Would You Rather Q and A With Director David Guy Levy

Thanks to the wonderful people over at IFC Midnight, I was able to ask Director David Guy Levy a few questions about his current flick Would You Rather, as well as what's to come. 

Would You Rather tells the story of Iris, who in the wake of her parent's death, struggles to make ends meet while caring for her terminally ill younger brother. Shepard Lambrick, a seemingly philanthropic aristocrat, expresses an interest in helping them. When he invites Iris to an exclusive dinner party, she accepts and finds she the other dinner guests to be just as desperate. They soon find themselves trapped in Lambrick's mansion and forced to play a sadistic game of Would You Rather, where the winner will be awarded untold amounts of money, but at a very high cost.

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Museled: WOULD YOU RATHER is very different from your first feature film. How was the directing experience different, and what attracted you to this project?

David Guy Levy: The writer Steffen Schlachtenhaufen approached me with a simple pitch. "What if we made a movie about a game of Would You Rather, but in our version, whatever you chose you then would have to do?" 

It was that simple question that lead to an exciting process of writing a treatment in just weeks. After showing a few people and finding we weren't the only ones who were excited about the idea, we began writing the script. Then before we knew it we were filming just a few short months later.

I had just finished my experimental film, "A Love Affair of Sorts", having made it primarily as an exercise. We filmed it for under $1000 dollars without a script, a crew, or any commercial expectations. The film helped me grow as craftsman, but no so much narratively since we found the story as we went along. After it's release, I realized that I wanted my next effort to show what I was able to offer narratively, and I hoped to do that with an idea that was the commercial opposite of what I had just made. I feel "Would You Rather" was the right choice.

Museled- Although there are some intense scenes, there's not a real exploitation of violence. Was that hard to script?

Levy- It wasn’t hard to script. However we knew from the beginning that we didn’t want to show everything. We wanted to create a tension throughout the story that everything was definitely happening, but be classy about it. We didn’t want wet, dark dungeons or rusty bear-traps.

We knew that if we show something in detail for the audience, we are essentially saying “This is what you should see, this is what something looks like.” But if we hold back, and we suggest what is happening, then the audience gets to imagine what is happening. And whatever someone imagines will always be more powerful and effective then what we might dictate to them.

Museled- We don't really see films take this route often anymore. How important was it to steer clear of the torture porn style violence?

Levy- For the tone of the piece, we felt it was important. This could have easily been produced in a broader, more gruesome way. There could have been more blood and more violence. But we thought at the end of the day this was a psychological thriller about choices, and it was more about the people and the situation than it was about the spectacle. So that’s why we took that approach.

Museled- What was the most challenging scene to film?

Levy- Everything around the dinner table.

Museled- You have a great rounded cast. How involved were you in the casting process and how much freedom were they given creatively?

Levy- I was the most involved. I made all the cast lists and boards, and “set the table” so to speak. It was sort of like hosting a dinner party, and I was constantly asking myself who should be sitting next to each-other or across from one-another as pieces started to come together. I gave everyone plenty of room since I knew I had such great professionals on board. Only rarely would I pull someone aside and ask them to make any major changes to what they were doing.

Museled- How hard was it to come up with the options for the games? Were there any we didn't see? Maybe some we'll see on DVD?

Levy- There are no deleted scenes, what we could afford to shoot was just enough to make the movie. The options were actually easy to place into the game, because once we knew what the structure of the game would look like, we just asked ourselves what we would hate to be asked. And that didn’t take long to figure out.

Museled- The film leaves room for a sequel. Any chance you'd be interested in doing one?

Levy- Totally. Just need a bigger budget this time!

Museled- What are you working on next?

Levy- More movies! I am really into suspense and mystery right now, so potentially something in that realm.

IFC Midnight's heart-stopping horror thriller WOULD YOU RATHER, starring Brittany Snow and Sasha Grey, is now playing in select theaters, SundanceNow, Cable VOD, and other digital outlets (iTunes, Amazon Streaming, PS3 Playstation Unlimited, XBOX Zune, Google PLAY and YouTube).