It’s two weeks after the season finale of “Severance” and Britt Lower hasn’t let up.
The actress who plays Helly R on the hit Apple TV+ series made a pair of indie features during the break between its first and second seasons.
So we hop on a video call to talk about Lower’s new film with Turkish writer-director Tolga Karaçelik, the dark comedy “Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer” (or “Psycho Therapy,” if you’re the person who puts the letters on the movie marquee).
Britt Lower as Suzie, center, with John Magaro as Keane, left, in the dark comedy “Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer” from Brainstorm Media release. (Photo by Zach Dilgard) “Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer” is a dark comedy in which hapless novelist Keane is befriended by Kollmick, a retired serial who offers to teach him how to write about his occupation. When Keane’s wife Suzie accidentally meets Kollmick with Keane, he tells her Kollmick is their new marriage therapist, and Kollmick is forced to play the part. (Image courtesy of Brainstorm Media) Britt Lower as Suzie in the dark comedy “Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer” from Brainstorm Media release. (Photo courtesy of Brainstorm Media) Show Caption1 of 3Britt Lower as Suzie, center, with John Magaro as Keane, left, in the dark comedy “Psycho Therapy: The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer” from Brainstorm Media release. (Photo by Zach Dilgard) Expand
“I mean, how could I say no to the title, first of all?” Lower says, laughing. “But actually, when I was reading the script, I was laughing so much that I was crying. That’s really rare when you’re reading something and it’s literally just making you laugh out loud.
“I felt like it was a fresh, original dark comedy, and I love dark comedies.”
“Psycho Therapy” stars Lower as Suzie, an organizer and interior designer, with John Magara as Keane, her disorganized writer husband who just can’t get a handle on his novel about a homo sapiens woman who falls in love with the last neanderthal man in 40,000 BC Slovenia.
Keane meets Kollmick, the retired serial killer of the movie’s title, played by Steve Buscemi. Kollmick convinces the writer not just to abandon his prehistoric love story and write about a serial killer based on Kollmick’s life, but also to come along on field trips to see how all but the final step is done.
That’s probably enough to knock Keane’s already shaky life off the rails, but then Suzie mistakes Kollmick for a marriage counselor that Keane has hired to save their marriage, and, well, that’s probably not gonna end well either, is it?
“Psycho Therapy” opens in theaters on Friday, April 11.
In separate interviews edited for length and clarity, Lower and Karaçelik talked about the inspiration for her character and the screenplay, working with Buscemi and Magara, and the importance of a sharp knife.
Q: Tolga, tell me how the idea for this unusual black comedy found its way into your imagination.
Tolga Karaçelik: It was a long time ago, seven, eight years ago – before “Butterflies,” my latest movie. One day, I thought this guy was following me everywhere I was going. At the end, it turned out that I was following him, not him, me. [He laughs] Because I was always trying to find him, this homeless guy with a harmonica in Barcelona, where I was living at that time.
So I started thinking, What if this is an idea about a retired serial killer? Like how sad he would be that he has never been caught. All his good work will not be mentioned. All his lifetime is gone without being recognized. I thought about this guy trying to follow me, and what if he tried to make me write about him.
This character popped up – his name was Kollmick back then, too – and I was writing it in this Irish pub that was run by two Nepalese brothers. So those kinds of surreal elements were all around me.
Q: Britt, your character Suzie, she’s holding in a lot of anger and resentment and disappointment at her husband. How do you show that, given she’s not outwardly emotional?
Britt Lower: For me, the pivotal scene is where she’s chopping onions. And it’s not just a couple of onions, it’s like 10. Or 11. To me, it felt like this physicalized metaphor for what’s going on internally. I think she really wants to feel something in her life, and onions literally make you weep. So I think she’s trying to get in touch with something.
And yeah, it was super interesting to be inside of a character who has a really rich inner life but doesn’t let that out.
Q: Were you cutting all the onions yourself? Or were those prop onions?
Lower: They were real onions. And the dangerous part was that I was chopping with a dull knife, which is actually more dangerous. I remember halfway through, I was like, ‘This is so dull, I’m afraid I’m going to slip.’ So we got a sharper knife.
