We chatted with actor/director Katie Aselton (wife of filmmaker Mark Duplass) recently; the filmmaker doing the rounds of promotion for the DVD release of “The Freebie,” her directorial debut also starring Dax Shepard. The disc arrives on January 11th, so pre-order and add to queues appropriately: this one’s a solid, nerve-wracking relationship piece, one that would fit appropriately in a double-feature with “Blue Valentine” — that is, should any cold-hearted theater curator ever have the gall to do such a thing.
Success of the film has attracted loads of directing offers, but instead she has opted to work on another personal script, this time branching out incredibly. “It’s a thriller, something bloody and gory and beautiful,” Aselton said of her next movie. “I hope its within my wheelhouse but if feel that it’s beyond me then I’m probably going to call in back up… but it’s definitely going to happen, regardless.” Switching up her playbook even more, this new thriller will have a traditional script unlike “The Freebie” which was worked from a short outline and a lot of improv. “Mark and I are batting the story back and forth right now. This one will be fully scripted because there’s a lot more action.”
We’d certainly like to see what she comes up with. Combining her sensibilities with a genre picture should prove to be an interesting experiment to say the least. Aaron Katz’s “Cold Weather was a highly rewarding attempt at infusing mumblecore realism and genre elements, carving out a solid mystery story with lively, authentic characters.
Speaking of her husband, Aselton dropped just a tiny bit of information regarding the highly anticipated Jason Segel/Ed Helms comedy “Jeff Who Lives At Home,” Mark and Jay Duplass‘ follow-up to their excellent 2010 breakout film, “Cyrus.” Aselton, who has a small part in the movie, spoke of her short time on set. “I had a cameo, I was in one scene with Jason Segel, and for the very first time in my career I was asked to be the straight man, which was a little hard,” she laughed. “But he was very funny around me. It was great.” When pressed for more, such as a release date or further plans, she simply replied “They’re still cutting it.” Probably sensing our disappointment at details, she closed with “It’s very good though.” More from this interview next week.
