The men behind Catfish tackle a dangerous new viral game with their new film Nerve.
Den of Geeksat down with Joost and Schulman a few weeks back for the following interview.
Were you both involved with developing it from when it was a book?
How did you get involved?
Had you read the book beforehand?
Joost:Read the screenplay first, then read the book.
Worked on the screenplay for a while with Jessica.
Ariel Schulman:Over a year.
Joost:Yeah, and then got a green light.
You now have two movies coming out the same weekend.
I assume you shot with iPhones and Go-pros and stuff like that?
Schulman:Yeah, theres some cellphone footage, some Go-pro footage, anything to make it feel authentic.
The book had a really simple concept that makes for a great genre thriller.
As were developing the script and everything becomes an app, it becomes even more realistic.
Schulman:Just trial and error.
Lets talk about casting Emma Roberts and Dave Franco.
How did you know that theyd have chemistry together?
They were kind of interesting sides of the coin in their social media involvement.
Emma is super-involved, Dave is not at all.
Theres a lot more action in this than I would have expected, such as the motorcycle scene.
Is this the first time you guys worked with stunt people to this extent?
Joost:Its definitely the first time weve done true action sequences.
What about shooting in New York?
Schulman:The whole things shot here.
So how was it doing that?
It seems like the right place for this game to happen.
Joost:Hes a child.
Schulman:No, thats a wonder child.
Joost:Hes an amazing child producer.
Otherwise, its just a couple million dollars more.
Joost:And we signed up for that.
Joost:It makes me really sad to watch those movies.
Schulman:I remember why the decision seemed important.
We figured if were making a movie for millennials about the internet, it has to be authentic.
If it has even a whiff of falsehood, theyll call us out on it and boycott the movie.
That went for how the internet functions, and it also went for where its shot.
If were trying to fake New York City, were lying right off the bat.
Im curious how you ended up going in that direction and being in tune with that teen audience?
Schulman:We just sort of stopped developing around 18.
And you also have a 6-year-old producer, too
Schulman:Yeah, right.
(laughs)
Joost:He kept us grounded in reality.
Schulman:Our six-year-old producer and his four children.
There were a lot of kids on set, and theres no rules against that in our movies.
What are you listening to?
Joost:What are you doing?
Schulman:Yeah, but I really believe that social media is not a millennial issue.
Joost:Its everybody.
What social media offers speaks to everyone, which is this connectivity.
Going back toCatfish, I was curious how that became a sensation.
At this point, catfishing is…
Schulman:A thing.
Did that term actually start with your movie?
Im not sure if because of the show, its happening less because people think they might get caught.
Schulman:No, more.
Can you talk about how making that documentary about Ariels brother became this sensation?
Schulman:It was a pretty wild way for us to begin our feature filmmaking careers.
Joost:And Its been happening, even before the internet.
Schulman:I think it gave us a false sense of relevance for movies.
When were you makingCatfishdid you have aspirations to be these genre filmmakers and doing these movies?
Schulman:No,Catfishwas an accident.
Joost:Yeah, not really.
We just sort of didnt know what we were doing and made a movie the best we could.
Is it harder to do movies like this with a studio and a budget?
Schulman:Nothings faster thanParanormalmovies, though.
That was six months from page 1 to release.
Joost:It was wild.
That was a crash course in filmmaking.
Schulman:This was a pleasure.
Joost:Yeah, I think this was the most fun weve had sinceCatfishand the most support weve felt.
It does seem like it could be a fun movie to make because of all the characters and locations.
Is the movieViralsomething you made before this one?
Joost:Its something we did two years ago thats coming out now.
Its a very low budget teen epidemic movie.
Schulman:LikeContagionfor teenagers.
Joost:It is, I would say, a straight horror movie, so its a little different.
Have you figured out what you want to do next?
Schulman:What do you think we should do next?
Were kind of open.
Joost:Any ideas?
Im probably a little too old to be your producer, because Im not six.
Did you just finish this recently?
Joost:Pretty recently…
Schulman:Delivered it a couple weeks ago.
Joost:We read a lot, we research a lot, we talk to a lot of people.
We always have our ears open, and we just kind of wait for a story to grab us.
And youre still involved with theCatfishshow on MTV?
Whats involved with producing that while also making the movies?
Schulman:Thats a well-oiled machine at this point.
Joost:Were about to start airing the second part of Season 5 and start shooting Season 6.
Schulman:It gets harder to cast as people are more and more aware of the show.
Its still happening, but people are trying to catfish the show more.
Joost:We are expanding to international versions of the show, which should be interesting.
Well see how it works in different cultures.
Nerveopens nationwide on Wednesday, July 27.
