
AMBUSH BUG (BUG): I had a chance to catch CRAVE when it was touring the festival circuit. For those who don't know anything about it, can you sum up the film for the readers at AICN?
CHARLES DE LAUZIRIKA (CL): CRAVE tells the story of Aiden, played by Josh Lawson, a freelance photographer who shoots crime scenes on the mean streets of Detroit in order to make a little bit of money. All those years of capturing gruesome violence has taken its toll on him, and as the film begins, we’re exposed to the very dark and twisted fantasy life he’s indulging in within his own imagination. It’s a side of him that’s currently punching through into reality, resulting in him saying things he normally wouldn’t say, and doing things he normally wouldn’t do. His desire to be a hero is leaking out into something more akin to being a vigilante…and not a particularly morally upright vigilante. It a side to himself that he really only has his homicide detective best friend Pete, played by Ron Perlman, to confide in.
But then he meets this amazing younger woman named Virginia, played by Emma Lung who rocks his world and gives him a sense that he might actually be able to get his life together and be the good person he wants to be. This newfound confidence also encourages his first real steps towards making his vigilante fantasies come true. Of course, things go incredibly bad after that, for pretty much everyone in the story.
Basically, it’s a genre film that fights against genre. It tries to do its own thing, taking the tropes we’ve seen before but then undercutting them and flipping them around into hopefully something different. It’s a dark, disturbing, bloody film…that also has a surprising amount of humor, romance and fun. I don’t think most humans live tonally consistent lives, so neither does Aiden, and neither does this film.

CL: To me, not at all. I love TAXI DRIVER but I wasn’t looking to do a riff on it in any way. But I think it was hugely influential to Robert Lawton, the original writer. So there’s clearly some Travis Bickle DNA in there in the story and character, especially in that scene in CRAVE when Aiden is rehearsing his extortion dialogue with the empty chair. I remember when we shot that, I was so desperate to avoid a “You talkin’ to me?” vibe but it was kind of unavoidable. I asked Josh Lawson to improv a bit, which he is fantastic at, just to mess things up a little, and that way we didn’t get too locked into the word on the page and it became more about having an immediate and imperfect moment with Aiden, which is nicely paid off later in the actual extortion scene that lands one of our biggest laughs.
BUG: How did you go about casting the two main roles of Aiden and Virginia and what was it about actors Josh Lawson and Emma Lung that made you cast them? They are phenomenal finds.
CL: The interesting thing is that Josh and Emma are both Australians playing Americans and had known each other previously, which was completely coincidental. But it made for an easy chemistry with them in those roles, which could have been very tricky if that comfort level wasn’t there, especially when it comes to their fairly explicit sex scenes.
Beyond the kind of ridiculous dream casting you do at the very beginning when you think about who you would cast if you had the whole acting world scrambling to be in your film, it really just boils down to who’s the best person for the role out of the actors who are available and interested. Once I went through that process to get down to those names, Josh and Emma were simply the best actors for those two roles.

BUG: How did Ron Perlman come on board to this project?
CL: Strictly from a business point-of-view, the role of Pete was always intended to be played by a name actor to help anchor the indie marquee value of the cast. So we put together a massive list of seasoned, age-appropriate actors for that role and then just started reaching out to my favorites to see who was interested and available. At the point, the list got shaved down a bit, but it still left us with about a dozen actors. But once we knew someone liked the script and were available given our tight timeline, it just became a matter of who was best for the role. At that person turned out to be Ron Perlman. So I talked to Ron on the phone and we discussed his role, the film, the tone, etc. And he basically just said “yes” in that no-nonsense way of his. Within days, he flew out to Detroit, we had a great dinner and then it was off to the races. He got a haircut and a shave and we had our Pete. One of the best things about Ron, besides being such a pro, is how he always brings something unexpected to the scene. Just a little attitude, or bit of business, or a look…he always goes a little beyond what’s on the page. Even when he’s doing a relatively low key role like Pete, Ron is always throwing something new into the mix, which gives me a lot to play with in editing.
BUG: Eddie Furlong does a really great job as Ravi the skeevy boyfriend and has some terrifically comic moments here. How did he become involved in this film?

BUG: Filming in a city always has it's crazy moments. Where exactly was this film shot and were there any weird stories that occurred on set from the shoot?
CL: Most of the film was shot in and around Detroit, Michigan. And we could write a whole book about weird stories from our set. This was a pretty wild production. Fortunately, the Blu-ray release due in March will be loaded with incredibly candid and immersive behind-the-scenes footage and commentary, so you’ll be able to see some of that craziness unfold right before your eyes.
One of the reasons why the film wasn’t shot entirely in Detroit was because of a key scene that opens the film, in which we set up Aiden’s inner world by showing him indulge in a vigilante fantasy on what was supposed to shot on be the Detroit People Mover. But after weeks of having the People Mover promised to us for shooting, it was taken away from us at the last minute because someone, somewhere, had a problem with the twisted nature of the script…because it apparently made Detroit look bad, which I strongly disagree with, of course. The scene on the People Mover, in particular, depicts gunfire and fellatio, which apparently offended someone in charge. We wrapped in Detroit without this crucial scene. So I returned to L.A. to lick my wounds and to start sifting through the wreckage of whatever it was that we had shot. But this People Mover scene haunted me because we didn’t have a whole film without it.

