LIGHTS OUT: An Interview With Director Christian Sesma

February 13, 2024

Synopsis

In Lights Out, a homeless veteran, Michael “Duffy” Duffield (Frank Grillo), meets a talkative Ex-Con, Max Bomer (Mekhi Phifer) who notices Duffy’s skills after he gets into a bar fight and offers him a well-paying “job” competing in underground fight clubs. The pair form an unlikely partnership after their first fight and decide to travel to LA so Duffy can atone for his past and Max can pay back a crime boss, Sage Parker (Dermot Mulroney). Duffy enters Sage’s fight club and eventually wins, but it also gets him tied up in the crime world and offers jobs he can’t refuse, including one with Sage’s partner and Police officer, Ellen Ridgway (Jaime King). The deeper Duffy goes into this world, the more deadly it gets.

Interview

Cinema Scholars’ own Glen Dower recently sat down with director Christian Sesma to discuss his new feature film, Lights Out. They talk about working with the man, the legend, Frank Grillo, how to choreograph a realistic fight scene, and the chemistry that Grillo, Jaime King, Mekhi Phifer, and Dermot Mulroney had on set, among other topics.

(Edited for content and clarity)

Christian Sesma:

Hey Glen, how are you?

Glen Dower:

I am good, Mr. Sesma. How are you, Sir?

Christian Sesma:

I’m good, man.

Glen Dower:

Excellent stuff. So, we’re here to talk about Lights Out, your new film, of course. I want to jump straight to talk by Mr. Frank Grillo. He is your star, and the MVP of this, and so many other films. You just get something extra with him, he’s just walking gravitas. Plus, that quality, you just know when he walks into a room, he’s going to kick everyone’s ass. What’s it like working with the man?

Christian Sesma:

It’s a pleasure. I mean, we were just talking about it. It’s like the intensity and passion he brings to make sure not only is he good, but that the movie’s good. He just helps to elevate everything, you know what I mean? It’s like he steps on and we know that whatever scene it is, whatever he is involved in, really he is just bringing that energy too. It is great. So Frank’s awesome. He is phenomenal in the movie. Great fighter and helped take this to another level.

Scott Adkins, Frank Grillo, and Mekhi Phifer in a scene from "Lights Out" (2024). Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution. — Scott Adkins, Frank Grillo, and Mekhi Phifer in a scene from “Lights Out” (2024). Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.

Glen Dower:

For sure. And let’s talk about the fights. I love how we have a real, old-school fight movie. It can look fake, it can look like a dance or we simply don’t see punches land, but I love how you get the two or three shots with the real hand-to-hand combat. And it is one of those action movies where you go, ‘ouch, I felt that’ when you are watching it, that’s what you want. How did you go about achieving that as the director?

Christian Sesma:

There are a few ways. We have a great choreographer, but I also think Frank really sells it, man. I think Frank knows how to throw a punch, right? So a lot of times in these movies you have a great stunt guy who’s a fighter who knows how to fight. And then you have an actor who has maybe trained the fight choreography, but he’s not necessarily a trained fighter. So that the energy between them is mismatched. But when you have somebody like Frank, it’s right there. So you’re like, oh man, you could see the energy of how he’s throwing the punch, the angles. It’s just the professionalism and the skillset is on display for sure.

The same way you’re watching kind of these larger legends, Jackie Chan, these guys, you’re wide shotting these guys. You’re like, that’s real. Whatever he’s doing is real. And even now with Keanu, Keanu trains hard and you’re seeing these shots and I’m like, that’s real. Scott Adkins, forget about it. He is the master at that. That’s real. So the skillset is real. And I think that comes into play with making sure that you feel the fights. For sure. Sound design helps a lot too.

Glen Dower:

Oh yeah, you want to hear that boom, that impact. You want to hear punching. I liked that aspect a lot and I also really liked the unique visuals. I called them the X-ray shots. We see the internal destruction! I thought, whoa!

Christian Sesma:

It’s funny, that was a last-minute edition. And I’ll credit Brandon Burrows to that quite a bit. Who is the producer, because that was not my idea. That was a last-minute thing in editorial and we kind of went back and forth about it. We’re like, man, because we worked hard to try to make this a very grounded piece. And I was like, man, does this take us into cheesy territory? We don’t know. And then we kept watching. Then we watched it as a whole. We’re like, no, this is kind of cool. I think we were going to stick to it.

And it just kind of gave it just a little flare here and there that was cool. And you see the destruction. I think it also kind of paid off story-wise at the end where Frank is fighting the guy in the arena; the neck snap. I mean that helps. Like, okay, I got what happened, I get what happened. So it wasn’t just whatever you’re like, oh snap, that happened. So I think those all helped in it was a cool 11th-hour edition that I think people are going to dig.

