{"id":2078,"date":"2026-02-19T15:25:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/?p=2078"},"modified":"2026-02-19T15:25:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:25:01","slug":"how-to-make-a-killing-director-john-patton-ford-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/how-to-make-a-killing-director-john-patton-ford-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018How to Make a Killing\u2019 Filmmaker John Patton Ford on Why Consistency Is the Key to Success"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
For John Patton Ford, it was a long road to pulling off his first feature, 2022\u2019s \u201cEmily the Criminal.\u201d Now, as he debuts his follow-up, \u201cHow to Make a Killing,\u201d the writer-director says filmmaking comes down to one thing: You have to keep showing up.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am not the coolest, smartest, most talented person I went to film school with,\u201d says Ford, pointing to \u201cHereditary\u201d filmmaker Ari Aster as the classmate who fits that bill. \u201cI\u2019m just a schmuck who worked hard and kept trying, over and over again. I always say: If someone gave you a basketball, put you on the half-court line, and said, \u2018Take a shot,\u2019 you\u2019d miss for three straight days. But, eventually, you\u2019d get one in. And not because you\u2019re good at basketball, but because you just wouldn\u2019t stop shooting. Ultimately, that is what it boils down to: How consistent can you be?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After graduating from the American Film Institute, Ford spent over a decade trying to make it to the big screen, working at a catering company as he churned out short films and unproduced scripts. His breakthrough moment came with \u201cEmily the Criminal,\u201d in which Aubrey Plaza stars as a young woman whose crippling student debt leads her into the criminal underworld of Los Angeles. Ford won a Film Independent Spirit Award for best first screenplay for \u201cEmily the Criminal\u201d; but despite this success, he says he yearned for \u201csomething more fun.\u201d The result is A24\u2019s black comedy thriller \u201cHow to Make a Killing,\u201d starring Glen Powell as Becket Redfellow, who gets tired of waiting for his family inheritance and decides to kill the relatives ahead of him in line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With \u201cHow to Make a Killing\u201d in theaters Feb. 20, Ford chatted with us about why \u201cfun\u201d doesn\u2019t mean \u201ceasy\u201d and the need for directors to also be writers now.<\/p>\n\n\n\nJohn Patton Ford on the set of \u201cHow to Make a Killing\u201d Credit: Ilze Kitshoff<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Did you always want to be a filmmaker?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
It wasn\u2019t until college that I got really serious about it. And only someone as delusional and naive as a 21-year-old would decide to pursue this. Like, if you know what the odds are, you just wouldn\u2019t try to begin with. But I got really dead set, and I just couldn\u2019t shake it\u2014and I kept trying for an incredibly long time. There were a whole host of ups and downs and moments where I thought I\u2019d walk away\u2026and then I\u2019d go back. It was like in \u201cThe Godfather Part III\u201d: \u201cJust when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After working so hard to finally make your first film, what drew you to \u201cHow to Make a Killing\u201d as the next move?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
My first movie was really dark, serious, and heavy, and it felt that way making it. After finishing that, I just felt like, I don\u2019t want to do that again. That was great, but I\u2019d like to make something more fun. I remember thinking, like, what\u2019s my Bong Joon Ho movie? What\u2019s my \u201cOcean\u2019s Eleven\u201d? Like, can we have a good time now?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beyond that, you\u2019d think that you\u2019d feel some confidence after you get your first movie into Sundance. I felt a little, but I also felt really insecure. I felt like: Here\u2019s my 15 minutes\u2014I gotta make good on this and get another movie going before people forget who I am. This movie was out there and makeable, and it would not be a sad trudge up a mountainside for a decade. The irony is that I discovered that making a \u201cfun\u201d movie is just as grueling and difficult as making a serious movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now having made two features, were there any lessons you took from your experience on \u201cEmily the Criminal\u201d that you carried over to the execution of \u201cHow to Make a Killing\u201d?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The biggest thing was time. We had 20 days to shoot that first movie, and I would never recommend that! The most valuable asset you have on set is not the equipment, the talent, or the location\u2014it\u2019s just the amount of time you have. Also, to make a feature, you have to have a level of preparation that most people aren\u2019t thinking about when they first start. And then there was stuff that I felt like I already knew, but the making of the first movie just reinforced how true those things are. For instance, I think making a movie is 90% writing and casting and 10% fun other stuff that maybe<\/em> you\u2019ll get a chance to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nMargaret Qualley in \u201cHow to Make a Killing\u201d Credit: Ilze Kitshoff<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of casting, what is your approach with finding the right actors?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a really amorphous and funny thing to talk about, because it\u2019s not like you\u2019re checking boxes. It\u2019s so emotional; it\u2019s just, how do you feel around someone? When I\u2019m casting, I don\u2019t really look at people\u2019s movies that they\u2019ve made. I like to look at interviews on talk shows, because that\u2019s the raw material; that\u2019s the clay. Then I like to go hang with them, and you can start to think, what can I imagine them doing? If all you\u2019re looking at are previous roles that they had, chances are you\u2019re gonna think about them in kind of a reductive, limited sort of way. In my opinion, most actors are capable of so much more than the world thinks. So I like to think of unlikely people and just how far we can stretch them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is your writing process like? Are there specific things that have helped you as you write?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Writing is home base for me. When I was a kid, I\u2019d sit for hours and write stories. It\u2019s the thing I always come back to. And it\u2019s tough to explain. I have to be able to envision [the movie] before I can go and shoot it. And much of my time is spent on making things happen in the most economic way possible. At a certain point it becomes like a Sudoku puzzle\u2014like, how can I get these things to happen in the most efficient way? How can I start a scene as late as I possibly can and get out of it as soon as I possibly can? A lot of the stuff I learned [about] writing comes from short filmmaking. I made a preposterous number of bad short films, and you have to be economic and get stuff done really quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What advice would you pass down to young or aspiring filmmakers who are looking to follow in your path?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
In this day and age, there are no more directors. There are just writer-directors. You have to be able to produce your own really good piece of material that can act as bait for actors, and then subsequently have producers interested in helping you. But you\u2019re not gonna get any of that going unless you can either write or become really proficient at working with a writer and coming up with something together. It\u2019s easy to get good at all the technical stuff, but the thing that no one wants to do is actually learn to write a screenplay. That\u2019s the actual work, and so learn to do that.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The writer-director behind the A24 dark comedy shares lessons from his first feature and why consistency beats talent every time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":2080,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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