Partners in Crime: David Joseph Craig and Brian Crano for I DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU

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Writer/director duo of David Joseph Craig and Brian William Crano’s film I Don’t Understand You follows is, at its core, about two gay men, Dom and Cole, wanting to become dads. It’s funny, heartfelt and horrific, making for one of the most charming films you will watch this year. In an effort to avoid any cliches, the story sets on a trip to Italy as the couple, on the verge of adopting a baby, embark on a vacation — the perfect opportunity to reconnect before the arrival of their son by their birthmother, Candice, played by Amanda Seyfried. However, the film doesn’t end up where you would expect as the picture-perfect trip spirals out of control as their zero comprehension of the Italian language leads to one horrific circumstance after the next in hilarious fashion. Brian and David took time out to answer some questions…

Where do I begin with this film?! I will say that it’s one of my favourites of the year so far. It’s perfectly paced and so full of life… and… death. You bloody sickos.

Brain Crano: Thanks, that’s nice to hear. 

David Joseph Craig: Sickos is the best compliment. Thank you!

How do you work as a writer/director duo?

BC: We decided early on in the process to just share the labour pretty evenly. For us, everything is character-based. So once we had a handle on the characters and the situation we were going to sink them into, we started writing together. Often the question is -- what’s the worst thing that we could do to them…? 

JDC: Directing together is great as well. On set it’s really nice not to have the entire burden of coming up with good ideas alone. And decision fatigue is real. You’re answering thousands of questions a day. So it’s nice to be able to share that. 

Director dads. Co-writers and directors Brian Crano (left) and David Josph Craig (right).

I Don’t Understand You is obviously a very personal story for the two of you. It’s almost autobiographical, except for the murders… I hope! How did your own personal journey with the film begin?

JDC: We went through a long adoption process similar to that in the film, one with quite a few struggles. We had an anniversary trip to Italy planned and a few days before we found out that we matched with the birth mother of our son. So there was this intense emotional flurry while we were on vacation. 

BC: We did get stuck in a ditch in extremely rural Italy and kind of freaked out. Which was more about how much our lives were about to change than fucking up our rental car. So when we told the story to some friends, they were like -- this is a horror movie. We thought so too… but then our son was born and that was amazing. So we were sitting around the house with him and kind of just started writing. 

JDC: It was also the pandemic. So we had plenty of time to be creative.

Taking a break. Cole (Andrew Rannells, left) and Dom (Nick Kroll, right) escape to Italy before they become dads.

The film is such a wonderful genre mash. What made you want to dress such a personal story in all the trimmings of a good horror, thriller and comedy?

BC: I think this is just what life is like. People are more emotionally complex than often the film business gives their audience credit for. So it’s just kind of a mission to skew out of these neatly contained genres. 

JDC: Also, we are gonna stick jokes in anything. That’s just how we operate. We’re always interested in surprise and that feels like the filmmakers’ primary gift to an audience. There’s so much media that everyone consumes and most of it plays the same chords. So we’re always drawn to things that shake the viewer out of a passive role.

“I hope [the audience] realise they have seen a film with gay characters as the leads who weren’t coming out, the victims of a hate crime...”

— Brian Crano

As with any good movie you have delivered a couple of characters who shine here in Dom and Cole, played so impeccably by Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells. We immediately love them and wish the best for them. How important do you feel this is once the worst happens to them?

BC: Yeah, this is super important. We don’t really mind if they are likeable… some things that they do are, and some not. But we did want the viewer to be on their side. The relationship that they created in the film was real and very much them. Andrew and Nick really do love each other and it was evident that we could push the characters as far as possible as a result.

Following on from this, what do you feel the crux is that we are still rooting for them?

JDC: I think it’s very relatable that everything they are doing they are doing for their kid. And that buys them a lot of goodwill. Also, they can be so hapless, there’s an element of clown to it all. And once it becomes a farce, the audience can relax in the absurdity of it and still root for them. Hopefully!

I couldn’t help but think of James Whale’s The Old Dark House (1932) and Eli Craig’s Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010). Were there any specific films you felt became part of the DNA of your film — personal favourites, shorthands to refer to while filming?

BC: There’s a film I love that Eugene Levy made called Once Upon a Crime. That is something I watched a lot as a kid. It’s full of desperate characters behaving badly and it’s so funny and silly. So that’s one that was on my mind. In terms of building the kind of blunt percussive stunts that are in the film, we thought about Nash Edgerton’s iconic short films: “Spider,” “Bear” and “Shark.” Nash worked on IDUY with us and it was just great to have that collaboration. 

JDC: To be additive, because I love everything Brian mentioned, I think we both really pull from the extravagance of bonkers 90’s films that were given a budget one could only hope for — Death Becomes Her, True Lies, Die Hard — just to name a few. Where if we connect with the characters in the first act we can take them anywhere.