Jaime King in a scene from "Lights Out" (2024). Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution. — Jaime King in a scene from “Lights Out” (2024). Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.

Glen Dower:

Yes, for sure, as it’s used quite sparing, and when you need it you go, oh yeah, that’s what happened! Crunch, snap!

Christian Sesma:

No, I’m glad you like it! I’m glad you like it. You’re the first person who has seen it. It’s not out yet, so I’m glad you like it.

Glen Dower:

We have talked about Mr Grillo of course, but everyone seems to be having a good time in this movie. It has its rough and gnarly moments, but we have those emotional moments too, Mekhi Phifer’s family storyline for example. We have Jaime King who is just ice cold, a slightly deranged Dermot Mulroney; the cast seems to be having a really good time and seems to have a sort of different movie going on a different motive. Can you tell me about how you direct those individuals?

Christian Sesma:

I always say directors are the protector of the tone. You know what I mean? It’s like I’m hugging my movie and I’m protecting the tone. Everybody has, like you’re saying, their idea of what the movie is and everybody’s trying to go in different directions. So, one of my jobs is to keep that all wrangled in. I’m like, ‘Yes, yes. No, no, that’s too far. Bring it in. Do this. Yeah, that’s cool.’ So as a protector of the tone, you want to make sure everybody’s ideas still fit within the overall vision of it, or else you’re going to have this hodgepodge of something that feels off.

But I think everybody genuinely had great chemistry offset, so everybody liked each other. So that helps, helps a lot. And then obviously Frank and Mekhi are phenomenal in the movie. Just they brought it all. They’re just great buddies in it, or they become great buddies. But again, Frank and Dermot have worked together from The Grey, and Jaime and Frank. Everybody was very friendly, so everybody knew each other. It was the kind of film everybody was excited to work together and excited to help elevate.

Glen Dower:

That comes across in the film for sure. Everyone seems at ease with their characters. Speaking of which why do you think there’s so much in this genre; of the protagonist with a past arrives in town, saves a family or community, and moves on? Because we have recent projects like The Beekeeper with Jason Statham right now, Liam Neeson has one of these movies every two months or so! Why do you think we as an audience, still have a demand for these films, as a director within the genre?

Christian Sesma:

I think it goes back to America’s love for the cowboy, I do. I think we have an affinity and an infatuation with the cowboy of this kind of ‘free-spirited, no connection, I can do what I want to do, care if I want to care’ idea. Even though we are always looking for connection. I think that’s what this movie is. Ultimately, it’s about a guy with really no ties and no home, who finds a home and finds some ties with the unlikeliest of people. And I think that’s what we always try to push as our main theme in a fight movie to kind try to help it stand apart a little bit for sure.

Mekhi Phifer and Frank Grillo in a scene from "Lights Out" (2024). Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution. — Mekhi Phifer and Frank Grillo in a scene from “Lights Out” (2024). Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.

But I think that America has an affinity for cowboy and cowboy culture in the West and this free-spirited thing. So I think the character of Duffy, and this kind of drifter is just kind of modern-day cowboy. It’s like, what’s the difference? I always go, it’s him. And look here, we’re going to go full-on film nerd, it’s a guy that wanders into town and is like, I’m going to go handle some business and then I’m going to take off. Same thing, that’s the last man standing. That’s A Fist Full of Dollars. We can go deep dive into cinema now.

Glen Dower:

I am a big fan of those deep dives! Including a note I made of one line I thought was very important in the film: ‘You remember the first rule of Fight Club?’ I sat up in my chair when I heard that. I thought that was a really important line, and Fight Club is one of my favorite films ever.

Christian Sesma:

Me too! Me too! We talked about that quite a bit. Again, we were trying to define the tone of what this movie was. We talked about Fight Club, we talked about Snatch too, and Warrior because we didn’t want it to be a very slick choreography-style movie when it came. And I mean slick, I’m using that loosely with regards to stylized choreography like John Wick action, right? This would feel like it needed to be much more like Fight Club. How many fights are in there? Not that many, but you feel ’em. And really, the story was there. What you are feeling is there.

So Fight Club wasn’t really about the Fight Club, it was the backdrop to Tyler Durden’s character journey, right? And his psychosis. And the same thing with this. We wanted the fights to just be brawls, just hard-hitting brawls. Just two guys beating the hell out of each other against the backdrop of this character piece.

Glen Dower:

Agreed. As I said, I really enjoyed Lights Out, and best of luck with the release, Mr. Sesma. Thank you for your time.

Christian Sesma:

Thanks, Glen. I appreciate it.

Lights Out, directed by Christian Sesma and starring Frank Grillo, Mekhi Phifer, Jaime King, and Dermot Mulroney will be released in theaters, on digital, and on-demand by Quiver Distribution on February 16, 2024.

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