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An in-depth exclusive interview with director MAXIME GIROUX discussing the crime thriller IN COLD LIGHT.<\/p>\n
SYNOPSIS:\u00a0 Ava is freshly released from prison and fighting to reclaim her criminal empire\u2014only to be framed for murder and hunted by both the police and a ruthless crime boss played by Helen Hunt. As the walls close in, Ava is forced to confront her estranged father (Troy Kotsur), turning a fractured family bond into a brutal fight for survival.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Directed by MAXIME GIROUX, with script by Patrick Whistler, IN COLD LIGHT stars Maika Monroe, Helen Hunt, Troy Kotsur, Jesse Irving, and Allan Hawco.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n For director Maxime Giroux, IN COLD LIGHT was never meant to be a conventional crime thriller. Even before the film\u2019s structure, pacing, and visual grammar evolved in unexpected ways, Giroux was drawn to the project for its refusal to explain itself too neatly \u2014 and for a protagonist who moved through a brutal, male-dominated world without apology or adornment.<\/p>\n The script by Patrick Whistler, which came to Giroux via producers Mike MacMillan and Yanick Letourneau, immediately stood out for two reasons. First, there was Ava \u2014 played by Maika Monroe \u2014 a woman navigating power, violence, and survival on her own terms. Second, the story itself resisted familiar narrative signposts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason why I was interested by this movie was because of the character,\u201d Giroux explains. \u201cAnd the second reason\u2026 is because the script is really unexpected. We go in different directions. I\u2019m a little bit tired of all those things that all look the same.\u201d<\/p>\n For Giroux, surprise is not a gimmick but a philosophy. He gravitates toward cinema that trusts the audience to observe rather than be instructed \u2014 a sensibility that would become central to In Cold Light as the film transformed during production.<\/p>\n A Film That Learned to See Differently<\/strong><\/p>\n That transformation began in earnest when Troy Kotsur was cast as Ava\u2019s father, Will. In the original script, Will was not deaf. The moment Kotsur entered the conversation, however, the film\u2019s emotional and visual architecture shifted.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Troy Kotsur was suggested, it completely transformed the film,\u201d Giroux says. \u201cSuddenly, there was an extra barrier of communication between Ava and her father. It changed the script itself\u2026 it changed everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Making Will deaf introduced not just logistical challenges, but a deeper psychological framework for Ava. Communication became fragmented, internalized, and restrained \u2014 qualities that define her presence throughout the film. Growing up without the need to shout or verbalize, Ava absorbs more than she releases, a trait that sharpens her survival instincts and isolates her emotionally.<\/p>\n The change also rewrote the film\u2019s visual language. Sign language had to be honored clearly and consistently, reshaping blocking, framing, and coverage.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to see the language,\u201d Giroux explains. \u201cSo you cannot do a close-up. You cannot do a wide, wide shot. You have to stay in the middle shot.\u201d<\/p>\n ASL experts were present on set \u2014 one to facilitate communication between Giroux and Kotsur, another stationed at the monitor to ensure accuracy and performance continuity. Subtitles became essential, but the real work happened in the camera\u2019s restraint. The film learned to listen visually.<\/p>\n What began as a casting decision ultimately redefined the film\u2019s emotional grammar, deepening Ava\u2019s silence and giving the story a layered tension that dialogue alone could never provide.<\/p>\n A 24-Hour Descent, Shot in the Dark<\/strong><\/p>\n Structurally, IN COLD LIGHT unfolds over a continuous 24-hour period \u2014 a real-time conceit that placed enormous pressure on both production and post-production. Scenes could not be rearranged or removed without collapsing the logic of Ava\u2019s physical journey through the night.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason why it was challenging to edit this movie,\u201d Giroux says, \u201cit\u2019s because it\u2019s taking place in 24 hours. You need one scene after another. Even if a scene is not working well, you need that scene because she has to move from one point to another.\u201d<\/p>\n Compounding the challenge were night shoots in Calgary, where true darkness lasts only five to six hours during the summer months. Sunset hovered near midnight; sunrise arrived before dawn. Every night sequence became a logistical puzzle, demanding precision from cast and crew alike.