A Conversation with Kick Kroll & Andrew Rannells (I DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU)

I Don’t Understand You, the new dark comedy from directors Brian Crano and David Joseph Craig, takes audiences on a nightmarish Italian vacation that spirals completely out of control. The film follows Dom (Nick Kroll) and Cole (Andrew Rannells), a couple on the verge of adopting a baby who embark on what should be a romantic vacation in rural Italy. When their car gets stuck in a ditch during a torrential downpour, leaving them stranded without cell service or any grasp of the Italian language, what begins as a minor inconvenience escalates into something far more sinister. Based on the directors’ own disastrous Italian experience, the film premiered at SXSW 2024 and opens in theaters nationwide on June 6th.

Nick Kroll has established himself as one of comedy’s most versatile talents, co-creating and starring in the Emmy-winning Netflix series Big Mouth, which became the platform’s longest-running adult animated series. Beyond his voice work, Kroll created and starred in Comedy Central’s Kroll Show, played Ruxin in FX’s The League, and has appeared in films ranging from Loving to Don’t Worry Darling. Andrew Rannells brings his impressive Broadway credentials to the project, having originated the role of Elder Price in The Book of Mormon, which earned him Tony and Grammy nominations. His television work includes memorable turns as Elijah in HBO’s Girls, starring roles in Black Monday and The Gilded Age, and recent appearances in Ryan Murphy’s The Boys in the Band adaptation and Netflix’s The Prom alongside Meryl Streep. The following conversation was edited for length and clarity.

Hammer To Nail: Hello Nick and Andrew. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak to me today. I am such a big fan of both of your work. I thought this movie was hilarious. I was dying laughing both times I saw it. You both are very talented improvisers, and your chemistry is so natural. In this film, it could be hard to believe that every beat is scripted. So was there a lot of room for improv here?

Andrew Rannells: Yes, we did. So Nick is an incredible improviser. Really. But part of that is also knowing when to do it and knowing when it’s not really necessary. I would say by and large, the scenes were really great and very well thought out and really well constructed. So there really wasn’t a ton of need to be punching stuff up as we went along. Although, if we had some funny idea or something that we thought might be funny, Brian and David were usually very patient and would let us work some things out.

Nick Kroll: Nancy Richardson, who edited the film, definitely captured moments where David really did let us have leeway. For the most part, we really liked what was written. We never disliked the script, but we’d find natural new moments and natural small reactions to things. One of the things that Andrew is really good at is improvising sort of inside of the story. Over the years, I think we’ve both been in moments where people are like, “Oh it’s funny,” but you can’t use it. You have to have someone who can improvise with you that is going to stay in the structure of what needs to be accomplished in a scene so that it can both give something fresh but also service what is ultimately going on in the movie.

HTN: The initial murder sequence with the generator going off is so well executed. Andrew, you hitting various pots and pans, burning yourself and flailing around screaming had me crying laughing. This leads to you guys bickering because Nick was not paying attention in CPR for infants class. Then Nick attempts CPR and we hear a crack and it cuts to Nick making the funniest face as he slightly utters, “What was that?” Andrew, you respond pretty emphatically, “Bones?” This is just incredible stuff. What was important to you guys in this moment?

AR: We were very lucky on this movie that we had Nash Edgerton work as our stunt supervisor. I had never been a part of anything that required that many stunts. We didn’t do a ton of stunts on Girls. Nash was so great because he really broke it down and I understood his choreography. He would choreograph these whole things, and at some points, especially in that scene you just mentioned, knocking around in the dark, I asked him for counts. I asked him to count it out for me, like a little Broadway nerd. He did, and he was so helpful and really patient with us. In all of those moments, it was just great to have him there specifically.

NK: The movie really lives and dies, pun intended, on that element of the movie working. The more stunt-heavy stuff had to feel real and lived in but also funny when it needed to be, so having someone like Nash to help with that was really incredibly helpful.

AR: In this moment you’re talking about with the CPR, we also had this rather terrifying and very life-like double of Nunzia that was made. It was really frightening. Really upsetting. Sometimes you would just see it slumped in a corner on the set

NK: And I don’t know why, but I kept bringing it home to sleep in my bed with me.

