5LBs OF PRESSURE: An Interview With Writer/Director Phil Allocco!

Synopsis

In this gripping action thriller, Adam (Luke Evans, The Hobbit, Beauty, and the Beast), an ex-con back in his old neighborhood after serving sixteen years for murder, walks a rocky path of forgiveness toward the son who grew up without him, while the bitter, volatile brother of the youth he killed looms in the background.

Meanwhile, Mike (Rory Culkin, Scream 4), sick of doing the bidding of his drug-dealing uncle (Alex Pettyfer, Magic Mike), is desperate to leave his sordid life behind. When Adam and Mike’s paths converge, inescapable destiny will give way to violence…and a final, fleeting shot at redemption.

An Introduction from the Director

I started writing the script for 5lbs of Pressure fifteen years ago. I think I needed to make sense out of the senseless and have empathy and understanding for the people I knew like this. This is the type of world I grew up in. In my neighborhood, kids I knew who were shot or stabbed, barely even made the news.

I remember when I was ten years old, my older brother’s friend, who was in his late teens, pulled me into his car. He was drunk, angry, and had a gun and he kept me there for hours, telling me he was going to kill someone. He finally let me go, and I never said anything to anyone. In that world, you don’t talk about things like that. A week later, he shot and killed a man. Pride, ignorance, toxic masculinity, and guns create a repeating cycle that happens in neighborhoods like these, where the only justice you understand is the justice created by your own hand.

I’ve seen how guns have their own seduction and addiction like certain drugs, and when you put the power of a gun in the hands of the powerless, violence is inevitable. It often struck me how many lives have been destroyed or changed forever by the simple action of pulling a trigger. While writing the script, I came across one of the selling points for a Glock handgun that bragged about trigger pressure so light it wouldn’t throw off your aim. “Only 5lbs of Pressure.”

I really hope the film is an emotional experience for the audience and I tried to balance reality with a sense of levity – I like the small struggles, absurdities, and obstacles that the characters face. I love the cast and their performances. We had many challenges, but we also had a great time making 5lbs of Pressure, and we put so much care into every phase of production. I hope it comes across.

Interview

Glen Dower:

Mr. Allocco. How are you, Sir?

Phil Allocco:

Good, good. How are you?

Glen Dower:

I’m good, thank you so much. We are here to talk about 5lbs of Pressure and I watched the film first, then I did my research including your introduction (above). Wow! You also wrote as well as directed the film, and can we say technically it was inspired by true events and indeed based on your own experiences in a neighborhood like this?

Phil Allocco:

I guess so. I feel like as a writer you’ve got to draw on things around you. So everything I write, even though I wouldn’t consider it a ‘true story’ or anything like that, but they’re always inspired by things that you’ve experienced and this kind of world. I grew up in a world like this, so there are a lot of familiar people I pulled inspiration from and situations that are like this. I think I was always fascinated by people who live between the cracks where they’re not doing these giant things that are crimes or whatever that are making the news or breaking news worldwide. They’re like the small kind of insignificant people. Weirdly, that’s how we all felt and felt like we didn’t matter.

People who died in this world wouldn’t make the news when I was young. They weren’t the glossy stories or the sexy stories. So it was a lot of people struggling, living and dying and all of that in a world where it seemed like no one cared, and you grow up where you don’t trust the systems, you don’t trust the police, you don’t own anything. The city’s kind of decaying and it’s kind of an obstacle. Everything around you seems like it’s built to be an obstacle against you in a weird way. At least that’s how it feels in these kinds of oppressive inner cities.

Glen Dower:

Yes. Indeed one of my favorite lines is ‘You need to chill out, dude, this ain’t Scarface’. And I thought so this is it. This is just day-to-day, it’s not a movie set, you just give this to pay for that. This is what they do. Do you think we’ve become desensitized or do you think the idea of drug deals has become over-stylized in films? These are normal people living day-to-day.

Phil Allocco:

Yes, and I think also we forget that everyone who’s doing that, watches movies too! So they’re aware. You know what I mean? And we all refer to or reference pop culture movies and things. So I remember when I was writing it, I was writing it based on a real thing, a real type of deal. But there were things like that happened that are just an everyday deal. It’s not like some horrible thing.

But in that particular scene that you’re talking about, it’s a scene where Mike is doing a deal with bikers and it is intimidating and he’s afraid, and even though nothing is going wrong, it’s just kind of a regular deal that doesn’t go sideways. It goes the way it should and it’s pretty benign. But to him, it feels like ‘I’m going to get killed’. And I think in that particular scene, I love how great Rory is in that.

