little bigger with just a smidge more of a budget, so that I can pay people. And I’d like to be able to make a mistake one day and go back and fix it the next. That would be a lovely thing to have.
It seemed as though Frank on Shameless had returned to a life of crime, by the end of last season. Do you know what’s next for him? Have you had any talks about where his journey goes next?
MACY: No, I haven’t, but I’m going to. They’re working now, in the writers’ room. John [Wells] invited me to come by and see what they’ve got planned, and I’ve been taking notes. The way John Wells works is that all the writers are assigned to come in, for the beginning of the writers’ room, with just a couple of pages of gags, like Frank trips and breaks his toe, Fiona finds a purse full of money, and Debbie takes up welding, and then, they expand on those. So, everybody comes in and he puts them on a big board, and then these gags find their place into some plot. Well, I’ve come up with my own page full of gags that I’m gonna pitch.
That sounds like a cool process!
MACY: Oh, it’s fascinating to watch that room work. It’s amazing!
One of the things I most enjoyed with Krystal was this cast. What was the casting process like for this?
MACY: Well, it was fractious. There’s so much television being made that it’s impossible to rent a camera and find a soundstage. It was tough to find people who wanted to do this script that were available. I had a very small window when we could shoot it, and it gave me heartburn. I just got lucky. Mary Vernieu cast the thing, and she’s really, really good and works very hard. And Dan Keston and Rachel Winter, who produced it, are great at casting. I had a lot of backup, on our casting team. I had seen Nick [Robinson] do an episode of Boardwalk Empire, where he absolutely stole the scene he was in. I know Steve Buscemi quite well, and I could see Steve look at this kid and go, “Okay, man, you take this scene.” I think you might have to be an actor to see it, but it’s fun when you see another actor give over the scene to someone else. It’s lovely. And Nick was just magnificent. He was suggested for this role, but I didn’t put it together that he was the kid from Boardwalk Empire. And then, I saw Jurassic World, and having done a Jurassic Park myself, I know what’s difficult about doing that kind of movie. I thought he was great and had such maturity and such aplomb. And then, I met with him, and that was that. From there, once you get your guy, you feel a little more confident. I can’t believe Kathy Bates said yes. It just started to fall together. I had to Skype with Rosario Dawson, who plays the title character. She was working, so I couldn’t even meet with her, so we Skyped each other. We didn’t meet until we were in Atlanta, which is weird. And T.I. is such a funny guy. I met him at the Soho House and I was pitching him, as hard as I could, and he put his hand on my arm and said, “Bill, I’m doing the film. I just need to ask you some questions.” I loved him. I’ll worship him until the day I die, for being so easy. And Bill Fichtner is such a lovely dramatic actor, but he’s also a great comedian. He’s so funny. You’d wanna hang out in a bar with this cast.
What did you most enjoy about watching the dynamic between Taylor and Krystal, and getting to see it brought to life, off the page?
MACY: It’s pretty much like I saw it in my head. One of the things an actor-turned-director has to guard against is acting out all the roles in your head. You know exactly how you would play it, including the women, and it would be easy to try to guide people in your direction. On all three of the films, I knew that would be a problem, making sure that you’re really looking at what you’re getting and what the actor is doing, and be honest about it. A bunch of times, you go, “That’s a better idea than I had. Do that!” And then, sometimes your idea is better and you try to tell them how you’d play it, without ever telling them that’s how you would play it.
Krystal opens in theaters on April 13th.
