Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: al madrigal, beverly d'angelo, bill burr, bobby lee, Brandon Wardell, Danny Griffin, esther povitsky, haley joel osment, Jackie Sandler, james remar, Matt Walsh, Miranda Cosgrove, Nicholaus Goossen, SHOUT! Studios

Drugstore June Director Nicholaus Goossen Talks Esther Povitsky Comedy

Director Nicholaus Goossen (Grandma's Boy) talks to Bleeding Cool about how experience strengthened Drugstore June with star Esther Povitsky.

Nicholaus Goosen is grateful for all the opportunities that come his way, even if they don't come promptly. The writer-director has had an established creative partnership with star & writer Esther Povitsky when they tried to develop Shout! Studios Drugstore June, but fame took them in different directions before they could complete it after a seven-year journey. Povitsky stars as the titular June, a wannabe influencer juggling multiple issues: her parents pressuring her to move out, her ex-boyfriend accusing her of stalking, and two detectives who suspect she's involved in the robbery of the local pharmacy. The Grandma's Boy (2006) director spoke with Bleeding Cool about his and Povitsky's path to complete the film, casting, his most memorable sequences, thoughts on how streaming changed filmmaking, and genre work he hopes to visit in the future.

How 'Drugstore June' Became a Passion Project for Goosen & Povitsky

Bleeding Cool: What's the inspiration behind 'Drugstore June?'
Goosen: The inspiration was creating a movie for Esther. We're friends and have been working together for a few years now. At first, we talked about creating a TV show together, but then she got her show and another one. During that time, we ended up doing a comedy special together, and it evolved from a TV thing until we were like, "Let's make this a movie." Then, we made this special together, and some of the themes clicked into place. From there, we hung the script, a vehicle wholly built from the ground up for Esther Povitsky.

How long did it take from the initial conception idea until you could start filming?
I would say putting pen to paper to getting on set was around 2017. When we started getting like a thing with her behind, working out the pharmacy, or any iteration of that, We didn't turn in a script that was finished until 2020 because we were working on other things.

Were there things you felt you wouldn't be able to pull off if you had started 'Drugstore June' in 2017 as opposed to when you did end up filming it?
If we had shot this in 2017, I don't think it would have been as good. I wouldn't have been as good because I've worked on several projects since 2017 before I directed 'Drugstore June,' every one of them informed me in such a way that it helped me make this film the way that we made it. Esther, having been on her show, writing, producing, starring in it, and then being on 'Dollface,' working with all the actresses on that show, I can't help but think that she got better as an actress as she got more comfortable. She would agree with me that she wouldn't have been able to pull off this role had she not done those two television shows and that in the period between the idea's inception and the time we got to set.

Did the casting come from that pool of work you guys have done, or was it a more open casting call?
No, the former. Besides hers, Bobby Lee, Brandon Wardell, Jackie Sandler, Bill Burr, and Al Madrigal's roles it was all written for them. We knew it was going to be them. Some of the other parts were slightly more fluid, and we had ideas about who we wanted. Sometimes, it was about who we could get at the time. Sometimes, people simply couldn't be there, but we were fortunate. Mostly, everybody in the movie is one of our friends, and one of us has worked with them in the past somewhere between the producers, Esther or myself.

Given the talent you and Esther amassed along with the script you both wrote, was there much improvisation from the comedians, or was everything shot to script?
How much? I would say that probably 10-15 percent was improvised. There was not a lot of improvisation; there were little bits and flourishes here and there. The most extended improvisation moment is a little back and forth with Esther and Bill Burr in that scene with June and Dr. Weisman. We did a read-through before we shot. We were fortunate enough to squeeze one of those in there. From that and hearing people, we made some last-second adjustments. In a way, that's laying the improvisation into the script, but don't get me wrong; there is improvisation in there, but tiny flourishes, bits and pieces, line here, line there, but 10 percent probably compared to the rest of the script.

