Britt Lower on Doing Comedy With John Magaro & Steve Buscemi in Psycho Therapy | Interview
ComingSoon Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Britt Lower about Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write about a Serial Killer. Lower discussed filming comedic scenes with John Magaro and Steve Buscemi, her take on the movie’s ending, and more.
“A struggling writer in the midst of a divorce befriends a retired serial killer who incidentally becomes his marriage counselor by day, and killing counselor for his next book by night,” the synopsis for the movie reads.
Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write about a Serial Killer will be in select theaters and On Demand on April 11, 2025, from Brainstorm Media.
Brandon Schreur: Britt, you’ve had a really busy month or two, now, with the release of Severance, Darkest Miriam, and now Psycho Therapy all coming out right by each other. I’m wondering if you can tell me a little bit about what stood out to you about this project and what made you want to be part of this one? What was going through your mind when you were reading the script for the first time?
Britt Lower: I loved the script. And then I loved [director Tolga Karaçelik]. When I met him, I thought he just has such a fresh, unique sense of humor. These characters, I thought they were just so funny. The marriage counselor scenes had me laughing out loud when I was reading them. Yeah, I was just really intrigued and excited to get into Suzie’s point of view. Particularly, the onion-chopping scene really drew me in. And, yeah, getting to work with John Magaro and Steve. I mean, I just really admire both of them as artists, so the chance to get to work with them was just, ‘Absolutely.’
Totally. I was going to bring up the onion-chopping scene, too, because I thought that was brilliant. Going off that, I wanted to ask how you go about preparing for a role like this or getting into this character’s mind. Suzie kind of shifts throughout the movie — during that onion scene, she’s sad and unsatisfied with her life, it seems like. The more it goes on, the more you lean into the dry humor. And then at the end, you reveal some stuff when you’re talking to John. How do you balance that when you’re getting into character since there’s so much going on with Suzie?
Well, this is a film that we got to make in New York City, which I love. I love the city, I live here. I think New York City is part of these characters. That informs a lot. Also, just Suzie’s dynamic with Keane. John and I have worked together before, so finding that dynamic was really fun. But, yeah, this is a character who has a really hidden emotional life. She holds herself with a lot of composure. The events of the film really start to light her up inside. She has this new kind of drive and curiosity that she hasn’t felt in a long time. That’s inspired by Keane and Kollmick, their misadventures, and wanting to figure out what the hell is going on. It just kind of wakes her up, a bit. Or a lot.
Or a lot, yeah. Going on that, we’re not going to publish this until after the movie comes out, so we can talk about the ending and spoilers. I just want to get your take on the ending. It’s not where I thought I expected it to end, but then I was like, ‘Oh, that’s brilliant.’ A really cool note to go out on. I was curious what you think happens from there. Do you think Suzie and Keane, after all they go through and after all Suzie tells him there at the end, do they still have a future together? Or do you see it as a turning point and they can’t go back after this?
I think, oddly enough, Steve’s character, Kollmick, is accidentally a great marriage counselor for them and kind of unlocks something for them that gives them a new insight and kind of reignites their interest in one another. So, who knows? It’s up to the audience to decide. But I think there’s perhaps a new beginning.
Sure. You also mentioned the marriage counseling scenes and I wanted to ask about that, too, because they are so much fun to watch. The three of you bouncing back and forth — especially that first one, when you’re looking at that cat thing. I was laughing. What was it like filming those moments? Was it as fun to film it as it is to watch it, or is it hard to lock in and play off each other like that?
No, it was so fun. They were basically four of us, there — Steve, John, and Ada, the cat. I think they’d gone through many iterations of what that taxidermy animal was going to be. I think, at one point, it was maybe going to be a squirrel, which I think would have had a whole other feel. But, yeah, to be starring at a cat with a baby doll arm — how much more inspiration could you need?
I love how you never know the story behind it, either. It was just there.
It’s just there. Just like a llama kind of being there at the bar. I appreciated that about Tolga’s sense of humor, just something fresh and surprising in his script and, then, as we were filming. Just little Easter eggs everywhere.
Thanks to Britt Lower for discussing Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write about a Serial Killer.
Source: Comingsoon.net