https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Kevin-Lewis-edited-MISDIRECTION.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n <\/p>\n
Director KEVIN LEWIS goes in-depth discussing MISDIRECTION.<\/p>\n
SYNOPSIS:\u00a0 Set over one long night in a glass-walled modern house, MISDIRECTION follows a couple, Sara and Jason, who are planning that one final heist that will set them up for life before leaving their life of crime behind.\u00a0 Everything goes smoothly until things don\u2019t. \u00a0Their target, wealthy lawyer David Blume, returns home unexpectedly and stops their escape in its tracks. \u00a0But Blume is neither the easy mark they thought him to be nor the person they thought he was; but then, neither are Sara and Jason.\u00a0 As the night spirals out of control, the pair find themselves caught in a web of secrets, deception, and deadly consequences.<\/em><\/p>\nDirected by KEVIN LEWIS with script by Lacy McClory, MISDIRECTION stars Frank Grillo, Olga Kurylenko, and Oliver Trevena.<\/p>\n
*****<\/p>\n
After several films rooted firmly in genre \u2014 from the grindhouse insanity of Willy\u2019s Wonderland<\/em> to the visceral sprawl of Pig Hill<\/em> \u2014 director KEVIN LEWIS takes a deliberate detour with MISDIRECTION, a sleek, neo-noir thriller set almost entirely inside a modern glass house over the course of a single night.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s a bold shift on paper, but in conversation with Lewis, it quickly becomes clear that MISDIRECTION isn\u2019t a departure so much as a recalibration. Genre labels matter far less to him than geography, performance, and emotional pressure \u2014 and here, all three converge inside one transparent structure filled with people who may be lying to us.<\/p>\n
Lewis is quick to draw distinctions not between \u201chorror\u201d and \u201cnon-horror,\u201d but between what each script demands. MISDIRECTION traps its characters \u2014 and the audience \u2014 inside a single location, where the house itself becomes an active participant in the storytelling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith this, you\u2019re trapped in this house with these characters, and the idea that that house is a character\u2026\u201d Lewis explains. \u201cWith Willy\u2019s<\/em>, you\u2019re trapped in a pizza fun land for kids. With this, you\u2019re trapped in a house.\u201d<\/p>\nThat distinction matters. Where Willy\u2019s Wonderland<\/em> uses its location to drive heightened genre mechanics and spectacle, MISDIRECTION relies on proximity, faces, and time. Shot over fifteen nights in Serbia, the film leans into handheld immediacy, tight close-ups, and an escalating sense of unease that comes not from monsters, but from people watching each other \u2014 and hiding things in plain sight.<\/p>\nThe entire project crystallized the moment Lewis saw the house.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhen I saw this house and the sexy modern vibe to it, it felt like David would live here,\u201d he says. \u201cHe would own this house. That was the one I was like, \u2018We\u2019ve got to shoot it.\u2019 I knew that was our movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
The script was reshaped to fit the architecture \u2014 including relocating a pool inside the house \u2014 so that story mechanics, blocking, and tension were literally built around the space. The structure\u2019s defining feature \u2014 walls of glass \u2014 immediately dictated both the shooting schedule and the visual language.\u00a0 “The whole film lives inside those walls, so the house had to be as strong a character as anyone on screen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a pure glass house, so we had to shoot at night,\u201d Lewis notes. \u201cAnd that provided different challenges. But once I saw it, I knew that was our movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glass became both an aesthetic and an obstacle. Lewis and cinematographer Matti Eerikainen designed the film around reflections, negative space, and what remains unseen, transforming transparency into a weapon.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhat you see and what you don\u2019t see \u2014 that\u2019s where the tension lives,\u201d Lewis says, citing Hitchcock as a guiding influence.\u00a0 Because the home is a pure glass box, Lewis and DP Matti couldn\u2019t cheat.\u00a0 \u201cWe had to shoot at night and design every shot around reflections and negative space \u2013 what you see and what you don\u2019t see is where the tension lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
At its core, MISDIRECTION is a performance-driven thriller. Lewis repeatedly emphasizes that action is never the starting point \u2014 it\u2019s the result.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s primal,\u201d he says. \u201cJealousy, anger, all these dark emotions that take over you. Every character thinks they\u2019re doing the right thing. They\u2019re the hero of their own story.\u201d<\/p>\n
