Summary
What place would dare screen a film that has the audacity to be calledFucktoys?
At the annualSouth by Southwest Festivalin Austin, the boldest and most daring movies are embraced.
No plot description will prepare you for the bizarre but touching eccentricities of the film.
image via SXSW
Check out the video above or the full transcript below for even more from this crew.
Fuck it, let’s call itFucktoys."
COLLIDER: I am thrilled to be able to talk to everyone behind the filmFucktoys.
Image by Photagonist
Let’s start with the most important thing right up front.
ANNAPURNA SRIRAM: Well, they were a lot more harsh than that.
It wasn’t just Google and movie posters.
Image by Photagonist
you’ve got the option to’t do it, honey.
And so, I did.
I said, You know what?
Image by Photagonist
I think art has no rules.
Fuck it, let’s call itFucktoys."
No one will have seen the movie yet, so how have you been describing it to people?
Image via Lionsgate
SRIRAM: I like to use the phrase wanton minx.
That’s the way I like to describe myself.
She thinks that she has a curse.
That’s the vibe.
It’s an adventure.
It’s a road movie adventure.
Image by Photagonist
I should also commend you because you wrote, starred, and directed.
What didn’t you do?
Did you move the lights?
Image by Photagonist
SRIRAM: No, I wasn’t allowed to touch those C-stands.
I was like, “We have other people for that.”
[Laughs]
SADIE SCOTT: But she was getting crafty for people.
SRIRAM: I was getting crafty; I was location scouting; I did find our goat on Facebook.
FRANCOIS ARNAUD: [Laughs] The goat itself was on Facebook?
SRIRAM: The owners were on Facebook, and they were like, “I saw you onThe Blacklist!
hey use our goats in the movie.”
They drove over from Mississippi.
We found the moped.
I was happy to jump in.
It was COVID, so I didn’t really have a lot else going on.
I totally get it.
BRANDON FLYNN: For me, Annapurna has always been a longtime friend and supporter.
We went to the same university and acting school and studied under the same acting teacher, Kevin Kittle.
She sent me the script as soon as I started working on13 Reasons Why.
My whole team was like, Uh, you’re not going to do a movie calledFucktoys.
SRIRAM: And he killed it.
FLYNN: I killedsomething, yeah.
ARNAUD: My rep didn’t even get the emails because they got filtered out.
They went straight to spam.
We had problems with that.
SRIRAM: Then they were like, He’s not available.
I was like, We’re friends!
ARNAUD: I was like, “No, I want to do this movie.
We talked about this movie before there was even a script.”
ARNAUD: I read itthe day of, and I loved everything about it.
I knew I wanted to be in it.
I texted her pretty much every day for, like, months.
SRIRAM: They were DMing me, calling me
SCOTT: I just knew I could do it.
SRIRAM: I just got choked up.
I think with Sadie, I felt like I saw myself.
I know what it’s like to be a struggling actor.
My mom told me maybe I should reach out, and I felt that.
I’m honored to actually give you the opportunity.
SCOTT: We were also pretty lucky because this character is not me at all.
I knew I needed time.
I really needed time with this character, and I was able to get that.
On set, the character really came alive in a lot of different ways, in unexpected ways.
I just felt like a proud stage mom watching my kids.
SRIRAM: Big Freedia nails it.
Lorrie Odom, who plays another psychic.
I saw her first tape, and I was just like, This person’s in the movie.
We’ll figure out which part she is.
She has to be in the world.
That’s absolutely something that happens.
You’re directing and starring, and obviously, that’s a huge responsibility and challenge.
What is it like for you?
You do a lot of stuff in this movie.
When do you know you have a take?
SRIRAM: That’s a good question.
I’m still trying to figure that one out.
Everyone’s a little bit different.
Did this land?"
He was kind of my sounding board for that.
ARNAUD: Annapurnas such a dropped-in actor.
I buy it all.
I also feel like a lot of what I do is just taking in other people.
SCOTT: It also created such a collaborative experience on set because you were directing and acting.
You would askmeif it felt right.
I think it made everyone, the actors, the crew…
The cinematographer, Cory [Fraiman-Lott], also knew what the world was and what you needed.
Everyone was able to be like, “Yes, that was it.”
I got the opportunity to almost dress rehearse, shoot the film as a director behind the camera.
We already knew everything going into it.
