SLAMDANCE FESTIVAL: An Interview With The Director And Star Of IN THE MOUTH

Introduction

In the new feature film In the Mouth, having its world premiere at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival in Los Angeles, Merl has been living his life as a shut-in recluse, in complete isolation, unable to leave his house after discovering a giant version of himself protruding from his lawn, blocking any escape attempt. He’s run out of money, but if he doesn’t pay his rent in the next five days, his landlord will evict him. With no other options left, he is forced to get a roommate to pay him the debt in advance. Larry, an older man traveling shockingly light with only the clothes on his back, heeds the call and comes to live with Merl. It’s an adjustment for sure, but maybe they can learn a thing or two from each other. Or maybe Larry’s just found the perfect place to hide.

Interview

Cinema Scholars’ own Glen Dower recently interviewed director Cory Santilli and star Colin Burgess about their new dark comedy In the Mouth. The film is having its world premiere at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival on February 21, 2025.

Lightly edited for content and clarity.

Glen Dower:

Mr. Santilli. How are you, sir?

Cory Santilli:

Good! How are you?

Glen Dower:

I’m excellent. So when I got the message through from your film’s PR, I wasn’t sure what I was going to get. But it turned out to be a real treat. I didn’t know what to expect. I just want to read out the many synopsis I got. So a perpetual worrywart, finds himself unable to leave his house after discovering a giant version of himself protruding from his front lawn. Inspirations, please?

Cory Santilli:

Sure, it was mostly like the personification of what I was dealing with at the time. I was dealing with housebound agoraphobia for a few years and so it was written out of frustration. I just kept thinking, I’ll use this time to be productive. And I just couldn’t stop the frustration. You know, it was just ad nauseum. So yeah, I just one day, I was like, I’m just gonna write about this, and this is what came out. And it was. It was a bit overt like I wasn’t sure if I was being a little too, on the nose with it. But I also didn’t think that it was going to get made really. So I probably would have made decisions differently had I thought that it was going to. But It was sort of birthed in the frustrations that I was dealing with at the time.

Glen Dower:

And what I like about it is, it takes matters seriously, but also has a tone that you can empathize with. We’ll talk about Merl, the main character. You do feel for him, and he isn’t irritating, he just gets on with it. The film also has a playful tone which I realized reminded me of Wes Anderson. The slightly heightened reality and some of it seems almost cartoonish at times. For example when he’s trying to find money. And he’s looking down the sides of the sofa and then doing the accountants, then says ’I need more money’. That moment was just great and made me laugh. The film is presented in black and white. Can you tell me about the decision behind that?

Cory Santilli:

Yeah, it just felt like aesthetically, that was what I was seeing. I don’t know why, it just always felt like the moment. When I started writing it I saw it in black and white, and the moment that I started visualizing it storyboard-wise. It was in black and white, and I just never really thought about it in color. Black and white felt inherently correct.

Glen Dower:

Let’s talk about your lead actor, Colin Burgess. What a find he was for you! So, now we know the film is somewhat autobiographical; was he playing your version of yourself, would you say? And how did you find him to fill the role? I have in my notes: ‘Colin Burgess, just corners all the comedy here’. He even makes drinking a glass of water funny.

Cory Santilli:

Yeah. Colin is just so inherently funny. Colin can make things that weren’t intended to be funny, funny in his little ways, and super talented. I found him via some short films that he made on this website called No Budge and that was how I found him, and we just kept in touch over the years. We kept trying to figure out how to work together what we were going to work together on some things that got started and then fell apart. But this one felt like the right one, and I remember one day we were on set, and Colin said, I’m really glad this was the one that we were able to work on first. But all the cast was so great, there was no way this film was going to be successful without them.

Glen Dower:

Yes, the cast is a pleasure to watch in this. We also have Paul Rothery as well. He’s in the film for a short time, but he seems to be having such good fun! And it must have been nice for Colin to have someone to ‘play with’?

Cory Santilli:

Yeah, I found Paul through working with his daughter on something, and then I got Paul because our original actor had dropped out and he stepped in, and then I just kept in touch with him. A lot of my relationships are just people that I keep in touch with over the years. But yeah, even people who have watched the film have said they love the moment when his character, Larry arrives because there’s a tonal shift, and it feels like a recess from the sort of peculiar and odd world that Merl is building around himself.

Glen Dower:

Let’s talk about that world for a moment. I made some notes on how he is a ‘creative recluse’.

Cory Santilli:

Ha! Of course. Right?

Glen Dower:

The little T. Rex grabber to collect packages, and mail on a little clothesline. He’s thought all this through. He buys himself a VR kit so he can go on virtual tours, which, of course, we all can emphasize following lockdown. Were these aspects inspired by your own experiences?

