PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Zombie movies are a dime a dozen these days, so it’s always good to find one that’s different from all the others. That’s where we are with As We Know It, a fun zombie horror comedy from writer and director, Josh Monkarsh. Starring Mike Castle (Curb Your Enthusiasm – 2021) and Oliver Cooper (Mindhunter TV series – 2019), As We Know It is a fresh take on the zombie trope that is both hilarious and heartfelt.
In the late ’90s, James Bishop is dealing with a complicated breakup with the help of his best friend, while trying to finish his book before the impending zombie apocalypse.
To celebrate the release of the film, I chatted with Josh, Mike, and Oliver about how the story developed, Waterworld, horror movies, and more!
PopHorror: I really enjoyed As We Know It. It was hilarious and a ton of fun to watch so I’m super excited to talk about it with you. My first question is for you, Josh. What inspired the story and how did the project come about?
Josh Monkarsh: It’s crazy. I actually optioned the script six years ago from a British writer and there were no zombies, but there was an impending nuclear holocaust. The trick was, how do we make it more appealing and that’s when we started spitballing ideas and thought of the zombie element. Then actually it wasn’t until Covid and I picked up the script again, and I thought, I think I have something here with all the quarantining stuff that’s happening. That’s when we actually really started developing it. I would say that we did a 60-70% rewrite on the script and yeah, that’s the origin story.
PopHorror: I did notice the slight parallels with Covid and also it would have been a completely different movie without the zombies so that’s interesting.
Oliver Cooper: It would have been a hang out movie.
Mike Castle: A Waterworld commentary.
PopHorror: I have never seen Waterworld but just the banter was enough.
Oliver Cooper: There was a version where it was just an hour and a half of us watching Waterworld.
Mike Castle: Not the entire film.
Josh Monkarsh: Oliver, you’re joking, but in the original draft, they actually are watching Timecop for like 45 minutes.
Oliver Cooper: Minutes of the movie? Wow. That actually would be really interesting. We could somehow make that interesting.
PopHorror: Oliver and Mike, what intrigued you about the script and made you want to be a part of the project?
Oliver Cooper: Mainly, Bruce is a character that’s so complex… No, I thought it was funny. Honestly, it just seemed like a fun movie to do.
Mike Castle: The flow of dialogue. I feel like the natural flow of dialogue, you can feel generally how it would feel on set doing it and that was the best part of it was the natural flow of dialogue and stuff that I feel like he and I had a nice bounce with.
Oliver Cooper: Yeah, I think sometimes you do something because it’s a character or story that’s really complex and interesting and weird and you want to try something different. And sometimes you’re just like, this seems like a lot of fun. I knew Bruce was a character that I could play that was similar to other stuff that I’ve done, and I just thought I could have a lot of fun with and just be loose. Sometimes I really enjoy that as much as anything, just be loose and play. I felt like there was some room to improvise and be goofy and this just seemed like fun. And Josh is a great dude and really, really lovely to work with. I got to meet him before, obviously before we did this, and just the whole thing seemed like it would be a fun summer job.
PopHorror: I’m glad that you mentioned the natural flow of dialogue because movies like this where it’s really dialogue heavy and there’s a lot of back and forth talking in one location, they can kind of drag and you start to tune out and you don’t really hear them talking anymore.
Mick Castle: Bogged down.
PopHorror: Yes! And I didn’t feel like that while watching this movie. The flow was great and funny, and kept my attention. I appreciate that. You guys had great chemistry.
Mike Castle: I think that’s largely due to Josh. Josh would create a really nice atmosphere on set, so it feels collaborative and you’re not like so locked-in to having to say the lines and get it all so tight. He was down with the more naturalistic flow and back and forth.
Josh Monkarsh: Thanks guys, I really appreciate that.
Oliver Cooper: I agree and I second that.
PopHorror: Josh, was there anything that you were adamant about keeping in the film, no matter what?
Josh Monkarsh: Yeah, definitely the sofa stuff with the guys, Mike and Oliver. There was one line that Mike was having such a hard time landing because he was cracking up so much, about Tripplehorn, Jeanne Tripplehorn. We got it, thank God, but it was so hard. Like literally when editing, one more frame was Mike just bursting. It was that close.
Oliver Cooper: I remember that moment. We were just watching some of it to refresh ourselves and it was a really funny moment. I remember you busting up.
Mike Castle: We were both just now laughing at the Tripplehorn line.
Josh Monkarsh: Oliver thought it was a man.
Oliver Cooper: I remember that!
Josh Monkarsh: That was the next line that we had to cut. He’s like, “Oh, yeah. Jeanne, he’s a nice guy,” or something along those lines.
Mike Castle: “Oh yeah, he’s really good!”
Oliver Cooper: You should have kept that!
Mike Castle: We were probably laughing too much, and it couldn’t be used.
Josh Monkarsh: Yeah, too much laughing. But yeah, for sure, we had to keep parts of that in.
Oliver Cooper: I also was realizing I really know so little about Waterworld.
Josh Monkarsh: You’re not the only one.
