Mimi Cave’s “Fresh,”Now on Hulu, it is truly disturbing.
It’s the story of a young woman named Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones), who thinks she has found the man of her dreams in Steve (Sebastian Stan), who she meets at a local grocery store. But as she prepares for a romantic weekend away, she discovers who Steve really is – and it’s utterly terrifying. You could be imprisoned for saying more. However, we will admit that the movie takes a sharp, subversive and sometimes very funny look at modern courtship. It also examines male/female power dynamics as well the wealth gap. It’s a doozy.
We sat down together “Fresh”Lauryn Kahn, screenwriter, will ask you all the questions that you probably had after watching.
Spoilers “Fresh” follow. You can watch the film on Hulu, and then return for seconds.
Where did it all go? “Fresh”where do you come from?
It was a combination of many different things. It all started out of a desire to create a horror movie.
As a child, I watched them grow up and loved them. My best friend was my elementary and middle-school teacher. When they were too young, I became scared of them and had nightmares. Okay, now I can watch the trailer and see all the spoilers but still loving the ride that a horror movie brings you on, wanting to kind of put a different genre spin, or a tone spin on it, and being inspired by this tone that’s emerged that kind of says, “It’s okay to have everything if it’s grounded and you believe these characters.” In real life, it’s funny, it’s scary. It’s like, in a split second, many different things are happening. That was the challenge.
Did you look at particular movies as inspiration?
It was a bit like being in the “Get Out,” “Killing Eve,” “Barry,” “Parasite,”More recently, I am able to recall what it was like. Whoa. You can do all of the things, and it’s okay. It was sort of like permission to explore where there’s like real violence and real stakes and real fear, but also well-placed levity to even it out. Because personally when it comes to horror, I can’t live in the darkness the whole time. I don’t find that fun.
I would love to be able to enjoy a ride with such a bizarre subject. I love those movies and would even consider making one. “Squid Game” now, not that it inspired me, but seeing that it’s all different things. There are moments of levity, and then there’s just such shocking violence, all of that.
Writing was not easy without the knowledge that actors were necessary for success.
Oh my God!
What were you thinking when Daisy and Sebastian signed up for the program?
I was referring to the fact that I had seen some of this. “Normal People,” and I think what was most exciting is you can tell she’s just so amazing, but she was so gung-ho. There wasn’t a moment of hesitation. It was almost like: “I get this, and I want to just do it and immerse myself in it.”It was exciting because she seemed to really get what we were trying and made her grounded and real. She also understood the how and why of this happening to women.
And she’s so talented. Sebastian was the same. He, I think, was scared in a good way of this role and to immerse himself and to make it his own and to do this crazy research, to watch him talk to criminal psychologists and do all this research on serial killers, it was so amazing to see the way they just dove inhead first. After actors sign on, you have to make it work for them. “Okay, this feels more natural.” Or, “I wouldn’t say it in this moment.”This was also a lot of fun.
Did the music cues get written into the script
I have to say, Mimi’s really good with music, so there were discoveries along the way, and things that changed, of course. And there were music cues written in all the way through, knowing that we probably couldn’t keep a lot of them. Mimi and me chose the one we liked. “What do we have in the moment that we need in the moment?” And that was, we kept Peter Cetera’s “Restless Heart,” which is – spoiler – it’s in the first surgery. Then? “Golden Girls,”The theme song to “Golden Girls”It was an essential one.
Was there was some deliberation in terms of how early to introduce Sebastian’s villainy?
It was more like a double entendre when I was writing it. The camera was making more eye contact with me early on and that was more for the reader. More like double entendres, things he’d do, things he’d say that didn’t really feel right once we were getting ready to film, and it was just showing too much of our hand.
For me, the most important thing was to believe him as an audience. You wanted to question and feel like you’re on this ride of this romance that’s starting, and to say like, “I may have fallen for this. I may have gone there. He is a really good manipulator. He’s a sociopath, he’s a psychopath, but this could have maybe happened to me.”It was all about getting the audience to pay attention before you pull the rug out.
Did you know the name of the organization he works for?
I have mentioned this before, but I’m fascinated with the uber-wealthy and the darkness that is probably permeating around them of when you get to a certain wealth level. This was also touched upon in a recent article. “Squid Games” – when you can have everything at your fingertips, what, at that point, is bringing you joy? You can have everything. What brings you happiness? And years ago, I’d heard a dark story about someone uber wealthy that stuck with me. I think that there’s a fascination with that and the idea of something bigger. It’s not just him doing this, but there are people involved, and it’s network. This is just like what’s happening with dark web, black market, cryptocurrency and other evil things. God, I hope it doesn’t actually exist, but I’m sure some fucked up things do.
Let’s talk about his wife.
Mimi and myself kind of want to let the audience know a little more about her backstory. But I think most people can understand what she represents, as far as holding up the patriarchy and supporting something that doesn’t have her best interests in mind at the end of the day, but maybe wants a certain life and is accepting a certain fate. Or maybe she’s become the mastermind. Her character is open to interpretation which I find am quite fun. And I have my own ideas, but it’s interesting to see what Mimi thinks and what people have watching it thinks. Her exact identity, I believe, is open to interpretation.
There’s an emblem on the dinner plates that nod to the occult. This group may be a manifestation of black magic.
Mimi and the art department worked hard to create this emblem. It has many symbolism layers. It speaks to many different things, just like if you break down the stake, the goat’s head and one eye. And there’s a lot of depth to what it’s saying, and it was definitely chosen for a reason in that occult secret club way that, I think, was definitely particular and very intentional.
This content will debut on Hulu. They will need streaming content. Have you considered a “Fresh”anthology, more adventures within this universe, or something like that?
Some people mentioned the sequel, or how you would play it out.
Really?
You mean in conversation. Not like this is… It was more like, “How would you build up that? What does that next chapter look like?” And I’ve sort of thought about it. I’m definitely addicted a bit to this tone and this genre. I have another idea for more of a TV show that I’m toying around with that’s a fucked up dark thriller with some weird levity. I don’t know about in particular this world, but some elements and themes from it are definitely inspiring me for my next idea.
“Fresh”Hulu is streaming it now