“We Gangster’d It Hard”: Kevin Interdonato, Guy Nardulli & Patrick Muldoon Talk Raw Filmmaking, Loyalty, and the Making of Dirty Hands
…Patience, man. Patience. I got into this thinking it was going to hit 20 years ago, and it took 20 years for me to even consider myself somewhat successful. Patience. And a small, tight circle of friends you can lean on. Kevin and I have been friends for 15 years, Pat and I for 20. In those 20 years, Pat and I have done two movies together. It’s just great. It’s about having that tight circle of friends you can count on. When you first get someplace and you’re young, you want to be rambunctious and go out and have all these friends and do all these things and go to these glamorous parties. It’s not about that. It’s about being true to that handful of people you’re close with. Kevin and I talk every day. Pat and I talk every day. Our circles are literally this small. We keep our friends dear and close, and I think that’s important…
I had the pleasure of talking with Kevin Interdonato, Guy Nardulli, and Patrick Muldoon, the trio of actors and filmmakers whose shared history and gritty determination are welded into every frame of their new film, Dirty Hands. Listening to them is like sitting in on a family argument, full of inside jokes, affectionate jabs, and a deep, underlying loyalty. They are a brotherhood forged not in Hollywood boardrooms, but through decades of friendship and the shared chaos of independent filmmaking.
Their origin stories sound less like the beginnings of movie stars and more like characters from the very films they admire. Kevin Interdonato, the writer, director, and star of Dirty Hands, sets the tone with a laugh. “I was beaten severely as a child,” he jokes, before describing a blue-collar upbringing in a construction family on the Jersey shore. He joined the military at 18, served overseas, and stepped into the acting world only to be immediately scammed by a fake agency. “It was a wake-up call for me,” he recalls. “I saw what I was getting into, and it was the best thing that could have happened… It put me on my heels, it made me aware, and I had to make sure that I was as smart and diligent as possible on the business end of things as I was disciplined in front of the camera.”
Guy Nardulli, the film’s producer and co-star, counters with his own mock-tragic backstory. “Same as Kevin, got beat senselessly in a garage,” he deadpans. Raised in a “typical Italian lifestyle” in Little Italy, Chicago, the son of a 45-year veteran of the police force, Nardulli never planned on a life in film. He was on a path to law school after a college football career when a detour through the Chippendales and a calendar shoot landed him in Los Angeles. He auditioned, “caught the bug and that was it. I fell in love with it instantaneously.”
Patrick Muldoon, the film’s lead, grew up in the Croatian community of San Pedro, California, a place he says has “no acting schools.” Like Nardulli, his first love was football, playing for USC. His career path was decisively altered by a future NFL legend. “Junior Seau came on and pretty much let me know that I didn’t have a career in football,” Muldoon laughs. “I quickly found acting.”
That shared background of grit over glamour is the engine behind Dirty Hands. The film, a story about two brothers surviving a night gone wrong, was made on a shoestring budget fueled by favors and sheer force of will. Nardulli brought the production to his hometown, where his connections were everything. “My city opened up its arms for me and gave me everything and anything that I asked for,” he says. His father, a retired Chicago PD officer, got them access to shoot in a police department. They filmed a car chase on a busy street with no permits, relying on Guy’s local status to smooth things over with the cops. “We gangster’d it,” Muldoon says. “We gangster’d it hard.”
The shoot was a trial by fire. Interdonato directed himself and his friends while managing a skeleton crew. They shot almost entirely at night for 17 days straight. Tempers flared. Nardulli recalls a moment of frustration where he hurled an energy drink can across the set, nearly taking out a truck window. “You go to war together, man,” Interdonato explains. “That’s essentially what it was and we knew that losing was not an option.”
This raw, relentless energy is what they believe makes the film work. It’s a throwback to the character-driven films of the ’70s, a story with no easy answers. “It’s a redemption story,” Nardulli says. “It’s a story that at the end of the day, there’s really no winner. You’re not having the guy in the white horse riding off into the sunset.”
