Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Eliza Roberts, exclusive, hippo, interview, Kimball Farley, Kinematics, Lilla, Mark H. Rapaport

Hippo Director on Artistic Decision to Film in B&W & Farley's Presence

Director Mark H. Rapaport (Andronicus) spoke to us about how Hippo was inspired by his childhood, satarizing the nuclear family & more.

When director Mark H. Rapaport crafted the story of Hippo with co-writer and star Kimball Farley, it was a time to reflect on his own upbringing and make sense of what family is. The Kinematics & Rough House film follows the title character (Farley), a high-strung gamer steadily becoming a survivalist while living with his mother, Ethel (Eliza Roberts), and his heavily religious Hungarian Catholic stepsister, Buttercup (Lilla Kizlinger), who's in a hurry to grow up ignorant on what to do with her biological impulses. Rapaport spoke to Bleeding Cool about the inspiration to film in black and white, his creative partnership with Farley, and the importance of setting the film's tone.

Hippo Director Mark H. Rapaport on His Satirical Take on the American Family

Bleeding Cool: What's the inspiration behind Hippo?

Hippo comes from a personal place, but a funny personal place: growing up and coming of age as a teenager. It came from feeling like maybe I didn't quite understand the way the human body worked or the sex talk I received from my mother. It probably should have been from my father, and then realizing that there was some frustration but also humor to be mined from that period of my life.

What went to the stylistic decision to film in black and white?

I became obsessed with black-and-white imagery around that time, mostly thanks to my cinematographer, William Tracy Babcock, who's also an excellent photographer on film. He specializes in both black-and-white and color. I was looking at the black-and-white images he took, and I was blown away. I was like, "We need to do something in black-and-white if we ever work together again."

Since we did a short prior, I asked, "Would you want to do something in black and white?" and he was eager to do something in black and white. I was like, "Amazing," and after I wrote the script, we talked about it and realized black and white wouldn't just be like a gimmick. We were nerding out, but it could lend itself to the story, help dampen the absurd moments, and help place Hippo in a parallel universe starts. Yeah… several reasons, but it started as its beauty and then ended up as a tool.

What is Kimball like as a creative partner?

Kimball's awesome and hilarious. We're like brothers, and I have three brothers [of my own]. He's like another brother of mine. When I met him on the set of our short [Andronicus], I didn't get to know him so well personally because we rushed in and rushed out during COVID-19. In our short, he played such a scary character that I thought, "Maybe he was this intense and scary in real life." He was so intense, like a school shooter-type in the short.

We ended up talking and Zooming after COVID-19, and I realized, "He's an incredible actor and not an unhinged psychopath as he plays." but he's a sweet guy with a big heart. I was so happy we kept our relationship going after the short, and we reached out to him for 'Hippo' because we are working on pretty much everything together now. He's awesome.

What was the most difficult part about crafting Hippo and Buttercup's journey through adolescence and sorting through their family dysfunction?

It probably struck the balance of tone because it's a weird and serious topic. On the other hand, it can be a funny one and it was mostly solved in the writing process. That was the thing I was most worried about going into it. It was like, "We need to perform the script or better of what I hope it can be." The cast then showed up, and they killed it. They're hilarious, and you feel for them. It's always like the vibe on set, like, "Are we going to achieve the vibe we set out because movies have a story, but they also must tell a vibe, and both are equally important.

Hippo, which also stars Jesse Pimentel, Vann Barrett, and Eric Roberts, is in select theaters.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!