Intrusion, the latest Netflix thriller which premiered on the streaming service on September 22, pits domestic bliss against unknowable forces trying to tear it apart - both from without and within. Freida Pinto (Hillbilly Elegy) and Logan Marshall-Green (The Invitation) star as Meera and Henry, a deeply-in-love married couple who just moved to New Mexico in search of a fresh start and a real home.
The only problem is that their house, built by Henry himself for his wife after her remission from cancer, is broken into soon after they move. Though her husband wants to forget the ordeal ever happened, Meera finds herself asking questions she's not comfortable leaving unanswered. Unfortunately, her search for the truth threatens to change her life and marriage forever.
Director Adam Salky, who has been making waves in the independent film circuit since his 2009 debut Dare was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival, spoke to Screen Rant about transitioning to the thriller genre while maintaining his attention to detail when it comes to matters of theme and characterization.
Screen Rant: How were you first introduced to Intrusion, and what was it that spoke to you about the script?
Adam Salky: When I first read the script, I was on the edge of my seat. I love thrillers; I grew up watching movies like Silence of the Lambs, Se7en, and Black Swan. I just was very intrigued by the story, and I really had no idea where it was gonna go.
But for me, as far as deciding to direct something, it almost always has to do with feeling a personal connection to the material. I love the idea of the terrifying unknowability of people. I find secrets very intriguing, but I also was very connected to the main character [Meera, played by Freida Pinto], who is a breast cancer survivor.
It turns out that my best friend growing up was diagnosed with breast cancer at around the same age as Meera, and I saw her go through this really incredible journey of being a traumatized victim to an empowered survivor at the end of her battle with the illness. I felt that the script really played out in a way that made me feel I understood that character's journey.
What was the casting process like for you? What was it that made Logan and Frieda right for those parts? Because, as you said, they have to be able to sell that unknowability while still making their love believable.
Adam Salky: Yeah, when it comes to casting, I'm really interested in surprises. Freida Pinto obviously had such a breakout role in Slumdog Millionaire, and her performance in that film just lodged in my mind. So, when we were looking at casting Intrusion, I just thought she had this incredible warmth to her - which is so important to the character of Meera, because she's a therapist and is also in this really loving relationship when we first meet her.
Going back to this idea of surprises: one of my last films was I Smile Back, which has Sarah Silverman's first dramatic starring role. That was obviously was a big surprise; that Sarah was doing drama. And one of the interesting things about Freida, who's had an incredibly long career and worked with all these amazing people, is that she's actually never done a film in this genre. I thought it would be so cool to take these qualities that she's known for, and see them in the new context of a thriller.
On the flip side, I've always been a huge fan of Logan Marshall-Green. Logan is the kind of actor who is a chameleon; he's different in every role that you see him in, he looks different, and the characters have a completely different take. He really leapt out to me in one of his early films called Devil from 2010. Since then, I just thought, "Wow, who is that?" and I kind of tucked him away in the back of my mind.
He's also so good in The Invitation and Upgrade, and you can never quite get a read on where he's gonna take those characters. It's really important for Henry to just be this guy who you're trying to figure out as the movie goes along, and Logan was perfect for that.
The performances really helped set the whole tone of the film, as well as the architecture of the house itself. From the moment that we see that house, it doesn't quite feel like a home despite Henry building it for that purpose. Did that house already exist? What went into the decision to use that style and space?
Adam Salky: The house is a character in the movie, and I love movies where location is so specific to the story. In Intrusion, Henry is a stylish architect and has built this house for them. They've moved to this small town to have a reboot after Meera has gone into remission. They've been living in a big city and want to reconnect.
It was important to me that the house felt very specific, modern, and very connected to his architectural style. But it also had to have an element of spookiness to it - and of the unknowability of secrets, which is really what the theme of the movie is.
We actually found that house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where we filmed. It was a literal needle in a haystack. The architectural style of Albuquerque is something called Pueblo Revival, and it's a really cool architectural style. But it wasn't what I had in mind for the film, so we were location scouting, and I started to get really nervous that we weren't going to find this perfect place for the movie. Then one day our cinematographer Eric Lin went to the grip rental house, and he was speaking to the owner and just said, "Hey, we're looking for a modern house." And the owner said, "Oh, my friend owns a modern house."
Two hours later, we were speeding there - at the speed limit. We walked around, and we just immediately fell in love. It had everything we needed, and it also had the unknowability factor. There were hallways that went to strange places, and there were closets that you would open and there was just a wall there. There were some strange aspects to it, and we immediately fell in love. Thankfully, the family allowed us to shoot there.