Their bond allowed for a level of honesty rare on a film set. Muldoon recalls Interdonato walking over to him after a take and saying flatly, “‘Hey, you’re overacting. Bring it down.’… When I saw the movie, I’m like, thank God you gave me those notes.”
Looking back, they see their hard-earned careers as a testament to trusting their instincts and their circle. “I wish I had the strength to follow my gut sooner,” Interdonato admits. For Nardulli, the key lesson was “Patience. And a small, tight circle of friends that you can lean on.” For these three, that circle is everything. It’s what got them through all-night shoots, what allowed them to scream at each other one minute and hug the next, and what ultimately put the heart, soul, and considerable guts of their story onto the screen.
Dirty Hands is world premiering at RBIFF 2025 this week. The schedule for the screenings can be seen here
Yitzi: It’s a delight to meet you all. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn about each of your personal origin stories. Can you share with us a story of your childhood, how you grew up, and the seeds for all the amazing things that have come since then?
Kevin: Sure. I was beaten severely as a child. (laughs) I’ve sustained many beatings. No, I grew up in New Jersey by the Jersey shore in a hardworking, blue-collar, construction family business. I joined the military when I was 18, served my country overseas, and began acting when I was 21. I started making films about 10 years ago. And that’s it.
My first entrance to this business was a wake-up call. I got involved with a scam agency and got taken for a ride on my first step into the business. It was a wake-up call for me. I saw what I was getting into, and it was the best thing that could have happened stepping into an industry like this. It put me on my heels, it made me aware, and I had to make sure that I was as smart and diligent as possible on the business end of things as I was disciplined in front of the camera. That was my step in this business. I got scammed.
Guy: Same as Kevin, got beat senselessly in a garage. Was left there for many years. No, I grew up in Chicago with an Italian upbringing. My father was a police officer for 45 years. My mother was a beautician. It was a typical Italian lifestyle with values and morals, growing up in Little Italy, Chicago. I never wanted to get into the industry. I never thought about being an actor. I started off in school playing football, went to college, got my degree in political science, and was accepted to law school. I went on to play football in Europe, came back, bounced around playing football, and joined the Chippendales. I did a calendar in Jamaica and from there, I ended up in L.A., auditioned, and was in the acting world. I caught the bug and that was it. I fell in love with it instantaneously.
Patrick: Well, first of all, I’d like to refute because I caught a bit of Guy’s and he said something like he has morals and values. (laughs) Origin story. I was born in San Pedro, California, which is the L.A. waterfront. There are no acting schools in San Pedro. It is, even though it’s L.A. adjacent, I mean it’s like 20 miles out of L.A. but it’s kind of landlocked and there’s nothing like L.A. It was cool. I grew up, like Guy says, he grew up in an Italian community. I grew up in a Croatian community. It was kind of weird for America that this little town has one of the highest Croatian populations in America. Anyway, I grew up there, kind of old school European values, just like Guy, only Croatian. The food’s not quite as good as the Italians, especially Guy’s house. Guy’s a good cook, but his mom is the best Italian cook I’ve ever met in my life. Anyway, we’re right next to that because Guy’s from and we’re right across the street on the island called Dugi Otok, my family, on the Adriatic side. From there, I didn’t have a big, “Oh, I’m in love with movies” type thing. I was a hyperactive kid. I wanted to be outside and play. Then, when I went to USC, I fell in love with acting after my first acting class. I was dating John Stamos’s cousin, and Loretta, John’s mom put me…
Guy: Was that before or after Junior Seau knocked you into oblivion?
Patrick: It was during. I was playing football at USC and the second year Junior came on and pretty much let me know that I didn’t have a career in football. (laughs) Literally, I was a really good high school player, but when you get up there and somebody outweighs you by 50 pounds and runs faster than you, I quickly found acting. That’s my origin story. I fell in love with acting after my first scene in acting class. Junior convinced me that I had no future in football anymore. And here I am.
