Rory Culkin Talks About His Latest Film 5LBs OF PRESSURE!

Good. How are you doing?

Glen Dower:

I’m really good, thanks. We’re here to talk about 5lbs pounds of pressure, and of course, you play the character of Mike. What can you tell our readers about him?

Rory Culkin:

Mike is a drug dealer in Brooklyn. He’s trying to find his way out of this, this lifestyle, and he’s just kind of making the wrong decision at every turn. He’s not great at decision-making!

Glen Dower:

That came across for sure. I’ve also had the pleasure of talking to your director, Phil Allocco, of course. And he said how great you and Luke Evans, and the various members of the cast were. So many excellent performances in the film. And I completely agree they are all so layered, including yourself of course. With Mike, he is just a ball of energy, specifically nervous energy. He has ticks and twitches. How much energy, as an actor, did you put into playing Mike? Because like you say, he makes lots of decisions and they’re usually the wrong ones, and he is in over his head. What was it like energy-wise to put Mike on screen?

Rory Culkin:

That’s a really good question. That’s a unique one. I haven’t gotten that yet. He is just kind of a ball of energy, and he’s on speed the whole time. I would actually…I forgot about this until you asked…on set, I was doing invisible bumps before every take and then that would just sort of get me in a mindset and I would just start sweating! So it was a lot of just ‘miming’ drug use and that was helpful.

Glen Dower:

Miming, of course.

Rory Culkin:

Yeah, of course! Ha!

Glen Dower:

Phil is the writer of the film also. We discussed how he knew this world from his youth and how some of the dialogue was inspired by real experiences. Now, for me, you as Mike are on the receiving end of two important lines of dialogue. The first one was, your uncle, of course, who you live with who is very oppressive, not the greatest role model, but he said ‘There’s nothing special about wanting to be special’. And I thought that was interesting.

And then the second line is when you do the drug deal with the bikers. When it’s all done and dusted, the lead biker said, ‘Chill out, bro. This ain’t Scarface’. Both of those lines I thought were so important for the characters in the film. Mike, of course, wants to escape this life, to be special – he wants to be a rock star. Was that why you were attracted to Mike?

Rory Culkin:

I think part of the reason I was attracted to Mike was that he’s trying to be more assertive and he is trying to take control of his life, and he’s just blowing it. He just seems to make a poor decision in every scene, and I liked that. He’s kind of just getting dragged around the whole time. I felt sorry for him right away. And then before you even see him on screen, it’s clear that this guy makes poor decisions based on what he’s wearing.

He’s wearing a leather cowboy hat and trench coat. So right off the bat, it’s like, oh, this guy, this guy is just terrible at making decisions. Does he think this is cool? Oh, this guy is screwed because, and it’s even pointed out that he sticks out like a sore thumb with what he is wearing, and he is supposed to blend in. He’s a drug dealer. He’s supposed to blend into his surroundings. And I was interested in playing someone who just fumbles the ball at every turn. I thought that was cool. And it just, he takes a beating throughout and I just thought that was interesting. I like taking a good beating, you know! Ha!

Glen Dower:

I wanted to bring up the costume as well because I did make a note as I was watching the movie. I wrote ‘goth-vampire-rockstar’. How much input did you have into that costume you just talked about?

Rory Culkin:

I guess a lot. But it was written that he is wearing a leather cowboy hat and a leather trench coat. And when I first sat down with Phil in Brooklyn I asked him about that and he didn’t want it to repel me. He was open to suggestions. He was like, I just want you to stick out in this world, so if you have an alternative, I’m open to that. And I didn’t, I liked it because I didn’t understand it. And the first day when I did the costume fitting, I looked at myself in the mirror and I just thought, you clown you, you poor guy, that you think this is cool.

I remember expressing that to Phil and I was like, God, I’m just a mess. I guess I think this is cool. And, and Phil was kinda like, well, it is cool. I think Phil kind of is this guy! Ha! I think I’m like a young Phil, which was great that he knew him. I was sticking out, but I think he thought I looked cool. Uh, and I didn’t, I knew I was a clown. I was a rodeo clown dropped into this world of crime! , I thought that it was fun to try to think I’m The Man when I’m dressed like this, it seemed like a big challenge. And, you know, challenge is good for growth.

Glen Dower:

And that second line, the chill-out, bro. You’ve gone to the biker bar to do this deal. These guys are all huge, and Mike is diminutive and that constant, palpable tension that you brought, thinking any second moment, everything’s going go wrong here…

Rory Culkin:

I tried to feel tension in almost every scene I tried to, you know, sense the danger around the corner. And in that scene, Mike sort of tries to pound his chest and he tries to intimidate this room, which again is just a poor decision. If you had any intelligence, even if he was intimidating, you should know not to express that in a room full of dangerous men. And they laugh at him and they should, but it’s just, yeah, it just added to this guy making poor decisions at every turn. Like, this is when he decides to try to be intimidating. Oh buddy, come on, what are you doing? Alright, here we go. Here we go. I’m the man. Oh God!

Glen Dower:

Then on the other end of the scale, we had those moments with Lori. In those scenes, he seemed at peace. Of course, Lori is played by Savannah Steyn. In the film they are making plans to start a new life, what were those scenes like to play?

Rory Culkin:

It was sort of like a pressure valve for me, to take a second and to try to speak quietly. I don’t know how much it translates, but I tried to sort of play with that, to play with Mike’s voice a little bit. When I was in the room with my uncle, I tried to go higher. We’re family, you know, and then when I’m in the room with the bikers, I tried to go deeper like…be a man, then with her, he’s just himself. So that was nice. And she’s a great scene partner. There are so many great scene partners. And that was a big part of the appeal for me is that I got scenes with so many different actors. Lorraine Burroughs, James Oliver Wheatley, and all these great actors. It was cool. Every day I had another scene partner and it was just great, man.

Glen Dower:

That’s what Phil communicated, just a great set where everyone could communicate and collaborate. It sounded awesome. So outside the film, just looking at your recent roles and perhaps more famous roles such as Scream 4, and Black Mirror; you seem to be cornering the market in ‘unhinged’. Is there anywhere, any genre you want to explore that maybe is a bit more…’ hinged’?

Rory Culkin:

I would love that! I would love to play an English Teacher or something, but I happen to be getting these cult leaders or cult members which are fun. It’s really interesting because when you do play someone unhinged you, you can kind of do no wrong! There’s no wrong decision. I could play the whole scene to the back of my hand and it’s justified, you know what I mean? Whereas if I’m an English Teacher, this would make no sense.

But when, when you’re unhinged, everything makes sense to you, as long as it does make sense to you. ‘It doesn’t matter what you guys think back of my hand is everything’, you know? It would be a challenge to put boundaries, to be a functioning adult on screen, that would be a challenge for me at this point! So I would love to do that. Be a little more hinged as you put it, Glen.