<\/p>\n Despite the constraints, longtime editor Mathieu Bouchard-Malo shaped the film\u2019s rhythm with purpose. The opening stretches remain observational and measured, allowing the audience to absorb the landscape of crime, family, and power. Around the 40-minute mark, the film accelerates sharply \u2014 a \u201croller coaster,\u201d as Giroux describes it \u2014 before slowing again for an unexpected emotional landing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the roller coaster is happening, the pace is super fast,\u201d he says. \u201cBut at the end of the movie\u2026 the roller coaster is over. She needs to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n A Visual Grammar Built on Trust<\/strong><\/p>\n That sense of control amid chaos is inseparable from Giroux\u2019s decades-long collaboration with cinematographer Sara Mishara, with whom he has worked for nearly 28 years.<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot do a movie without her,\u201d Giroux says simply. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to talk a lot. We understand the script in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n Together, they envisioned IN COLD LIGHT as a \u201cfilm noir in color\u201d \u2014 stylish but imperfect, raw rather than polished. Influences ranged from Cassavetes\u2019 grainy intimacy to the neon-inflected melancholy of Paris, Texas. The goal was to avoid the immaculate gloss of contemporary streaming aesthetics in favor of something rougher, more animalistic.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want it to be raw and greedy and animal,\u201d Giroux explains. \u201cJust like the rodeo.\u201d<\/p>\n Handheld camerawork dominates, anchoring the audience firmly in Ava\u2019s point of view. Lighting becomes narrative \u2014 nowhere more powerfully than in the backyard ASL scene between Ava and Will, where a motion-sensor light flickers on and off as their fractured communication surfaces.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems simple,\u201d Giroux notes, \u201cbut it\u2019s not simple at all.\u201d The scene took an entire night to shoot, with electricians cueing light changes live to match emotional beats. The result is a quiet turning point \u2014 a visual metaphor for connection, rupture, and exposure.<\/p>\n Chaos, Blood, and the World Closing In<\/strong><\/p>\n That raw aesthetic extends to the film\u2019s most volatile environments, including the rodeo sequences shot at Ponoka, outside Calgary. Denied access to the family-oriented Calgary Stampede, the production embedded itself in a real rodeo with a live audience \u2014 capturing key moments in mere minutes amid noise, animals, and unpredictability.<\/p>\n Animals proved far more challenging than the film\u2019s youngest cast member. Despite dire warnings, the twins who played Ava\u2019s brother’s baby were, in Giroux\u2019s words, \u201cperfect.\u201d Horses, cows, and bulls, however, added another layer of controlled chaos to an already demanding shoot.<\/p>\n Visually, the film grows increasingly confrontational, with extreme close-ups of blood and reflective surfaces forcing characters \u2014 and viewers \u2014 to confront their complicity in the violence. The world presses inward, mirroring Ava\u2019s psychological free fall.<\/p>\n Women at the Center of the Storm<\/strong><\/p>\n While IN COLD LIGHT unfolds in a criminal underworld dominated by men, Giroux is deliberate \u2014 and unapologetic \u2014 about centering women within it. Ava\u2019s primary adversary, Claire, is played with icy authority by Helen Hunt, whose introduction \u2014 bare feet propped on a desk \u2014 instantly defines her dominance.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was her idea,\u201d Giroux says with admiration. \u201cYou understand the character just by that position.\u201d<\/p>\n For Giroux, these choices are not statements but instincts. \u201cIt\u2019s not about saying, \u2018Let\u2019s make a badass movie about a woman,\u2019\u201d he explains. \u201cIt just happened that the character was a woman. For me, it\u2019s normal.\u201d<\/p>\n What the Film Left Him With<\/strong><\/p>\n By the time IN COLD LIGHT reached completion, Giroux emerged with his convictions reaffirmed rather than rewritten. The film was more difficult than anticipated \u2014 technically, emotionally, logistically \u2014 but its success rested on something simple and fundamental.<\/p>\n \u201cTo do a movie like this,\u201d he reflects, \u201cyou need a great team behind you. It\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Surrounded by longtime collaborators and actors willing to let the film evolve, Giroux allowed IN COLD LIGHT to become something more layered, more silent, and more observant than initially imagined \u2014 a crime film that doesn\u2019t shout its intentions, but watches carefully as its protagonist fights, endures, and ultimately survives the night.<\/p>\n by debbie elias, Exclusive Interview 01\/20\/2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n IN COLD LIGHT is in theatres on January 23, 2026.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n