Interview with the director of Madness Inside Me

THE MADNESS INSIDE ME

Chat with Director:  Matthew Berkowitz

Trailer

Q: How did this film happen and what was the inspiration?

Matthew: I’m a huge fan of Brian De Palma, Hitchcock but also European master like Lars Von Trier or Gaspar Noé. Also, my mother is a psychologist and therefore I have a personal connection to the world explored in “The Madness inside me”. Some of the stories I heard as a kid from my mother left an impact on me. And I thought that it would interesting to make a movie trying to better understand the notion of “identity”, understanding the human psyche. How to connect all the dots? And one day I figured it out and came up with this script.

Q: Tell me about the various steps you had to face to make this film happen.

Matthew: There was a ton of challenges. One of the major challenge was to film this picture in New York but when I was living in Los Angeles, at the time. I thought New York was a better world for this film. It was the first movie I shot in New York and I had to get used to this city. Thanks God I had an amazing cast with actors like Merrin Dungey and Devon Graye or also Thomas Jones because it was shot on such a tight schedule and small budget. Also it was mainly shot at nights, which makes it even more complex. I was lucky to have my fantastic wife Samantha Watkins to produce this film for me and it helped tremendously.

Q: What do you think this movie is about? What does it say?

Matthew: It’s about the layers of identity that makes someone. Who we are to ourselves and who we allow the world to see. It’s also about figuring out how to free your mind, how to free yourself.

Q: How tough is it to release a film during these times?

Matthew: I was lucky to film this picture before covid and to edit during covid. But, once it was completed it was tough to find a distributor. Everyone has an agenda of their own and it’s not easy to figure out how to fit in with your film. We were lucky to get Gravitas Pictures who has been a strong supporter and promoter of our film.

Q: What’s coming next for you?

Matthew: I have a thriller in the work. But first I’m going to focus on a documentary about the French director of photography, Philippe Rousselot who did films like “Interview with the Vampire”, “A River Runs Through it” or “Dangerous Liaisons”. I’m very excited about this project! But I hope “The Madness inside me” will be successful.