It’s time to get to knowThe Strangerdirector,Veena Sud! While on an episode ofCollider Ladies Night, Sud went into detail on crafting a story for the Quibi platform, using the Turnstyle technology and developing an antagonist who’s an especially smart and troubled psychopath withDane DeHaan. In the series, DeHaan plays Carl E., a guy who becomes obsessed with playing god in a sense by using algorithms to predict behavior. The target of Carl E.’s latest experiment?Maika Monroe’sClare, an aspiring writer who’s new to Los Angeles.
In addition to talkingThe Stranger, we also spent a good deal of time going back to the very beginning when Sud was first introduced to one of her greatest influences,Alfred Hitchcock.
“You know, it was my parents. They had no filter in terms of what we were allowed to watch at any age, and so at a very young age, I was watching probably material a four-year-old should not be watching. And Hitchcock was really my first influence. My parents were huge fans of Hitchcock, watched everything and so four-year-old me got to as well! I was a little bit older when I watchedPsycho- not that much older - and it was traumatizing. [Laughs] But it also instilled in me a great love of story, cinematography. You know the shot of Janet Leigh’s eye and the drain, I’ll never forget. It was seared into my brain. The whole idea that a picture says 1,000 words was so clear to me as a young child. That started a whole journey of collecting photographs, of looking at photography, of watching film.”
Given the fact that Sud has such a strong connection to Hitchcock and that this is an industry that loves rebooting and remaking the classics, I had to ask Sud if she’d have any interest remaking a Hitchcock film. Here’s what she said:
“I think the classic Hitchcock I would love to take a whack at, and Gus Van Sant did that in I think it was 2000,Psycho. And it was very interesting in how he reshot it using I think every single frame that Hitchcock shot. Thinking about male toxicity in the film, thinking about misogyny in the film, thinking about killing off a female character in the way she was killed off, the female hero, etc. It would be really interesting to do a feminist take.”
Again, that right there is only the very beginning of Sud’s journey to film, television andThe Strangeron Quibi. For more on her experience directing episodes ofThe Real World, getting to serve as showrunner for the first time onCold Case, collaborating withRegina KingonSeven Seconds, and more, check out the full chat in the video interview at the top of this article. Or, if you’d prefer, we also have the full conversation in podcast form for you below.
