SLIFF 2017 Interview: Srikant Chellappa – Director and Writer of BAD GRANDMAS

BAD GRANDMAS will screen at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar, in ‘The Loop’) on Thursday November 2^nd at 8pm. Tickets include a SLIFF opening night reception. Ticket information can be found HERE. Pam Grier, director/writer Srikant Chellappa, producer Dan Byington, and two of the film’s co-stars, Sally Eaton and Jilanne Klaus, will all be in attendance. 

SLIFF’s opening night features the world premiere of BAD GRANDMAS, a St. Louis-shot comedy by co-writer/director Srikant Chellappa and co-writer Jack Snyder, the team behind such polished productions as “Ghost Image” and “Fatal Call,” which were based locally but screened both nationally and internationally. Starring the late Florence Henderson (“The Brady Bunch”) in her final role and the legendary Pam Grier (“Jackie Brown”), “Bad Grandmas” recounts the misadventures of senior citizens Mimi (Henderson), Coralee (Grier), Bobbi (Susie Wall), and Virginia (Sally Eaton). The friends’ quiet life is upended when Bobbi’s son-in-law, Jim (David Wassilak), cons her and she loses her house. Mimi, the unofficial leader of the group, decides to take matters into her own hands, but things spin out of control, and Jim is inadvertently killed. It isn’t long before local detective Randy McLemore (Randall Batinkoff) begins to investigate. Adding further complication — and danger — is Jim’s criminal associate Harry Lovelace (Judge Reinhold of “Beverly Hills Cop”), who’s on the hunt to collect the money his partner owes him. The situation appears grim, but these bad grandmas are no ordinary women.

BAD GRANDMAS director and writer Srikant Chellappa took the time to talk to We Are Movie Geeks about his film before the screening at The ST. Louis International Film Festival.

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman October 24th 2017

Tom Stockman: How did the script for a BAD GRANDMAS come about and how long did it take you to write it?

Srikant Chellappa: I’ve written a few scripts in the past and I’ve always gravitated towards that Coen brothers-style of comedy,that type of genre. The idea for BAD GRANDMAS actually came one night when sitting in a house in St. Charles where my ex mother-in-law would get together with her friends to play cards on a Saturday night. My mind started wandering and I thought what if these ladies, who are all in their 60s and 70s, we’re actually murderers, Nobody would ever know. That’s a pretty high concept. So that’s basically how the story started, so I begin to write a plot that would work. I’d say it took me about a year to write. I was working on some other projects at the time, I actually wrote three scripts that year. I had Jack Snyder help me clean up the dialogue. Jack has a unique, quirky sense of humor in his writing and that really helped.

TS: How did Florence Henderson get involved in this project?

SC: We made a list of actresses that we wanted for the roles, and she was near the top. We started making offers to actresses but most of them live in LA or New York and a lot of them at that age just aren’t in the condition to travel.. But Florence loved the script and agreed to do it. This was a pleasant surprise to us.  She hadn’t really done anything like this before. This was really out of character for the Brady mom.

TS: Do you think she was eager to shed her all-American mom image?

SC: Oh yes, she was ready to come out. She had been doing a lot of different things, like dancing with the stars and she had had a small role in a movie called FIFTY SHADES OF BLACK with Marlon Wayans. She wanted to do something different.

TS: How did you go about casting Pam Grier in BAD GRANDMAS?

SC: ​I have been a huge fan of Pam Grier since I can remember. In fact, I wrote her part with her in mind. It is not usual to get a role casted with the actor in mind​. I had pictured her role as a man-hating bad ass, which is in some ways a version of her younger days in the Blaxsploitation films. She fits her part very nicely as someone who doesn’t make apologies for who she is and what men who cross her or her friends deserve.

TS: What was it like working with Pam Grier?

SC: ​Pam was more than gracious and friendly in working with her. She would greet me every day with a Namaste! She is a soul of the earth with no ego which we see a lot in working with hollywood actors specially icons like her. We would chat a lot about her life and her prior films. We also spent a lot of time talking about Quentin Tarantino and what his style of directing was. We talked a lot about her relationships and loves in the past including with Kareem Abdul Jabbar and how it shaped her to be who she is. Everybody on the set loved her as she was really approachable and spent a lot of her time chatting with all the crew members.

TS: Can you share an on-set story about Ms Grier on the set of BAD GRANDMAS?

