Written and directed by Richard Bates Jr. (Tone Deaf), King Knight follows a Wiccan Priest named Thorn (Matthew Gray Gubler), who has a major falling out with his coven once they learn about his secret past. After the fallout, Thorn sets off on a journey of self-discovery that is filled with psychedelic trips, dancing and learning how to come to terms with one's own failures. As part of that journey, Thorn attempts to reconnect with his mother (Barbara Crampton), who wants nothing to do with her "freak" son and his Wiccan way of life.
In anticipation of King Knight's global debut at Fantasia's International Film Festival, Crampton sat down with CBR for an interview to further discuss her character's pivotal role in Thorn's upbringing and the complicated layers between them. The horror legend and Jakob's Wife star also shared how joyful it felt to play a more wicked role than she's used to.
CBR: I was speaking to Richard Bates Jr. the other day and he said that he wanted the making of this film to feel like he did when he was a kid and made movies in his backyard with friends. How did he pitch the film to you?
Barbara Crampton: I've been a fan of his for a while. His movies, they're fun. They have a sense of whimsy, and they all feel so personal. But there's something that I think touches everybody inside and you really feel like you're part of his world. His movies are really accessible on an emotional level. So, initially, I got a call that said, "Ricky Bates, Jr. wants to call you to talk to you about a part in this movie." I said, "Okay, tell him I'll do it." Before he even pitched me the part, I was already primed, because I was aware and a fan.
And he called me and he said, "Basically, this is a movie about somebody who's wrestling with their past. They're trying to be the best version of the person that they can be. They're doubting themselves a little bit. And that's Matthew Gray Gubler's character. And you would play the evil mother." And I said, "Okay, well, that sounds amazing. Send me the script." And then I read it. and I thought it was darling. It's a darling film, so I called immediately, again, and said, "Yes, I'll do it."
I love how the mother, Ruth, is angry and sassy. What did you do to help prepare for that kind of "the devil is in the rock n' roll" type of character?
I'm known for mostly playing nice people, so to have the opportunity to play somebody who's ethically challenged, or just not such a nice character, I really warm up to that challenge. I say the truth is the situation. We all have all aspects of everything in us. And you just have to try to tap into that into the reality of the moment to be believable, so I hope I did that. I don't think I did anything special in trying to portray her, just knowing what the situation was, and what Ricky had written. And, you know, just the kind of woman she was. We've all met women like that before, and we've tried to steer clear of them. So I just came up with something in my head for the part.
Without spoiling anything, later in the film, we see a different side to Ruth. There are hidden, compassionate layers, and building off of that, a lot of Thorn's self-discovery journey is rooted in the fact that he tried to start his own coven family and failed. And he realizes, "Oh crap, having a family is hard. Maybe I wasn't the nicest to my mom?" Was that part of what attracted you to portraying Ruth?
Yeah. There are reasons that every good and every bad character can justify their actions. I think that's true in life because I don't think anybody really thinks, "Oh, I'm an evil person, or I'm a bad person." You always have to be able to have those justifications and, and life and crises and situations come up. And, more than not, things that happen to you in life are nuanced. There is no black and white where we mostly live in the gray matter.
And I do think that the best filmmakers are really good at illuminating the gray matter. I think Ricky knows how to do that. He's a very empathetic person. And if you are, I think you can write characters that have that empathy in them. And, you're right. It's been a while since we did the movie, so I hadn't really thought about those aspects. We did talk about that on the set -- how she has to care for her own ailing mother, and there are issues that come with that, and how does that affect you when you have a lot of pressure on you? And it strained the relationship with your son? And then how does that make you feel? Does it make you feel angry?
All that is a lot to play with there in just a few scenes. So I remember, in one of the last scenes that I shot, I'm sitting on my bed, I'm about to turn on the light, and I'm thinking about my son and I wipe a tear from my eye. I just did that at the moment. That wasn't written in or anything. And Ricky said, "Oh, my God, thank you. Just that one gesture just says so much more about her than I could have imagined." We both didn't think about it. It was instantaneous. You have to look for moments like that when you want to be able to reveal the totality of the character in an economical amount of time.
Your character doesn't have many scenes in the film, which just puts such an added pressure on the ones that are there. Was there anything that you wanted people to take away about Ruth? Or maybe think twice about her?
Yeah, again, there's something behind every instance. You might have a negative feeling about something or someone, but there's something more there. Having that was was important to the totality of the character. So I wanted people to look at that. Also, I didn't want people not to like her in the beginning because he doesn't like her. He's justified to not like her. I wanted to portray somebody that, you look at him and go, "Why does he have so much angst? Well, look at his mother. Ah, I get it." And to play that more believable.
I get some really interesting scenes to do, right, where I sort of go crazy, but it's in his mind. Those were difficult scenes to shoot actually get them right. It's very technical. So just playing that stuff with as much believability as possible, while also paying attention to the technical aspects and what the DP needed from me and Ricky needed from me. Yeah, they were short moments on-screen but they were intense and important for me to get right for the movie.
Ruth's relationship with her son really grounds the film, I think. What's one thing you hope audiences take away from King Knight in general?
Yeah, I think Matthew Gray Gubler is so charming, and you just fall in love with him. He's trying to do the best he can and trying to be the best person he can well. He's kind of failing in his own eyes and in the eyes of his wife and his family and trying to do the best he can. I think that's all we can hope for. Life is difficult and whatever family you find yourself in, you just have to do the best you can. Maybe that's just good enough.
Directed and written by Richard Bates Jr., King Knight made its world premiere on Aug. 8 at Fantasia's 25th Film Festival. The film will be available to stream from Fantasia from Aug. 8-25.