Eoghan Lyng – What was it about the laundromat that spoke to you as a motif?

Rocky Walls – So, I’ve always wanted to film something in a laundromat. It actually became a running joke with my production team, but I’ve talked about that in plenty of other interviews, so readers can look up that story elsewhere [laughs out loud]. I love that you’re asking me about the laundromat as a motif. I think laundromats are really interesting spaces where lots of different kinds of people come to do a simple, even mundane, task that all of us have in common. So, you never know who you’re going to see in a laundromat. In addition, doing laundry takes time. So, you have all of these different types of people passing their time in different ways. I’ve always thought there was something really romantic about that.

EL – Would you consider the charm a “voodoo” one, or is it meant to be ambiguous?

RW – No, Eric mentions “voodoo shit“ in a fit of panic right after they realise they can’t lie, but he doesn’t even understand the context for the word voodoo, as I doubt any young person in the 90s did. In fact, I went to pretty great lengths to make sure that the movie stayed focused on the relationship between Eric and Kyle instead of shifting too much emphasis to the magical element. In my mind, digging in too deep on the hows, whys, etc. of the magic was always a risk. I wanted it to exist to serve the relationship and nothing more.

EL – How early on in the writing process did you realise that one of the characters was gay?

RW – Right away. There were moments before hardly anything was written that I tossed around different ideas about how many people would be in the laundromat and what their stories would be (there was a version that felt more like The Breakfast Club [John Hughes, 1985] floating around in my head for a day or two), but as soon as I decided that the strongest story I could tell would be about the relationship between two young men, I knew that one of them would be queer and the other would be straight.

EL – Is the fact that Eric comes from a Latin family pertinent to the fact that he queries the validity of the business?

RW – Yeah, definitely. Eric‘s father, like many immigrants to the United States, has had to work hard to provide a safe and secure future for their family. Eric‘s parents have instilled a strong work ethic, and an aversion to risk in Eric, likely because they know he will face challenges that others, including his friend Kyle, won’t have to face just because of the colour of his skin or his family name.

EL – Did you come across the two actors onstage, or did they audition?

RW – The stars really aligned for Mitchell and Charlie to work together in this film. I connected with Mitchell through a talent agency, but we were having a lot of trouble finding the right Eric. We’d been searching for a couple of months when Mitchell headed off to school for his first year at the Savannah College of Art and Design. About two weeks into the fall semester, Mitchell texted me and said something like, “Rocky, I don’t want to step on your toes… you’re the director. But if you’re open to it, I think I met someone who would make a great Eric”. He went on to explain that he met Charlie, they had become fast friends, and the best part? They grew up about 10 minutes from each other and both of them would be coming home for the holiday break when we planned to film. Despite growing up in the same county, they had never met until they went to college in a completely different state.

EL – Why did you choose to set the film in 1997? Was it in response to the Clinton administration “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell? policy?

RW – First of all, I grew up in the ’90s. There are some practical benefits to setting a film so intimately focused on two people prior to the emergence of smartphones and social media. But, as you’ve alluded to, the way young men relate to one another mirrored the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policies of the time. You just didn’t have authenticity, vulnerability. But, in many ways that hasn’t changed for a lot of people. We are living in arguably the most connected time in human history, and yet we have a loneliness epidemic. That bewilders me. I think a lot of people are lonely because they don’t feel safe being themselves and despite all the ways the world has gotten smaller, I don’t know if I believe that it’s gotten more authentic or real in the last few decades. It worries me. Truly.

EL – In my review, I compared the film to My Dinner With Andre [Louis Malle, 1981]; is that a fair comparison?

RW – Thanks for the comparison! It’s an honour to have my work even mentioned in the same sentence as such a classic film. I do think it’s a fair comparison, if only because both films focus so intensely on the conversations between two men, over the course of one evening, in a single location. In addition, though, there are some themes that overlap. I think it’s especially interesting to think about their frustrations and challenges regarding the way people can’t be direct. Wally says, “Because somehow in our social existence today we’re only allowed to express our feelings weirdly and indirectly. If you express them directly everybody goes crazy!” Shortly after, Andre agrees, “I do just the same thing myself! We can’t be direct so we end up saying the weirdest things.” In some ways, that’s why the magic in the film exists – because an audience will sooner believe that Kyle and Eric are being honest with each other because they are under a spell than they’d believe two young men just started sharing their feelings with each other of their own accord.

EL – Do you think European audiences will judge the film differently to viewers in the United States?

RW – Perhaps as a whole, they might, but I think the reactions and judgment I’m most interested in are that of the individuals, no matter where they are from. Because in all of the world, there are still a lot of people who feel very lonely for a wide variety of reasons, and I hope this film shines a spotlight on how special a relationship that allows you to be the truth version of yourself and still feel safe.

EL – Is this a queer drama, a letter to friendship, a magical drama, or a combination of the three?

RW – I think it’s a combination of the three, with the heaviest emphasis on friendship. Magic comes and goes in relationships. LOL. The fact that one of the guys is queer matters, sure, but his queerness isn’t what defines him. Like any relationship, there’s complexity, compromise, and commitment. It gets messy, but true love can stick it out.

EL – Are you working on any other dirty projects you would like to tell DMovies?

RW – For now, it’s promoting Dirty Laundry and getting it in front of audiences, especially young people who can be inspired by the friendship that Eric and Kyle share. Other than that, I’m returning to some of the documentary work that I love so much. I’m not sure when or if there will be another narrative film in my future, and that’s okay because I’m very proud of this one….

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Rocky Walls is pictured at the top of this article; the other image is a still of Dirty Laundry.