Interview: Alex Conn

In this edition of Interview, Last Resort Films president Phil Dolan sits down for an interview with writer Alex Conn (A Life, Haunted) to discuss his success last season and his upcoming film, Suburban.

PD: After Haunted, Suburban will be the second film you've written to have John Malone on as a producer. What qualities do think he has brought on to the projects as producer?

AC: John is someone who I think who has possibly the biggest understanding of story that I’ve ever met. He’s also someone who is a cinephile and also understands the filmmaking and also the awards process. He’s been my mentor for a while now but with Suburban and Haunted he definitely took a bigger role.

PD: Suburban is arguably the most adult-oriented of your films to date. Without going into spoilers, what was your inspiration for the film?

AC: I guess it is my most adult film but yah it came from research a lot.I’m someone who kinda likes reading about the recent o post and I watched a video about Ethan Couch who got out of jail for saying he had “affluenza” and he killed four people driving under the influence. Something about that felt personal. I grew up in a very affluent town and I felt I knew a bunch of Ethan Couches. My parents who didn’t grow up rich though had a lot of values and kind of instilled them on me and I was kind of the quiet film kid in high school. So I had the idea for an Ethan Couch like event to happen but the main character would be a British immigrant motivational writer who has values and becomes fed up with the way the town handles his sons being murdered and he makes some questionable choices. In many ways the film is similar to a lot of my teenage films it is a character study and there are elements that come from my childhood. Also this is not an action film. There is violence in the film but not much. The film is very much about characters and drama and tension. This is not Taken.

PD: Haunted and Heights were both nominated for Best Original Story last season, giving you your first screenplay award nominations. How does it feel?

AC: Haunted is an incredibly personal film and I’m so glad that it got nominated for Best Original Story. I’m so proud of that film and I’m proud of that story and it really allowed me to kind of talk about my feelings and exorcise my demons through a film and I’m glad everyone liked it. Heights was an idea generated by both me and John Malone and I’m really proud of that film as well. I really love the performance by Tom Cruise in that film. I love that movie.

PD: What's next for you?

AC: My next project is an adaptation of the memoir by Tegan and Sara called High School. The book is incredible and I wanted to adapt it after reading it. The book is not a memoir of their life it’s just a memoir of their high school years and what’s interesting about the book is that the story is universal. The characters just happen to be Tegan and Sara but in the book and in the new film they could be just normal lesbian twins who are growing up loving music and struggling with their sexuality. So yah I’m excited about that and next season has some fun stuff that I’m not going to unveil including what I think is my best screenplay.