Cinema Scholars interviews House of Spoils stars Ariana DeBose, Arian Moayed, as well as directors Danielle Krudy and Bridget Savage Cole at Fantastic Fest 2024. House of Spoils will be released on Amazon Prime on September 21.
Introduction
The culinary world is well known for being intense. Anyone who has ever worked either in the “front of the house” or in the kitchen can attest to the fact that it’s a sink-or-swim world. Especially within the fine dining realm. The stakes are high, make-or-break critiques abound, and one bad review can seemingly ruin the reputation of even the most renowned establishment.
Naturally, then, a restaurant setting would be the perfect context for a genre tale. The strong personalities, high tension, and hustle of a kitchen lend themselves to the intensity and chills of horror. In the new film House of Spoils directors Danielle Krudy and Bridget Savage Cole explore these themes and so much more with a witchy little culinary tale.
Synopsis
Chef (Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose) is leaving her position in one of NYC’s poshest eateries. Her unexpected departure comes on the heels of an offer she cannot refuse. The offer? To be head chef and partner at her own farm-to-table establishment. The new spot in upstate New York promises to be the next big thing in bespoke dining experiences. A destination dining getaway for the foodie elite of the city.
As Chef makes herself at home in her new abode, strange things start happening around the property. Freshly prepped dishes spoil overnight. A bug infestation threatens the kitchen. And a disheveled man lurks in the nearby woods. And that’s just the beginning. As Chef soldiers on, determined not to let herself (or her investors) down, she starts to question her grip on reality as well.
Performances
DeBose stirs her sparkle into the mix with a confident performance, even in her unhinged moments. As her character struggles to get a grip on her restaurant as well as her composure, DeBose’s nuanced portrayal aptly takes the audience along for the emotional ride plus a rollercoaster of terror.
As sous chef Lucia, Barbie Ferreira’s plucky demeanor is a nice offset to the Chef’s nearly constant ferocity. While the drama begins to unfold, however, Ferreira’s countenance adjusts appropriately. From naive eagerness and unchecked ambition to genuine concern for her boss and their situation. Ferreira is a fresh breath in an overall exercise in awesome dread.
Arian Moayed’s as money man Andreas also brightens the mood with his charismatic wheeling and dealing. When he senses Chef losing her handle on the situation, Moayed has no problem pivoting his character’s upbeat persona to match the serious business at hand. Hats off to Moayed who has mastered the guy you love to hate.
Discussion
House Of Spoils is a terrifically creepy marriage between the intensity of the culinary world and the spooks and chills of a classic haunted house trope. Though the horror elements aren’t groundbreaking, the pace and context set up by Krudy and Savage Cole create a perfect pairing with Chef’s plight. What would normally be average jump scares, creep-outs, or cliche hallmarks take on a fresh feel in the darkly whimsical world they create.
Upping the trope ante in the best way possible, House of Spoils is also steeped in nature and the gifts from the earth. Or what the directors like to call “big witch energy.” Drawing a comparison between modern cooking and magical concocting is where the film comes alive. Krudy and Savage Cole subtly allude to the thematic ties between Chef’s manic gastronomy and good old double double toil and trouble. As Chef bakes, boils, and stirs, the phrase “live deliciously” takes on a dual meaning.
Cinema Scholars’ Rebecca Elliott was able to sit down with the filmmakers and cast ahead of the House of Spoils premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024. They chat about special prep for the film, finding the perfect farmhouse, and swapping Hungary for upstate New York.
Interview
Rebecca Elliott:
[setting up in one of the flagship Alamo Drafthouse upstairs private movie-themed karaoke rooms] Usually, when I’m in this room everyone is singing karaoke. I think this is the “Black Lodge” room.
Bridget Savage Cole:
It’s a karaoke room! We were wondering.
Arian Moayed:
I can sing a couple of songs. Or get Ariana to sing some.
Bridget Savage Cole:
Yes, we can sing, too.
Arian Moayed:
We’re just singing-Let’s do it.
Bridget Savage Cole:
Dorky karaoke style.
