Dave Franco Takes His Thriller The Rental to the Drive-In for a Blow-Out Outdoor Premiere – Variety

Having your official or unofficial debut at a drive-in tends to take the gala out of gala premiere, for worse or for better. For Dave Franco, the director and co-writer of the horror thriller The Rental, who admitted that having his film unspool for the first time at the Vineland Drive-In in the City of Industry wasnt quite how I expected the first public screening to go, hes willing to admit that he saw the light about debuting it in a vast outlay of dark parking lots, after some initial trepidations.

It was definitely surreal, said Franco, speaking with Variety Friday morning about the previous nights preview event, which took place on all four screens of the Vineland, the last drive-in remaining in the Pacific Theaters chain, under the auspices of ArcLight Cinemas. But in the end, it truly did feel unique and special. Where standard premieres are a bit more formal, with everyone dressed in suits and fancy dresses, I just dont think that wouldve been the right vibe for this film. I love how casual the night was. and it didnt feel like there was a spotlight on me or the cast. It felt more like a communal experience where everyone was just excited to get out of their homes and let loose with a group of fellow movie lovers. It was perfect. And everyone kept saying this is the first time anyone has ever premiered their film at a drive-in event

Well, not quite. There have been at least a couple of drive-in premieres in decades past, most famously when Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles had its bow at a long-gone Burbank drive-in where entry on horseback was the main requirement for entry.

No way! says Franco. That was a great idea. Well, its good company to be a part of.

There are some firsts the Rental premiere can still claim. It may well be the first drive-in screening to ever have a filmmaker-and-cast Q&A afterward one of the staples of ArcLight previews that was carried over to the premium chains City of Industry relocation, along with the signature caramel corn. And, although it took a few minutes to get the Q&A up on screen after the end credits, its almost certainly the first time a Zoom call has ever been projected onto a drive-in screen.

No one even knew what Zoom was a few months ago, so yeah, I would imagine we were the first, says Franco, who took part in the live discussion with Alison Brie, one of the principal cast members as well as his wife, from their car, while costar Sheila Vand Zoom-ed in from her own vehicle nearby, and non-attending castmates Dan Stevens and Jeremy Allen White participated more remotely.

Dave Franco and Alison Brie await the Vineland Drive-In premiere of IFC Films The RentalMichael Buckner for Variety

Measured in honking or headlights (which the audience mostly politely refrained from during the screening but ramped up during the Q&A), Francos directorial debut was a hit with the cabin-fever-defying crowd. And it was certainly, if nothing else, a one-night box-office sensation, with 650 cars (containing an estimated 1300 patrons) paying $55 a carload likely to go uncontested as the best per-screen average for any night or probably even week of the quarantine season.

The Rental is likely to do solid business again when it has its national opening July 24 on VOD, at drive-ins and at whatever indoor theaters are open by then, with or without masks as a requirement. The thriller representing Francos accomplished first time behind the camera after having been a mostly comedic presence in Neighbors, The Disaster Artist and other films is about a pair of couples that head off to a weekend retreat at a luscious rental home on the Oregon coast, only to be bedeviled by fears that theyre being surveilled, even as rivalries and sexual tensions threaten to make the getaway far from idyllic even without a possible stalker on the loose.

To paraphrase the old saying that typically gets used for horror films, The Rental could do for AirBnB what Jaws did for the ocean. (Sorry, already beleaguered B&B owners of 2020.)

Were a relatively small movie compared to most, and this kind of recognition definitely helps the overall level of awareness, Franco said about the screening, the brainchild of IFC Films, which has had a run of success at drive-ins already with films like the unlikely box-office champ The Wretched. Just talking about seeing the movie on the big screen in general, its more fun to watch thrillers and comedies with a crowd. As a viewer, you feed off everyones energy, whether theyre screaming or laughing. And I personally love watching a scary movie on the big screen and hearing strangers almost try to harness their fear. In a good, scary movie, theres inevitably moments where the entire audience cant hold back any longer and theres a giant collective shriek, and its kind of intoxicating you feel like you went through something together.

At a drive-in, you have to put an asterisk on the seeing it with an audience part, as screams and nervous laughs tend to be far-off or muffled. But, says Franco who admits he hadnt been to a drive-in since he was too young to remember what he saw its this unique communal experience where you can be comfortable in your own space but still feel the infectious energy of those around you. There was definitely a palpable energy in the air.

(Francos film plays the drama fairly straight, with no camp elements, to the point that you could almost imagine a cut of the movie that just focuses on the domestic tension between the couples with no bloodshed involved. So missing any massive audience laughs wasnt a huge drawback although it would have been interesting to see how much of the audience chortled or didnt when a caretaker tells the troubled couples: Enjoy your final night.)

During the Q&A, Brie predicted that she was likely to hear the whole way home about Francos reservations about picture and sound quality. Francos fears may have been overstated digital drive-in projection is far brighter than it used to be, in the days when the need to throw light across a vast lot competed with the need to not light up prints so much that the bulb would burn up the print. The Rental was bright enough to be entirely comprehensible, but he still had reservations.

Our film leans on the darker side. But we have been having conversations about making a specific version of the film for future drive-in showings, where we would I think just make everything slightly brighter. I ended up having a really good time, which I am happy to report, because I was definitely nervous beforehand. Even though drive-in events are inherently very fun, the sound and picture quality are never going to be as good as they are in a standard theater. And Im a crazy perfectionist. And I was just worried that people werent going to be able to experience the film in its best form. But last night made me realize that none of that matters when people are there to have fun.

He also came to cherish the fact that the big screen is the big screen and yes, even as a slightly reluctant convert to the outdoor filmgoing experience, hed rather have you see it at the drive-in next month than at home.

Its definitely a little bizarre to have a screening during COVID. But the ArcLight obviously made sure that the event would be safe, Franco said. Even the vehicles themselves were social distancing, where there was an empty space between each car. And I know theres a lot of talk about the future of film living primarily on digital platforms, but the fact that people are flocking to drive-ins all over the country during this time proves how special the moviegoing experience is when youre watching something on the big screen, surrounded by strangers.

ArcLight Cinemas Pop-up Drive-in Experience at the Vineland Drive-In, premiering The Rental, June 19, 2020Michael Buckner/Variety/Shutterstock

Besides acting as a buzz-builder for The Rental, the screening was likely to increase awareness for the Vineland, which reopened just a week and a half ago after being dark a few months during the lockdowns. Not only is it the last drive-in in the once DI-focused Pacific chain but, for most of the 2000s and 2010s, the sole operating drive-in in L.A. County. (Its recently been joined by the rebuilt Paramount in the city of the same name and a Torrance swap meet that has reignited its longstanding drive-in screen, the Roadium.) As Pacific/ArcLight execs acknowledged in a recent story, the Vineland has gone from something that was less than the crown jewel of the chain to being, ironically, the best and only game in town. That the Rental screening was branded with both the high-end and low-end parts of the chain was fitting for a film that skirts along the edges of both high-class and grindhouse.

The ArcLight is not the only Hollywood-based cineaste institution looking to do pop-ups. The same day that The Rental premiered, the American Cinematheque, normally based at Hollywoods Egyptian Theatre, announced a Thursday night retrospective series to take place at another nearby drive-in, the Mission Tiki in Montclair (on one screen out of four). Carload tickets for the first screening in that series, a double feature next week of Mad Max: Fury Road and Death Race 2000, sold out within hours.

View post:
Dave Franco Takes His Thriller The Rental to the Drive-In for a Blow-Out Outdoor Premiere - Variety

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero