At the junket for “Drop,” Christopher Landon’s new high-tech, Hitchcockian thriller about a single mom (played by “White Lotus” breakout Meghann Fahy) who goes on a date with a handsome stranger (“1923’s” Brandon Sklenar) and gets harassed by someone airdropping her threatening messages, the interview rooms were set up like the restaurant from the movie – a table, plates, silverware, the whole deal. It was a cool approximation of the movie but was also fitting for our conversation with director Christopher Landon, since “Drop” (from Blumhouse and Universal) comes after the director had flirted with a number of higher-profile franchise titles, before choosing this idiosyncratic gem.
“I know, I had all these big franchises that didn’t pan out,” Landon told TheWrap. “I have a franchise curse.”
Just a couple of years ago, Landon was flirting with a pair of big studio projects – a body horror reimagining of “Arachnophobia,” which would have featured a John Goodman cameo; and the seventh installment of the “Scream” franchise (look no further than “Happy Death Day” and “Freaky” to see the impact “Scream” has made on Landon’s filmography). He describes the slip from “Arachnophobia” as amicable. With “Scream VII,” though, he said that situation was “not calm, that was explosive and messy and fraught.” But when the “Scream” debacle happened, which coincided with Melissa Barrera’s firing over her pro-Palestine sentiment, it drove Landon to “Drop.”
Landon had been brought the script for “Drop” by producers Brad and Cameron Fuller. He read the script and loved it. “I was excited about making a movie that was a little bit more straightforward, in the sense of it being a classic thriller,” he said. Still, he was committed to making that new “Scream.” “I remember feeling like, oh man, there’s a good chance they won’t want to wait for me for ‘Drop’ and they might have to give it to another director,” the filmmaker shared. “It really bummed me out because I had fallen so in love with the project.” When “Scream” got messy, Landon departed and returned to “Drop.”
“It just ended up feeling like the way it was supposed to be, it felt like the movie I was supposed to make,” he said. “And when you look at the way that everything played out, now that Kevin Williamson is making ‘Scream 7,’ that also feels right to me. Sometimes getting to the right thing is painful and difficult, but then you look back on it, you see why and how all of that stuff played out.”
Of course, the “Drop” that is playing in theaters is different, in some key ways, from the script that Landon read and got so excited about. While reluctant to talk about specifics, the horror director said that the third act of the script differs greatly from the movie – both in where it takes place and in the way that Violet (Fahy) outsmarts her unseen stalker. But what appealed to him about the script still very much is felt in the final product.
“I loved how clean the concept was,” Landon said. “I read a review that was like, ‘Christopher Landon loves a gimmick’ and they’re right – I think a gimmick is a cool thing to hang a lot of other stuff onto.” The script was a “page turner” from the first draft, he added. “I was really like, I’ve got to find out what’s going to happen here and who is doing this to her,” Landon recalled. The “whodunnit” aspect felt fresh, too. “I was very taken by the character and her backstory and her struggling with domestic abuse. I think all of that stuff really spoke to me.”
As far as touchstones, Landon said that “Rear Window” was a big inspiration, as was Wes Craven’s “Red Eye,” a similarly taught two-hander. “But I was also trying not to overthink or over-explore movies of the past, which is a habit of mine. I wanted to step into something with a clear head and try and make my own movie and not over-reference or nostalgia-bait the whole thing.” It worked – “Drop” feels both old-fashioned and new, especially in the current cinematic landscape.
Landon said that casting the movie was “deceptively hard.” He had seen Fahy on “The White Lotus” and was blown away. “I thought she was magnetic and I knew she was perfect. It was just an immediate gut level, Can we get her?” Landon said. When he met Fahy, he said they had an immediate rapport. He left the meeting feeling hopeful and her signing on “was like the big piece of the puzzle for me, because she carries the whole film.” Working with her was an entirely different experience as well. “I knew she was good, but I didn’t know she was that good,” Landon said. “This movie demanded a lot and she rose to the challenge every single day. I would sit at my monitor sometimes and just be blown away by how honest she is, how present she is.” While he doesn’t know how well “Drop” is going to do commercially, Landon is sure of one thing – “she’s a movie star now.”
When it came to Sklenar, “There was a wish fulfillment aspect of this for me, where I kept saying, because I knew that our audience was going to be predominantly female, if I were a woman, ‘Who do I want to be on a date with? What’s the wish fulfillment version of this movie?’” Sklenar, Landon further noted, is “ridiculously handsome” and “gigantic.” “He feels like this classic movie star and he brings a certain charm and a soft gentleness to the character that I really wanted,” Landon said. “He seemed like a perfect fit.” Just like with Fahy, a lot was riding on the first time Landon met Sklenar. They both live in Santa Barbara and Landon was sitting at the back of a coffee shop. The director watched as the actor walked in and “as he walked down the aisle, every woman in that coffee shop turned her head.” That’s when Landon knew: That’s the guy.
While Landon does want to do larger movies – he said he’s got a project with Mattel (“That is a bigger movie but a family film, which I’d be thrilled to do again”) and another movie that is loosely connected to a bigger cinematic “universe” – he also loves that he can always return to Blumhouse and make a little original movie that people might actually see.
“They feel like a part of the fabric of my life now. It’s a partnership,” Landon said, citing other filmmakers who have made multiple films with producer Jason Blum’s company, like Leigh Whannell and Scott Derrickson. “I think we’re all people who are drawn to a place that gives you so much creative freedom and is so welcoming and also willing to take risks where a lot of other people aren’t. It’s great to have. It’s like a family member that you to come home to.”
Without them, too, he might have still been spinning his wheels over some franchise film that might not have ever made it to the big screen.
“The efficiency of how they do things and the deal that they’ve made with Universal if you keep your movie at a certain budget level is pretty astounding,” Landon said. There’s no extended greenlight process or a prolonged back-and-forth with Blumhouse. In fact, he said he’s “spoiled” by the process now. “You do other stuff and it’s like, Why is this moving at a glacial pace? But that’s just the system,” Landon explained. He’ll soon return to Blumhouse for the third “Happy Death Day” movie, which he described as “epic.” “It is the most left field [sequel]. No one could ever guess what the concept is,” Landon teased. And while he didn’t describe that sequel as “imminent,” he did say that they were finally discussing it. Talk about an edge-of-your-seat cliffhanger.
“Drop” is in theaters now.