​SC: So Pam was really funny and would make sure everybody around her was cheered up. Every once in while she would say “Flo-rida.. Low Rida” ​with a sexual innuendo between takes. We would all laugh because it was funny but it took me a couple of days to figure out she was really referring to Florence Henderson who was her partner in crime! They had a great working relationship and it was just a delight to work with both of them.

TS: Was the script pretty tight? Was there some improvisation during filming?

SC: The script was pretty tight. We had gone through 11 or 12 drafts. Jack did a couple of drafts, and then I kept revising it to give some more depth to the characters. But then my style of directing is to really put things into the hands of the actors and see what they do. I encourage them to improvise, which they did. I would say that a good 15% of the dialogue was actually improvised. The ladies had such a great camaraderie and such good rapport. Sometimes I wouldn’t even call ‘Cut’ and let them keep performing. Some interesting things would come out of that. Sometimes improvised dialogue can be very interesting and funny.

TS: I know you shot a lot of the film in Columbia Illinois. I haven’t seen the film yet. Is there some St. Louis color in it? Does the story take place here?

SC: No the film is actually set in a small town in South Georgia. The characters have southern accents, but not too deep of ones. We don’t actually call out the location but the cars all have Georgia license plates and there are things like peach pie in it and sort of a Christian rural setting. Columbia was a good place for that. We also shot in a house in Fenton, Missouri.

TS: What were some of the challenges in making BAD GRANDMAS?

SC: Well the biggest challenge is always that there’s never enough money. Besides that though, I think a big challenge was finding the right locations. In my head, I had written it for South Georgia and St. Louis is more midwestern. Some of the locations I found that I liked we’re operating businesses, so we had to work around that. Another big challenge was that we wanted a house that looked like it had never changed from the 1970s. We used props like a teal-colored refrigerator. Gypsy Pate was the set decorator and she did a very good job of making it all looks retro. I guess we could’ve done things better with more money and resources but I think it all works. It was a very smooth production. We did not go over time and we stayed within our budget. When you’re working with for older ladies, you can’t push them too much. You can’t expect them to work 12 or 14 hour days, But we were actually able to film it on schedule even working less than 10 hours a day. That’s not common. I’ve done five films now and usually films require 12 our days. I think the performances and the way the film has come together has been very smooth and a big part of that was because we used such professional actors.

TS: Did you grow up in St. Louis?

SC: No I grew up in New Delhi. I moved to the states when I was 22. I went to grad school in Memphis, and I’ve lived now over half my life here. My job in the technology industry brought me to St. Louis.

TS: What do you think of the film scene here in St. Louis?

SC: It’s not bad. There’s a lot of talent here and a lot of good people to find for a film crew. I guess one issue with St. Louis is money. It’s not a big money-funding town. It doesn’t seem like there are as many bigger budget films being made here is there were five or six years ago.

TS: Yes, I believe our state has lost some of its tax credits for filmmakers. Did you grow up a movie buff?

SC: Yes, I think every Indian guy is a movie buff because of Bollywood.

TS: Do you go and see the Indian films that play here in town. There seems to be a lot of them.

SC: I do. Those do well at the box office. I don’t see them all but if one has a lot of buzz around it, I’ll definitely go and see it. I go to India every year, and I always try to see a movie at least one movie while I’m there.

TS: Who are some of your favorite film makers?

SC: There are quite a few. I think the biggest one for me would be Stanley Kubrick. I have been influenced by Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch. As for the modern era, I would say I really like Darren Aronofsky and P.T. Anderson. And of course the Coen brothers are one of my favorites. Their films are commercial but certainly quirky enough.

Srikant Chellappa with Florence Henderson

TS: How has been BAD GRANDMAS been received so far or will next week’s premiere at the St. Louis international Film Festival be the first time anyone has seen it?

SC: Next week’s screening will be a world premiere. I’ve not yet seen it on the big screen. I’m interested in seeing how the audience reacts but so far I’ve done a few private screenings and it’s been well received but it’s not the same.

TS: What’s your next project?

SC: Right now I’m taking a hiatus from filmmaking and focus on my technology start-up.  But I’m looking at some script that I wrote a couple of years ago. There’s a horror film I’d like to make at some point and there’s also a crossover Bollywood/Hollywood film that I’ve been working on. That one is set in both Chicago and New Delhi. That one would obviously cost more money. I do plan on making more movies but I’m just going to take a breather.

TS: And of course you have to go promote BAD GRANDMAS. That’s a big job right there! Good luck with BAD GRANDMAS and I look forward to seeing it when it opens the St. Louis International Film Festival next week.

SC: Thanks. I do too!