Yitzi: I’m sure each of you has some amazing stories from your career and maybe this is hard to single out. Can you share with our readers one or two stories that most stand out in your mind from your career?
Kevin: Yeah. One time I was shooting a movie in Brooklyn, and we bumped into the wrong people. It was a real low-budget shoot and we had no permits or anything like that. We got into it with these three big Russian dudes. There were me and two other guys and these three big Russian guys. We got into a massive brawl right on the street and the DP filmed it all. The cars were stopping, and it was insane, man. Who’s bleeding from their ears, their noses, this, that. It was like rolling around, cars were honking, people were lifting up the windows yelling at us. All of a sudden it stopped and this one Russian guy goes, “That was fucking great, man! American movie!” Then we all went to his apartment and got hammered drinking vodka. This was back in the day when movies were on DV tapes. It was real low budget, so the DP didn’t help us, he just filmed the whole thing. We had it on tape. Then they ran out of tapes one day and unknowingly they took this tape and recorded over it.
Patrick: You didn’t put it in the movie? You didn’t put the fight in the movie?
Kevin: No, it was gone. They recorded over it. It was a DV cam tape. They recorded over it, but that was a memorable one among others.
Yitzi: It’s a great story and you’re a great storyteller, Kevin. That was amazing. How about you, Guy? Do you have a story that stands out from your career?
Guy: What stands out, I’ll go to this one with Dirty Hands. Since Pat is our lead actor in this, I took a secondary role and I took a front role in helping produce this with Kevin. Let’s just say that we had some interesting times on set with fires that we had to put out. Our makeup artist kind of not showing up to work one day and we had to try to swing that with our own…
Patrick: And your delivery schedule that you got Guy, talk about your delivery schedule.
Guy: Oh God, yes. And then the deliveries that we got that made Kevin and I want to throw ourselves in front of a bus with everything that they’re asking for. And then my lead actor who’s just a pain in the ass, Patrick Muldoon, who I have to constantly go pick up from the hotel. If the call time is 5:00 a.m., he’s ready at 5:05 a.m. And getting him from point A to point B. Yeah, that’s probably the extent of my memorable stories.
Patrick: I got to give it to Guy. On Dirty Hands, Guy’s been a producer before, but as the lead producer, you have to do things. I was getting calls, Kevin, from Guy like, what’s a cama? I’m like, oh no. And then he called me with a 175 delivery list from Saban. A lot of people don’t know that once you’re done shooting a movie, which is the fun stuff, the stuff that is not fun at all begins. And that’s delivering to your distributor, but thank God, Kevin shot an amazing movie and Saban is our distributor, which is great. As far as my stuff goes, I had the pleasure of every scene, this was something that I don’t think I had ever dealt with, but I wish I had dealt with it before, Kevin walks over to me after I think I did a good take and goes, “Hey, you’re overacting. Bring it down.”
Kevin: No, I didn’t.
Patrick: “Less, less, less, man, less.” “Dude, you’re overacting again.” I’m like…
Kevin: No I didn’t.
Patrick: What do you mean no you didn’t? You did every scene.
Kevin: I did not. Pat was…
Patrick: I did well, but when I saw the movie, thank God, because that was the first time I had a director really on me and when I saw the movie, I’m like, thank God you gave me those notes. That was actually a good thing. I wish I could take you on every set now and go like this to me.
Yitzi: Okay, let’s talk about Dirty Hands. Guy, I know you’ve been in the weeds. You know all the details. Tell us why our readers have to see it.
Guy: Okay. If you want gritty, you want a great story, you want visual, it’s a complete package. The talent that’s on the screen showed up. Kevin, Pat, Denise, Michael Beach, they just brought things that I haven’t seen before from them. Their abilities superseded anything that I could have ever imagined. The story in itself…
We didn’t get crazy. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here. It’s a redemption story. It’s a story that at the end of the day, there’s really no winner. You’re not having the guy in the white horse riding off into the sunset.
