RIFF RAFF: An Interview With Director Dito Montiel About The Star-Studded Cast!

Introduction & Synopsis

Oscar nominees Bill Murray and Ed Harris star alongside Emmy winner Jennifer Coolidge and Pete Davidson in Riff Raff, a darkly comic crime thriller about how far you’ll go to protect the ones you love. Vincent (Harris) and his family plan to share a quiet New Year’s Eve until his sketchy past catches up with him and the night reveals secrets no one could ever imagine. Gabrielle Union and Emmy nominee Lewis Pullman are also featured.

Director Dito Montiel’s Riff Raff is accurately named – the majority of the characters in the film are not the type that one would want to associate with, and would likely be the last that one would. You know, ‘cause they’d kill you.

Riff Raff stars Ed Harris, Bill Murray, Pete Davidson, Jennifer Coolidge, Gabrielle Union, Lewis Pullman, Emanuela Postacchini, and Miles J. Harvey, and somehow, all of these actors get the opportunity to shine in the film’s scant 103 minutes. Lewis Pullman’s Rocco is the catalyst for the action within Riff Raff, and Marvel’s Sentry reveals a depth of character that belies the riff-raffiness of his gruff exterior.

Interview

We recently chatted with filmmaker and author Dito Montiel about working with such a stellar cast while telling a small story with deplorable characters. His pleasant tone and affable approach to filmmaking seemed incongruent with the subject matter, but we wouldn’t have him any other way.

Eric McClanahan:

Hey Dito! How are you?

Dito Montiel:

I’m good. How are you doing?

Eric McClanahan:

I’m well, thank you so much. Let’s get right into it – we’re talking about the film Riff Raff. I haven’t seen that many films that so cleverly balance everyone’s individual story. When the film first starts, you think, “Oh, this is DJ’s story.” But then you see it’s also Rocco’s story, Marina’s story, and Vincent’s story. Tell me about coming across this script and if you know anything about its journey from ideation to completion.

Dito Montiel:

Oh, I know about that. I’m glad you say it that way because that was how I originally, when I read it originally. I remember thinking, “Oh, I love that every time someone comes in, it becomes their movie.” Because you know how some movies are: there’s the lead guy, and then there’s some kind of love interest and a bad guy and everyone just floats around them, so I thought “Oh boy, everybody that comes into this just sort of takes over,” so that was exciting. It was a long, crazy trip, like always.

It was written as a play, originally, by John Pollono, all to be in one room, of course, and P.J. Ransone, who is a friend of ours and an actor I love, said, “You’ve got to read this and come down and meet John.” So I said it kind of reminded me of Virginia Woolf, but a whole family of Virginia Woolfs, so that’s what really kind of excited me. So, we just worked on the script and tried to give it legs in terms of leaving the room. However, we could find a way to leave the room through memory or an odd story. So it was a fun, crazy trip, as always, you know?

Eric McClanahan:

The film itself seems to have a very short timeline, but you do these interstitials and flashbacks and callbacks that bring it out into the world with a great performance from Michael Angelo Covino as Johnny. Tell me about putting this cast together; this thing is stacked!

Dito Montiel:

Yeah, I mean, you don’t always get your dreams – you hope to get your dream people, and then you settle for other dream people, of course. This was one of those cases where you didn’t have to go to that next level. It was kind of ridiculous. Including, of course, there’s Ed Harris and Jennifer Coolidge and all that, but the first thing I was thinking was “Who can be DJ? That’s an impossible role!” I thought he was somewhere between [“Family Matters” Steve] Urkel and a total disaster, you know? Who is going to say these words and not be ridiculous?

Then Miles J. Harvey walked into an open call, and Oh My God, I fell in love with him! So as excited as I was about everyone from Pete Davidson to Bill Murray, who were beyond dreams, to Gabrielle Union, Miles Harvey was just as exciting to me. It’s one of those things where a bunch of madness puts all these people in a room together.

Eric McClanahan:

Yeah, he’s a great emotional anchor to the story, which allows us common viewers because you know few of us are as nefarious as the characters of Riff Raff.

Dito Montiel:

You would hope.

Eric McClanahan:

So his emotional core really helps us to step into the film. But another breakout, steal-the-show moment was P.J. Byrne as the neighbor, who does sincere fakery better than anyone on screen. Tell me about that scene.

Dito Montiel:

I don’t know that there’s a better person at that on Earth. He’s a friend, and when I was reading that scene, I said, “P.J. Byrne. I have to call P.J.” So I called him up and said “Listen, man, it’s one scene, but here’s the good stuff: it’s with Bill Murray and Pete Davidson and a great actress in New York, and you go can go berserk in it, P.J.” and I begged him to do it. “But the bad news is you have to fly yourself in because we’re shooting in New Jersey and we have no budget,” and he said, “Let’s do it!” And, of course, you just light him on fire, and you sit back and let him go. I adore him! I first saw him in Wolf of Wall Street and said, ‘Who is this guy in this wig?’ and obsessively tracked him down, and ever since then, I’ve just loved him and luckily got him to be in this.

