Exclusive Interview: Patrick Flueger Talks Mother’s Day, The Tell-Tale Heart and More
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In Darren Lynn Bousman’s Mother’s Day, up-and-coming actor Patrick Flueger portrays Ike Koffin, the eldest of Mother’s progeny who mistakenly head home after a bank robbery has gone awry only to find new tenants living there after Mother lost it in foreclosure.
Forced to react quickly to the unfortunate turn of events, Ike springs into action a deadly plan of taking the new residents and their friends hostage until Mother can arrive and help get their family out of the mess they have made.
Dread Central recently caught up with Flueger for a brief chat about all things Mother’s Day as well as checked in on another upcoming horror project for the actor- The Tell-Tale Heart, a modern spin on the classic Edgar Allan Poe tale.
Read on for the highlights from our interview with Flueger below, and look for more on Mother’s Day coming soon!
Dread Central: Let’s start off talking a bit about your character and what your impressions of him were.
Patrick Flueger: Well, I play Ike Koffin, who is the oldest brother, and he carries a lot of responsibility around with him; there’s never been a man in his life so being the oldest, he’s had to step up, assume a lot of those roles and he definitely grew up way too fast. He’s had to be the big brother, the protector, the man of the house and, in some ways, husband to Mother; although that would not be what I would call a sexual relationship.
But anyway, Ike doesn’t always make the right decisions, but he does the best that he can and family always comes first.
Dread Central: What was the appeal of the project to you as a performer when you first read the script for Mother’s Day
Patrick Flueger: I was really excited about this project the first time I read the script because it was so unlike anything I had been offered at the time; at first I thought I wanted to come on board as Addley, but thank god for Warren (Kole) because that role was meant for him. No one could have touched it in respect to the performance he gave; the whole scene where he’s scrubbing the door after he shoots a woman and he just breaks down because he’s disappointed his mother- that was all Warren. That role could have been such a caricature because it’s one we’ve seen so many times before, but it was the duality of Warren’s performance that made Addley both vicious and tragic, too.
But back to the script- I was really excited to play the bad guy for a change with Mother’s Day so that was definitely part of the initial appeal. I also really wanted to work with Darren, too; I’m a huge fan of his work, and the idea of collaborating with him was very inviting. He really brings so much to the table, and because he is such a confidant director, he was able to allow us to dance around with the material and play with it so that we could make it our own. Not a lot of filmmakers will let you do that- they mostly want it only their way, and that’s it; but not Darren. He was great.
Dread Central: How was it working with the rest of your cast and especially your onscreen mother Rebecca?
Patrick Flueger: I loved our cast; we all hung out a lot when we weren’t shooting and I definitely feel like that helped build chemistry on camera. I did spend a lot of time with my onscreen family off the set as well, and I think that really helped build our relationships even more because we sort of fell into the hierarchy of the family from the script in real life, which was rather interesting.
But Mother’s Day was a true character building kind of a project, and I think the biggest part of the reason that the movie does work so well is because Darren allowed us to be part of the process and that was huge.
Dread Central: I notice that you have another upcoming genre-related project on the horizon- The Tell-Tale Heart. What can you tell us about that?
Patrick Flueger: Well, we filmed in the fall and I believe it’s currently being wrapped up; I got to work with John La Tier on it and he was amazing. Of course the short story was required reading for the project, and when I came on board, I went back and re-read it for the first time since school probably. We definitely follow the original story, but there are of course some twists along the way. John did a pretty remarkable job with this; I think fans will be excited to see it once they get it wrapped up.
Make sure to check out Mother’s Day either on the big screen during its current limited theatrical run or in the comfort of your own home once the flick hits DVD and Blu-ray everywhere May 8th courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment.
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