There’s a loss that’s happening here and the moral of it all is you just don’t know what you got ’til it’s kind of gone and what you’ll do to try to keep it and fight for it. I think Kevin put a lot of great words on the page that made it easy for me to jump on as his producing partner to put it together. I was fortunate enough that he gave me a lot of freedom on where we can go and we came to Chicago to film this. My city opened up its arms for me and gave me everything and anything that I asked for. To say that this project was easy is only because of that reason and that reason only. It was difficult because making a movie is not an easy task, but I was blessed to have talent, I was blessed to have an amazing partner, and I was blessed to be put in a location that gave me everything, which was my hometown.
Kevin: I got to capitalize on that, Yitzi. The movie wouldn’t have been possible, not only would the movie not have been possible, but it would not have had all the elements that it does without Guy. It all started with Guy. We talked a lot and we planned. We were working with a budget that is not really common to work with on a production level that we were at. But it was really Guy that pulled everything together because of his relationships and his hard work and diligence and what he was able to strum up. The locations that we had were second to none, turnkey locations because we didn’t have money really for a full production designer. The vehicles we had, right down to the food that we ate, thanks Mrs. Nardulli.
Kevin: Thank you Mrs. Nardulli. It was great. You can’t execute the creative unless that foundation is built for you, and it was. We worked really well together and we’ll be doing more. And then Muldoon was the icing on the cake. He helped out in ways beyond just acting and he was there as great advice, a great sounding board as well. It was a big team effort. That’s the only way it was possible.
Guy: Yeah. Like you said, the relationships were solid. Everything that we worked on between Kevin and I, our relationship goes back 15 years, right, Kev? Pat and I go back over 20 years.
And then Pat’s relationship with Denise, Kevin and I’s relationship with Michael Beach. A lot of this was relationships that we had cultivated through the years that made it happen. And it made it easier because when we all got on set together, as you see with the three of us right now, we don’t miss a beat.
Patrick: Tell him about driving from New Jersey to Chicago together.
Guy: I’ll put Pat on a little bit of a pedestal because he deserves it. He’s put the time in in the business. He’s earned his rights to be treated as a top-end celebrity.
Patrick: You and my mother think so, Guy. Just you and my mom think that, but thank you.
Guy: He bit the bullet for us in ways. He cut his fee, he did everything possibly as a true friend to help make this movie. Kevin and I, as we were putting the movie together, we have a stunt team, Seven Circle Productions, one hell of a stunt team. They’ve done great work in the past. Kevin had known who they were and we got them to jump on board. Their facility’s in New Jersey. Kevin, who now lives in New Jersey, it’s easy for him to get to the facility. I gotta get Muldoon from L.A. to Jersey. We fly him out to Jersey. When we get to Jersey, I mentioned to him, “Oh yeah, Pat, we’re driving back to Chicago.” He’s like, “What do you mean we’re driving back?” He’s like, “What do you mean we’re driving back to Chicago?”
Patrick: We’re driving to Chicago? What? Are you going to make me drive back to Los Angeles too, Guy?
Guy: I’m like, “No, Kevin, myself and you, we’re going to get in the car and we’re going to build our relationships. You two as brothers, me as Rodney, we’re going to build our relationships.”
Patrick: Yeah, because we were brothers. It was all for the best and that’s why there’s a lot of love in this movie and a lot of authenticity.
Guy: I got sick on the ride, so we had to pull over a couple times. I’m in the back seat. But going back to answer the question, the relationships and all of that in this is what really made Dirty Hands what Dirty Hands is. You see that on the screen with everybody, not just with the three of us, you see it with Denise and Denise’s relationship with Pat and Kevin. You see it with Michael’s relationship with both Pat and Kevin and offscreen, with Beach and I. The authenticity of the city, I think it helps. We didn’t shoot anything on a green screen, nothing was done on a stage. The city breathes its own life and it’s its own character and the mechanic shop that we used is literally a character in itself. It was a blessing that all of it came to one.
