While recently going through my large archive of interviews I have done over the years, I came across the one I did with filmmaker Lorene Scafaria on her film “The Meddler.” Released in 2015, it stars the great Susan Sarandon as Marnie Minervini, an aging widow who, to cure herself of loneliness and heartbreak, moves from New Jersey to Los Angles to be closer to her daughter, Lori (Rose Byrne). In the process of trying to restart her life, Marnie starts getting a little too involved in Lori’s life to where her daughter gets increasingly aggravated, she comes to make various new friends she desperately wants to help out, and she becomes especially friendly with a retired policeman named Randall Zipper (J.K. Simmons) to where a new chapter in her life begins to form.

Born in Holmdel, New Jersey, