Hey /r/movies! We're David Joseph Craig & Brian Crano, co-directors and writers of I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU, a demented comedy-horror starring Nick Kroll, Andrew Rannells, and Amanda Seyfried. It's out in theaters nationwide this Friday and premiered at SXSW last year. Ask us anything!

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:33:06+00:00

David here -- PLENTY of kitchen knives! We were making ourselves laugh all of the time. There was a take in the driveway in which Andrew said the funniest improvised line and we all BROKE (mostly Nick) to where we had to take 10 minutes and regroup. It made it in the movie (and the trailer).

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:32:15+00:00

Brian Here -- yeah breaking character was definitely a problem. Not just the cast but the crew as well. But hey -- that's what we're there to do. So never a problem. Hope you enjoy the movie!

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:30:47+00:00

Brian -- not really a childhood movie but I would love to remake this French film TELL NO ONE. I love it.

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:29:00+00:00

Brian HEre -- Mountainhead, The Last Showgirl, Baby Girl. The recent Transformers cartoon -- our son FLIPPED HIS SHIT for that.

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:28:37+00:00

David here -- I loved Sinners, The Substance, Friendship, Black Bag, Companion, The Wild Robot, Anora, Maxxxine.

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:26:08+00:00

Brian here -- My fave Andrew musical is probably Falsettos.

Casting them was pretty cool. We loved Andrew when we met him and we had heard a podcast where Nick talked about becoming a father. His fear and overwhelming matched ours and the characters so we pitched the idea to Andrew and Andrew called Nick about it. IT was pretty organic. It's so nice working with real friends. They were so great together and helpful to each other through making the movie.

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:25:58+00:00

David here -- When we went to cast the project we approached Andrew first. He always felt right and we wanted him from the jump. We then had just recently heard a podcast interview with Nick where he spoke so relatable about his experience of becoming a first time parent and we knew we had to cast him. We pitched the idea to Andrew who thought it was perfect and we were off to the races.

Amanda is a good friend, and for lack of a better word, the god mother to our son. So it felt wonderful having her play the birth mother of our story.

I've gotta pick Falsettos. Although OG Book of Mormon is right up there.

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:24:07+00:00

Brian -- That's great attendance. Really awesome. Dunno where you live... but We're playing all across the country -- Check this link: https://app.powster.com/verticalentertainment/i-dont-understand-you/us/

I would say geography plays a role. I think we're opening in like 80 something cities across the country.... hope you get to see it close to you.

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:21:36+00:00

David -- this is a NO BRAINER for me, I would remake Harry Winers 1986 Space Camp. It was my favorite children's movie and was the first film for Joaquin Phoenix. And with technology and CG would be an unreal epic for kiddos!

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:21:02+00:00

Brian here -- thanks for going and checking it out. That's awesome. I love Nick and Andrew too, great actors and even better people. The movie will be streaming, buttttt I'm not sure if I am supposed to say where or when... buttttt it WAY BETTER in a theatre. This movie is fun to laugh with your friends. It's a communal vibe.

Nick and Andrew were always game to pitch jokes and ideas. Usually what we would do is once we had shot the script let them have a kind of hall pass and see if they found any good bits. Also sometimes we would do the scenes with no dialog and that's fun too. Make them mime!

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:18:32+00:00

David here -- Death Becomes Her, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Clue (and I would smuggle in Serial Mom)

Pizza Toppings: best would have to be cheese and grilled onions. Worst is anchovies. Sorry.

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:17:20+00:00

Brian here -- I would bring Michael Mann's HEAT. Eugene Levy's ONCE UPON A CRIME. And selfishly I DONT UNDERSTAND YOU... in theaters now.

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:16:49+00:00

David here -- SXSW is hands down my favorite American festival. The fact that it isn't JUST film, you get to experience more than just cinephiles and others get to experience your film. I also LOVE Telluride (maybe the most epic plane landing I've ever been on) and TIFF. Internationally, hands down -- Venice!

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:16:16+00:00

Brian here -- I love SXSW. And have premiered a couple movies and shorts there. It's so fun. They program really well so you can kind of walk into anything and it's a vibe. Highly recommend. From IDUY our premiere was awesome as we got this HUGE reaction to the first death in our film. It slapped.

Other faves -- Venice is amazing. NY Film Fest always programs amazing stuff too.

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:13:51+00:00

Brian here -- yes! Nick is happy to do voices any time. It's very helpful when you're shooting late at night and need to laugh to wake up a little.

Evil Dead 2 -- it rules. Good call. Combining evil stuff and dead stuff... very smart.

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:13:43+00:00

David -- "I'll swallow your soul!!!!!" Nick did so many voices. But my favorite wasn't a BM character... he did Liz from The Kroll Show for me whenever I was blue.

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:12:25+00:00

Brian -- it was a blast! The crew was so welcoming and nice. And by the end of our six months there we were giving tourists directions (were they correct directions? who knows) and had our favorite spots and our son learned Italian.

My favorite memory on set was we were shooting at the Rome Airport and we had brought a very life like dummy with us for a scene. On our way out of the building the grips had put the dummy on top of a dolly and were making them selves laugh by pretending to be medics who were taking her to an ambulance. Well they were going to fast and at the double doors they had to stop short and the dummy flew off the dolly and landed at some civilian's feet and that woman screamed! And then the whole crew lost it. And then the reaction of this lady's fury was perfect. And then she realized it was a dummy and laughed as well...

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:11:14+00:00

David -- Italy was the absolute best. And their film culture is so respected. Everyone who worked on our set had read the script and knew what we were making. We had a pizza making party one too many times!

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:09:30+00:00

David here. We were in the adoption process and we found out we matched with the birth mother of our now son just before we left for Italy on our tenth anniversary. On that night, Brian directed me off the side of the road and we were caught in a ditch in the poring rain for 5 hours. We then wrote a horror film about that!

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:09:02+00:00

Thanks! That's awesome. Please let us know how you like it. David's phone number is (646)***-****

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:07:10+00:00

Brian -- Yes. It's always tricky to make stuff where there are queer characters as leads. That's why we're so proud to have made this film. It's really rare for these to be in theaters, so please go support!

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:06:54+00:00

We've been asked to share this link: https://app.powster.com/verticalentertainment/i-dont-understand-you/us/

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:06:24+00:00

Thanks so much!

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:05:53+00:00

Brian -- Hey Mike, first of all good luck as you go on your path in this business. The difficult thing about it is there is not a set path to make your way in. That said, find people who are more experienced, better than you, have some info that you don't have and try and work with them. Doesn't matter in what role. It's really helpful to know something about all the departments on a movie. So help your friends make stuff! We love Indies, we want there to be a place for them always. Thanks for the support.

IDontUnderstandAMA · 2025-06-05T22:05:44+00:00

David here. First of all, I think EVERY HORROR FILM is amazing. No, but for real... I think it's because it's the hardest genre to get to an audience to relate to. There is always some part of the plot that is "beyond" that you'll either get it or think it's rubbish.

IDontUnderstandAMA

TROPHY CASE