Interview: PSYCHOPATHS Filmmaker Mickey Keating on Making Movies That Celebrate Movies

Arriving today on VOD is Psychopaths, the latest movie from prolific genre filmmaker Mickey Keating, who has helmed six feature films over the last six years, and currently serves as the host for the Shudder exclusive series, The Core. Psychopaths follows various storylines on one fateful night as murder and mayhem take over the streets, and features performances from Ashley Bell, Larry Fessenden, Mark Kassen, Angela Trimbur, Josh Ethier, Jeremy Gardner, and Jeff Daniel Phillips, who serves as the film’s narrator.

Daily Dead recently chatted with Keating about his evolution as a filmmaker over the last few years, making movies that celebrate movies, his new talk show on Shudder, and much more. Look for Psychopaths today on VOD, courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films.

Great to chat with you again, Mickey. I think what's really cool about your career is that with every film that you do, you can see this really fun progression with you as a storyteller, and I'm loving this ’70s phase you’ve been in as of late. Was that your biggest challenge with Psychopaths, pushing yourself in a way you hadn’t before?

Mickey Keating: Oh yeah, yes, I'm definitely going through my ’70s phase for sure, and I think it's funny now, because my next movie that I want to do is very ’60s, so I feel like I'm just becoming older and older in spirit. I was watching a lot of Robert Alton movies, a lot of Rainer Werner Fassbinder movies, and this idea of just making cinema as a sensation inspired me. I know that sounds so pretentious, but just making something that is a sensation. It's a roller coaster ride, it's very emotional, more first and foremost than an A to B plot, that was what I was really intrigued by. And, of course, trying to do something like that is very challenging, so a lot of this process was this “Let's see what happens” kind of thing.

I would love to talk about Ashley and Angela's characters, because I immediately was drawn into both of them. A lot of times in movies in this regard, female characters kind of get discarded along the way. Here, they are very much the focal points, and I thought they both gave two very unique and intriguing performances.

Mickey Keating: Oh, that's awesome. With Ashley, we had such a great time working together on Carnage Park, and she's just a force of nature as a human being. And so, just to be able to make something and write a character for her again was great. When I had written the initial draft of the script—this film kind of went through many phases—I hadn't had her character in it. But then, when we worked together on Carnage Park, basically, right afterwards, I was like, “I need to write a character for you in Psychopaths, and let's just build that character together.” And so I think her character really comes from just being in awe of such a brilliant performer, and she kind of takes it and runs with it.

Then for Angela as well, initially in the script, the character of Blondie was a little bit different. But when I met Angela right after Sundance, I was just again like, "You are another force of nature. The character will become you." And what's so great about this film was that freedom of just being like, "We'll shoot as much stuff as we possibly can at the greatest psychopath range," and so it was just really great to build two characters around such brilliant actors. It doesn’t always happen that way.

Absolutely. Also, you convinced me that I need to have Jeff Daniel Phillips narrate everything in my life now, because I love that dude so much.

Mickey Keating: He's incredible. And yeah, I met him at Sundance, too, and I was just in awe of him and his voice. He's got the perfect voice, and so when we needed a narrator, I begged him to do it, and fortunately, he did.

That's awesome. Now, we've chatted a bunch of times over the last couple years, and I know that you're a huge cinephile and a lot of that can be seen in your work. Is it hard walking that line of creating these homages but still making these stories feel like your own?

Mickey Keating: Yes, absolutely. Wow. It's funny, I think all of my favorite filmmakers always embraced cinema, whether it's going back to Hitchcock or even Kubrick. It's bizarre, because you can see all of the references that inspire Kubrick in Kubrick's movies, and I think what's so interesting is that all art inspires art, and I think in a way, part of encouraging film preservation is the embracing of saying, "This is the art that inspired me. These are the filmmakers that inspired me." And for whatever reason, the power of movies is that there are certain themes that stay in your head, whether you like the films or not.

I just had an argument about this last night, about the film Gummo. Somebody said it was the first movie that they regretted seeing. They informed me that they wished they had never seen it, and my argument to that is, isn't that amazing that a piece of film can inspire such an emotion in you that you wish that you hadn't seen it? And so I think if you love movies, you can't help but have this imprint and shadows of filmmakers that inspire you in your work. That’s not something that wears off. And I guess I just want to make movies that celebrate movies, because I love movies, and I always will.

I know that you're doing that new show The Core on Shudder now, and I'm curious, what's that process been like for you? Because now you’re putting yourself out there in a totally different way.

Mickey Keating: Yeah, again, I think I always want to be doing unexpected things, so that nobody knows what I'm going to do next, if that makes sense. I feel like the thrill of the quick, abrupt left hand turn is something that I really get a thrill for. And so The Core is something that is totally different than a movie. I approach it from a film fan perspective first, and I don't really approach it at all from a director’s perspective. So that's a very different experience for me.

But it's just such an exciting thing. Any opportunity that I get to sit and talk with people like Mary Harron or Adam Green or Leigh Whannell and just dissect what inspires them about movies, it's so wonderful, and it's such a great, different look into film, as opposed to being a director and always panicking, from that perspective. Now, the directors on the show, I'm sure they're panicking when they're shooting it, but it's just a really exciting thing. And it's great to be able to be on the receiving end of gallons of blood, too, because that's something I’m a big fan of. It’s been a great experience.