PD: Your latest film, Queen Mary, is surprisingly inspired by a YouTube video. What drew you to adapting from that source?
AC: I was just scrolling through YouTube one day in my bed and stumbled across this series of videos Shane Dawson did where him and his boyfriend and some friends would go in a haunted place and film it. I particularly was intrigued by the Queen Mary video which I thought could be a good jumping off point for a movie that was scary yet said something about society.
PD: You first film, Life of a Champion, ends on a bit of an open-ended note. Are we going to see more of those characters in the future?
AC: Life of A Champion is intended to be a trilogy of films. I just finished the script for the prequel which focuses on Charlie and his dissent into the life of crime and how he turns from this dude to this ruthless killer in the first film. After that we will have a sequel which will wrap up the story. I think the prequel will clarify some criticism from the first film. A lot of the reason that film is not universally acclaimed is due to the fact that they didn't buy Dane DeHaan as a killer but in this new film it's like "Breaking Bad" where you see that transformation.
PD: What are some of your favorite films from the studio?
AC: I really enjoyed Somewhere, Somehow. I really liked the music and the performances and the directing by Chad Taylor. I also really enjoyed another Chad Taylor project A Farewell to Arms, it's an adaptation of a book I really love. I also really enjoyed the original Grand Theft Auto which was directed by the Safdie Brothers who are really cool filmmakers.
PD: What's more important to you, box office success or critical acclaim and awards?
AC: For me, I think critical acclaim. Box office is important, but I want to hear how my film is working with the critics and the audience. When you read reviews it helps you work on your flaws and how to do better work in the future. Obviously a box office success that works with critics is the best and wins awards is the best, but if I had to pick one or the other it would be critics.
PD: What's next for you?
AC: I'm working on a lot of things obviously finishing the trilogy is a priority. My other exciting thing is I wrote a really funny, hip indie movie called Hippies in New York that's going to happen soon. It's set in the 1970s and it's set in New York and it's about a love triangle, and it's directed by Greta Gerwig, and has some really cool young actors that I don't want to reveal. I also working on three quote unquote biopics. I say quote unquote because I'm doing them non-traditionally. The most far along was is an adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank, and I'm developing two others. One on Danielle Bregoli AKA Bhad Bhabie, which I'm co writing with H.G Hansen and it's interesting because it's going to be like a mockumentary and Mary Harron of American Psycho fame is potentially directing it, and another one I don't want to reveal just yet which I'm also co writing. Another thing I'm working on is my directorial debut which is about a kid played by Timothee Chalamet who is gay and suicidal and goes to a psychiatric ward and encounters some interesting characters. It is semi autobiographical because I'm bi and when I was a teen I checked into a psychiatric ward and some of the things that happened in the film happened to me. It is very exaggerated though, like there is a villain who I took elements from nurses there who were mean and I created this really ruthless villain character named Andrei.
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