I also want to add that it's a 10,000 square foot house. We tried to film it to maybe not look as big, but the reason I bring up the size is that our production designer Brandon Tonner-Connolly had to remake the whole inside to fit the characters. It was just an incredible job that Brandon and the art department did to turn that house into Meera and Henry's home.
I was also fascinated with the way other characters were shot, up through the "intrusion" itself. It's almost like the identity of these people either doesn't matter or matters very much and so they are obscured. What was behind those types of decisions?
Adam Salky: It absolutely was a choice to stay visually with Freida and Logan's characters in the beginning, because we meet this amazing married couple and feel connected to them, and we want them to be safe. Visually, there is a togetherness there, and then there is this horrifying break-in that happens. After that point, visually, we stay with Freida's character as she is unraveling the mystery more and more. And there were specific camera choices to do that.
To me, visual choices in a film should always spring from the thematic core of the movie. Actually, one interviewer said something to me which really crystallized it in a way I hadn't thought of before: they heard that people who have survived cancer have described it as having a stranger in their body. There is a real connection in the film between that and having a stranger in your house; in this place that's supposed to feel safe and connected and warm. All of a sudden, it becomes completely uncertain and dangerous.
That thematic idea really translated all through the movie, in a visual sense, where we aren't able to fully grasp the other characters visually - the people that break-in, the people in the town, the police officers trying to help or maybe not - which makes Meera even more on edge.
Speaking of the police, Robert John Burke had a great presence in the film that was simultaneously comforting and yet foreboding. Can you talk about his role a little?
Adam Salky: I was really lucky to have an incredible supporting cast. Bobby Burke plays detective Stephen Morse, the local Corrales, New Mexico Sheriff who's trying to help this couple grapple with what happened to them. It was so great to work with him, and he's just more things than you could possibly list.
In fact, one of my favorite scenes from the film is in the first act, when he comes over to talk with Henry. Henry thinks that this is going to be the police helping him unravel the mystery of this break-in, and instead, the conversation turns in a really surprising way. And you see both of these characters start to behave in ways that are surprising and foreboding for the rest of the movie.
What kind of conversations did you have with Frieda and Logan about Henry and Meera's history? Or was it more about working with what's on the page to build the dynamic on-screen?
Adam Salky: I was really lucky on this film to actually have some rehearsal, which doesn't often happen when you're making movies - actor schedules don't align, or you can't afford it, or whatever the reasons are. But on Intrusion, we actually had some rehearsal.
I was also lucky to have a really incredible and knowledgeable writer in Chris Sparling. One of the things I do as a director is sit down with the writer in advance of sitting with the actors, and I always try to find where this all came from and who these characters are from the writers' point of view. Then I will add my own ideas to that, and that leads up to the discussion with the actors. Chris and I had very in-depth discussions about who these characters are and where they're from.
They're coming from Boston; they met there, they fell in love there. Meera is from India but studied in Boston, and that's how she met her husband. Of course, they moved to this small town after her illness. And they both approach this problem of the break-in completely differently.
Henry is really trying to maintain the status quo. He doesn't want to rock the boat, because he's with his wife in this small town and in this dream home, where they're going to be together and connected forever; she's going to be healthy, and everything is going to be okay. So, as these things are happening, he just wants it to stay as it was. Whereas Meera is driven by wanting to feel secure after she's had a break-in, and she's just trying to feel safe again. Those two things are really at the core of those characters and how they approach what happens in the story.
You have a background in various technical aspects of movie-making like editing and cinematography. Would you say that's helped shape your approach as a director or given you more freedom to play with the thematic elements?
Adam Salky: I started working as crew when I was in my early 20s. I was an additional PA on How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, and I worked on movies of all shapes and sizes in all different capacities. Yes, I worked as an editor, and I worked in the camera department. Having that background was a great entry for me into directing because if you have that kind of training then you feel comfortable with sets and everything that's happening there.
It is freeing to have that kind of experience. But at a certain point around the mid-2000s, I transitioned into directing - and that was really the main focus. All of these other things help you do what directing ultimately is, which is trying to design an experience for the audience. The more you understand all the possible elements that can help you do that, the better. And in this case, the hopefully more suspenseful and more terrifying experience design.
Finally, what is next for you as a director? What are you working on, or what do you hope to explore next?
Adam Salky: I come from smaller independent films, and this is my first genre film. And I'm actually really loving this space, so I'm attached to direct another thriller that in some ways is, you could say, the mirror opposite of Intrusion. It's about the perfect family who starts to be terrorized by this stalker, and you slowly start to realize that the stalker is connected to the family in ways that you would [never] believe.
There's some real twists and turns there, and some incredible roles for actors. We're working on putting it together right now. I want to live in this world for a little while longer. I want to be scared just a little bit more.
Intrusion is currently streaming on Netflix.