You thanked Jesse Eisenberg in the credits.
How did he get a thank you?
SRIRAM: Jesse is an old friend of mine.
I did his playThe SpoilsOff-Broadway, and then we did it in London.
He immediately wrote back and wrote me notes.
Throughout my entire development of the script, he was abreast of every draft that I was writing.
He’s always been like, Yes, 100%.
Of course, I’ll do that.
Him and Daniel Scheinert have both been these bizarro guardian angels ofFucktoys.
He is a really nice dude.
He came in forSecret Mall Apartment, which I recommend.
It comes out later this month.
SRIRAM: They’re really getting into them, aren’t they?
[Laughs]
Im saying it badly!
SRIRAM: Sex work is work.
I do think that there are so many different forms of sex work.
That’s a transaction.
ARNAUD: Shaking hands at the Apple party is also some sort of sex work!
I think we need to decriminalize it and destigmatize it.
SCOTT:Decrim NYis a great organization thats working in New York to decriminalize sex workCecilia’s Act.
There’s so much in the media, but it is also actively happening in states.
I agree 100%.
I think that sex work is just another version of that.
SRIRAM: It’s really just her job.
You’ve seen it.
That’s how I know about the curse.
For all of you guys, you see the shooting schedule in front of you.
SRIRAM: Well, Brandon really just hadhismoment.
FLYNN: A couple of moments.
I only shot one day, and it was circled, squared, diamonded.
I was very excited.
It was an interesting day.
FLYNN: Yeah, it was, for sure.
[Laughs] I was very excited.
I went and got hair extensions back in L.A.
I think we hadbrieflytalked about them.
There was no, like, “Do it.”
SRIRAM: All of the aspects of his character and his performance came out of his creative mastermind.
I was just like, Here is your sandbox.
Whatever toys you want to bring into the game, use it, don’t use it.
It’s all here for you.
ARNAUD: And he brought a toy!
I don’t want to spoil it, but he did bring a toy.
SRIRAM: One I never really knew existed, honestly.
I was like, “Damn, okay!”
FLYNN: Actually, we had the intimacy coordinator, who is also a domme in the city.
Troy and I were texting back and forth.
She was giving me all these links to stuff.
I was just like, Does this exist?
This sort of sock thing?
She’s like, Oh my god, yeah!
And you might get one with tentacles!
I was like, “Alright!”
SRIRAM: Troy is a very old friend of mine.
I was like, “Well, for sound, we can’t really use the plastic.”
I would also say Sadie brought a lot of their own self to the character.
In your scene specifically, when you take your shirt off, you have binding.
ARNAUD: I just got a spray tan.
It didn’t really show.
[Laughs]
SCOTT: And a bleach job.
FLYNN: You did!
SCOTT: I was scared to film everything, I have to say.
There wasn’t a single scene that I wasn’t absolutely terrified of.
SCOTT: I wassoscared.
Are you kidding me?
I think the first scene that we shot, I was peeing on someone.
ARNAUD: Was that the scene that you had starred in the script?
SCOTT: I starred every scene.
I was like, I don’t know how I’m going to do that.
Every single project I’ve done, I have had that thought.
This one, especially.
I remember getting on set and being like, I am so terrified.
I don’t know who I am.
It’s going to be okay.
It’s going to be fine.
Janet Gaynor won her Oscar for 3 (yes, 3!)
SRIRAM: This is so vanilla!
This is a very vanilla interview, considering some of the stuff that’s in the film.
SRIRAM: We need, like, a fluffer.
ARNAUD: It has a real tender heart.
SRIRAM: There’s also this beating heart of sweetie-pie-ness in the movie.
I also want to just plug that in while we’re fluffing everyone!
I hate saying this, but I have to stop with you guys.
I really am so happy you got to make this.
I’m assuming it’s for sale?
SRIRAM: I mean, what isn’t?
[Laughs] I feel like you keep setting me up.
Im not trying to!
I really hope it gets distribution, and people get to see it.
I look forward to talking to you about more of the specifics.
I do love the movies here at SXSW, and it’s a great place to promote.
That’s our dream.
We want this movie to be a theater experience, not a streaming experience.
I want it to be likeRocky Horror[Picture Show].
I want my audience to dress up, to sing along, to throw things at the screen.
I don’t know, do a line of coke with everyone!
To get to be a part of Trashtown!
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