Connor Bates (Ray Nicholson) spends his time in the library and jogging ever since he’s been released from prison for an assault charge. He does his best to reintegrate into society while his probation officer (Hank Azaria) keeps a close eye on him. Marilyn Chambers (Diane Kruger) is the wife of a wealthy businessman. They lust for each other, eventually discussing how they can murder her husband and get away with it.

Out of the Blue combines romance and noir for a femme fatale ending that is sure to subvert the expectations of audiences. It incorporates a nostalgic feel, which is an homage to director and writer Neil Labute’s “love of old movies… something like Body Heat, or films 40 years before that like Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity. I’ve just always loved those kind of films, and yet I hadn’t necessarily seen this particular combination. And so, we thought we could do something that felt a little throwback in the way we shot it… everything that we did was meant to be a kind of homage.”

Diane Kruger, Ray Nicholson, and Hank Azaria in Out of the Blue

“I love Neil’s films,” commented Kruger, “I think there’s a very particular tone to it. The first thing I said to Neil when we met on Zoom was, ‘Why do you want to make a movie like this?’ ‘Because we don’t make movies like this anymore, and I love those movies and want to see them again.’ As an actor, I feel the same way. We don’t get to play those kind of roles anymore… I felt very flattered to be considered the femme fatale. And I think Neil is a very unpretentious director in the very best sense… he’s obviously accomplished as a great writer, but he also allows it to be fun and to be open and collaborative.”

That collaboration included Azaria who plays Connor’s probation officer in the film. “He was awesome,” commented Nicholson, “he was so giving and such a lovely man to just speak to. We really got along and he’s so funny. Between him and Neil, hearing them interact, I was really fortunate to be a fly on the wall for that.”

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Casting and Writing the Script

DianeKrugerOutoftheBlue
Quiver Distribution

“I got lucky to get two people who had real chemistry,” explained Labute when asked if he wrote the script with the cast in mind. He elaborated, “that’s a really hard thing. I mean, unless you’ve had a collaboration with someone for a long time, or you’ve had something said ahead of time… it can be really spirit-crushing to craft something for someone and then hear it’s not going to work out, or they won’t work out for five years, all those things. And I also just trust actors. It’s amazing what they can bring. You could recast this movie with two other people, and it would be fascinating to see what they do…. But these two were great together, and quickly. We didn’t have tons of rehearsals. We had spent some time with the script, but we had to jump in and trust.”

“Most of it was talking to Neil,” added Kruger, “I’d seen all those old movies. Most people love that cinema, so there was a real nod to that. I guess I was trying to make it modern without taking away from that… I trust in the director because it’s up to Neil to capture whatever he thinks is the modern version of a film noir.”

“A lot of people that we admire from the past have done those kinds of films, even had their start in them,” said Labute, “I think that they’re fun roles to play, as well as much as they’re fun roles to watch.”

Out of the Blue comes to us from Quiver Distribution and is set to release in theaters and on demand on August 26, 2022.