Recently, I got a chance to do an interview via email correspondence with Britt Bankhead and Grace Patterson, whose recent film Insane Like Me? dropped on VOD on June 4th. Britt and Grace share insight into the inspirations behind the film, as well as the best thing that happened during the filming process.

HA: Britt, I’m curious to know what were some of the sources of inspiration you had while writing the film? I don’t know if it’s just how my brain is wired, but when I watched the film it obviously felt like a John Carpenter’s Vampires/30 Days of Night/28 Days Later type of film, except it was structured almost like a film noir. You’ve got the former soldier with PTSD who loses the love of his life in a horrific event, gets wrongly accused and locked away, only to return years later as an avenging angel type in a questionable state of mind; you’ve got the lost love that serves to both keep the “hero” moving forward and haunt him with guilt over losing her; you’ve got the inept and/or corrupt local authority that serves as an obstacle between the hero and his vengeance, you’ve got the almost constant deception and plot twists as layers are peeled back until we get to each character’s motivations. Even though it’s not aesthetically noir, it felt like I was watching Max Payne fighting vampires (which was awesome). Does any of that sound like what you were going for?

Britt: Films are the one thing that has been really consistent in my life and has made me a bit of a film nerd, but I grew up on a lot of horror for the most part.  John Carpenter’s Vampires was one of the movies I drew inspiration from along with From Dusk ‘Til Dawn. I loved that kind of broken anti-hero you get from both of the leads (James Woods and George Clooney) in those movies. I also drew some from my personal life and what it was like for me losing my older brother (Kris) in Iraq in 2007 and put a lot of those old feelings into Jake for the most part.

I never really thought about Max Payne being similar, but it would make sense because I liked the movie and the game. I really wanted more action in the movie and there was more written but I shelved those sequences to put into another movie in the future with a larger budget.

HA: Grace, anything interesting that comes to mind in the way you approached playing Sam? There’s a fascinating amount of ambiguity surrounding her character—is she alive or dead? How much of what we see is actually her and how much of it is Jake’s guilt manifesting itself? She almost serves this dual role as both the damsel in distress and as the dead girlfriend that haunts Jake’s conscience (Schrodinger’s girlfriend? Is that a term?) and we don’t really find out what’s happening until the literal final moments of the film.

Grace: Samantha definitely plays a dual role with haunting Jake and Damsel in distress. I wanted to lean into Samantha’s warmth and likability, I wanted the audience to understand why Jake was going to such extremes to find her.

HA: Britt and Grace, any interesting stories you remember from shooting the film? Anything cool that organically came from the filming process?

Britt: The best thing for me that came out of this film was meeting Grace. I had never met anyone like her and we just clicked in the best ways. We started dating after filming and we were married a year later.

Grace: I agree with Britt! The best part of the film was meeting each other and combining our passions for film. 

HA: Britt and Grace, what was it like working with an actor like Eric Roberts, who’s been acting for fifty years and has done at least 700 projects? (I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t recognize him until the credits rolled, I just thought he was an unknown Eugene Levy-type actor who was doing weirdly well in a more serious role.)

Britt: I loved it! He brought a lot of knowledge and experience to the set and helped me with some of our scenes to make them better. Best of the Best was one of my favorite movies as a kid so it was really an honor to get to work with him. We had a routine of going to the gym and breakfast before shooting so that was something we kind of clicked on as well.

Grace: I loved working with Eric! I have worked with him before on Just What The Doctor Ordered on Lifetime Network so it was great to see him again. He always brings so much professionalism and knowledge to set.

HA: Britt and Grace, who do each of you think the “me” is in the film’s title Insane Like Me? Obviously Jake is the one that we’re led to believe the title is referring to, but I think there’s a strong case to be made that it’s actually referring to either Doctor Stoker—capturing, torturing, and converting human beings for centuries—or Sheriff Davis—not liking the guy your daughter is dating and deciding “why don’t I get him captured and/or killed by vampires” as your course of action at least feels like an absolutely insane course of action, surely there are at least a few other steps you take first?

Britt: That’s an interesting take to be honest. I really only wrote it from Jake’s perspective so I’m slightly biased, but I agree it could definitely be in reference to Stoker or the Sheriff as well.

Grace: I love that perspective! I always looked at it from Jake’s perspective as well but I agree it could be looked at from many different angles.