Viddy Well: It’s awesome that you were able to bring Michael Madsen on as a producer. How did he become involved in the project?

Vilan Trub: The answer is a combination of producer Derek Zuzunaga being one of the friendliest people on earth and the fact that the film is an exciting, slick looking movie right up the actor's alley. Derek developed a friendship with Michael while assisting on a feature film in Mexico, and he was able to get Madsen to view some footage. He loved how the movie made him laugh at all the most despicable parts, and he wanted it to find as wide of an audience as possible. Mr. Blonde liked the film, so it didn't take a lot of convincing before he agreed to help out.

VW: How did the idea for the film first germinate?

VT: I’d previously made a movie, Susie Q, that was inspired by the French new wave and was black and white and stylistically did things that aren’t necessarily general audience — or any audience for that matter — friendly. It was a freshman effort and although I’m proud of the fact that I made the movie, it was not at the level of what I felt I was capable of.

I remembered Stanley Kubrick in an interview explaining how after the failure of his first movie, a very philosophical and artistic tale, he decided to do something rooted in a genre, something with more action that could better entertain audiences. I felt this was a good idea, using a genre as a springboard, because it comes with a built in foundation that you can work off.

I love the crime-thriller genre and living in Queens, NY had access to a wonderful outer-borough to film such a movie. I wanted to make a crime-thriller, a “noir” movie. I love the “film noir” world because it’s dark and seedy and it’s real.

Living in Queens, Anthony Weiner was a story I couldn’t avoid — and I wouldn’t want to because it just kept going and was fascinating. I started thinking, what if this character, this politician with deep-rooted issues, didn’t just destroy himself, but caused a domino effect that ruined lives he never even came into contact with? It seems very plausible, and it definitely inspired the narrative of the film.