Patrick: And Guy, talk about your dad. Your dad, Mr. Nardulli got us into the Chicago police department to shoot because Mr. Nardulli is 40 years retired Chicago PD. Talk about the great production value that we got. If we had to pay for all these things, it would have been a much more expensive movie, but we still got these really high-end things that we wouldn’t have been able to afford to pay. The look of the movie is dirty and great.
Guy: We didn’t close off any streets. We were able to shoot. We got a rig on the Buick, I can’t think of the car, Kev.
Kevin: The Grand National. How dare you?
Guy: Thank you. The Grand National. We got the rig on the Grand National, Pat’s driving that, ripping up and down Harlem Avenue in traffic with just a follow camera car, no car in front of it. Nothing keeping us…
Patrick: We gangster’d it. We gangster’d it hard.
Guy: We get pulled over one time. I jump out of the camera car and the cop’s like, “Oh, Guy, okay, it’s you. We’re good.” And we went right back to work. My dad hooked that up. Again, Dirty Hands is a film of relationships, both on-screen and off-screen. I think that really is what made it great.
Patrick: Yep. Totally agree. That night in particular, I thought, we’re dead. And they get out and they’re like, “Guy Tono, what are you doing?” And we’re like, “We’re shooting a freaking movie.” Things like that, thank God Guy is like the mayor of that part of Chicago. We had a lot of favors. When you see the movie, Dirty Hands is, first of all, a great title and Kevin, the script was just fantastic. For an actor, you want to get your hands dirty, pardon the pun, to get a hold of that script. This is like an old Mean Streets type vibe, old Scorsese, De Niro, those movies. It’s kind of a throwback to that, where you feel the grit, because every set is real. There are no sets. We had screenings and people went nuts because it’s very unique in that way. I saw some stuff on Mean Streets last night with De Niro talking about it and how they threw that together. It reminded me of how Dirty Hands came to life. But it began with Kevin’s script. He’s a hell of a writer, hell of an actor, Jesus. And the directing, I don’t know how he did it because when we’re on set, he’s like, “The light goes there, the thing goes that and action!” And then he’s on camera.
Kevin: You made it easy, man. So did Guy. All those fight scenes, Yitzi, we got the shit kicked out of us. I think it showed and it was supposed to. We shot in chronological order as much as we possibly could. Not only did we not have money for stunt doubles, but Guy’s obviously in good shape and really athletic and Pat too, and it was like, thank God. We had to be a few guys that could take a good beating and keep getting up for the next take. But I think that grit that Pat was talking about, there is an authenticity that comes from something when you are really going for it and you just don’t have the money, but you’re setting your bar so high that by hook or by crook, you’re just going to go after it. I feel like that conveys through the energy of the film too.
Patrick: You feel it as an audience member.
Kevin: Yep. That was the goal. I just want everyone to feel what you’re feeling, what you’re going through, a relatability. Especially with the brothers, that was really, the story was built around a relationship. I have an older brother so I just put us in extreme stakes. You think about the tagline of the movie, it’s two brothers make the wrong move and they got to survive the night. It sounds so cliche and silly, but if you really sink into the dynamics of that and you really put yourself in that situation, what would you do?
We just did it wholeheartedly and it worked out. It wasn’t possible without these two guys. It just wasn’t possible at all.
Patrick: Yeah, and there’s nothing cliche in this movie. Two brothers survive the night is a log line, but it’s appropriately named. I know that this movie’s really going to do well. For anybody that’s watching this, we’re excited for you all to see it because it’s got so much character and so much balls, excuse me for lack of a better word, and testosterone. It also has a huge heart, which comes from Denise’s character and her relationship with you too, Kev. Anyway, it’s just something I’m really, and all three of us here can be proud of.
