Genuine conversations are hard to come by, but I was lucky enough to find a very relaxed Ethan Embry and Pat Healy the day after their tremendous premiere of Cheap Thrills at Fantastic Fest last year. In my review out of SXSW, I wrote, “On the surface, Cheap Thrills is a terrifyingly gnarly look at our human limits, but underneath is a cleverness and exploration of its themes that truly shine.”
Embry didn’t have the opportunity to catch the showings at SXSW, where it also won the audience award for the midnight series, but he was thankful to have been present during its raucous premiere at Fantastic Fest. During our talk we focused on life in and around a film festival. Healy goes on to talk about how many friends he has made during festivals and how much genuine networking he does. The two also discuss what it’s like away from the screen, after the film is in the can. Do you hang out with each other?
It’s a great conversation that has no spoilers whatsoever, so check out our complete interview below before or after the limited theatrical release of Cheap Thrills this weekend before its gradual expansion. One can also head over here to read our conversation with director E.L. Katz.
The Film Stage: How much does the festival circuit drain you, but perhaps give you new life?
Pat Healy: You always get physically tired at the end of it but my entire career, which I’ve done all kinds of things, is mainly known from these independent films. The main relationships that have become my working relationships are people that I’ve met at film festivals where we’ve watched each other’s work and hung out. That’s how I met Ti West, that’s how I know David Gordon Green from way back and that’s how I met Craig Zobel. I met these guys, we all know each other’s work and we wanted to work together. We hang out. For me, doing independent films and the festival circuit are everything. And the nice thing about it is there’s this term “networking,” which in Hollywood is an artificial thing, but when it’s here, at Fantastic Fest, it’s like minded people coming together to hang out.
Ethan Embry: Last night kind of hit that rejuvenation chord. What we do is we perform in a bubble. Musicians, they make their album in a bubble, then it’s released but they also take that album on tour. They get the instant gratification. An artist who paints his pictures in a bubble, he places them up at the gallery and gets that gratification. We made this movie a year ago, and last night was the first time that I saw what we did land. And I’ve got to tell you, it was very, very gratifying. It feels good.
Healy: Yeah, it’s nice because sometimes all you get is the experience of making it. And you’re lucky if that was even a pleasurable experience. Then it’s a good movie and there’s that. But for it to play like that and be there for it, it was great. I’ve done sketch and standup comedy, and you get the instant gratification that way, but it’s not as nourishing because a laugh is this ephemeral thing. So this kind of thing is very lasting. This movie is really, really important in my life. I look back and I chart the course of my life and in a way, this performance, sums up my life. I get to do everything under the sun in this movie. I’m really proud of it. But yeah, that feeling of being at a festival when something lands… it was different with Compliance because it was so polarizing and people were angry. Like 50 people walking out and yelling at me in the lobby. It’s been nothing but love for this one.
Embry: I think between this and Brotherhood, it’s my best work. I’d throw this as my best work because it also has these comic elements, too. It triggers all of the emotions.
The cool thing about film festivals is that you get to make your film, and spend time away, and then reunite for a film. So, do you talk about the film and reminisce when you get back together during your free time or do y’all just chat about other things?
Healy: It’s funny because we had a somewhat complicated relationship because we got into our characters a little bit too much and the movie was chaotic. So we didn’t speak for a long time. But we only met right before we did the movie.
Embry: I don’t ever do that anyways.
Healy: Right.
Embry: I fucking hate actors.
[Healy and I laugh]
Embry: I mean, when you spend 17 hours a day for three weeks with someone in a room, you don’t want to hang out anymore.
Healy: But we had these really explosive things in the film and the movie premiered like gangbusters at SXSW and I was like, “Does he hate me?” I’m insecure, so I called him and left him a message. He was up in Canada. We didn’t connect but I got this message from him and it was the sweetest thing. I still have it on my phone. So I was like, “All right.”
Embry: We’re good. We’re good. Like I was saying before, we have different personalities. But I have a lot of respect for you, as an actor.
Healy: Likewise. And as a person. I was walking down the street a couple of months ago and I hear “Hey!” and I turn and see this guy that I don’t recognize because he looked completely different than he did in the movie and he’s with his son skateboarding.
Embry: We left the house around 10 in the morning and ran into you around 4 or 5.
Healy: That was the first time I had seen him in the year since I made the film and he looked settled. Same with me. During the film I was going through all sorts of stuff and now it’s nice getting back together during a good period in life for the both of us. But we’re different people. We’re not really going to hang out a lot.
Embry: And I hate actors.
[All laugh]
Cheap Thrills hits theaters and more VOD platforms on Friday, March 21st.