Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: exclusive, interview, lucas till, Mercedes Varnado, Paul Ben-Victor, Quiver Distrubtion, Ruby Rose, The Collective, Tom DeNucci, tyrese gibson

The Collective: DeNucci on Ensemble Cast & Action Directing Debut

Tom DeNucci (Johnny & Clyde) talks to Bleeding Cool about his action directoral debut in Quiver Distribution's The Collective, cast & more.

Director Tom DeNucci is used to wearing many hats as an actor and writer. Making his on-screen debut in the Showtime series Brotherhood in 2007, it wasn't long until he transitioned to writing and directing in 2013's Self Storage which he also starred in. Never shying away from a challenge, he tackled the Quiver Distribution action thriller The Collective, which follows a group of righteous assassins that take aim at a highly sophisticated human trafficking ring backed by a network of untouchable billionaires. With their backs against the wall, The Collective has no choice but to put their most important mission in the hands of rookie assassin Sam Alexander, played by Lucas Till (MacGyver). DeNucci spoke to Bleeding Cool about taking his first action film as a director coming from his horror background, the Matthew Rogers and Jason James script, and the eclectic ensemble cast.

Assembling the Talent of The Collective

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about 'The Collective?'
DeNucci: Producer Richard Switzer is a dear friend of mine, like a brother. We've worked together many times. He contacted me, sent me the script, and said, "Hey, Tom, I know you've never done an action movie before, but if you read the script, I think it's going to have some elements that you really like." I did a lot of horror movies and a little bit of crime drama. Although this script was an action movie, it had some horrific elements. It had some crime drama elements. I said to myself, "I've cooked with these ingredients before. This would be a great script for my first action story." The next thing you know, two or three months later, we're on set shooting 'The Collective.'

What were some of the biggest challenges posed going into this?
Reading the script off the bat, there was so much action. Believe it or not, this entire movie was shot in 15 days. Shooting all that action in only 15 days was going to be a challenge, and that's why it was all about prep, prep, prep. It was like a 'Rocky' training montage. The whole six to eight weeks before, I methodically planned out every single shot in the movie, so there was limited time to think about what I would do when I got to set. I spent all my time executing.

Is there a distinct difference for you when you're committing to directing versus putting on the other hats of writing and acting? Does it become easier?
It helps. They all service each other because, coming from an acting background, you can be in tune with some of the considerations an actor might be making and some of the concerns that they might have. Coming from a writing background, it was helpful because there were some situations in the collective where creatively, I had to do an on-the-fly change-up because maybe the location wasn't quite like how it was written in the script. Having the ability to quickly take the script and be like, "Let me rewrite the scene on the fly on the day to make it work for the elements that we have." That's always going to help you. You're using three different parts of your brain; you could compare it to being a musician. A lot of musicians play different instruments, but playing the piano is different from the drums and the guitar but it's also playing music.

Could you break down what it was like to work with the cast since you have such an eclectic mix of talent?
Don Johnson, Ruby Rose, Lucas Till, Tyrese Gibson, and Mercedes Varnado, also known as Mercedes Mone, who's huge in the pro wrestling world, is probably arguably one of the best, if not the best female wrestler on the planet. Working with this group was a privilege; they all showed up with so much dedication to doing their thing. Let's not forget about Paul Ben-Victor, who plays our villain, just a tremendous actor. I was lucky, man. You get lucky sometimes. You never know what you will encounter when you meet an actor. It's always this dance that must happen quickly. You're going to meet them, and then the next couple of days, you will be shooting, and you must build a relationship fast. I was fortunate to be working with just such terrific people that made it easy to bond with them quickly, and we were able to do something special together in a short period of time.

Was there a particular sequence that stood out for you?
Everything was super prepped out, so we didn't get hung up on too much. My favorite sequence is shooting the Pistol Puppet sequence because the Pistol Puppet is a scene where members of The Collective are often outgunned and outnumbered. There's a situation where our main character, Sam, played by Lucas Till, is out of bullets, and he's got one bullet left, but he's going to kill two guys. There's a unique style called the Pistol Puppet, which he implements. We did it with practical effects, and it came down to timing. It had to be timed out just right where my special effects coordinator, Doug Sakmann, is hitting these two triggers, and it's going to happen simultaneously for these blood bags to fire out and make it look like it works. Timing is everything, and that was a big timing shoot. I was pleasantly surprised to do a take or two of a fight and say, "Okay, hey, we got it."

Was there a film or filmmaker that influenced your work in this?
I wouldn't say that there was any one filmmaker on this one, but I did study a lot of action movies. As always, I'm making movies because guys like Martin Scorsese are my idol. Although this movie is not like a Scorsese movie, I think about "Marty" whenever I make a movie, and he inspires me.

Was there another genre that you wanted to tackle next that you haven't done before?
I would love to do a comedy someday. I've always added a little bit of comedic elements. In 'The Collective,' you'll notice a couple of funny moments, but I would love to see what it's like to have that full-blown comedy for 90 minutes.

The Collective is currently available in theaters, digital, and on-demand.

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