One of the most fun thrillers of the year, Drop, has a 4K release. And while several of the featurettes are a little short, there is an audio commentary with director Christopher Landon.
Plot Synopsis: Violet (Meghann Fahy) is a single mother recovering from a traumatic past who finally goes on a date with the charming and patient Henry (Brandon Sklenar). While settling in at the upscale Palate restaurant in downtown Chicago, Violet begins receiving threatening “drops” from someone in the restaurant: she must kill her date or they will murder her son, Toby (Jacob Robinson).
Credit to Rob Hunter (FilmSchoolRejects) for the template for this post
Drop (2025)
Commentator: Chris Landon
- This is the first movie where Landon didn’t play with the Universal logo and his fifth collaboration with composer Bear McCreary
- The opening credits are actual objects that they blew up (practically) and the goal was to help set the tone of the film, which is “a love letter to Hitchcock and 90s thrillers”
- All of the flashbacks of Violet’s abusive marriage were not shot in an actual apartment; these were shot in a makeshift lobby at the studio where the sound stages were located because they didn’t have time to find a location
- The film was shot in Dublin, Ireland, which caused some fun for location shooting (particularly Violet’s house), as well as the final car sequence where the crew had to reverse the flow of traffic and change all of the signage because in Ireland they drive on the other side of the road).
- “I guess Violet is also rich” Landon jokes of Violet’s house, admitting he wishes he could live there.
- Jacob Robinson is a TikTok star in Ireland
- The city streets are VFX blend of Ireland and Chicago, while the exterior of Palate, specifically when Violet stands outside on the street and looks up, is a convention center with a digital building added on top
- Palate is actually a 12 thousand square foot set, built by production designer Susie Cullen. It was operational, elevated 10-15 feet off the ground with a gear tunnel underneath so they could move a crane from one side of the set to the other.
- The decor features gold circles and bars with beautiful but imposing metallic elements. These elements are all intended to convey the sense of a gilded cage that Violet is “literally trapped in.”
- The film employed 100 extras as diners who sat for approximately ten hours a day. There was a mixture of real food prepared for by a real chef, as well as fake food (so that the food didn’t “stink up the space” or rot during the long shooting days).
- Landon jokes that these extras included a real couple that broke up over the course of the shoot. Another table of women thanked him for helping them to become lifelong friends.
- Apparently Sklenar was obsessed with the food, particularly the steak dish his character eats, and would often take food home.
- The skyline visible in the windows isn’t green screen (that was deemed too expensive), but it does have little touches to simulate movement and changes throughout the film, including digital helicopters and blinking lights in the buildings.
- The drops are not insert shots added after the fact: Landon wanted to have them ready for Fahy to react to in the moment. The specific memes were written into the script, with the intent of capitalizing on popular options that the audience would recognize, but deployed in a “weaponized” fashion that felt nefarious.
- The shoot incorporated specific angles and negative space for the text messages which Landon notes was a pain at the time, but made post-production significantly easier. The goal with the visual presentation of the threatening texts was to keep them interesting but also imbue them with character by offering insight into sender’s personality. “It’s an active conversation”
- Landon and director of photography Marc Spicer shot the film in two modes: one is Violet “on a date” mode that features traditional movie coverage such as two shots and over the shoulder; the second are the moments when the audience is in Violet’s head. In this version the angles and lighting change (it becomes less reliable and more askew). A prime example is the spotlight over the heads of people that Violet suspects, or when the lights and music dim.
- Landon has nothing but praise for costume designer Gwen Jeffares Hourie‘s work on Violet’s iconic red pantsuit (click here for an interview with IndieWire about the garment). Obviously he also shouts out the fact that he wore an identical outfit for the last day of shooting
- The watch was specifically chosen because it had to look good on camera, but the clasp had to be easy to work so Fahy could easily take it off.
- The scenes at the hostess table was nicknamed “screen city” because there are so many cameras, phones, etc. It was such a pain that Landon comments it made him wish he was making a movie set in the 1800s so he wouldn’t have to deal with it.
- Courses were timed and mapped out so that the arrival, departure, and lenght of stay of the diners didn’t become a continuity problem. “My head was going to explode” Landon says of trying to figure it out (he credits other, smarter people for figuring it out).
- This also includes switching out a couple during Violet and Richard (Reed Diamond)’s conversation in anticipation of the action set piece to come in the restaurant climax.
- Due to a child care issue, Landon’s seven year old son was on set for a bit and didn’t look up once *except* for when they shot the scene of Toby being thrown on the bed by the masked assailant. Apparently Landon’s son got nightmares and the director felt like a terrible parent (but he also secretly hopes it acts as a horror primer).
- They had to reshoot Violet’s purse falling off the chair and exposing the watch countless times in order to get the timing/look right.
- It was Landon’s decision to add a server carrying a cake with a sparkler in the scene when Violet carries the deadly shot back to the table. He acknowledges it “looks cool at this frame rate”, but principally it offers a nice juxtaposition: the cake is a celebration of life while Violet is delivering death.
- Landon, on fretting that the child in Violet’s flashbacks wouldn’t cry on cue: “Can I pinch him?” (The child ultimately cried on its own when its mother walked away)
- On casting Skelar: “I wanted this big, strapping, handsome dude to become the damsel in distress.” An inversion of that Disney conceit.
- If you go rewatch the moments before Phil’s death, you can see Reed Diamond at the bar. The crew ensured that he was positioned there, as opposed to at his corner table, for continuity purposes.
- Landon makes a Ma joke when Violet offers Henry the shot: “Oh please, don’t make me drink alone.”
- On destroying the restaurant with the end of film stunts: ”It was so much fun to do because everyone had been sitting for so long.”
- The scripted version of the restaurant showdown, including Violet nearly falling to her death, was way more complicated and, according to Landon, what we’re seeing is “more grounded” To which, one has to wonder: what was in the original script?!
- On the PG-13 violence: in order to appease the MPA, they had to pull back on the blood, including when Jen (Violett Beane) is shot in the shoulder, which apparently originally featured blood spraying against the wall
- The hospital closer was shot twice: the first time was rushed (it turns out they only had two hours, as opposed to the scheduled full day) and Brandon’s first scene on the film. It played comedic and didn’t offer closure, so they re-shot, but then it got too heavy. So the finished version is a splice between the two filmed versions.
Drop is now available on 4K and Blu Ray. The film begins streaming on Peacock on July 11
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