cover of episode ‘Reptile’: Director Grant Singer Talks Benicio Del Toro Collaboration, The Coppola & Hitchcock Influence & Subverting Crime Tropes

‘Reptile’: Director Grant Singer Talks Benicio Del Toro Collaboration, The Coppola & Hitchcock Influence & Subverting Crime Tropes

2023/9/29
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In this episode of Deep Focus, your host Rodrigo Perez sits down to chat with Grant Singer, the director of the crime thriller/drama, "Reptile."

Yes, it’s a crime film, superficially—a hardened detective investigates a mysterious murder— and resembles, in some respects, the grim mood of a serial killer procedural in the vein of, say, David Fincher. But it’s also a character-driven drama and murder mystery—featuring excellent and consistently surprising supporting turns by Alicia Silverstone, Justin Timberlake, Michael PittEric Bogosian, and more— that maybe more resembles something like Denis Villeneuve’s “Prisoners,” mixed with the system-is-rigged futility of “Chinatown.” This is high praise, obviously, but it’s deserved.

Singer makes his feature-length directorial debut with "Reptile" which is co-written along with Benicio del Toro, and we spoke about what del Toro brought to the project, both as an actor and writer, the process of getting him and dive deep into its many themes of shedding skin, dreams, broken dreams and more.

It's an underrated movie and you should check it out asap.


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