Yitzi: This is our signature question and then we’ll wrap up shortly afterwards. Each of you has been blessed with a lot of success and you must have learned a lot from your experiences. Looking back to when you first started in entertainment, can each of you share two things that you’ve learned now that would have been nice to know in the beginning?
Guy: Two things that I’ve learned that I wish I would have known from the beginning.
Patience, man. Patience. I got into this thing thinking it was going to hit 20 years ago and it took 20 years for me to even consider myself somewhat successful. Patience.
And a small, tight circle of friends that you can lean on. Kevin and I have 15 years, Pat and I 20 years. In the 20 years that Pat and I have been friends, we’ve done two movies now together. It’s just great. Kevin and I have worked on other things. It’s just having that tight circle of friends that you can count on. When you first get some place and you’re young, you want to try to be rambunctious and go out there and have all these friends and do all these things and go to these glamorous parties and such. It’s not about that. It’s about being true to that handful of people that you’re tight with. Kevin and I, we talk every day. Pat and I, we talk every day and our circles are literally this big. We keep our friends really dear and close and I think that’s important.
Kevin: Yeah. I think the other thing for me is I just stay away from Croatians. I try to keep my circle tight with Italians. I just keep it there.
Patrick: Was this your first time working with a Croatian?
Kevin: It was and I loved it, man. I loved it.
Patrick: Oh man.
Kevin: I’m right with Guy. If I had to say something to jump in, I think, basically Yitzi, you’re asking if I knew then what I know now, right? I wish I had the strength to follow my gut sooner. A lot of us did. You have instincts, but there are other reasons why you don’t follow them. I think those instincts, sometimes those choices were made because of the possibilities that involved other people. I think through the years up until now, I’m still trying to just bank on myself more and not put so much power of my career, which is essentially my life, in the hands of other people. I think I hung around or stayed involved in deals too long when I should have trusted my gut and said see you later, instead of sacrificing what I knew was the real deal. Now I just make decisions quicker, I trust my gut, and I stay away from Guy Nardulli. If I just follow those rules, I am set. And I’m on my way. Pat?
Patrick: Yeah, I got the same two things. Stay away from Guy. And I think for me it was perfectionism. We’re all athletes and we get this “get up and dust yourself off and go again” from that. Early in my career, I was a perfectionist to the point of doing myself a major disservice. I was in every acting school I could get a hold of because I thought there was some magic equation I had to learn. To what Kevin said, I love Rick Rubin’s books and the stuff he’s doing out there about really when you make something, you make it for yourself. Otherwise, build it and they will come. Don’t think about what will make them come and build that. It’s trusting yourself because only from yourself are you going to express something unique. I was really into method acting Melrose Place instead of just learning the lines and having fun. You have to know the difference. There are times where I’m so happy I have those tools, but sometimes they can get in your way. I was a very in-my-head kid early on. The older I got, there’s a real balance to having those things serve your expression, what you’re talking about Kevin. So, not, I gotta go, I’m missing something, and all the insecurities that come with what we do because there’s a lot of it. I did an audition two days ago and I’m looking at it like, wow, am I overacting again? I should have had Kevin look at this.
Kevin: But now, you do an audition and you’re like, excuse my French here, but you put it out and I think Guy and Pat can attest to this and you’re like, fucking that’s it. Suck my dick if you don’t like it. That’s it. You don’t want me.
Guy: Yeah, if you don’t like it, FU.
Patrick: Yeah.
Guy: I just want to say something since the common thing was not wanting Guy around. With both…
Kevin: I stick to that.
Guy: I just want them both to know that the Italian burritos…
Patrick: It’s true.
Guy: The Italian burritos sit with me and they’ll never ever get another Italian burrito from my mother.
