'Excess Flesh' Cast & Creator on Bad Roommates

'Excess Flesh' Cast & Creator on Bad Roommates
SUMMARY
Writer/director Patrick Kennelly and actresses Mary Loveless and Bethany Orr discuss their film 'Excess Flesh' at SXSW. They share personal bad roommate stories, with one cast member admitting to casting a spell on a roommate. They also delve into the film's unique take on horror, describing it as a horror movie about food, and recount the messy set conditions.
About this video
Writer/director Patrick Kennelly, along with his leading ladies Mary Loveless and Bethany Orr, sit down with YH at SXSW in Austin to tell us all about their thriller movie, 'Excess Flesh', which is Patrick's very first full-length feature. The three artists share with us their own real-life roommate horror stories, plus they reveal why Patrick considers the movie a horror movie about food!
KEY MOMENTS
KEY TOPICS
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Read alongShow ↓
I put a spell on her? I was Now, now I see why you're the horrible roommate. I I found some of her hair like in her brush and then I put it around a candle in her door and lit it while she was gone, and she moved out within a week. I am here with Bethany, Mary, and Patrick, the cast and creator of Excess Flesh. Thanks for coming out to South by Southwest. We're all from LA and we're all transplanted here for a week. Have you guys been here before? Once in middle school for our youth legislature. So, this is a different experience. That sounds like a blast and a half. Yeah. Oh, have you been here before? No. This is your first access to your first feature-length film? Yes. Wow, incredible.
So, this film so you two play roommates. We do. Who are polar opposites. Have you guys ever had a horrible roommate story? Oh my god. If you've lived in Los Angeles, you've had a horrible roommate. What's your worst roommate story? Actually, I'm probably a lot of people's worst roommate story. One time, this was a couple of years ago, I lived with this girl who's such a I just hated her and I put a spell on her. I was Now, now I see why you're the horrible roommate. I I found some of her hair like in her brush and then I put it around a candle in her door and lit it while she was gone, and she moved out within a week. Totally worked. Yes. Yeah.
The worst that's ever happened to me is a roommate leaving a leech in the sink. That was a little weird. I'm hurt with you. No, I don't know. She just morally objected to killing any animals including like ants. And so, I guess she had gotten the leech somehow and like taken it off and just left it in the sink. That was strange to wake up to brush your teeth to. Yeah, I've had a lot of those experiences and also I've had horrible roommate experiences with myself. Not not going to live with yourself sometimes. Yeah. I can understand that more than anything. Um, is that was that any sort of inspiration for the film? So I know you wrote the film too.
Um, it started with a title basically and this particular idea just kind of Well, Excess Flesh is about the best title I think I've ever heard. It's a great title. That's a great starting point. I know I have to always explain to people that I'm not I'm not starring in a porn. Yeah, but it's a great way to draw attention. People are like, "Wait!" Click. Come out with me tonight. Probably there. So, he was nice. And he liked you. You were down. I got down to my sloppy bacon. What's wrong with you? It's not fair what you're doing to me. I promise I'll keep my hands off. In the film you play opposites. So, I wanted to ask you guys a question about opposites cuz opposites often attract.
Do you think Why are you laughing when I say that? No, just cuz I'm feeling it closely. Do you think that opposites are good long-term? I'm talking more relationships, but any sort of like a friendship relationship? I think there's just friction, you know. Something about it works. It's interesting. Yeah. Something to push up against. It's important to have tension, otherwise there's nothing happening until it becomes unhealthy, which it always does at a certain point in time. And in a way that's that's that's the thing that's happening in this movie. I personally haven't found that to be true though in my life.
Like a good relationship isn't someone who's constantly like It depends what you like cuz some people definitely are attracted to that, you know. Okay, so obviously not a straight horror film and people are saying like if you're going to go to a movie here and have fun and enjoy, this is the movie to go see. Yes. Yeah, I mean I think it's more along the lines of this, you know, psychological thriller. I think it's hilarious. I guess you I guess you could say it is a horror movie in a way, but it's a horror movie about food. Not like the food comes alive, not like that, but the actual that's the object of terror, that's the object of of horror.
There I think it was a tag line saying, "Things get real messy in this film." How messy does it get? Well, I wasn't showering. There was the subject of a lot of conversations around craft services was the detritus, the trash, and and food stuffs that were slowly, you know, building up on the floor, which we just left there so that by the end of the shoot there was this stench kind of and you know, we're walking over all these all these Doritos and everything that had been left there, you know, the flotsam and jetsam of the shoot. And yeah, it got messy. It was real. A lot of fun. How's the set really Yeah, cuz it was a set. It had a very pungent. A lot of people wearing masks.
The camera people, poor poor camera people on this movie. You actors couldn't wear masks. You're in the scene. You're also heating it with light. So it's literally like a hot mess. Last but not least, because the title is Excess Flesh. One thing that you can say that you do most in excess that you can't do in moderation. For me, it's probably reality TV. But I'm not I'm not sad about it. That's where I get my horror fix. I don't really watch many Yeah, what's the most horrifying reality show for you? Bachelor by far. By far. Juan Pablo. Not your type. Apparently not anyone's type. He's his own type. For me, it's probably just eating chimichangas.
Like you don't want to become what's his face on Always Sunny where he's just like walking around with a bag of chimichangas all the time when Mac gets fat. I did develop a taste for the chimichangas on this set. Oh my gosh. For me uh it's the uh probably right now is that Taylor Swift 1989 album. I would never have thought you're a Taylor Swift fan. Oh, it's tight. It's tight. That's how we bonded. Do you know the moves? Baby, baby. Uh no, I will not do that on camera. You shocked me. I'd never thought Britney Spears and Taylor Swift a million years. Thanks for chatting. Congrats on the film. Enjoy often.
Transcript auto-generated from captions and lightly edited for clarity. Timestamps are approximate — click one to jump the player.
PEOPLE MENTIONED
- Patrick Kennelly
Writer/director of 'Excess Flesh'
- Mary Loveless
Actress in 'Excess Flesh'
- Bethany Orr
Actress in 'Excess Flesh'
- Juan Pablo
Mentioned as a contestant on 'The Bachelor'
- Mac
Character from 'Always Sunny' who gets fat
- Taylor Swift
Artist whose '1989' album is listened to in excess
- Britney Spears
Artist mentioned in surprise by host
FAQ
What is 'Excess Flesh' about?+
Who are the lead actresses in 'Excess Flesh'?+
Where was the interview for 'Excess Flesh' conducted?+
What kind of movie is 'Excess Flesh'?+
Did the cast or crew have any strange experiences on the set of 'Excess Flesh'?+
MUSIC SHOP






