We Got This Covered: I’m glad you mentioned bravery, because I wanted to ask about Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan’s performances, which I’d describe as brave. Did they require any motivation for some of the more “uncomfortable” scenes, or did they dive into this material head first?
John Krokidas: Times are changing, man! The craziest thing was, it’s the industry people who get worried about that shit – the hard part wasn’t finding actors who could play gay characters, but finding actors who hadn’t JUST played gay characters. Honestly, those scenes were broken down just like we’d break down any scene, and it was really about the emotional content underneath and making sure we portrayed it accurately. I will say though, the one thing that drives me fucking nuts in movies – there’s always a couple things that audiences pay attention to. If an actor is playing the piano, we’re all looking to see if they’re really playing. When two actors are making out, we’re looking to see if they’re really kissing and if there’s emotion behind it. I hate what I call “fish kissing,” when you see the lips just bumping up against one another, so I may have suggested and directed to them that there needed to be tongue involved to really sell the kiss.
We Got This Covered: It’s true. Their kissing felt very organic and real. When characters have chemistry like that, how easy does it make your job as a director? Dane and Daniel’s chemistry was so perfect, it almost appeared that they didn’t need any direction at all…
John Krokidas: If that’s how it looked, then we all did our jobs well. First off, you have to cast properly, and you have insist on doing things like chemistry reads to see if it’s even there. Once I saw the spark of it there, I fought to make sure that Dan and Dane had time to get to know each other before the production. They went on supervised dates with me at first, but then I left them alone. I let them get to know each other and become friends, and hang out with each other, then we did – I stole this method from Francis Ford Coppola. I fought to have a week of rehearsals, then we improved scenes that weren’t in the movie, so you weren’t worried about trying to recreate any magic you did in rehearsal, but it allows you to start feeling out your character and making connections to the people. Those improvs were actually so good, we stole several of them and put them in the movie.
That’s a process of casting right, getting the time to get to know your actors and let them trust you, and for you to trust them, then giving them the time to really build a relationship with each other, and then rehearsing as much as you can. It was like a combination of those four things – sorry, you know what, you’re right. The fifth thing is knowing when to get the fuck out of the way. When everything is working is when not to mess it up. In fact what I often did with Dane – each actor, you learn, has different needs, and what I would often do with Dane is give him a couple of different directions, and then with the last take take I’d say, “Dane, now I want you to tell me to shut the fuck up and do it exactly how you want to do it.” The great thing about this is everyone feels free, like they can try something different and new. It gave him a chance to bring something new to the table.
We Got This Covered: So what’s some of your favorite poetry, since this movie surrounds a literary revolution.
John Krokidas: My favorite poetry? The works that immediately come to mind are those that have a deep connection with me because of the specific piece. Out of Ginsberg’s work, “Kaddish” is the most emotional to me. I had an emotionally ill parent, and dealt with similar issues as an adolescent, and those memories to me are some of the most haunting, romantic, and effective, so that I think is the poem that has the most special place in my life. Let me leave it with that one. To me, with this movie, with the characters that I’ve been working with, the poem really says everything to me.
We Got This Covered: So what can we expect next from you? What’s the next project you’re working on?
John Krokidas: You and I will have this conversation in a couple of months. [Laughs] Let’s just say whatever I do next I have to realize, and I have to be as passionate as I was about [Kill Your Darlings]. You’ve got to go all the way, and you don’t go all the way unless you truly care about something. We’re working on it, you’ll find out soon.
We Got This Covered: Well it looks like I’ll just have to follow up in a few months then, won’t I?
John Krokidas: [Laughing] There you go!
I’d like to thank John Krokidas for this exclusive interview, and be sure to catch his phenomenal film Kill Your Darlings when it’s released on October 16th!