AR: Yeah, that’s different…

HTN: The whole confusion with “you are going to be dad” versus “dead” was so funny to me. This leads to an incredible moment when you both stab Morgan Spector in each side of his neck and blood splatters all over your faces. You then roll him over and after some bickering, he lets out a faint breath. Andrew does CPR and he coughs up an insane amount of blood. Nick exclaims, “Oh my god, you saved him,” which does not look to be the case. This leads to the FaceTime from Amanda. Again, this whole sequence is just so well executed. What was your thinking going into it?

AR: Well, I was very, if I can just be honest, excited to do CPR on Morgan Spector. And I’m not saying that in a predatory way, because he was pretty helpless.

NK: He was more or less consenting.

AR: He was more or less consenting because he was on set.

NK: And that was mouth on mouth.

AR: That was mouth on mouth…So that was fun.

NK: Not butt to butt or ATM.

AR: No

NK: Which is “Ass to Mouth.”

AR: Yeah, we didn’t do that…

NK: Yet…We’ll see what happens in the sequel!!

AR: So that’s sort of what I was thinking about. Poor Morgan in that moment had, as you can imagine, the apparatus to make him throw up all of that blood, which was really intense. He was very cold. We were filming 45 minutes to an hour outside of Rome in the countryside. It would get very cold at night, and we’re doing that scene with Morgan just shivering.

NK: Looking ripped.

AR: His waist couldn’t be smaller.

NK: Your shivering cause you have no body fat

AR: Yeah, why don’t you eat a donut, Morgan?

NK: You ripped hunk.

AR: Shut up and kiss me

NK: Shut up and spit blood into my mouth.

AR: I mean, that was…yes, he did. Am I on a short list of people that Morgan Spector has spit on? I hope so.

NK: But we all know what happens in Gilded Age season two. Those wrap parties are notoriously wild. Cynthia Nixon goes ham…New season of Just Like That comes out soon.

HTN: Andrew, you chasing with the pitchfork is also such an amazing moment. And it leads to Nick hitting her with the car. Honestly, my favorite part of this is your guys’ little conference afterwards. where you guys agree this can’t be something we do in LA.

NK: That was an improvised moment from Andrew. It was like one of our last nights on set. We’d been at this farmhouse for like a month and it was a month of night shoots. It was a really challenging thing. It was one of the last things we shot. Andrew on one take just improvised that and I fully broke, ruining a really great take, but we ended up keeping it and continuing to use that. It was so funny and so perfect for that particular moment in the film. It was really a revelation.

HTN: What was so exciting to you about these characters and the opportunity to work with these filmmakers?

AR: I think the script was so unexpected. I think it took so many turns. I thought it was really exciting. But really, the big draw—I mean, I love the script. And I met with Brian and David, and I really liked both of them. But it was Nick. It was getting to work with Nick.

NK: Who? Me?!

AR: Yeah, you little cutie. That was the reason I think I was most excited about it. I was like, “Oh this is gonna be fun to go and work with my friend in Rome, eat a fuck ton of pasta and make a movie.”  And that’s what we did.

NK: Yeah, and we fucked a ton of pasta as well.

AR: Yeah, and you fucked that dummy.

HTN: Both of you have specific comedy backgrounds, Nick from sketch and Andrew from musical theater. Was that something you felt on the set?

NK: Well, I was very much inspired throughout the making of the film to start singing. And Andrew very helpfully would sort of shut that down.***singing*** weee murrrrderrrdered that fuckkinggg womannn

AR: That’s not true. I love it when you sing. He kept wanting to turn it into a musical. I was like, “That’s not really how this works. We’ve got to write it.”

NK: Yeah, that was smart, because I was improvising the songs.

AR: But maybe this could turn into a musical.

NK: Maybe we do that. We’ll do it as a musical, and then we’ll bring it back to theaters as a musical.

AR: What if we like, Fleabag it? We go to Edinburgh next year.

NK: Great idea. Or do a little Hairspray, you know what I mean? Do Hairspray the movie, then Hairspray the play, and then bring it back to the theater. Did you get to the movie? Were you in the movie Hairspray?

AR: No

NK: Yeah, I didn’t think so…

 – Jack Schenker (@YUNGOCUPOTIS)