I very rarely shell out A ratings, but I fell hard for Jeremy Saulnier's Green Room at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It focuses on a punk band called The Ain't Rights. Their tour isn't going particularly well so they decide to pack it in. In order to get some gas money to get home, they take a questionable gig at a secluded backwoods bar. They see something they shouldn't and wind up trapped in the bar's green room with the owner (Patrick Stewart) and his thugs right outside the door, eager to eliminate the problem.
With the movie hitting select theaters on April 15th and then expanding on April 29th, I got the chance to sit down with Saulnier and star Anton Yelchin to chat about how the film came to be and their experience bringing it to screen. Check out what they told me about their music skills, casting Stewart as Darcy a mere 10 days before the shoot and loads more in the video interview at the top of this article.
Jeremy Saulnier & Anton Yelchin:
- 00:47 - How many times have they been asked about their desert island bands?
- 01:05 - Their desert island movies.
- 01:40 - Making the move from Blue Ruin to Green Room; why make Green Room now.
- 02:37 - On their real life music skills, or lack thereof.
- 03:45 - How he came up with the band name The Ain't Rights.
- 04:20 - Saulnier on the movies he used to make in his backyard and experimenting with special effects.
- 06:09 - Saulnier on pulling from his own experience in the hardcore scene; why make skinheads the villain.
- 08:29 - Yelchin on his audition for Green Room.
- 09:46 - Casting Patrick Stewart as Darcy; basing the characters on real people.
- 12:03 - The importance of violence having an emotional impact for the MPAA.
- 12:48 - The behind-the-scenes details of some of the best gore in the movie.
- 14:33 - Yelchin on his third go-around as Chekov in Star Trek Beyond.
