An interesting and fun in-depth exclusive interview with co-writers and co-directors AUSTIN STARK and JOSEPH SCHUMANN examining the wickedly delightful COUP!.
SYNOPSIS: Isolated on a seaside estate during the 1918 Spanish Flu, an entitled journalist (Billy Magnussen) and his socialite wife (Sarah Gadon) take in a mysterious grifter as a private cook (Peter Sarsgaard). When the plague descends on the island, the wily cook rouses his fellow staff to rebel and take over the mansion. Their wealthy employer suspects the cook’s coup is part of a more sinister agenda, and mind games between master and servant escalate into boisterous class warfare.
Co-written and co-directed by AUSTIN STARK and JOSEPH SCHUMANN, COUP! boasts a cast that includes Peter Sarsgaard, Billy Magnussen, Sarah Gadon, Skye P. Marshall, Faran Tahir, Kristine Nielsen, and Fisher Stevens.
If COUP! is what happens when lifelong friends since childhood put their creative minds together to write and direct a film, I say, please sir, I want some more! Why it took Austin and Joe this long to collaborate on a project is beyond me, but I am glad they finally did and look forward to more collaborations from them.
On seeing the film, it shouldn’t be a secret to anyone that the inspiration for COUP! came to Austin and Joe during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. Not wanting to do a “Covid” movie, they took a look at history and a broadscale emergency of 100+ years earlier during the Spanish Flu of 1918 and made that the period setting for COUP!. As we saw unfold in real-time in 2020, a global emergency has a way of exposing the vulnerabilities of the “haves” and the “have nots”. Sadly, nothing has changed in that regard since 1918, but this is where the creativity of Austin and Joe kicked into high gear. Positing the question, what if the blue-collar working class and laborers on whom our daily existence is so dependent turn the tables on those so reliant on them? What if those essential workers who provide food and medicine and emergency care suddenly revolt and refuse to perform their duties? And what if the setting is 1918 in a wealthy family setting in a mansion on an isolated island, cut-off from the mainland due to quarantine, and where the servants decide to exploit the isolation and take control of the household, eliminating the idea of subservience? But there is still that one family member who will not acquiesce or adapt and tries to battle the staff for control of the situation?
The result is dark, twisted, wry, hilarity punctuated with touches of whimsy, delivering socio-political commentary on every level from a very metaphoric battle of vegans versus carnivores, to women being relegated and chained to the home, to feminism, to crime, to the class system, to race and immigration, to yellow journalism, even World War I, and more. COUP! focuses on the societal situations and inequities of the time, providing different observations and interpretations through each character as the hierarchy is challenged from within.
The beauty of these battles and commentaries comes primarily courtesy of Billy Magnussen as wealthy journalist and “war correspondent” Jay Horton and Peter Sarsgaard as Floyd Monk a con man turned chef in the Horton household. It’s Monk who orchestrates the coup within the Horton household, all to great success. While Jay rails against the world in his fabrication-filled newspaper columns with an attitude of “the end justifies the means” no matter how much integrity is lost, Monk subtlety pontificates about the injustices of life and works from within to woo not only the rest of the staff to his side but Horton’s wife and two children. The story itself would fall flat were it not for the skill and talent of Sarsgaard and Magnussen. Sarsgaard is rapier with a witty, snide, sarcastic note that leaps off the screen while Magnussen counters that with a frenetic, self-centered, haplessness. And yet, even within Monk’s COUP!, he still exhibits a generosity of spirit towards Horton. Watching these two at play is a masterful character study.
Already well familiar with Austin’ and his work thanks to “The Runner” and “The God Committee“, it was wonderful to watch COUP! and see this different side to storytelling and growth in his directorial skills, both of which I attribute to the collaboration with Joe, especially after speaking with the two of them in this exclusive interview. Their wit and thought processes is fascinating to listen to as you hear each of their personalities come forth and ring true in our conversation, allowing one to immediately recall scenes and specific dialogue in the film and knowing who that came from.
Diving deep into COUP! with AUSTIN STARK and JOE SCHUMANN, we broke down the various elements of the film from script to screen and more, including but not limited to:
- genesis of the story; making it a period piece versus the present day; focusing on the class struggle and socio-political story and not the illness of the time
- the benefit of a 1918 Spanish Flu setting allows for showcasing the uncanny similarities between past and present (Covid and lockdown)
- casting
- dark comedic beats
- multiple themes
- how the personalities of Austin and Joe, and their friendship, influenced the creation of the film; humor, and imagination
- approach to developing well-defined characters
- location, location, location; the Blairsden Mansion, the Gould Mansion, and the Lyndhurst Mansion all in New Jersey; importance of the Gilded Age mansions; preserved interiors and furnishings
- storyboarding and its importance in piecing together several mansions to create the fictional Horton Mansion
- production design and working with Deana Sidney who is also a historian
- visual design, lighting, and lensing to create tone
- working with cinematographer Conor Murphy; rich, polished, saturated
- creating an intimacy through lighting and framing, particularly in scenes with the family and staff
- progression of visual grammar with distancing and low-angle shots to emphasize the separation between the family and staff with Jay and his isolation
- night shoots; night for night (stunning!)
- balancing comedy and suspense
- finding the “Coup!” tone; directing a comedy with that unique tone
- balancing creative control between two directors
- benefits of co-directing and co-writing
- co-writing and infusing both of their personalities into the story
- working with editors Harrison Atkins and Alan Canant to find the “Coup” tone
- working with composer Nathan Halpern; finding the musical tone with whimsy
- and so much more!
TAKE A LISTEN. . .
by debbie elias, exclusive interview 07/23/2024
COUP! is now in select theatres!