Patrick: You’re my favorite thing about acting and anything. Guy’s ma, just like the last movie, we had a cast dinner at the Nardulli’s house. Out come these things, they’re in marinara sauce with cheese over them and they’re wrapped up like burritos. I thought I was gonna bite into some cheesy thing, which would have been fine too. But instead, there was meat in it. I’m like, oh my god, this is an Italian burrito. It’s probably the greatest piece of food I’ve ever put in my mouth ever. So whatever you need, Guy.
Guy: They’re manicotti.
Patrick: Manicotti. Yeah, but manicotti is usually ricotta cheese. Am I right?
Guy: My mom makes it with beef.
Patrick: Nobody makes manicotti with beef except for your mom.
Kevin: Mrs. Nardulli does.
Patrick: Yeah.
Guy: That was another thing that I did to have the cast over for dinner at the house. Every movie now I film in Chicago, I think I’m gonna do that. This is the second one I’ve done and I’ve had the cast over both times. One, it gets my family involved, two, it just brings everybody together. We’re a family…
Patrick: It bonds us, for sure.
Guy: It’s family.
Kevin: That’s the kind of stuff that comes with the film too. It’s the behind-the-scenes things that actors remember. It’s not just memories of doing the scenes, it’s the experience and the memories of doing the movie and the people you’re with. That was something all three of us could pull away from Dirty Hands.
Patrick: Yep. And because of that, it was an amazing experience, except I’ve never done a movie that’s all nights. On Dirty Hands, by the end of it, we all needed a vitamin IV because you don’t see the sunlight. You’re sleeping during the day and your call time is 6:00 p.m. going till 6:00 a.m. I’ve never done that before, but I think it added something. We were all raw because, you know what I mean? Just like the characters are all super raw with what they’re going through and just exhausted. They got a lot of obstacles to overcome and they’re getting their ass kicked and they’re kicking ass. There was something to all nights putting all of us in a raw place that I think benefited all of our performances. Do you agree, Kev?
Kevin: Yeah. It kind of puts your back against the wall and it takes away a certain amount of insecurity. It gets you out of your head a little bit more too. We were fighting internal battles.
Patrick: That’s what it did.
Kevin: And it just made us focus more. We had a lot to accomplish. How many days did we shoot that?
Guy: 17 days.
Kevin: I mean, and a couple half days. It was rough.
Guy: A couple half days. We did it in maybe 19 total days from start to finish. But don’t let Pat say, “Oh yeah,” he let me know. Believe me, he wouldn’t tell Kevin, he told me, “Fuck, are you kidding? Three o’clock in the morning? What the fuck is wrong? No way. Wake up.”
Patrick: I would never say that to Kevin. So Guy got it.
Guy: (laughs) He’s like, “Are you crazy? What are you nuts? No.” “Pat, we gotta get Denise there at one o’clock in the morning.” “Fuck that. That ain’t gonna happen. What are you nuts?”
“No.” But again, it’s just a testament to who they are as professionals and friends because they’re not doing that day in and day out for people that they don’t care about. I keep going back to it. It was a very family-like project and we treated each other just like family would. We yelled at one another, we hugged one another, we ate with one another and we continue this kind of banter throughout…
Patrick: We screamed at each other quite a bit.
Guy: Oh, God. There was a night where… Kev, there were moments where both Kevin and I would just look at each other and we’d be like,
Patrick: “Pat came out one night.”
Guy: Don’t even want to go into the details of what that night was, but I came out one night and I was drinking those big super cans of energy drinks. I barge out of the house that we’re shooting in and I launch this can across the backyard, and I just missed the grip truck. It would have gone through the window. It would have been something else…
It would have been something else that I would have had to shell out money for and I would have been livid about that too.
And then I do all that and Kevin just looks at me and walks away, comes back about five minutes later and he goes, “You good?” I’m like, “Yeah, I’m good.” He’s like, “You know you put that can almost through the window, right?” And I’m like, “Yeah, fuck. That sucked. That would have pissed me off even more.” But again, the anger that we had was just like you would with a sibling or a parent, you’re yelling at each other…
And the next morning, you’re back having, hugging each other and you’re going back to work and you’re doing what you love to do with one another. On my end note, I couldn’t do any of this without either one of these two guys. It’s just as simple as that.
