When I was in middle school, a girl from our friend group named Lisa died in a car accident. She and her sister were turning into a movie theater when another car hit them. Her sister was fine, but Lisa didn’t make it. We weren’t best friends, yet the loss rippled through the whole school, and it was one of the first times I understood how a single absence can reshape a community. I thought about her often while watching “Mouse.”
Set in the summer of 2002, “Mouse” follows best friends Minnie and Callie as they head into their senior year of high school. Minnie has long lived in the shadows of the charismatic, admired Callie. When their friendship is suddenly upended, Minnie struggles to define herself and forms a complicated bond with Callie’s poised, attentive mother, which pulls her further from her own chaotic home.
The film is directed by creative partners, and life partners, Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson, the couple behind “Saint Frances” and “Ghostlight.” O’Sullivan wrote the script, which she began in 2019 and which took six years to bring to the screen. She drew on the loss of a close friend in high school and set the story in her hometown. It stars Sophie Okonedo, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Tara Mallen, and David Hyde Pierce, with cinematography by Nate Hurtsellers and Luke Dyra, editing by Mike S. Smith, and music by Hamilton Leithauser. O’Sullivan was also recently named one of Variety’s 10 Screenwriters to Watch.
“Mouse” is a tender, nostalgic look at grief and the people who help us carry it. I sat down with O’Sullivan and Thompson to talk about the film’s inspiration, their casting instincts, the look of the film, and what they hope audiences take away.
“Mouse” screened as the Centerpiece film at the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival on Wednesday, October 21st, and has it’s Chicago theatrical premiere is Friday, November 6th at 6:30 PM at the Music Box Theatre.
Kelly, let’s start with you. Can you talk about the inspiration for the story of “Mouse”?
Kelly O’Sullivan (KO): I started writing this script back in 2019, so it’s been in the works for some time. I really wanted to set something in my hometown. I had a dear friend who died in a car accident in high school. That was a very formative experience, and I still think about her all the time. Then I started to think about the idea of a parent who is both the best friend and the parent, whose life has been defined by Callie. That became the way they try to deal with that loss, and it brings them together and shapes who they are to each other. That was the inspiration.
I went through something similar in middle school. A good friend of mine was in a car with her sister, turning into a movie theater. She turned left and got hit. Her sister was fine, but my friend Lisa passed. We weren’t best friends, but she was part of our friend group, so it affected the whole school. It was pretty traumatic.
Alex, how did you two start collaborating on this project?
Alex Thompson (AT): I’m typically involved, de facto, because we live together. I always get a special first look at everything, the first best pages, because those are the freshest, brightest ideas in your brain. First you write, and then you build forwards and backwards. I love looking back at the text messages and emails, because that’s how Kelly describes the project before it’s fully formed.
I remember “Ghostlight,” and thinking about the improbability of Kelly writing a movie about a middle-aged male construction worker. But we worked on it with the intention that it would be a film we did together, and then the next project would be her solo work. Since then, we’ve learned that when you live with and are a partner to someone who is really talented, you want them to be part of your process.
That makes me think of when I interviewed Katie Aselton about her film “Magic Hour.” She does these long recorded note files with her partner, Mark Duplass, so they’re always going back and forth. I always find it interesting to hear about couples who collaborate like that.
Kelly, earlier this year you told me you weren’t sure at first about Katherine Mallen Kupferer playing the lead role of Minnie, but then you saw her stumble a bit during a “Ghostlight” Q&A, and that convinced you she could play this character. Can you talk about that?
KO: Katherine is an awesome actress, so that was never a question for me. It was that, in real life, Katherine is very different from Minnie, and I don’t like to cast actors who are too far from the character. I always want a little of their essence in the role.
We were on the press tour for “Ghostlight,” and in a Q&A she got flustered. It was the first time I had seen her not be totally confident, the first time I saw a wave of self-doubt come over her. After that, I thought, no, she can do it. That’s in there. We just needed to tap into that part of her. And we didn’t need to manipulate her performance at all in the movie. She’s a skilled actress, so she was able to do that.
AT: And for the record, I was always on board with Katherine playing Minnie.
KO: Yes, I just needed to see a flash of Minnie in Katherine.
You also brought Tara Mallen on as the mother. Was she someone you naturally thought of for the role?
KO: For the longest time, I really wanted to cast somebody from Arkansas, so we went down a different route for that role. Then, right before filming started, we realized Tara was the best person. She’s great at that kind of role, and it’s much closer to who she actually is, compared to her role in “Ghostlight,” so in many ways it was an easier fit.
She’s incredible in it. And then there’s Sophie Okonedo. Like casting Dolly de Leon in “Ghostlight,” you bring seasoned actresses and international stars into smaller indie films where you’d think they might not fit, yet they add so much richness. How was it working with her as Helen Bell?
