The film will be released on September 6th by A24. I had the opportunity to talk to Sam & Max Eggers about The front roomher new horror film with Brandy, Andrew Burnap and Kathryn Hunter. From her personal connection to the source material to working with the cast to balancing humor and horror, read on to learn more about her experience producing The front room:

The front room is based on the short story by Susan Hill. What was it about the story that appealed to both of you that made you want to write and direct the film?

Max Eggers: We have been fans of Susan Hill for ages. The Woman in Black is just incredible. We got the story from our producers and it’s a really great short story that touched us a lot. When we read it, we had been looking after our grandfather and (his health had deteriorated), so we knew exactly how we wanted to adapt it because we could bring our personal story into it.

It definitely works on so many different levels. And as a recent caregiver myself, it really resonated with me. Can you talk about that process and how you ended up with Brandy, Kathryn Hunter and Andrew Burnap?

Max Eggers: We were lucky that they were willing to do that. Without everyone involved in the film, but especially Brandy and Kathryn, the film wouldn’t be what it is. We were so lucky.

Sam Eggers: I don’t know if we had any difficulties with casting, but people were afraid of it. With Solange in particular, we asked a lot of people, and the reaction from some agents was, “You want my client to do WHAT on camera? Is this a joke?”

The studio worked with Kathryn on Joel Coen’s Macbeth. We knew Kathryn, of course, from other works we had seen, but when we saw her on screen as the witches in Macbethwe thought: “That’s Solange, if we’re that lucky.”

We sent her the script and she understood what we were trying to achieve. When you talk to her, she’s very happy to talk about the dark side of life and deal with it. And of course she’s a very physical performer too, so I think she was able to really embrace the idea of ​​standing on those two sticks and having that accent. We were very, very, very lucky that she was willing to do what we asked of her.

In fact, she often asked for more. There are a lot of scenes where she’s covered in stuff, and she literally stood there and said, “Put more on me. I need more. This has to be more.” I think that’s rare for someone who can be so open as a performer.

As gruesome or shocking as some parts of the film are, there is also a lot of humor in it. How did you try to balance the humor and horror of the story?

Max Eggers: First of all, for us, when you’re caring for someone, things are often scary and hilarious. Or at least when you open a door, it could be either (everything’s OK) or something completely bizarre. From the very beginning, when we were adapting Susan Hill’s story, which is really terrifying, we really wanted to bring the surreal and bizarre into it, because that’s what it was for us.

And I would say, from a cinematic point of view, we obviously tried Rosemary’s Babywhich is frightening, but also funny in a way. Anyway What happened to Baby Jane? was a big film we talked about because it successfully subverts the genre. It’s so uncomfortable and funny, but also grotesque and sad. The characters have real pathos and it’s full of tense moments too. (Those two films) were guiding lights for us in terms of tone.

And especially when you have someone like Catherine and someone like Brandy who are up for anything, the chemistry between them is just there. They really went for it. We wrote the script, but they just shone and made it so much bigger than we expected.

Kathryn Hunter is definitely the force that runs through the film, but equally powerful and grounding everything in reality is Brandy. Her character Belinda is the one who has to experience all these horrific things and Brand really manages to ground this film in reality and make the audience feel sorry for her after everything that has happened. Can you talk about working with Brandy on set?

Sam Eggers: I think they inspired each other and they definitely inspired us. You need the heart of the movie and that’s Brandy. You need someone to look at and root for while all of that is happening. Because when you’re going through that, we wanted a Cinderella and she’s our Cinderella, going up against the most evil stepmother of all.

We were shooting a (shocking) scene and Kathryn turned to Brandy and said, “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me for doing this to you. That’s not who I am at all,” and we carried on. They loved each other so much and I think they inspired each other endlessly on set.

Max Eggers: It wouldn’t have been possible to do the things we asked of both of them if they didn’t love and support each other. They both inspired each other, as Sam said. We were so blessed because you never know what the chemistry is going to be like, especially when you’re shooting during COVID. When they all met on Zoom as a family, we knew the chemistry was great. They made each other better every day and were a joy to work with.

Sam Eggers: Everyone had personal connections and when you do a film like this, and especially with a role like Belinda, she’s in every single scene, almost every single shot. It’s a lot of work. Without Brandy’s commitment and her sensitivity to what Belinda was going through, it wouldn’t have worked and she does such an incredible job.

The house seems like a character that also undergoes a “transformation” over the course of the film. The set is like its own living, organic thing. What was the process of finding and decorating the house like?

Sam Eggers: Again, we were very lucky until the last second. We were looking for a house to shoot in and found this abandoned house that hadn’t been open for two years. Our location manager said, “I don’t know if this will work. It’s pretty run down.” But we went in and it was perfect.

Max often says that the place looked like Bergman’s The Shining – The Wonderful World of Madnessbecause when you went in there was a furry wallpaper. There was a front room with a black and white wallpaper with people dancing.

Max Eggers: With blood red carpet. It was so weird. But it was perfect for what we needed. The layout was right and it just had that vibe. And then our production designer, Mary Lena Colston, is incredible and our cinematographer, Ava Berkofsky, they’re amazing and were able to work together to, like you said, affect this living being.

One of the greatest things Mary did for us is the dining room. That’s changed quite a bit. Mary called it the menstruation room because she put up this blood red wallpaper that’s torn like a womb. It was really what we were very interested in, using the staging in a theatrical way to tell the story. I’m really glad you got involved with that because all the credit goes to Eva and Maria and their teams for making it a tangible and impactful story.

Sam Eggers: When you’re caring for someone, the house becomes confining, but you also don’t recognise it anymore and you start to think about the eeriness of it all. It was important to us that each room had a distinctive look and colour, not only for the audience’s sanity, but also to show what it’s really like to go through what Belinda goes through.