Stuck in a ditch. Things are about to go from bad to worse.

We have to talk more about the location. Isn’t Italy fantastic? I’m interested to hear how different it was filming in Europe as compared to the US.

JDC: It was just an insanely positive experience. The crew was wonderful. Everyone on the crew down to the PAs had read the script, which I haven’t experienced in the US. This just made everything easier, people would pitch ideas, and everyone understood the work that was ahead for the day, so it was really beneficial. 

BC: Also, there was an element of magic to the experience, the whole production had a really lovely vibe. Casting is also a much more humane process in Italy. Actors are afforded more time to prep and audition and you really get to know the talent through the process. We really enjoyed how that worked.

I specifically loved the contrast between this optimistic and hopeful sunny glow the film has before Dom and Cole are stuck in the rain and… well… things go from bad to worse.

BC: Yeah there is something so wonderful about Italy visually… like beautiful vineyards can look so cheery in the day and at night it turns spooky very quickly. We wanted to make sure to capture the most heightened version of both.

JDC: Italy feels warm to everyone. We wanted to put the audience at ease with vistas and pizza before we shocked them.  

Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells are so good in this. It’s not just their chemistry; their comedy timing and quirks are so perfectly delivered throughout. I’m interested to hear about the process here, whether improvised, rehearsed, or both?

BC: As I mentioned, Andrew and Nick have been friends for a long time so there wasn’t this thing that happens where you’re asking actors to invent an entire backstory. They have shorthand and bits and a lot of trust between them. We rehearsed a bit, and tried just to make sure they were comfortable with our approach and where the characters were at each point in their journey. 

JDC: We didn’t put two-and-two together until after we cast them, but they are both well-versed in comedy duos, Nick with John Mulaney and Andrew with Josh Gad. They gave each other space to take the reins. They’re both such natural improvisers, that we were happy to have them pitch stuff. Sometimes it wasn’t even lines, it was just a look or a double take. There’s something so nice about working with actors who can be grounded and real and silly at the same time.  

The central premise of miscommunication is so simple. Yes, it’s a comedy device, but it felt as though it’s also an observation of how people lack communication, irrespective of language barriers. In short: ignorance. And you play with this without an ounce of cynicism… it’s just so hilariously throwaway.

BC: Yes.

JDC: Thank you, yes. 

Things got worse. All things comedic and horrific ensue.

Irrespective of Dom and Cole’s relationship and the stakes of becoming parents, we see them become the typical city boys lost in rural terror. They become the “other,” the foreigners. It’s so clever how you use these fears and flip them so effectively through this constant misunderstanding.

JDC: I think this came naturally as gay people who grew up when it was more dicey. You’re sort of used to considering your surroundings and accessing your safety, and sometimes that warranted and sometimes it’s ludacris. But it’s instinctual. So yeah we were very interested in forcing the characters into situations where they would feel under threat, and playing a game with the audience where they can have a different point of view… 

Amanda Seyfried brings so much heart to the film. I love how you embed a mother’s love throughout, even with Nunzia Schiano’s misunderstood matriarch, Zia Luciana, where tragedy so quickly becomes (black) comedy.

BC: Amanda is so incredible in the film. She really brings a lot of love to the character and honours the weight of the decision that birthmothers take on when placing their children with adoptive parents. We wanted to make clear that her character is the hero of the film. We also just love that Zia Luciana has her own needs that she’s expressing through this encounter. Haunted by a memory of her own son, she almost is using her guests in a sweet way. And then just when the viewer is caring for her and wondering what her motives are, there’s a turn. But again, you have to care for her for the film to work.

There’s a great use of music throughout the film that feeds into this contrast between "feel-good" and terror.

JDC: We worked with Danny and Saunder on the score, who I had previously worked with on Joel Edgerton’s films, The Gift and Boy Erased. 

BC: They are just so good at making music that is incredibly tense, but that begs the question — what are the characters tense about? So, in some moments, they are very tense that there is horror going on around them and in some moments, they’re tense about becoming fathers.

What do you hope audiences take away from the film?

BC: For me, I hope they have some big laughs and then maybe a tense argument with their partner about if these guys should get away with it. Pulling back to 30,000 feet though, I hope they realise they have seen a film with gay characters as the leads who weren’t coming out, the victims of a hate crime or suffering through the AIDS crisis. They also aren’t especially nice or helping a straight white woman with her messy relationships. They just want to be dads. 

JDC: I would love great Letterboxd reviews… no, I kid. I love our film, and I really want people to enjoy it together. It’s a partnership film at its core and I think, I hope, when people watch it, they will see a part of themselves and a part of someone special to them in it.

I Don’t Understand You is released on June 6th.

I Don’t Understand You is in theaters starting June 6. Tickets can be found here.