Clark Gregg ('Choke')

What happens when you mix mental institutions, colonial theme parks, self-asphyxiation and sex addiction? The answer is Choke, Clark Gregg's adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's acclaimed novel. Like its filmic predecessor Fight Club, Choke transposes Palahniuk's jet-black satirical voice to the big screen, but replaces David Fincher's themes of out-of-control capitalism with a touching romance. Digital Spy caught up with Clark to discuss his directorial debut.

> Click here for our Choke review

What was it about Choke that made you want to make it your first film as a director?
"I felt that Chuck Palahniuk as a writer had insightful, incisive ideas that shine a light on some really unexplored, dark stuff in such a compassionate, funny way. I felt like it was something I wanted to explore and be part of."

Did you speak to Chuck much before going about making the film?
"I didn't, I had one initial conversation with him where I just introduced myself and said, 'Y'know, you may not want to do this with me because I read this and I feel like at its core, it's a romantic comedy.' And he said, 'That's exactly right, go write it, just don't be too faithful to the book.' And then he hung up! I thought, 'What do you mean don't be too faithful to the book, I was gonna be completely faithful to the book!' I thought that was just novelistic politesse, I didn't think he was serious so I wrote an incredibly faithful adaptation that didn't work at all, it was dreadful. After I got the script ready to make, I realised he knew something that I didn't, which was you have to let it stop being a book and start being a movie."

What was it about Sam Rockwell that you latched on to?
"I've known him a while, we did a play together in New York as actors, I just feel like he's the only person who can do what he does, which is play the most painful, moving stuff in one moment then have it turn into something very funny a moment later. I thought he did that magnificently in, of all things, Galaxy Quest. I thought, 'That's the guy!' From the minute he signed up, suddenly all these actors flocked to be involved and it wasn't because of me."

Did Sam and Anjelica Huston connect straight away?
"They really did, it was bizarre. We had Sam and Anjelica and Brad William Henke in Los Angeles for a couple of days to read the script and it was one of those rare moments where they hit it off... they couldn't stop hugging. It was like they were mother and son. We brought in Ms. Huston and read her scenes quickly to cut her loose and she didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay and read the parts of all the other female sex addicts, hookers and everybody else just to stay and play with these two great actors."

You appear in the film yourself as an actor, did you find it difficult to direct yourself?
"I don't recommend it! It was a foolish decision in terms of how much grief I got for trying to direct wearing that Colonial shirt and wig. I wouldn't have traded it, because being that jackass who runs the Colonial village was some of the most fun in the whole process. Sam and Brad were so happy to take the p*ss out of me in character, they were enjoying it a little bit too much!"

The rape scene is very funny. How did you go about getting that right on screen?
"If you look at the book, the rape scene is really there. The physical part of it and the tone of it is what's so difficult to pull off so that you actually can laugh. I've actually never seen an audience that hasn't had a problem laughing at the rape scene. If you look at the book, the rape scene, which is really one of the funniest scenes in the movie, is directly from the book."

How did you get Radiohead to let you use 'Reckoner' over the end credits?
"That was just brilliant luck. I'm a huge Radiohead fan and I had written a book listening to Radiohead and I later found out when I met Chuck that he had written a book listening to 'Creep', so when In Rainbows came out I used a bunch of music in the temp score. When Radiohead later announced they were releasing the hard copy of the CD through the company that had financed the film, I started begging the producers to grab anyone from Radiohead to watch some footage and they said yes, you can have 'Reckoner'. I think Chuck, in a moment of great exhaustion, mentioned that they had done a new score! I had to do a quick explanation that that was not the case."

What's up next for you?
"I'm a little busy acting for the next six months for The New Adventures Of Old Christine and also, if I get the phone call I'm hoping for, I think I might do a little bit of work on Iron Man 2. After that, I'm trying to write an original piece that's my tilt at a Nashville-esque ensemble piece. There's a lot of people and a number of stories and they all seem to be in the same neighbourhood, and other than that I have a lot of work to do."

Have they talked to you about doing Iron Man 2 and The Avengers?
"Not officially, which is why I'm very nervous about it. I have bumped into [director] Jon Favreau, he's given me a couple of winks and nods, like Agent Coulson might make a repeat appearance. Sam was on his early list for Iron Man, he's a big fan of Sam Rockwell's."

Choke is released in cinemas this Friday