Kevin: You go to war together, man. You go to these little mini wars together and that’s essentially what it was and we knew that losing was not an option. So when your back is against a wall, you just do what you got to do and the emotions and tempers come out, but at the end of the day, it’s all love and nothing changes. You just get through the moments.
Patrick: But that really served these characters. Because we could be screaming at each other and then yell action and then the characters are screaming at each other. It’s all like brotherly love. But trying to make it as good as you can. But people feel it. When they see this movie, we’ve seen it with audiences and they feel it. What we’re all talking about right now is an added flavor that came from being really challenged and we’re playing characters that are challenged way more than that. They’re in a life or death situation, but it certainly helped performance-wise, I think.
Guy: I think Pat listening to that synthwave music for 12 straight hours did it to you.
Patrick: Yeah, that was maybe the low point of the movie happened before we shot the movie. Kevin’s very prepared and he had his soundtrack. How long was the drive from New Jersey to Chicago?
Kevin: 12 hours.
Guy: 11 hours and 50 minutes.
Kevin: Yeah, it would have been shorter if Guy didn’t pull over and yak his brains out and we had to watch that. Not fun.
Patrick: But it’s very dark techno music, which is dope when you’re in the movie, but he gets in and hits play and starts talking to us. In the first five minutes I go, “Kevin, we’re getting to know each other a little bit. Can I ask you this? Do you plan on us listening to this music for 11 hours?” He goes, “Yeah, I figured it’ll get us in the mood.” I go, “Dude, you’re gonna have to pull over so I can kill myself. What are you talking about?” It’s good for the movie, but your nervous system can only take so much.
Yitzi: You guys are great. I want to continue but I want to respect your time. How can our readers watch the film, how could they support you in any possible way? How can our readers continue to follow each of your careers?
Patrick: How can they watch the movie? Well, that’s a you guys question.
Kevin: I believe it’s going to be a Q1 release. We don’t have the release date yet, Yitzi, but I believe it’s going to be early Q1 next year. So, fingers crossed.
Patrick: And for the fans out there that don’t know what Q1 means, that’s January, February, what comes after February? March.
Kevin: March.
Guy: April does, April does, but it’s March. But if they’re in Delaware November 7th for the Rehoboth Film Festival, we are playing then. Get your tickets. I think we’re close to being sold out. So if they jumped on now, if they were in Delaware, to come check us out at the screening there. Which by the way, both Kevin and I just found out, we are up for Best Feature and Best Producer awards for the festival. I’m excited about that.
Yitzi: Amazing. I think you should release it close to November because it sounds like you guys are contenders for an Oscar.
Kevin: Nah. I wish it was, man. We wish we could, but we got a big company behind it, Saban Films. We’re really happy about that. It just takes a little longer. So we’re just going to stand by, sit in the pocket, and when it comes time to pop, hopefully the world likes it.
Patrick: And Saban’s really good at getting their movies out. We’re thrilled with that.
Yitzi: Amazing. It’s been so amazing meeting you guys. I wish you continued success, good health and blessings and I hope we can do this all again next year.
Patrick: Man, well God bless you, man. Thank you so much. This was a blast. And it’s great that we get three knuckleheads together.
Guy: You guys are great.
Patrick: We appreciate it.
Patrick: Right on. Anything you need, anytime, call us. Happy Halloween by the way.
Kevin: Hey!
Patrick: Go to the Nardulli house. Instead of candy, they’re giving out Italian burritos.
Kevin: And meatballs.
Guy: Mrs. Nardulli’s best meatballs.
Kevin: Best meatballs.
“We Gangster’d It Hard”: Kevin Interdonato, Guy Nardulli & Patrick Muldoon Talk Raw Filmmaking… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.