Q&A: Tell Tale

Before last night's premiere of Tell Tale at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Director Michael Cuesta came onstage and took a picture of the audience, who all happily yelled, "Cheese!" Cuesta explained the memento was "for producer Ridley Scott, who is shooting at London."

Unfortunately, the screening was marred by a medical emergency late in the showing, which caused the projection to stop with just about three minutes left of the film. The action climax has already taken place, and a good portion of the audience decided to leave. (Their loss—they ended up missing a pivotal plot development—okay, spoiler alert: a twist. But we won't give away more than that. Just stay to the end.) Word on the street is that the audience member has recovered, and Cuesta and his cast took the stage for a Q&A, wishing everyone well.

When asked about his inspiration for the script, screenwriter David Callaham explained that he was an English major in college, where he learned to love dark writers such as Dante and Edgar Allan Poe. He set out to "create a fresh take" on Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart, but "not do a strict retelling—I wanted to make it unique and different. But the title is an honest nod to where the story came from."

The Poe references continued, with Cuesta explaining that the writer affected both the color choices of the film—"We used purples and reds, pulled from the velvety prose of Poe and from the heart itself"—and the location. "I wanted to shoot in Providence [Rhode Island] because it's so evocative. I needed the Poe-ness of the city—it's gothic, and turn-of-the-century. I love Benefit Street, and there's a story about how Poe visited his mistress there, so we really wanted to capture that part of the city."

Star Josh Lucas was asked how he prepared for his role as a the recipient of a donor heart. "I had a great makeup artist—seriously!—who helped me understand what it feels like. I had to imagine what donors go through—the astonishing pain and fear of living everyday through that worry [of organ rejection]. And this character had the need for revenge on top of that; he was suffering massively the entire time." Lucas too found his inner Poe: "I wanted to find the pathos and poetry of Poe inside each moment of every scene."

The cast is rounded out by the iconic Brian Cox, the good-and-sinister Dallas Roberts, and the lovely Lena Headey. These people know how to make your heart race.
 

Tell Tale will have more screenings throughout the Festival. Tickets for the Monday matinee are still available as of today.

Read more Festival Q&As.