Ryan Kruger is the writer and director of Fried Barry, the grotesque new alien invasion-cum-body horror flick currently taking Shudder by storm. Set on the streets of South Africa and featuring the breakout performance of Gary Green as the titular Barry, this weird, grubby, psychedelic little genre movie is destined for cult appreciation around the globe.
But just who, or what, is a Fried Barry? Thankfully, we had someone on hand to help dissect all things Barry – the man who created him, Ryan Kruger.
RYAN KRUGER: Fried Barry is a trip. It’s a road movie without a car, but Barry is the car. The story is easy and simple; it’s about a junkie that gets abducted by aliens and spat out onto the streets of Cape Town, and the alien takes his body for a joyride. The film is designed to be an experience and make you feel as if you’re going on this trip with Barry. It’s meant to feel disjointed – that’s the style of it. You have to sit back with an open mind and have fun, otherwise you are going to have a bad trip. The film shows the darker side of humanity, and that it’s society that is crazy. By the end of it, you should feel like taking a shower.
STARBURST: The film started out as a short piece about a junkie on a trip in a derelict building. When – and how – did that begin to evolve into a feature film?
Fried Barry was born out of total frustration where I was in my life at the time. I’ve always wanted to make a feature and I’ve come close many times, but never worked out. At the time, I really went through a hard patch. I had something wrong with my kidney; I had an operation, got sepsis, and nearly died. My cat had cancer, I lost my girlfriend at the time and went into a bad dark hole of depression. It was game over for me. But then I said to myself, what is the number one thing I’ve always wanted to do? It was to make a movie. I had so many other scripts I could have chosen to do, but when this idea hit me, I got excited. I hadn’t seen this film before. It just felt right, and was the right one to do, where I could get super creative. When you make your first film, of course it has to be good, but that’s an understatement – it has to be the best film you have ever made. Otherwise, what the hell are you doing? I wanted to make a cult-style film, which I would have liked when I was a kid growing up. This film saved my life in so many ways, so I am grateful for those dark times even though it was the worst time of my life. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now. Oh, and I saved my cat. He’s my little sidekick.
How did you approach writing and plotting the film, given its largely performance-driven nature and relative lack of conventional narrative?
It’s funny how everything turned out. From getting the idea in 3 days, I wrote a brief scene breakdown. And then I rang my co-producer and said “I am making a film next month”. He asked me, “Why do we have to shoot next month?” He didn’t know how depressed I was. I just said “because if we don’t shoot next month, it’s never going to happen, and I can’t wait anymore.” A month later, we were shooting the first block of filming. So as we were filming, I was writing more parts as we went along and coming up with new ideas. Sometimes I was writing the dialogue from one location to the next in the car on scrap pieces of paper. I didn’t want anything set in stone with the film, so if I had new ideas on the day we could do it and that’s where a lot of the magic happened. Instead of sitting on ideas for long periods of time.
There are shades of Trainspotting, Starman, early Peter Jackson, and even ET to the film. Who and what were you influenced by when making Fried Barry?
I am very much an 80s kid, I love all 80s films – they were the best. There were many 70s, 80s and 90s film references in this film. ET for sure, and Starman, and the 90s film Bad Boy Bubby. I mixed them all up and added different spices, and put my own slant on it. There are a lot of Easter eggs in this film.
Gary Green is fantastic in the title role. How did he come to be your Fried Barry?
After the success of the short film, I couldn’t have anybody else playing Barry. But when the idea came to me, I knew straight away how I was going to shoot it and how it would work. Gary was amazing – I love his look. Nobody looks like him. He’s got such good presence.
So much of the film is reliant on Barry/Gary’s physical contortions, facial expressions, and movement. To what extent were these choreographed – or improvised?
This was a major thing for me, as the movie is reliant on this character. And if I didn’t get it right, the movie would fall. So I had to work with Gary very closely. I based the character and story around him to make it work. It was such a perfect combination to mould it around him, so I could get exactly what I wanted from him.
Did Green have any input into Barry’s character or actions as the film progressed?
Because Gary isn’t a trained actor, I really had to take the reins with him or it wouldn’t work. So before we started shooting, I told him the basic story and that was it. He didn’t know anything we were filming each day until 30mins before. I knew he would over-think stuff, and I didn’t want him to try over-analyse things or try to prep stuff, as then it would take me longer to get what I wanted from him. So I needed that clean slate every day to work with. I did do a lot of improv with other actors in the movie. But Gary was the only one that didn’t, as it was high risk and time during filming. The funny thing was that his character mimics the people he meets through out the film. And when it came to directing, I would say off-camera “copy my face, now do this face” and he was mimicking me the whole time. I was editing each scene in my head, so I knew what I needed to hit all those comedic points. But Gary was amazing and worked so hard. And nobody could have played this part but him. He was an extra before this, but now he clearly is an actor and that face is just amazing. I love characters and am so proud of him. It’s a great underdog story.
The film is set on the streets of Cape Town, utilizing many bars, businesses and nightclubs. How were these scenes shot?
We actually shot the film over a year and a half – and only 28 days in total. We did get permits for every scene on the streets. There were a lot of bars and clubs that we had good connections with, luckily. But because of the style of the film, we had so many (locations) which was insane – and such a huge cast. But I promise you, Cape Town is a very beautiful place. I just made it look like hell. And we see the darker side of it. I may have ruined Cape Town tourism.
How has the film been received in South Africa?
Well that is still yet to come for the release here. But it did play at a few festivals here, and the response was great.
South Africa is very conservative. And I have struggled a lot in my career to do what I want to do. But since I didn’t have to listen to anyone for a change and we were doing it ourselves, I could make the film how I wanted to make it.
What is the film industry like in South Africa?
The South African film industry is still very small here. But it’s growing super fast and there’s great stuff starting to come out of SA. Most films that get made here are comedies and dramas and historical films about South Africa, but things have been starting to change, even in the past year. There are a few horror and genre films out here. One is Broken Darkness – a great film and talented director. But Fried Barry is defiantly its own beast, and the first of its kind to come out of SA, which I am really happy about.
Barry’s sexcapades; gory fight sequences; drug-fuelled nightmares and dreamscapes; Fried Barry is a riot. Did the shoot itself reflect this, or was it a relatively sedate experience?
It was a great experience – we all had so much fun. When you’re making films with your friends, it can only be a good time. There were hard scenes to film and late nights and time restrictions but we made everything work and put in the time. I actually love working under pressure. It makes my brain tick faster.
From gore to alien spaceships, the film looks great. There’s even a flying sequence! Was there anything you would have liked to include but didn’t have the budget for?
The will always be things I would change or add. I want to do as much in-camera effects as possible. But we also had the great VFX artist Blake Prinsloo. The great thing about filming over a long period of time is that I could see what i had and still needed. At one point, there was going to be a heist he gets mixed up in. Which was great but, it didn’t need it. It was very important to have more heart and character with his wife. I realized how important his wife (Chanelle de Jager) was to the story, and the character development to Barry.
What’s next for you?
I have a few scripts and different genre movies. I may be possibly shooting another film in August, but let’s see. Keep a look out for an 8-part experimental series called RIP, coming soon.
Finally… after all this talk of alien bodysnatchers and flying saucers – do you believe in life on other planets?
100 percent. That’s a long conversation, but they’ve been around for a while. It’s impossible for there to be just us.
Barrys may live among us.
FRIED BARRY is out now, currently streaming on Shudder in the UK.
