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This weekend, Netflix released one of its best movies yet. It’s called It’s What’s Inside and it’s a shocking, exciting, and intense sci-fi mystery thriller that’s somehow both very familiar and incredibly new. The story follows a group of friends reunited before a wedding who end up playing a very dangerous party game that’ll change their lives forever.
It’s What’s Inside is one of those twisty, turn-filled movies that you’ll want to watch once again right after you see it. You probably also will have a lot of questions about it. And that’s where we come in. io9 spoke with writer-director Greg Jardin about his approach to the film and, most importantly, some of your biggest, spoiler-filled, burning questions. It’s all below and we’ll put a warning before the spoilers.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Germain Lussier, io9: What kind of direction did you give your actors to make the film’s premise—that they are able to swap into each other’s bodies—easier and more convincing? Were they told to be a little more heightened or archetypal?
Greg Jardin: Yeah, that’s a good thing you’re pointing out because you only get to know them for 10 or 15 minutes before they start swapping. So they almost have to be archetypes. But then there’s that gray area of you don’t want them to be so stereotypical. So we worked on that a lot during the rehearsal week. One of our producers, Colman Domingo, gave me a screenwriting tip early on, which is “The first line out of your character’s mouth or the way they deliver the first line should tell you a lot about them.” So I tried to incorporate that advice into the film. But it was really just working with the actors, finding their “isms.” An example of an “ism” that came out during the rehearsal week was the fact that Dennis says “Bro” a lot. That was not in the script. Everyone was improvising. Gavin [Leatherwood] just kept saying “Bro.” I was like, “Oh my gosh, that’s such an easy way to identify who this guy is.” So I took all the “Bros” out of everyone else’s dialogue and then just kind of tripled his “Bros.” So a lot of that was through the rehearsal process.
It’s What’s Inside – Netflix io9: How much time did you spend editing and balancing how long we get to spend and get to know the characters before the games begin?
Jardin: I’ll be honest—that was tough. I spent a year editing the film. And specifically, the toughest part to edit was that first 10 minutes or really everything before they get to the house. Finding that balance of how much information we need to know about all the characters, how to give that information, how much exposition do we even need about the party. So that really evolved over time. And we had test screenings. And the test screenings helped dictate what scenes felt slow, what information the audience was missing. So mainly out of the test screenings, we condensed a lot of the Cyrus and Shelby stuff, because there was probably like three times as much stuff between them. All this exposition about the party, which you kind of realize in totality, you don’t really need. And then that Instagram montage where you meet everyone and then Shelby is scrolling through Nikki’s feed. That was something that really got beefed up as a result of test screenings. I kind of had this epiphany, like, “Oh man, there’s this social media montage. And it’s a really easy way to get to know characters very quickly.”
io9: While I’m bummed I didn’t get to see this with an audience, I am excited that because it’s on Netflix I have the ability to watch and rewatch it. So besides the absurd amount of money Netflix gave you, was that a plus of bringing it to the streamer?
Jardin: [Laughs.] Yes. The fact that Netflix has this insane global reach is like… I mean, I haven’t even honestly wrapped my mind [around it]. I was talking to James [Morosini, who plays Cyrus] about it yesterday. And he was telling me he has experience releasing a movie on Hulu and how Hulu is just the U.S. So the magnitude about that going out is very attractive. And I haven’t even fully processed it. But also, we were very lucky to be in a bidding war at Sundance. It was a surreal dream come true. And just the vibe of everyone at Netflix has been so great. They’ve been so welcoming. They know I have a background in marketing. They give me a lot of say in the marketing of this film. So yeah, there’s a lot of advantages.
Greg Jardin with actor Gavin Leatherwood – Netflix Note: The rest of the interview is spoilers.
io9: Okay, let’s talk spoilers. Was the reveal of Beatrice being a part of the film as the big final twist always in it?
Jardin: So that general twist was in there from the ideation stages. It was like, “Oh, it would be insane if the guy with the suitcase wasn’t even the guy.” Initially, in the first few drafts, it was not his sister. It was just his lackey at work who he’d been essentially bullying and abusing and they’re doing it to get back at him. In the first few drafts, I had some friends read it and they’re like, “Yeah, it’s a cool twist but it just kind of comes out of nowhere and it’s too bad this character isn’t more involved with the group.” And I remember talking to one of my friends, Matt Pope—shout out to Matt Pope, who is a filmmaker—and he inspired this kernel in my head. I was like, “Oh, yeah, maybe she can be his sister.” And maybe his sister could be the character that Dennis hooked up with and cheated on Nikki with. Because that plot point was already in the movie. So yeah, that was sort of there, but got refined drastically through notes and feedback.
io9: The movie really levels up when two of the characters die. It really puts everyone in a bad spot. When did that come into it and were there other iterations?
Jardin on set – Netflix Jardin: Yeah, so the moment where I came up with that is essentially the moment that I decided to go ahead and write the whole script. Like, I was ideating on eight people at a house, party, suitcase, something is in the suitcase. I just gave myself the constraint of one house, one night, solely so I could make something as cheaply as possible. I came up with the eight-way body swap idea, which I thought was fun. I wasn’t totally in love with it, because I didn’t have a great place for it to go. I knew I wanted it to be about a relationship in crisis. But once I was like, “Oh man, if two people died, then two people would just be f’d.” And I was like, “Man, I don’t even know what would happen.” So yeah, that made me very excited. And that made me just think, “Man, I’ve never seen that happen in a movie, and I would want to see that movie.” So that germ really kicked everything into full gear.
io9: Cyrus is certainly not a likable character throughout, but does he really deserve to be framed for murder for being a shitty boyfriend?
Jardin: I’m so stoked that you’re asking that question. That is the question that I hope people ask. In this conversation, I’m attempting to stay neutral just because I love this discourse. But I mean, I’ll say, look, Shelby’s our main character. She’s our main character for a reason. But it legitimately warms my heart. I came out of one of our Sundance screenings, and people were having this debate outside. And it just thrilled me so much that people were so into it to discuss it. So thank you for asking.
Jardin directing – Netflix io9: With Beatrice still out there, do you have ideas for what comes next? Would you want to explore what comes next? Or are you good with it like this?
Jardin: It was certainly written to be a closed loop. Like that end with Beatrice is essentially just supposed to be like our version of Beatrice riding off into the sunset. People have asked, and I’m thrilled that people want more of the world. I do love the world of the movie. And if there’s another movie in this world, that would be awesome. There are currently no plans to make a sequel, but thank you for your interest.
io9: You talked about the dangers of exposition but I’m wondering, did you come up with any specific rules about how the machine works, what the government was going to use it for, or anything like that which didn’t make it into the movie?
Jardin: Good question. There was all this exposition about [how] the government [was] going to use this for the CIA so we could spy on other countries and hop in their body. There was this whole speech about it actually [but] it just like dead time when you’re reading the scripts. And it also kind of set up this expectation like there’s going to be some kind of spy-type thing that happened. So I ultimately decided to cut it. But no one’s asked that.
It’s What’s Inside is streaming on Netflix. Check it out now.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