But that’s just one of many indie filmmaking headache stories from CRAVE. The Blu-ray will have plenty more. A lot of fun stuff too.
BUG: This film feels like an instructional on how NOT to get a girl when dating in the city. Have you ever made any of the mistakes Aiden did in this film in terms of trying to woo a person of interest?
CL: You bet I have. I imagine most guys do. It’s especially difficult, as a guy, even more so now that we’re in the Tinder era, when you’re really madly into someone who you really want to form a deep bond with, but then she just wants to play. It’s kind of the reverse of many old and outdated stereotypes about women as nesters and men as players. Aiden sees Virginia as his golden ticket to normalcy and stability. He wants to nest because that will give him comfort and peace. Virginia sees Aiden as a convenient distraction from her faltering relationship with Ravi. She wants an escape, and sees Aiden as her guide towards that escape, but not necessarily her next boyfriend. She wants to play. And I think we see a lot of that now. When I go out on dates now and the inevitable “past relationships” part of the discussion comes up, a lot of women complain that men have forgotten how to be men. And I think Aiden represents someone who perhaps never knew how to be a man. He’s dealing with a combo of arrested development, being down on his luck and being damaged goods. I think all of those traits affect us in varying degrees at different times in our lives. With Aiden, it’s kind of all happening simultaneously, which is why he retreats into his fantasies, and why those fantasies are so dark. And that’s why he such a potentially dangerous character.

CL: Tone was the toughest thing on this film. Because Aiden’s psyche is so fractured and random in how it explores his inner world, the film’s tone and genre foundations are all over the place. When we shot the film, it was almost like we were shooting a different movie every day. It would be like, “Oh, today we’re shooting the comedy?” and then the next day, “And now we’re shooting the horror movie.” Because the film represents the way Aiden’s mind works, which is not unlike how most human minds work when balancing the tragedy and comedy of life. That’s why I enjoy the work of William Peter Blatty so much, because he can delve into the darkest reaches of the soul while still remaining plugged into some highly potent humor. Additionally, I found that CRAVE was going to go to some pretty dark places, but to have the tone of the film to just consistently be that would really wear and audience down. So you have to occasionally relieve that tension with something light and fun. And it’s not just those two extremes either…it’s all about keeping the audience on their toes and not letting them get comfortable with one particular style or tone. At least, that was my intention any way.

BUG: Having completed this film quite a while ago, what's it like having it finally released for all to see?
CL: Well, I’ve been traveling with CRAVE at festivals all over the world for the last year and a half, so I’ve gotten to enjoy audience reactions and read reviews for a long time now. The best thing about the film finally being released to a wider audience is now I can hopefully not get any more of those “When is it coming out?” questions that I got for, like, four years. Don’t get me wrong. I love that people were interested. But now I can just say, check it out on iTunes, or pick up the Blu-ray in a few months. I don’t have to deal with the shame of it being stuck in the distribution ether.
But I have to say that going to festivals has been a total blast. We had the world premiere at Fantasia in July of 2012, where CRAVE won Best First Feature, and then we went straight into Fantastic Fest a couple months later, where I won Best Director in the Next Wave category…so the film had a really great kick-off that continued through several more festivals and countries.
BUG: So what's next for you now that CRAVE has been released?

BUG: Thanks so much for your time and congratulations on a great film.
CL: Many thanks, Mark. I appreciate it.

CRAVE (2012)
Directed by Charles de LauzirikaWritten by Charles de Lauzirika & Robert Lawton
Starring Josh Lawson, Emma Lung, Ron Perlman, Edward Furlong
Find out more about this film here and on Facebook here
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
Comparisons to TAXI DRIVER are somewhat accurate as a man struggles with his own sanity making his way through life in the big city. I know many a woman who will most likely get a creepy vibe from this film, as it depicts a man, not sure of himself, dealing with a lack of confidence, a lack of purpose, and a lack of understanding of the world around him, while desperately trying to find something special and worth hanging on to amidst it all. On the other hand, I find this film to be more along the lines of FIGHT CLUB dissecting what it is like to be a man in this complex day and age of relationships and apathy.


CRAVE takes a lot of time allowing us to get to know Aiden through internal monologue and the gory fantasies where he smashes people’s heads in with sledgehammers for talking affectionately in public to one another. Aiden is impulsive and dangerous, barely able to keep his own thoughts in his head and occasionally muttering out phrases without knowing it. Basically, this is the beginning stages of the guy on the train talking to himself, wearing twelve layers of clothing, and a tin hat. A schizophrenic in the making, Aiden looks well put together and is able to keep the crazy at bay as he forms this relationship with Virginia.

Complex and painstakingly patient, this slow descent into madness is expertly crafted and fascinating to watch. If anything, guys trying to date in the city should watch this as an instructional video on how not to form a relationship, though at less of an extreme, if we’re honest with ourselves, I’m sure all guys would recognize some of the mistakes Aiden makes as hitting a bit too accurately on the mark.

Clocking in at almost two hours, I think with a proper edit here and there, this could be a fantastic companion piece to TAXI DRIVER and FIGHT CLUB, two films I hold in extreme high regard and though this film doesn’t achieve those epic levels of cinematic awesome-itude, CRAVE explores some of the same dark alleyways.




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