AT: I love working with Sophie because she’s such a professional. We’ve worked with a couple of people now who like to work all the time, whether in theater, film, or TV, so there’s a part of the process you don’t have to explain, like resetting a set or trying new things. On top of that, you believe everything Sophie does in the role, so there were no wrong choices. It was just about capturing what was there. The same is true of Katherine. The two of them together felt so generative, and it was so fun to watch. I remember saying over and over how fun it was to witness a scene unfolding, shot to shot, and to be pleasantly surprised by the textures and layers they each brought to the screen.
I was curious about the location of the film.
KO: We scouted in New Orleans, Shreveport, and a lot of other places while different versions of the movie came together and then fell apart over the six years it took to make.
AT: We did a Chicago budget.
KO: So we explored what it would be like to shoot in Little Rock, and I’m so glad we eventually chose my hometown.
I’m glad you did. I think it adds to the authenticity. Recently I went to an industry talk with Alex Coco, who spoke about how important it was to shoot on location in New York for “Anora,” where the city became its own character.
KO: Absolutely.
And David Hyde Pierce was so good, even in such a small part.
KO: We thought of him for Mr. Murdaugh, because Mr. Murdaugh has to be your ideal theater teacher. He has to be someone who can tell the truth to a lot of people in a very loving way, someone who can say, “You can’t replace her,” and have it feel like a gift instead of a scolding. Someone who can say, “I see what’s going on, and I see what you’re trying to do, and it’s not going to work,” and have it come from such a heartfelt place. And he’s a theater actor. He’s been in so many Broadway shows.
We sent his agent the script and a love letter, basically saying, “We love you,” along with a link to “Ghostlight.” He watched it, and he said yes.
I love all your movies. “Saint Frances” is still my favorite, but the filmmaking here feels like a step up. Not that there wasn’t quality before, but the cinematography and editing were seamless, and that may have suited the location, too. Alex, can you speak to the filmmaking?
AT: There was a real rigor to the visual language. We were obsessed with using this film to explore rhythms I’ve admired in other films. For me, the textural references for color and natural light were “The Thin Red Line” and “Phantom Thread.”
This is a movie with no secrets. Nothing is unknown to the audience. Unlike “Ghostlight,” we don’t have to keep something from them and then reveal it. We just have to observe and give them an entry point into what the characters are experiencing, and, most importantly, not make anyone feel manipulated into those feelings. So it felt like a real opportunity to dream a little bigger.
With every film, we’ve tried to grow our visual language. It’s not that we don’t know the tools. We just rarely have the time to use them. Raoul Walsh gave an interview to the American Film Institute before he died, where he talked about how fast they moved on those old movies. Every day you got a chance to do one special thing, and it might be an insert of someone picking up a penny or scratching their ear. I feel like we got to do a lot of special things.
What was the new special thing you tried on “Mouse” that you were most excited about?
AT: I guess the shiniest penny was the car shot, the nearly 360-degree pan through the car. But also just dreaming up an image like the toilet paper in the trees, which we set and reset about seven times.
Kelly, I saw on Instagram that you were having fun at the homecoming dance, dancing behind the scenes. What was it like witnessing that scene?
KO: Those were my favorite days of shooting. Our costume designer, Meg Grace, looked through my yearbook and my photo album, and the dresses, my god, were pulled straight from my yearbook.
Yes! It was all so on point. We’re about the same age, and I remember the music, the clothes, even the cut-up magazine photos on the wall. Can you talk about working with your production designer?
KO: Linda Lee was incredible. She did a great job.
The film definitely brought me back to that time. And I love that you brought back the video store. I worked at one in high school, so that was a fun touch.
AT: There are some nods to “Saint Frances” and “Ghostlight” in the video store. Look out for those cameos.
I noticed there was a dedication at the end of the film. Can you talk about the person you dedicated it to?
KO: The film was dedicated to my mother. I don’t know if you know this, but my mom died during the production of the film.
Oh no, I’m so sorry. Was she sick?
KO: No, she had a brain aneurysm. It was out of nowhere, and the timing was so bizarre. I’m grateful that I was in my hometown, where they lived at the time. Other than Thanksgiving or Christmas, there’s no other time in my life I would have been there. So I believe the universe had a little something to do with it. I started writing the script in 2019, so it does feel like there was some cosmic timing that let me be there.
Finally, what do you hope people take away from the film?
KO: It feels cliché to say, but I genuinely mean it: I’d like people to take away a sense of kindness and connection, and an understanding that nobody knows what they’re doing. That’s always what I’m hoping to get at. And giving each other grace, sharing the messiness together, and knowing you’re not alone in whatever you’re going through.
People may not have experienced the exact same thing, although somebody in the world has. I think the question is how we lean on each other in an authentic way. Not in a “positive vibes,” “what can I do for you?” way, but down in the muck of it.
I love that. Keep writing these scripts and making movies together. You’re changing the world with your films.
