Interview: Alex Conn

In this edition of Interview, Last Resort Films president Phil Dolan interviews Alex Conn (The Host, Life of a Champion) where they discuss Conn's directorial debut, Oh Johnny Boy.

PD: You're now the third writer for the studio to direct one of their own scripts. What is it about this particular story that made you want to direct?

AC: For me it's probably my most personal project. I was looking back at a time when I was in a hospital as a teenager and I remember an orderly that was particularly scary and I thought it would be an interesting idea for a film and at the same time I'm bisexual and I wanted to tell a story about a guy accepting and embracing his sexuality. At the same time I saw Somewhere, Somehow which was amazing. So for me it was a personal project and I couldn't imagine another director doing it.

PD: Isla Vista did not turn out to be the critical darling many expected. What do you think went wrong with that project?

AC: I've discussed it with Chad Taylor and we came to the conclusion that we focused too much on an unlikable character which was Elliot Rodger and he was always a bad character unlike The Tower which was a slow descent into madness.

PD: You've now had eight films produced by the studio. How do you think you've grown as a writer over that stretch?

AC: I think I've grown as a writer a lot since I started. I was very much a new writer when I wrote Life of a Champion but I have learned to ask friends for feedback. I've also learned how to write personal screenplays like Oh Johnny Boy and how to make them entertaining and emotionally resonant at least I hope

PD: What's next for you?

AC: Next season I have some adaptations. I have The Diary of Anne Frank and I Am the Cheese which are both books that I really love and then I have The Letter J which is an original screenplay that I'm working on that Kogonada who directed Cascade which has elements of my adolescence and is personal and then I have an adaptation of The Virgin Suicides which is very much a re-imagining and I'm excited for people to see it.