“Skincare” is a thrilling movie that boasts a star-studded cast including Elizabeth Banks, Lewis Pullman, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Luis Gerardo Méndez & Nathan Fillion. The plot revolves around a celebrity aesthetician who starts a skincare line, only to face sabotage when a rival aesthetician opens a skincare boutique across from hers. Director and co-writer Austin Peters was kind enough to share his insights on the film, which will open in limited release on August 16th from IFC Films. We encourage you to watch the film and enjoy the interview. Thank you!
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Editor’s Note: This text from our podcast interview has been edited for clarity.
Next Best Picture: This film opens with an interesting line of text that says it is a fictional story inspired by trueevents. I’m curious what exactly inspired you to write this story.
Austin Peters: Well, the writers brought me the script early on before we started collaborating on it. I think that they were attracted to the same things about it that I was attracted to, which is that it was this sort of chaotic sunshine noir thatinvolved things spiraling out of control and people getting in over their heads. It reminded us of a lot of the movies that we love and a lot of the sort of material that has inspired us. And we love the setting of Los Angeles, which is where I was born and raised. So, I think all of those things really pulled me into it.
I love this idea of a “sunshine noir,” which is what you call this; how things that usually take place in this noir shadow are now happening in the harsh California sunlight. I’m curious why you felt that sunlight served this story more than a traditional noir feel.
Well, I think that the other thing that makes something “sunshine noir” to me is that it feels a little bit like the perspective is a little bit uncertain, you know? In terms of, it’s a little bit of an unreliable narrator. You’re not sure if what you’re hearing is true or if this is exactly reality. It felt like all these dark things happening in the bright light of day were simultaneously more heightened and more real, you know? It sort of made them more matter-of-fact. And that is sort of what this movie is about – a bunch of sort of somewhat regular people falling into a very dark underbelly of Los Angeles.
And this movie is also about these sorts of false façades that we present to the world, right? The illusion of success that you need to project in order to hopefully become successful eventually. So I’m curious… you know, this is a very difficult business, show business, so what is the wildest thing that you’ve ever done to give off your own aura of success?
Jeez, I don’t know. That’s hard. That’s a hard thing to qualify so quickly. You know, like they say, fake it til you make it. I think the craziest thing I ever did was tell people that I was a director, and I started directing because no one said, “Hey, you should be a director.” I said, “Oh, well, I am a director, and you, my friends, you guys are in a band. I’m going to direct your video.” And they said, “Have you ever directed a video before?” And I said, “No, but I can, so let’s try.”
And now here you are, you’re directing a full-on debut feature! So, I know we don’t have a whole lot of time left, but I wanted to ask you about this cast. This incredible cast that you assembled. Elizabeth Banks is so incredible in the lead, but you also have Nathan Fillion, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez… this reads like a lot of directors’ dream cast list for their first feature. How did you get all these incredibly talented people?
It certainly is on my dream list, and that’s how it started. It starts with the dream list, and at the top of that list was Elizabeth. Then, once she’s involved, everybody else sort of, I think, takes it a bit more seriously because she’s not really messing around. And so everyone just responded to the material, and we had a meeting, and I had to take a meeting with each of these people to sort of convince them to do this with me, who had never directed a movie before or a narrative feature before. I’m very grateful to all of them because they all are so incredible and brought so much to this movie. It was just an unbelievably fulfilling experience.
I can imagine. And, I know we’re coming up on the end of our time together, but before we leave, I wanted to ask you which of the products featured in this movie would you be most likely to recommend.
I have to go with the moisturizer, for sure. I think the moisturizer is the go-to. That’s the one that if she gives you that one on the street, you are stoked because that’s all time – morning, noon, and night, you can use the moisturizer.
“Skincare” will be released in theaters from IFC Films on August 16th
