An Interview With Carter Smith, Director Of Blumhouse Television's 'The Passenger' Movie
Blumhouse Television’s The Passenger movie is a bloody look at an interesting power dynamic that emerges between two fast food workers, Benson and Randy, played by Kyle Gallner and Johnny Berchtold, respectively, after a violent incident. That unlikely relationship is what drew director Carter Smith to the project in the first place. “I found myself rooting for them in this way that I thought was really interesting and unexpected,” he said, via video interview.
That relationship is made all the more interesting by the stellar performances of Gallner and Berchtold. Gallner’s name came up early in the casting process, which should come as no surprise to genre fans who’ve been admiring his work for years. Berchtold stole the show with his acting, and an interesting ring tone choice. “Johnny put himself on tape, and just did this amazing self tape. The scene that he was taping was when he gets a call from his mom, and he made the choice of using the Golden Girls theme as the ringtone for his mom. And it was just such an interesting, smart choice,” Smith said, adding, “From that very first tape, it was like, ‘Okay, he's the one to beat. This is Randy.’ And the fact that they work so well together, I just kind of knew that they'd be a great pair.”
I was delighted to have the chance to speak with Smith about this emotional roller coaster of a film. Read on below for the rest of the interview, and a deeper look at Randy and Benson.
Note: There are spoilers for The Passenger below. If you have not seen the film yet, you may want to bookmark this, and return after you have. Now, let's jump into it.
Kayla Caldwell: That opening sequence is quite jarring.
Carter Smith: That was something that actually wasn't in the script. I wanted to kind of set things up from the very beginning, in a way that felt like, okay, this is a movie where bad things can happen. And also have a fun kind of shocking moment to open the film, and to sort of create it, and share it from Randy's clouded, maybe not so accurate memory. Because if you really think about what it is that happened, and then you see what you see on screen, those two things don't really match up. But I like the idea that Randy remembers it a lot more horribly than it probably was.
KC: Then you go right into Randy's life, and his job at this fast food restaurant. When Chris is talking to him, bullying him, that whole confrontation scene, I just had such a visceral reaction.
CS: Yeah, and that was something that was kind of universal, I think, about the story, especially for us horror fans, who maybe get bullied more than some other types. And there was something so kind of immediately recognizable about the Chris character - like, okay, yeah, I knew that guy.
KC: Yeah. I feel like that's something that is interesting in writing, where you think you need to be kind of general to relate to everyone, but in actuality, the more specific you are, it doesn't matter what the situation is, the feeling is what everybody relates to.
CS: Yeah. The specificity makes it feel so much truer.
KC: To go from that scene, everything that Benson does when he goes out to the car, and he is smoking a cigarette, there's kind of a moment of calm and clarity before something really horrible happens. Almost like, all right, there's no going back after this.
CS: He makes that decision when he is inside the restaurant. I wanted it to kind of play out, and take kind of a long time, and let him smoke that cigarette, and let him stand there, and sort of patiently wait to see what decision it is that he had made.
KC: The casting for this was also kind of perfect, because, as a horror fan, I'm a fan of Kyle Gallner. He has this ability, regardless of what character he's playing, to put some kind of humanity, because Benson could easily have been just this faceless villain. Whereas I feel like throughout the movie, you're not rooting for him, necessarily, but you hope he's okay, even though he's doing all these terrible things.
CS: Yeah, and that's what I fell in love with, with the script. ‘Cause I found myself a hundred percent rooting for him, like halfway through, and I was conflicted. And I was like, uh, I don't know if I really should be feeling this. And then I was kind of rooting for him and Randy to somehow, you know, end up as best friends, sort of helping each other grow. And all of that took me by surprise, in a way that I wasn't expecting, especially after the events that happened at the beginning of the film.
And I think that's one of the things about Benson that's so interesting, is that he is more than just the bad things that he does. I knew that he had to be both charismatic and threatening, and Kyle has this ability to be both of those things within one sentence, you know? He was open and willing to the version of Benson that was a lot softer than a lot of actors might have approached that character.
KC: Which I feel like made him all the more compelling, too. Throughout the movie, it hints at Benson's darker backstory; there's some kind of incident with the vice principal.
CS: He has got baggage that he hasn't dealt with. And I think that's part of why he's so intent on helping Randy, you know, why he fixates on that. Because whether it's conscious or unconscious, I feel like he sees a bit of himself in Randy, and he's a little bit older than Randy, and he sees an opportunity to help this kid deal with some stuff that he didn't have the capacity or the resources to deal with on his own.
KC: Well, and, a lot of times, too, I feel like it's easier to stand up for someone else or to help someone else, than it is to help yourself.
CS: A hundred percent. Yeah.
KC: While I was watching The Passenger, I kept thinking, well, I would've stood up to that bully. And then I'm like, would I though? The whole movie, I just kept wondering what would I have done in that situation?
CS: Yeah. Like, what? After they leave the diner that first time, and Randy's there, I'm like, okay, would I have run off? The same thing at the gas station. I think that's part of what's so interesting about Johnny's [Berchtold] performance is that it, like you said, it's very specific, but it also has this quality where you can very easily see yourself in him, and transfer your own sense of self to that character in a way that I found really interesting.
KC: It also made me wonder, if a coworker snapped, would I be one of the people shot, or would I be the one that they were like, no, “There's something fixable about you?”
CS: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I love that. I love that. I love that you're able to put yourself so cleanly into Randy's position. That's what you hope as a director, is that an audience is going to see themselves in the characters that are up there.
KC: I liked that you did have those kind of moments with levity, to an extent, like with the “Bradley” name tag. [His name is Randy Bradley, but his manager gave him a Bradley name tag on the first day, and he just never corrected him. So everyone has been calling him Bradley.]
CS: Yeah, well, it was important to have moments that felt a little bit lighter in the context of such a heavy story. And I think also, it was interesting to see how those moments affected Benson and Randy, as opposed to just being this very serious stuff. By the end of the day, they are finding those moments with each other. They're strangely becoming comfortable with each other, in a way that takes them both by surprise, I think.
KC: You could see how, at least from Benson's point of view, the bond had developed, because at the end he is genuinely kind of shocked that Randy was the one that called.
CS: Never expected it. Yeah.
KC: He was obviously heartbroken, but then maybe a little proud.
CS: Yeah, I think so, too. I think so, too.
KC: Benson really wanted to push Randy to stand up for himself, and mocks anyone he thinks is being too complacent. But, as Randy points out in the end, any time someone does stand up for themselves, Benson gets mad at the person.
CS: By that point, it's become clear to Randy that, as much as he sort of appreciates Benson, and has come out of this experience a changed person, there is a lack of a certain amount of clarity, or groundedness to what Benson is spouting. His worldview is something that he has spent a lot of time, I think, spitting around in his head, and talking about to himself. And I think a lot of it is spilling out for the first time out loud to Randy, which is why probably some of it doesn't make the most sense.
KC: At the end, when Randy is babysitting, they're playing that field goal/flicking the eraser game, which, when I first saw it, I was like, oh my God, why is playing that? Then I realized he's not letting the incident from second grade define his life anymore.
CS: A lot of people have that reaction, but, I mean, he's able to handle and deal with it at that point.
KC: Also, with him standing up to his mom, you can see that he's been making these changes, because she doesn’t push him.
CS: Reluctant. Yeah, reluctantly she sort of agrees to let him go off, and start being his own person.
KC: So it's a very hopeful kind of ending, after, you know, such an emotional journey.
CS: Oh, good. I'm glad you felt that, 'cause that was the intention.
The Passenger is available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu, and Microsoft Store.