Horror Framed In The Culinary World
Rebecca Elliott:
As amazing as that would be, I guess I should talk about your film! I have not had a chance to see it, and I can’t wait. You guys, my first question is for Danielle and Bridget. The culinary world is so fast-paced and cutthroat, which kind of lends itself to a horror-thriller theme. Can you tell me about framing a genre film in that context and how it shaped the story?
Danielle Krudy:
It was so intuitive. Bridget and I have worked in restaurants for years.
Bridget Savage Cole:
For many years. I was like, [whispers behind her hand] “Do we have to tell her?”
Danielle Krudy:
When we decided to set this tale in the culinary world, it just felt right. The environment is so exciting. The characters are beyond imagination.
Bridget Savage Cole:
The journey of a chef, we really related to it as filmmakers. We read a lot of chef biographies. Gabrielle Hamilton’s book Blood, Bones, and Butter was particularly inspiring. I remember being like, I’ve never felt a description of what it’s like to work in a male environment so palpably. We had felt that in our bones so much. Intuitively, once we decided to make the main character a chef, trying to find her voice, everything came from a personal place in terms of the emotions during the psychosis.
Danielle Krudy:
Yeah, it was a little bit like design. It was like, what’s my design? And the deep dark.
Bridget Savage Cole:
Right.
Prepping For Chef
Rebecca Elliott:
I’ve been a server, and I just know the kitchen can be a high-stress situation. So it just seems like it perfectly lends itself to a genre film. Ariana, you’re a star on both stage and screen. So how does preparing for the screen differ from the stage? And then what particular prep did you do to take on the role of Chef?
Ariana DeBose:
It’s funny. I don’t know that I technically prep any differently for either genre. To me, it’s about understanding who your audience is. If I’m on a stage, I’m playing the 1400 people. But if I’m working on camera, I’m playing the peer. It’s understanding who you’re playing to. But I always prep each character differently. That’s where it becomes individualized.
This one, I mean, I’ve worked in toxic work environments before. [everyone reacts sarcastically] No, it’s shocking. I can tell you more If you’d like to know. But the technical elements of this were the things that I found most scary. To me, getting technical elements wrong is scary, which I’m sure I probably did at some point. It’s very hard to be perfect. Nobody is.
Training
But I did train for a couple of weeks with Chef Ayesha at Shukette in Chelsea, New York City. I was with her in her kitchen and observed her for a good bit. It was very enlightening to see just the different dynamics. What service looks like, and what their prep looks like. How as a chef, as a person running the spot, the whole energy of the restaurant, lives and dies by you. Because even the maître d’ is not controlling much of that.
So that was really, really helpful. And then I continued to train while we were making the movie. Zoe Hegedus is our food stylist, and then Kristof Szasz too [pronounced “sauce”], which is actually spelled S-a-s-s?
Bridget Savage Cole:
S-z-a?
Ariana DeBose:
Oh, no. I don’t know. You know what? Don’t ask me about it. I regret saying it. But anyway, the pronunciation was correct. Or pretty close, at least. Oh, my God. I’m just having a crisis of confidence! No, but I trained throughout the film, which was really fun. I actually learned how to make a few things. I make them now, which is great.
Specific Skill Set
Rebecca Elliott:
Yeah. I mean, it’s such a specific skill set, and I’m sure you felt a lot of pressure to get that right.
Ariana DeBose:
Well, also, because there are a couple of things. You better know what you’re doing with your towels, you better know. And you better know your knife so well you can cut blind. If you are not holding a knife correctly, that’s the first thing anyone who works in the culinary industry looks for in a film. I was like, “Oh, damn. Watch me. Watch me. I’m going to get this right.”
Danielle Krudy:
Ariana came in just blazing, worked her ass off to nail and make this real and to inhabit that character.
Ariana DeBose:
It’s horrifying because I had several mini moments of crisis of confidence. I don’t know. Just let me figure it out. I’m going to figure it out. There was that day with the trash can scene. It took me a minute, and I was defensive about it. But then you chatted. Then I was like, Okay, okay, okay. But you get there, and I think that’s both indicative of how you actually are in work environments that are high-stress. And when you take on toxic traits for people you have worked with, it’s a whole idea. It’s like you first make these and then you punish them. So it’s like, what’s the greatest punishment? Starting your own business, actually.