There’s something about her loving the sound of chopped onions that just gave me full insight into who she was.
Q: I’m curious, Tolga, about the decision to add the accidental marriage counselor to the story. I know you got married while you were working on it. Did that influence it?
Karaçelik: First of all, I have a happy marriage [with actress Tugçe Altug]. I want to announce that. [He laughs] You have seen here, or you will see her if you watch “Butterflies.” She’s also Suzie in that one; my female characters are always named Suzie and my men are all Kenan [his own middle name], but now [in this film] “Keane” because we don’t have the same words.
What I’m trying to write about is being a couple. The belief in a couple. If you look at the framing of the movie, it’s always in triangles. In the therapy session, and when she first sees Kollmick, it’s basically triangles. And two make a couple.
Q: In your first session with your serial killer/marriage counselor Kollmick, he wants you and Keane to say what you’re feeling to his taxidermied one-armed cat. I would have probably lost it, but you’re admirably serious.
Lower: That scene was really fun to shoot, and Steve was extremely funny, especially with Ada the cat next to him. It really felt like we were doing almost a vaudevillian banter. You know, like, ‘Who’s on first?’ and we’re all trying to figure out what’s going on. Especially Suzie. It’s like a tennis match, looking between everyone to figure out what’s happening. It was a joy to shoot that scene.
Q: Britt, John and Steve are great actors to land for the film. What did it take to get them to sign on?
Karaçelik: The strange thing is, we only had Steve from the beginning. There were like two, three weeks left, and we still didn’t have Keane and Suzie. We only had Steve Buscemi and the llama [don’t ask, but a llama shows up in an Albanian mobster bar at one point.] Then the llama left us due to his schedule. [He laughs] I don’t know what llama was doing. Standup in Philadelphia? I don’t know about it.
Q: How did you get Steve Buscemi so early on? He’s a legend.
Karaçelik: He is, he is. In that Zoom, we got along so well. We were laughing all the time. We were talking about Kollmick, and he was laughing, like, ‘Tell me, tell me. And then he does that?’
I’ve seen the same thing when I like something before. That urge to create that thing. That 5-year-old look in the eyes. So I immediately fell in love with him. We have become like compadres. He was the first one to get. I’m so glad and honored to be able to call him a friend now. Steve Buscemi, he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. Whatever you hear about him, multiply it by 10.
Q: I know you and John Magara worked together before [in 2015’s “Don’t Worry Baby”], but I don’t think you’ve worked with Steve. What were they like on this?
Lower: John and I, yeah, worked on another independent film over a decade ago. And the scene underneath – I think it’s the Brooklyn Bridge, or is it the Williamsburg Bridge? – over a decade ago we were filming under that same bridge. So we were having this kind of nostalgic, kind of deja vu when we were filming that.
I just love John, and I’m such a huge fan of Steve’s. He’s an incredible creative force, so kind, such a role model of mine. So I feel really lucky to have gotten to work with both of them.
Q: You made “Psycho Therapy” between seasons of “Severance,” as well as “Darkest Miriam,” in which you’re the title character. What has it been like to be part of a show like “Severance,” and how has it influenced the choices you’re able to make as an actor for other projects?
Lower: I think I can speak for the whole cast and crew. We’re in a kind of state of awe at how the show has been received. I don’t think any of us really knew how it was going to feel, but it’s incredible how much the fans are responding to the second season. And I feel so lucky to get to be in the perspective of Helly R.
Q: And “Darkest Miriam,” can you describe what that one is about?
Lower: “Darkest Miriam” is a film based on a book called “The Incident Report” about this librarian who falls into a construction hole and it kind of opens her world up. It’s a very different film than “Psycho Therapy,” but the character also has a rich interiority. We filmed in Toronto. It was written and directed by Naomi Jaye and executive produced by Charlie Kaufman.
Q: Another season of “Severance” and then … ?
Lower: I’m excited for what comes next. I just love independent films. I’m always looking to kind of surprise myself, I guess, and be a part of different kinds of storytelling.
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