‘Big Gold Brick’ Director Brian Petsos Breaks Down the Outrageous Comedy

Big Gold Brick is the kind of film that keeps you wondering what you’re seeing in each and every moment, and yet, you fully understand why these characters exist in this way. It’s funny, frank, and weird in just the right way, made that much easier by having an amazing cast behind it. Starring Andy Garcia, Emory Cohen, Megan Fox, Lucy Hale, and Oscar Isaac, the movie follows Floyd Deveraux (Garcia) as he recruits Samuel (Cohen), a man he hit with his car, to write the story of his life.

It’s weird in the sense that the movie is completely outrageous in the best way. From Floyd’s incredibly young wife Jacqueline (Fox) who flirts with Samuel to Isaac’s eccentric performance as Anselm, the vibes of Big Gold Brick are what make it so entertaining—that and a full-grown adult playing basketball for a children’s school.

I spoke with director and writer Brian Petsos for the project and get into some of his inspiration behind it.

Breaking down Big Gold Brick

The film has this way about it that is very unique, while still calling out to the films past in a way that works in tone. But it also isn’t referencing anything specific; it’s more of a feeling that we’ve been here before in a good way. When I asked Petsos about it, he talked about his inspirations in a broader sense. “Well, you know, I’m probably influenced by stuff other than cinema as much as I am by cinema, but, you know, my tastes are kind of all over the board in terms of the movies that I watch,” Petsos said. “I actually watch a surprising amount of documentary stuff, but on the narrative side. You know, for me classic stuff, which, you know, is probably cherry picking like late thirties to nineties. And my tastes are kind of all over the board. I mean, I love some hardcore, super artsy stuff, and then I love some super commercial stuff. I try not to like censor myself in terms of what I’m watching, but I’m also probably just as influenced by music as I am by movies and of course, or literature. It’s probably an amalgamation to be honest with you.”

With a movie as outrageous as Big Gold Brick, you’d think that some of it comes from workshopping it all together with the cast and crew, but Petsos says that his own background in acting and improv made it so that he comes to set with the house he wants to work in. “I’m a strange bird because I used to be an actor and I actually am a former improviser,” Petsos said.

He went on to talk about his process in creating: “And so, you know, most of my improv background comes actually into play in my writing process. So I don’t actually do a ton of improv on set, I’m actually pretty darn regimented when it comes to being on set and I’m a huge preparer. And so that’s not to say that we don’t kind of go crazy within the sort of box that we’re building cause wedo. But I kind of come with blueprints that I really want to try to build that house.”

Big Gold Brick is available digitally and in theaters now.

(image: Samuel Goldwyn films)