What would you consider the most difficult sequence to put together you filmed?
There was the dinner table scene at the beginning. It was a long scene, and it was eating. You'll hear this from directors often; they'll tell you shooting people sitting around a table eating dinner is sometimes hard, and it took a lot of massaging in post [production] to get that right. I still would like to have done it better, but hopefully, people aren't as critical as I am. Then the other sequence that was hard to put together was the gummy bear fantasy sequence because there were more bits that we didn't get to that day. It's not that they were cut out or anything; it is that we ran out of time that day, and there were other scenarios that we were set for.

Here's a little tidbit. We had a $1,000 gigantic cinnamon roll that you could eat, which was the size of a table. We were supposed to see June, Owen, and the gummy bear eating. Then there was another thing with them in a bed with rose petals everywhere, and Max and JD played violin there. It was like a grotesque honeymoon suite type of thing. That was hard because it felt like we were rushing while shooting that stuff. It was all shot in that one day, which was the most challenging for me.

What has been the difference in your experience filming for TV and film? Do you feel comfortable in one or the other?
I can tell you that [Drugstore June] was probably the most comfortable I've ever felt making anything, and that's because I would say I feel more comfortable making movies. I'm comfortable making TV, music videos, and commercials. I enjoy making all those things. Many of my favorite directors, whom I idolized growing up, continue to do all those things. If I say, "Nick, you're only allowed to choose one thing," I will pick movies because that's what I grew up loving. I'm so happy that we will be in movie theaters and not just banished to the "Phantom Zone" of streaming. We all love streaming for certain things, but I like going to the movie theaters, and that's cool. I'm excited that we get a chance to do that with Shout! Studios, All Things Comedy, and Utopia. That's my first love, so that is how I chose to identify as a film director.

Do you find that the market has been stifling a bit, or are there more opportunities with how streaming has largely replaced physical media? Our exposure as an audience is more dependent on current subscriber models. Do you share that sentiment about the sea change?
It's been stifling, certainly to me. I would like to have made ten movies by now. Trust me. It's not for lack of trying; there have been many projects that didn't go through for whatever reason. Have I seen a lot of things change? When I shot 'Grandma's Boy,' I shot it in 35mm film, and I remember going at that time, "I want to shoot it in HD digital," and people were like, "What?! Are you crazy?!" I was fighting to shoot it on HD at the time.

I look back and say, "Thank God! I got to shoot my first movie on 35mm film. That's incredible, and I finished it photochemically. That's how different things were when I was making my first movie. Cut to today in 2024, I'm finishing the film with FotoKem again in Burbank (California). It's digital is digital can be. I cut the whole movie on Adobe Premiere on a Mac mini on the same computer that I'm Zooming with you right now with an $800 hard drive, so there are many changes in the business and in how you make movies and release movies. It's funny that my last feature comedy was released in the movie theaters and 2000 screens, and that seemed like a low release for a major studio then. Now, we're up to 65 screens, and I'd like to get at least 100 or something. We'll see what happens, and this feels like a big release for a comedy these days. It's crazy for a non-huge corporate budget, whatever, certainly for an indie. Lots of changes, for sure.

Were there other genres you're hoping to get into in the future?
I do. I ventured into a different genre with my second film, The Shortcut (2009). It was initially supposed to be an R-rated slasher and became more of a PG-13 thriller before we started shooting. It wasn't my first choice, but you can see that I was trying to flex some of those creative muscles back then, and I have another couple of projects that I've written that are not. They're not comedies. You are correct; I want to do that, but I still plan to make comedies.

I still have other comedy projects in the works, too. I love working with Happy Madison, and I love working with all things comedy. Those are my friends, and I've known them for many years. There is something to be said about laughing a lot on set, and it's fun, but it can be stressful, too much as making a horror film. I also want to make dramas and more horror films. I like that genre and grew up loving supernatural films, thrillers, and horror films—any genre I would like to dip my toes into as many different genres as possible. Hopefully, I get that chance.

Drugstore June, which also stars Beverly D'Angelo, James Remar, Haley Joel Osment, Danny Griffin, Matt Walsh, and Miranda Cosgrove, is in theaters.

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