Jeremy Power Regimbal explored the downside of perfection in “In Their Skin,” a thriller starring Selma Blair, Joshua Close and James D’Arcy. ShockYa was able to talk to Regimbal and ask him about the psychological perils of perfection, working with the cast and more. “In Their Skin” is already available on IFC Midnight Cable VOD and digital outlets–iTunes, Amazong Streaming, Zune, Playstation Unlimited and XBOX, and the film comes to select theaters November 9.
What drew you to In Their Skin?
Regimbal: Well, it was a story that the three of us [Close, Justin Close and Regimbal] actually created, so it wasn’t necessarily that they drew me to [it], it was just a story that we were kinda excited to tell. We like to play around with the idea of family relationships and tense situations, and that was kind of our goal. We went on a long road trip, the three of us, and we planned on coming out of it with a script, and that was the idea we came up with after driving through some really desolate areas in Oregon from Canada to LA…that kind of sparked it, and Josh wrote the screenplay.
What was it like working with like working with Josh, as well as James D’Arcy and Selma Blair? What was it like working with the whole cast?
Regimbal: It was great. You know Josh is a good collaborator of ours–he wrote the screenplay, he was heavily involved in all the creative stuff, so I really believe in Josh and I think he’s on the verge of breaking out right now. He’s in “The Master” and “The Pacific.” It’s great to work with Josh–we’re really good friends. Selma and James were amazing…We only had 15 days to shoot, and everyone’s passion toward the project was the only way we made that happen (laughs).
One of the main sources of violence in this film is one man’s obsession with perfection. Why do you think perfection can lead to horror? What’s so dangerous about perfection?
Regimbal: I think it’s just learning [that] the dangerous thing is that people think perfection is actually possible and that’s kind of the danger of him [Bobby Sakowski, played by D’Arcy]–he truly believed the family was perfect and that you can actually become perfect and its his realization that nobody is perfect. I think it’s a dangerous thing in everything–in sports, in politics and the world–and this is a kind of interesting way to explore it.
This film has been on the festival circuit for a while–how do you feel about the kind of feedback or crowd reaction you’ve received?
Regimbal: It’s been really, really good. You know, the first time it played was in Tribeca in New York. The crowds there were amazing and we were actually surprised at some of the laughs–there were some really great laughing and comedic moments that we didn’t originally intend but came out of the actors and the editing…so that was really interesting. The crowds have been amazing–we just played last night in Chicago, and it was about 12:30 or one o’clock [a.m.] by the time the Q&A got started, and everyone had such great questions…It’s my first film and first trip through this, but as far as I know, it’s been amazing. The people have been reacting really well and they either say ‘That was awesome’ or they give me a dirty look and say that it scared the shit out of them (laughs), which are both good reactions.