I feel the tension from him and you know how uncomfortable he is in this world. He’s not suited for this world. Some people feel at home in those things. Some people get excited by those kinds of little rushes, this ordinary deal, going into this kind of biker gang thing, which is very intimidating. I remember I lived with an ex-girlfriend at one time next to the Hell Angels on 3rd Street. We had a lot of experience with them and it’s an intimidating world just being around that. So I thought it was kind of fun to play around with that scene. I find that a fun scene. It adds a weird touch of humor, I guess. I don’t know. I find it funny,

Glen Dower:

But also very true to life as well because it is tense. You’re watching and thinking this is going to go bad in some sort of way, but then, oh, that was fine! He does need to chill. And like you say Mr. Culkin does a great job in that scene and throughout the film. I also want to give special praise to Mr. Evans, your leading man. Some members of the audience may be surprised to see him in a role like this. After roles in The Hobbit, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, and of course his musical theatre background, he completely disappeared into this role and I was so impressed and delighted for him. Do you think he’s wanted a role like this to express himself? Did that come across during the casting process?

Phil Allocco:

Yes, every time I’ve seen him in, especially when he would do the different nuances of the New York accent like in The Alienist, he’s got so much attention to detail, he’s an amazing actor. And I feel like when you are trying to get the lead for your film and that kind of sets the tone with, it attracts the other actors, it says, well, it’s going to be this type of film. Maybe you can imagine when you see Luke Evans in a film like this, it makes me excited.

And I hope it makes other people who know his work excited and I feel like he doesn’t disappoint. I feel like he completely creates a real character. I feel like Adam is this tangible real person that even when he started doing it, even though you talk and you prep and you have all these conversations, you still don’t know what it’s going to be when you start shooting.

Even as a director, I’m excited too and was surprised to see him become that character and how authentic he is. And I felt like that also with Alex Pettyfer and even the type of accent he leaned into, which is a difficult one, it’s a ballsy move for him as an actor to do that and pull it off. And he does. He creates someone I haven’t seen, I don’t see Alex, he disappears in that role. You know what I mean? So I feel like we’re very fortunate that the actors had fun with this and committed to it, and I felt like it was my job to create the environment where they felt it was fun and felt like it was safe and felt like a good environment to be able to be creative that way.

Glen Dower:

As we have said you are the writer as well as director. My favorite shot of the film is the final shot, no spoilers but I just thought it was so perfect. Was that always in place?

Phil Allocco:

I had that, and I’ve had the script for such a long time. I started writing it over 15 years ago. So for me, there was a very powerful moment when we just finished shooting and I was sitting with Owen who was the assistant editor and he was assembling some footage, and I had that particular song at the end of the film, and I had this in my head for all these years and knowing that is how I wanted to end, and I was in such a rush to just put that sequence, even a rough of it, together.

Then with the (spoiler), it was an emotional moment for me to see it together. And at least for me, I felt like it was working the way I had hoped it would work, and I don’t know what anyone would think. So it’s nice to hear that you responded to that, Glen. It was something I was excited about, even when I wrote it. It’s an authentic story, with a lot of gritty realism to it, but I did want to have something that was a good metaphor for where we end.

Glen Dower:

That idea of gritty realism, we could compare perhaps to The Wire in that way you also feel the tangibility of the locations. Like the bar that Luke Evans’ character works in, you can smell it and you feel how dingy it is, and you feel how cold the air is outside.

Phil Allocco:

The fact you say that Glen, I love that. I mean, the fact that you even mentioned The Wire in the same sentence with anything I could work on is an amazing compliment. I would hope and aspire to make anything that anyone thinks is a fraction of that good. So thank you. We spent a lot of time trying to find the right feel for the locations and the right look. I do feel like the world, everything from the sidewalks to the structures they’re all part of the story. The fact that Rory has to run up those stairs, everything’s an obstacle. Everything is like the city is built to struggle and have to overcome. Those are all kinds of things that you hope people feel. And so it’s great to hear that you feel that and notice that.

Glen Dower:

Definitely. I just have one more question, and it’s about the ending itself. Was there ever a version of the story with a different ending than the one we got?

Phil Allocco:

You know what, I had a short film, and at one point that was the inspiration for this. And it all happened in a bar and in the short film it had the same kind of revenge. And in the short film, I can give it away because it doesn’t give away our film. But in the short film, Adam makes a deal with Eli and calls 911, and then basically says to him about Mike, who in the short film is gone, says, you better hope this guy doesn’t have any brothers. And that was it. So that it kind of ended more on a little lighter, happier note.

Glen Dower:

But you stuck to the real. Okay. Yeah, it’s been an absolute pleasure, sir. 5lbs of Pressure was a really pleasant surprise for me and I really enjoyed it. The best of luck with your film’s release.

Phil Allocco:

Well, thank you. Thank you so much. So nice to meet you, Glen.

5lbs of Pressure is released in Theaters, On Digital, and On Demand on March 8, 2024, from Lionsgate.

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