I’m a big believer that when a cast and crew are passionate about the material, have that extra special collaborative spark, and feel supported in their working environment, that kind of positivity and enthusiasm radiates off the screen. you’re able to certainly feel it inKestrin Pantera’s last feature film,Mother’s Little Helpers, and now you can feel it in her latest,Pretty Problems.
Written byMichael Tennant,Britt Rentschler, andCharlotte Ubben, the film stars Tennant and Rentschler as Jack and Lindsay. Things aren’t going quite as hoped for them professionally, financially, and romantically, but they get an opportunity to spice things up in a very unexpected way. One day, Lindsay meets Cat (J.J. Nolan), the wife of a self-made billionaire,Graham Outerbridge’s Matt. They hit it off and, on the spot, Cat invites her and Jack to spend the weekend at their wine country mansion along with Matt’s equally wealthy friend, Kerry (Alex Klein), and his current arm candy, Carrie (Ubben). While there, Jack and Lindsay indulge like never before, giving them a taste of living in excess while also calling into question what really matters to them.
WithPretty Problemsnow in theaters and on-demand, Pantera, Rentschler, Nolan, andVanessa Chesterwho plays Cat’s on-call Shaman, Gigi, all took the time to chat about their experience making the movie. Rentschler kicked us off by pinpointing how the story idea came to be:
“I think it really isn’t more complicated than the old adage for indie filmmaking, which is use what you have. And so the idea came about because we were able to get our hands on the property, and that was a friend of the family lending one of their properties when they go to one of their other properties while they’re in Europe at another property. Anyway, they were very happy to let a bunch of scrappy filmmakers come in and use their home, and so that is where it was born … It was really the inspiration and we thought, ‘Wow, what would it be like to be invited into this place and think all at once, I wish I had it, but also do I belong here? What have I done with my life? What is happening?' And we kind of toyed with the idea of it being a little tense, and a little bit of a thriller, which we pulled back from in a lot of ways as we leaned more into the comedy as we started to develop the story.”
Given the fact thatPretty Problemsis an often hilarious comedy of limitless wealth, wine, and over-the-top entitlement, it was surprising to hear that the script once skewed more thriller. As Pantera explained, that’s the version of the script they were working with during early table reads. “I remember being confused around the first read and was like, ‘I don’t totally understand this right now.’” She added, “It wasn’t gelling and I think everyone kind of sensed it in their solar plexus when you’re like, ‘What’s happening?’” Rentschler also added:
“We kept getting feedback like, ‘Oh, well, if it’s a horror story, what about …’ and we’re like, ‘Oh no, no, no, no, we gotta pull back because if people are picking this up on the page, then we’ve got to modify a few things.’ There was a crazy dream sequence that got cut. That was the most misleading part. But it was really fun. It was fun to write but ultimately, if it’s not serving the story, it’s gotta go.”
That’s not the only element ofPretty Problemsthat underwent some very successful workshopping before finding a pitch-perfect fit. Initially, Nolan was playing a totally different character. “I was playing the role that Charlotte ended up playing, Carrie.” However, Nolan’s audition for Carrie inspired Ubben to swap parts.
While it’s easy to assume both Ubben and Nolan could have excelled in either role, it’s also hard to imagine anyone striking such a winning balance between for Cat of being an alluring and very generous host and also being alarmingly frivolous and detached from reality than Nolan. Rentschler added:
“I’m gonna blow up JJ a little bit because JJ came in and auditioned for Carrie, because Charlotte was like, ‘I’m gonna play Cat. This is gonna be fun.’ And then JJ came in and did such an amazing job. It was so hysterical! It was unbelievable! And we got out of the casting session and Charlotte was like, ‘Yeah, I think I might want to play that part.’ [Laughs] She had such an acting crush on JJ. And so Kestrin intervened and talked to JJ because she had brought JJ in to audition in the first place, and luckily, everybody was really happy to switch and now I truly couldn’t imagine it any other way. I think everybody landed right where they needed to be.”
Another individual who landed right where they needed to be? Pantera, for quite a few reasons. Inspired bythis conversation withAlice, DarlingdirectorMary Nighywho referenced a comment made byJoe Wright, that a director should take scripts they feel they know a secret about, I opted to ask Pantera for herPretty Problemssecret. Here’s what she said:
“What my secret was in this movie is that I grew up in a really small poor town that’s [in] the middle of nowhere that had the highest teen pregnancy rate and crystal meth in the state of California. And then, at a certain point, I went to this crazy, crazy school for high school that was in a castle on a hill. It was like Harry Potter going to Hogwarts where you’re like, ‘What is going on?’ And I ping ponged between these places of insane disparity, and you kind of learn how to chameleon into different situations. And also, when you’re like 13 years old, maybe you’re not quite as threatened by it because you don’t realize what’s going on. You just kind of grok in and you grok into both situations, and so later on in life, in my 20s, I was like, ‘Oh, that was a really uniquely weird experience, but it hasn’t helped me in the chameleon department.’The other part was in throwing crazy ass karaoke parties and my secret — not secret; I go to Burning Man. I love going to crazy insane parties and throwing them even though my experimenting with substances career ended before my college year ended, so I’m pretty sober, but I still like hanging out and being around it. And so, making a movie where people are doing all these crazy romps is kind of my favorite place to live because it’s not actually happening, but you get to experience it and recreate it.”
Another reason why Pantera proved to be an ideal leader on this production? Her ability to create a working environment in which everyone feels supported. Here’s how Chester put it:
“I feel like we’ve all had the pleasure of being on different sets, whether it built us up or broke us down, and something that was so special about this set was just a bunch of really grounded incredibly compassionate human beings that were like, ‘Hey, we’re all just having fun together in an adult way, but we can also be respectful.’ I was only there for a couple of days and there was just so much mutual respect. Every single person was there to support each other and I feel like that’s a testament to why this film is so awesome, is because everyone was there to support each other. There was no hierarchy. There was no inability to speak up if you felt uncomfortable, and I feel like as a performer you have to feel grounded and safe in a space to do that, and it starts with the director and it was just a massive trickle down effect, and you could feel it with every single person.”
Looking for more from teamPretty Problems? Be sure to check out our full 35-minute conversation in the video interview at the top of this article!
Also,Pretty Problemswon the SXSW Audience Award for a reason. It’s a wickedly sharp, delightful, and downright hilarious debaucherous romp featuring a team of hugely talented creators operating a peak performance. Don’t miss the film in theaters or on-demand now.