The Money Man
Rebecca Elliott:
Arian, I’m a huge Succession fan, and I feel like you have made this wonderful career of being the money man role and playing the business partner in this restaurant in House Of Spoils. But what drew you to this role and working in genre, taking that same sort of character, but then applying it to a horror film?
Arian Moayed:
I mean, bluntly, I took this role because of the script and Ariana. It’s about the people and the story, really. So that was the big thing. Also, weirdly, I am a co-owner of Pebble Bar.
Bridget Savage Cole:
Yes! In New York City. It’s rad.
Ariana DeBose:
I still want to go.
Arian Moayed:
Come anytime. I was nerding out on that, and then all of a sudden, having this script on your end, you’re like, Oh, yeah. I can pull all that stuff together.
Bridget Savage Cole:
You really do a New York restaurant guy.
Arian Moayed:
I actually know this guy.
Bridget Savage Cole:
He’s not playing, and he knows. It’s this mix. You love him then you’re like, “Oh, man.”
Arian Moayed:
They’re all slightly con artists, but you like them.
Bridget Savage Cole:
I remember last night, Ari was like, “Yeah, this guy that I’ve borrowed some character things from, he seems like he’s about to die a lot from his stress level.” He’s like, “Is today the day?”
Ariana DeBose:
It’s make or break.
Arian Moayed:
Every day.
Setting The Scene
Rebecca Elliott:
Most of the film takes place in a farmhouse/restaurant setting, which I’m sure is integral to the story. Tell me about designing or finding the location and how that informed the whole story.
Danielle Krudy:
We had to go to Hungary to find Upstate New York. The canvas.
Ariana DeBose:
Honestly, the part I liked about this script was that it took place in Upstate New York, and I was like, “Oh, my God. Amazing. We’re going to shoot a couple of hours from my house.”
Arian Moayed:
Same!
Ariana DeBose:
Then they’re like, “Yeah, so how about Hungary?” I was like, “Yeah, sounds great.”
Bridget Savage Cole:
Let’s go. I’ll tell you why we went to Hungary. Twenty-five shooting. Yes. We couldn’t have done it in 25 in New York.
Ariana DeBose:
No.
Production Design
Danielle Krudy:
Our designer, Alexandra Schaller just owned this whole movie in terms of design. And was not shy about making everything hers in a way. She took these ideas, and we had amazing mood board talks. We found the house in the movie, and hopefully, there’s some way we can see it before and after.
Bridget Savage Cole:
It’s amazing.
Danielle Krudy:
She painted the whole house. Aged the whole house. Vined the whole house.
Bridget Savage Cole:
We didn’t even think we could do it there. She was like, “I see how we can do it. There’s a way.” She built the whole kitchen. The whole kitchen was a bedroom. It’s crazy.
Ariana DeBose:
That production design really is something. It is. It’s crazy. I can’t imagine us shooting it anywhere else because I remember when we first got there, it was just like, wow. The way we were able to utilize not only the home but the land too. There’s a garden in our film, and these little work sheds. Every single detail. It just really tells you what this house is and what this land means. Because as much as we are the characters, that house, and the land, that’s a character in our film. It was really cool.
Danielle Krudy:
I think the best way to say it is she dissolved the boundary between interior and exterior in the same way Chef’s journey is. This interior-exterior flow of things coming in and out. Alex brought the garden and the element of the outside into the house and made it feel like they were one in this crazy cool way.
Wrapping It Up
Rebecca Elliott:
Well, that wraps it up nicely. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to chat with me today about House Of Spoils. I’m really excited to see it tonight.
Ariana DeBose:
I am too! Thank you.
Arian Moayed:
Me too! It’s going to be really cool to see it with an audience.
Danielle Krudy:
We really appreciate it.
Bridget Savage Cole:
Yes, thank you!
House of Spoils will be released on Amazon Prime on September 21.