Eric McClanahan:

Well, we were so pleased to see him pop up in this, and we hope you put him in everything moving forward.

Dito Montiel:

I will! You know, ever since I’ve known him, there’s a bunch of actors I work with that, every time I’m reading something I’m saying “Please let there be something here for them!” or I’ll try to find a way to stick them in and he’s one I do that for because I just love him!

Eric McClanahan:

Speaking of actors, Lewis Pullman is in this film, and he’s about to be the biggest man in the world with the new Marvel film coming out. Was there any ego, or was he just completely on board?

Dito Montiel:

Zero! You know, I never know who anyone is. I’m just the worst. Like, I just watch “90 Day Fiance” – I know nobody, you know? That was a tough role to cast because originally it was written as just a motorcycle jacket guy, and I thought, “Oh gosh, who is this guy?” I met Lewis a week before filming while he was in New York – I’d just met someone else before, so I ran to go meet him, and I was just doing it to say hi, you know?

Then the first thing he said was, “Would I have to wear a motorcycle jacket?” And I said ‘no,” and as dumb as that is, [I knew it meant he got the character]. He’s the real deal and a sweetheart; he’s a big, strong, tough guy, but he’s not a jerk. Totally. I mean, he does some pretty bad things. But I’m a fan, and I’m blown away that he’s going to be a big star; good for him! He deserves it. It’s funny, talking about how great everyone is, but it was a nice trip with him, for sure.

Eric McClanahan:

There’s a great emotional depth to Rocco’s character – he’s not one-note. What he does, he does out of love, and he seems to have a genuine affection for DJ, and the ice breaks between him and Vincent, so it is a great journey. 

Dito Montiel:

Yeah, I’m a fan, for sure!

Eric McClanahan:

So tell me about balancing all of these huge personalities on set.

Dito Montiel:

Yeah, it’s a trip. You asked before, and when we first making it I thought, oh there’s not that many locations, we’re in this room the whole time and then we started moving it around, it goes all over, but we did spend a lot of time with eight incredible actors all in one room with one camera. So, who do we look at now? I mean, who do you not want to look at of that bunch, you know? The way I see it, and luckily it worked out though it doesn’t always, but it did for me this time, is if you’re showing up to be in one of my movies, unfortunately, you’re not there because you want to get paid, or fortunately! You’re there because you want to be there, I think; I hope.

You’re there because you want to do something fun. To what you said initially, you couldn’t read this and think, “Well, this is my scene!” It’s everyone’s scene, so these are great actors that played off each other, so it’s just a question of who do I want to turn to next? In what order do I want to cover this? Usually, I’m not a giant coverage person, but it’s hard not to say Well, let’s make sure we have a camera on Jennifer Coolidge, you know? Oh, Bill Murray’s over here; let’s make sure we have a camera on him for another take. You wish you had eight cameras to cover them all, but you can hear them when you don’t see them. [laughs]

Eric McClanahan:

Now, this film was released on February 28th in theaters, and I think it went to streaming for purchase at the same time. How does it feel, as a filmmaker? How do you feel about this distribution model post-COVID?

Dito Montiel:

It’s the way it is, man. It’s trippy. I can’t keep up with it. I don’t quite get it entirely. Everyone always says, “Oh, the seventies was such a great time for directors,” and I think yeah, for ten! For ten directors, it was great; maybe twenty. So now it’s good for ten thousand, or a thousand. That’s the reality. As much as you wish we could open on 10,000 screens or whatever that metric is, now, fewer of us can open to the whole world. It’s like music – you put a song out, and you get a letter from Singapore. What?!? So, I’m all for it. It’s easy to be nostalgic. My friend was saying, “One day you’re gonna be like, ‘My grandparents used to go into a big, giant room and all cry together at something on a screen. How ridiculous!” And, yeah, that does sound kind of crazy. I’ll always love theaters, but that’s the way it goes. My father used to talk about horses pulling things down the street, so times change, you know?

Eric McClanahan:

Well, speaking of archaic things, when I was watching the film, I noted that some of the language in the script is very non-politically correct, but they’re said by villains. Was there any difficulty in balancing that?

Dito Montiel:

Nah. These guys, I don’t imagine that they were much nicer. These are characters that are killing each other! And they also say a couple of bad things. Sorry if that hurt your feelings; probably not as bad as a bullet. But I thought, again, I don’t care about stuff like that, under anything. I try for myself that the person is being honest to their character, not trying to force something to shock you. So it was kind of fun to play with these guys who don’t have the best intentions for each other and certainly don’t have the greatest words at all times.

Eric McClanahan:

That’s fair, and that is our time. Thank you so much for talking to us today, Dito, and best of luck!

Dito Montiel:

Thank you.

RIFF RAFF is currently available from all streaming retailers.

Read more Cinema Scholars interviews!

THE MIRACLE CLUB: An Interview With Director Thaddeus O’Sullivan

THE WRATH OF BECKY: An Interview With The Directors And Star Lulu Wilson

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