PopHorror: All I know is Kevin Costner is in it.
Oliver Cooper: That’s really all we know too! We’re not really about Waterworld the movie other than we were just talking about the actors.
Josh Monkarsh: It’s crazy though because with Waterworld the show at Universal Hollywood is actually bigger than the movie.
PopHorror: I was just going to say that! For a movie that people love to hate, this whole thing at Universal that’s been there for years.
Josh Monkarsh: It’s crazy.
Mike Castle: They stubbornly committed.
PopHorror: Oliver and Mike, was there anything that you were adamant about bringing to your characters?
Mike Castle: I always try to give everyone what they want basically, so I was really just trying to give Josh exactly what he was wanting with the character and everything. I feel like this is a very classic type of character for me so I was hoping that our chemistry reads and is present. When I watched it, I was like, “Oh great! It does feel like what it felt like when we were shooting it,” and it’s ultimately in the edit.
Oliver Cooper: I would say that’s true for sure for me, but as far as stuff that I wanted to bring to it, just comfortable clothes. If I’m playing a character that’s kind of a schlub, a schlubby guy, I’m always like, “Just give me comfortable clothes.” I can’t be in uncomfortable clothes.
Mike Castle: I felt like my clothing was too comfortable. My main complaint is that I was in sweats the whole time and so I felt tired often.
PopHorror: Well, if you’re fighting zombies, you need to be able to move. What would be your weapon of choice in a zombie apocalypse?
Mike Castle: I guess my overall always weapon of choice, when I was a kid and I’d get really scared in my house if I was watching a scary movie, I’d always grab the fire poker. It feels equally benign but a pretty aggressive tool there. So, I would probably defer back to the fire poker.
PopHorror: That’s a solid choice.
Mike Castle: Thank you.
Oliver Cooper: Probably a gun, I would think.
Mike Castle: Yeah, but I feel like a gun, such straight lines, you’ve got to be pretty accurate with it.
Oliver Cooper: I’m screwed either way, to be honest.
PopHorror: You’re going to run out of bullets at some point too.
Josh Monkarsh: I’d personally go with bear mace. I think it has some pretty good coverage. You could probably duck out pretty quickly after you spray it.
Mike Castle: Yeah, and it does feel like it comes with a catchphrase like, “Strong enough to catch a bear…”
PopHorror: I always say machete because I want the length between me and the machete and the zombies. I have this conversation a lot.
Oliver Cooper: It’s not something I think about too often.
Mike Castle: I feel like machete sets me up to cut myself and then bleed out. I think that’s how I would in a zombie apocalypse, just a stupid accident and then I die.
PopHorror: Would you guys say you were horror fans before making this film?
Mike Castle: Oh, absolutely. I feel that horror and comedy are the exact same thing, it’s just depending on the mood, so definitely. I feel like I talked to Oliver about being on Mindhunter basically the entire time we were filming. That’s like my number one favorite show to watch. I definitely live in the horror space. I feel like I’ve seen every horror movie in the last 40 years.
Oliver Cooper: It’s funny, personally as an audience member, I don’t love horror movies. Not because I don’t appreciate them, but they scare me. I don’t like that feeling, but I really, from the little horror stuff that I’ve done and I’d really say that this is more horror comedy than it is horror, I really love acting in those. I would be much more excited to act in a horror movie than I would be to watch one.
PopHorror: That’s interesting.
Josh Monkarsh: Makes sense. For me, I have a lot of great movies to pull from in terms of the films I watched during my youth, like Critters for example. The comedy, horror type films and all the Friday the 13th films. There’s these films like Saturday the 14th. These kinds of movies that I grew up watching definitely help play into and influence this. House was also a good one, the first one I think was the less scary of the three. The kind of off the wall back of the back of the video store movies, that type of horror movies and not the more mainstream ones. The Nightmare movies, especially the first one, scared the crap out of me, especially at age eight or nine.
PopHorror: Just one last question today. What is your favorite scary movie?
Oliver Cooper: That’s a good question.
Mike Castle: I feel like you get to a certain point with some scary movies… I will just watch The Shining all the time and not think about it as a scary movie. It feels like that’s probably my answer, but I don’t think of it as a scary movie at this point. Alien also comes to mind. It really depends on what type of mood it is. I feel like a favorite is exclusionary. I just want to watch them all, all the time basically. In the right state of mind, I feel like Parasite is a horror movie.
Oliver Cooper: I loved Parasite. Even The Exorcist is like that as well. Rosemary’s Baby is another one.
Josh Monkarsh: Oh yeah, that is freaky.
Oliver Cooper: Incredible movie. I guess when I think of horror, I think of the creature coming out of the TV. Those movies literally give me nightmares, and I’m jumping in my seat and I’m spilling popcorn on me. I don’t like that.
Josh Monkarsh: Did you guys ever see The Gate, when Stephen Dorff was a kid? That movie, to answer your question Tiffany, that movie definitely freaked me out as a kid, for sure.
Thank you so much to Josh, Oliver, and Mike for taking the time to speak with us. As We Know It is now available on VOD!
