With Control Freak now streaming on Hulu, we were recently able to catch up with director Shal Ngo (The Park; Bite Size Halloween) and stars Kelly Marie Tran (Raya and the Last Dragon; Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi) and Miles Robbins (Blockers; Halloween) to talk about their brand new body horror film that's guaranteed to send a chill down your spine.
In the film, Kelly Marie Tran plays a motivational speaker who is tormented by an unrelenting itch on the back of her head, which ultimately leads to the most devastating of showdowns with something not of this world.
Talking with the trio, they tell me more about where the idea for the film originated, how Tran was able to tackle one of the most challenging roles of her career, how both Ngo and Robbins were able to help her get in the right headspace, and a whole lot more.
Watch our full video interview with Kelly Marie Tran, Miles Robbins, and director Shal Ngo below and/or keep scrolling to read the transcription. Plus, please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more exclusive content!
ROHAN: Shal, where did this idea of this feature initially originate?
SHAL: So, part of the idea was that this happened to a real woman, like this actually happened to someone. They itched a hole in their head. So, I was reading about that and just learning about some of the neural feedback loops and this different stuff that happens in the brain. And initially, the movie was about like a video game program, or living with her dad, who had aphasia and couldn't speak. And, it was just a little bit too technical, a little bit too deep in the science of it, and the philosophy of it, without enough grounding in it. So, it took another pass and brought a lot more, weirdly, more more personal details about my family and some of the people in my family and the different struggles they had. And, so it sort of organically evolved into something that I think was a little bit more relatable along the same themes. But, it started with that, just the fact that someone actually did this.
ROHAN: Kelly, you're playing this character that is going through this extreme situation, but is still putting on a facade for the world, acting like things are normal, when things are absolutely off the rails. When you read the character for the first time, what did you find relatable? Or what immediately stuck out to you?
KELLY: I don't think it's that unique of an experience to feel like you have to present yourself a certain way while you're really broken inside. And, I think that, on a first read, I recognized parts of myself in it, but also parts of people that I know. I think we're living in a really weird world where I think anyone who is public facing in any way, or even people that just, you know, like my parents, who are very working class, like I still believe that they have this desire to sort of present a certain image in their communities, and maybe have a fear of being really vulnerable and actually sharing what's really going on. So, I related to that immediately, and I think Shal and I spent a lot of time, like having conversations about what that would manifest like, and what were the tactics this person was using to try and hide these parts of herself from not just the people who watched her motivational speeches, but also from Robbie, her husband and partner, but yeah, intense stuff.
ROHAN: Miles, your character sort of finds himself on the outside looking in. He's forced to watch his wife go through this traumatic experience and can't really do much about it. How did you approach that challenge?
MILES: Yeah, well, I mean, first off, I just like to say that Kelly did such an amazing job with the real brutal work that she had to do, and so my first priority on this was to be support for her in real life too, and to be someone as a co-star who could help her through this more difficult job than what I had to do, which was be Robbie. But, my interest in the character was really, you know, how difficult it is to love somebody and want to help somebody when they're going through something that they are only able to help themselves, you know, it's kind of, I think, important through line with this film, is that at the end of the day, we are, you know, our best support system. We have to take control of our lives in a way that doesn't undo us. And sometimes, you know, carry ourselves out of the muck, but then at times, it's also a matter of allowing others to help you, and that's a very difficult thing to do for some people. And, I think, as a partner to somebody who's going through something like this, it can be very frustrating, but requires a real patience and grace to help someone when they have a hard time letting you do that. But, yeah, I find it very tragic to be in that situation, but you try your best and hopefully, in the end, we have a happy ending.
ROHAN: Shal, he third act gets extremely creepy, without too many spoilers, how much of that third act was practical and how much was CGI?
SHAL: So, basically, most of what you're seeing is what's there. There's a practical creature. There's practical effects, but there's a whole layer that's kind of put on top of that. So, most of the gore is happening, and the biggest use of the effects was really to amplify it in different ways. So, in terms of like, when you're seeing ants crawling on surfaces, there are very few actual ants on the set at any time, but, there is a creature there. We tried to do as many things practically as we could. One aspect of it, which I can spoil, is that we didn't shoot very much underwater at all. Almost all of that is dry for wet, which I think the team just did a fantastic job, the lighting and the VFX on that and bringing the underwater parts to life, because there is some stuff that shot underwater, and there's some stuff that shot with, you know, Kelly on a wire rig in a warehouse.
ROHAN: Kelly, for a lot of the movie, you're essentially performing a one-woman show where you're acting opposite yourself - what kind of challenge did that present?
KELLY: Honestly, I really believe that Shal and the crew made such an incredible environment where it really felt like I was being supported all the way through creatively. So, on the day, like, I don't know, maybe Shal, you can speak more to this, but I just felt as if we would try something and then we would try something else, like it really wasn't - It wasn't that hard to imagine a circumstance when everyone else was sort of so supportive, and we had all the pieces that, when there was a monster, there was a monster there. Yeah, I don't know, Shal, what are your thoughts?
SHAL: I think, yeah, I think you just did such an unbelievable job on this movie, and you came in so prepared, and, I mean, Miles knows this too, from his turn as his character from Daniel Isn’t Real. It's so draining for a performer to play someone like losing your mind, and it was so physical, and I just feel like Kelly is the kind of performer that does her homework and comes to set, almost like an athlete, in a sense, you know what I mean, where she understands how much energy it's going to take, and she's able to tap into those emotional spaces. I know we chatted about it a lot beforehand, but there were definitely a couple scenes where we would try different things, and Kelly would just be, I would be talking to her about something, and she would be like, okay, let me try something, and, she'd end up just trying something, and that's what made it into the final cut. That happened more than a few times, in the mirror scene, there's a mirror scene that happens, and a lot of that is Kelly being like, let me try something, and then she tries something, and it's fantastic, and then, it makes the cut. So, I think, at that point, once we're working through it together, there's some sort of, yeah, the world is built and established, and now, we're trying things out and living in the world, immersing ourselves in things, and just going in different directions. And, I guess there's like a level of experimenting and seeing where you go with that. But, that, to me, was really, really fun to watch, specifically Kelly’s performance.
KELLY: I think that, and like those types of things can only be done if the environment is welcoming of that. So, to have Shal and to have the crew, and also to have Miles who, did Daniel Isn't Real, and was giving me straight up advice about how to get through those situations, because I had never done anything like this before, and it was such a comfort, like really, without Miles, I would probably be dead. Honestly, it was just a very supportive environment all around and I think that's the only way to make something like this in the confines of how we made it.
A motivational speaker is tormented by an unrelenting itch on the back of her head. Control Freak premieres March 13 on Hulu.