That philosophy drives his camera choices. Tight close-ups dominate the film, allowing micro-shifts in expression to communicate truth, deception, panic, and control.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want tension, you do tight shots on a face,\u201d Lewis says. \u201cNothing can substitute a face.\u201d<\/p>\n
That approach gives Frank Grillo room to bring his trademark coiled intensity to David, a man whose sharp wit and barely contained violence make every exchange feel combustible. Oliver Trevena, wearing both producer and actor hats, adds emotional volatility as Jason \u2014 a wounded wildcard whose charm and hurt keep loyalties constantly shifting. And Olga Kurylenko anchors the film as Sara, carrying guilt, resolve, and uncertainty with an openness that never lets the audience fully settle.<\/p>\n
Lewis made a deliberate choice to present Kurylenko without glamour \u2014 minimal makeup, a natural look that removes any barrier between the audience and Sara\u2019s emotional state.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIf you\u2019re going to go rob a place, you\u2019re not glammed up,\u201d he says. \u201cKeeping Olga natural was about protecting the emotional core \u2014 what would really happen with these characters.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision wasn\u2019t cosmetic; it was foundational. With the camera pushing closer and closer, Lewis wanted nothing distracting from Sara\u2019s inner life. Every flicker of doubt and resolve plays directly on her face, reinforcing the film\u2019s moral gray zones.<\/p>\n
Despite its contained setting, Lewis chose to shoot MISDIRECTION handheld with anamorphic lenses \u2014 a combination that marries intimacy with scale.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a contained script, so on paper you don\u2019t \u2018need\u2019 widescreen, but I grew up in the cinemas of the 70s, 80s, and 90s,\u201d he says. \u201cMovies look a certain way. Shooting anamorphic gave this one-house story that big, vintage feel while still staying right up in the characters\u2019 faces.\u201d\u00a0 The result is a widescreen frame that breathes with the actors \u2014 expansive enough to emphasize isolation, yet close enough to feel suffocating as the night unravels.<\/p>\n
Working with longtime editor Ryan Liebert, Lewis designed the film\u2019s tension as a gradual escalation rather than a single spike.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do a slow burn in the opening,\u201d he explains. \u201cOnce they get into the house, everything just starts going haywire.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cutting pattern evolves from wider compositions into increasingly tight close-ups, culminating in extreme facial intimacy shot on longer lenses. Repeated digital clock inserts remind us that time is a factor, while flashes of weapons, blood, and reflections punctuate the mounting anxiety.<\/p>\n
Sound design becomes especially crucial in the third act. \u201cIt turns into this hellish world,\u201d Lewis says, describing how audio was layered to trap the audience inside the characters\u2019 unraveling psyches.<\/p>\n
Among all the technical precision, one of the film\u2019s most quietly powerful elements is Bob \u2014 Sara\u2019s battered stuffed dog.<\/p>\n
Lewis credits instinct for the choice. After reviewing multiple options with the Serbian production team, one stood out immediately.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhen I saw Bob, I was like, \u2018That\u2019s it.\u2019 It just spoke to me,\u201d he says. Olga agreed instantly.<\/p>\n
Bob becomes an emotional anchor \u2014 a small, fragile object carrying the weight of love, damage, and loyalty. In a film about deception and moral compromise, he\u2019s a reminder that tenderness and hurt often coexist.<\/p>\n
Lewis is emphatic about acknowledging Oliver Trevena\u2019s role beyond the screen.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMost people call themselves producers,\u201d he says, \u201cbut Oliver is a true producer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trevena assembled the project from the ground up \u2014 securing the script, bringing in Kurylenko and Grillo, and introducing Lewis to Eerikainen. MISDIRECTION exists because its pieces were intentionally brought together, not merely assigned.<\/p>\n
What emerges from MISDIRECTION isn\u2019t a rejection of Kevin Lewis\u2019s genre roots, but proof of control. By stripping away spectacle and leaning into faces, space, and time, Lewis shows a filmmaker comfortable enough to let tension simmer \u2014 and confident enough to trust performance over excess.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a film about confinement, but also clarity: a reminder that sometimes the most dangerous place to be trapped is a room where everyone thinks they\u2019re telling the truth.<\/p>\n
TAKE A LISTEN. . .<\/strong><\/h2>\nby debbie elias, Exclusive Interview 01\/26\/2026<\/p>\n
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MISDIRECTION is available on digital on February 10, 2026, from Cineverse.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
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