Cory Santilli:

Even still, to an extent I try to do things virtually when I can. But it wasn’t as exaggerated as what he’s experiencing in the film. But yeah, I had to get creative at times to figure out how to be in certain places when I couldn’t physically be there…

(Lead actor Colin Burgess arrives…)

Colin Burgess:

Hey guys, sorry I’m late – I expected Pacific Time!

Glen Dower:

Mr. Burgess, we were just talking about you. 

Colin Burgess:

Oh, nice!

Glen Dower:

You were the 5th choice for the movie, only joking, but we were just talking about Cory’s own experience with agoraphobia. On set did you ask him about those experiences and did they influence your performance?

Colin Burgess:

Honestly, no. I don’t think I asked him anything about himself. I think I was just coming at it from a more comedic angle, thinking about a guy who just doesn’t leave his house. How he would interact with people which in my experience, is when I don’t leave the house all day and I try to interact with someone. I behave weirdly, every time I’m not around people for long periods.

Glen Dower:

I wanted to ask you about a certain scene I discussed with Cory before you joined us – drinking that glass of water. Because I find that so funny when you’re talking to the policemen. You take that glass to town.

Colin Burgess:

Ha! I think we did maybe 2 takes of that. I will say I think I suggested that and I thought it’d be really funny, and I think the 1st take it dawned on me how difficult that is. And I was out of breath. I think I didn’t realize you can’t breathe while you’re drinking! I remember being really out of breath.

Cory Santilli:

Yeah.

Colin Burgess:

You can’t breathe while you’re drinking. This is what I figured out. This is the big thing I learned in this movie!

Glen Dower:

There we go. An educational experience. And we are here to promote your film premiering at Slamdance Film Festival. What are your expectations when you bring the film there? Are you excited to get the audience’s reactions?

Cory Santilli:

Excited about it. I think when I was on set, I just kept thinking it was such a bold movie to be making. And the way we were making it. It was limited in its resources. I mean, we shot 164 scenes in 10 days. It was nonstop madness. We all just really wanted to do a good job. And I feel like, had we known that we’d be premiering at Slamdance while we were on set, it wouldn’t have gone as smoothly because we would have been so focused on everything else. But we were hyper-focused every day. And it feels awesome. I think we’re all excited to be playing at Slamdance. It feels like the best fit for the movie.

Colin Burgess:

I agree with that. If we had known we got into Slamdance while we were filming, we would have tried harder! No, no! This is cool to get into Slamdance. I’ve been a fan of the festival, and this is a thing I can check off the bucket list.

Glen Dower:

Awesome. And so two more quick questions. Cory, I just wanted to ask about the cooking scene. Did I see a Goodfellas reference and a The Apartment reference?

Cory Santilli:

It was an overt Goodfellas reference because I thought it would be really funny to just like steal verbatim a Goodfellas shot! I’ve seen The Apartment a few times, but it took other people to remind me about the tennis racket. I think you told me on set Colin?

Colin Burgess:

I had just rewatched The Apartment one night after we were shooting and then I think maybe you were shooting that the next day, and I was like, ‘Oh, you’re using the tennis racket like from The Apartment,’ and you’re like what? And I’m like ‘That’s what Jack Lemon does when he cooks for Shirley MacLaine.’

Cory Santilli:

It must have been in the back of my head. Because why would I just sort of imagine that up randomly? But in my mind, it was a bit that I invented. But yeah, I was. Colin reminded me that I was not the inventor of the bit. I guess it was technically a Badminton racket. So we did. It is a sort of a derivative, not a verbatim plagiarism.

Colin Burgess:

That’s different.

Cory Santilli:

Yeah. Different enough.

Glen Dower:

I just want to ask one more question for you, Colin. Have you seen the film on the big screen yet?

Colin Burgess:

No, I’ve seen it actually on an extremely small screen.

Glen Dower:

Then it must be exciting for you to see a huge, 20-foot-tall version of your head on the big screen.

Colin Burgess:

Yeah! I can’t believe it! I might not be able to watch it all in one sitting, you know, because it’s so big!

Glen Dower:

Well, gents, I hope you enjoy the festival, very well deserved. And I enjoyed the movie, it was great fun. Thank you so much for your time.

Cory Santilli:

Thanks, Glen!

In The Mouth will have its world premiere at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival on Friday, February 21 at 4:45 PM at Summer & David Theater at Quixote Studios, and Monday, February 24 at 11:30 AM at Panasonic LUMIX Theater at Quixote Studios.

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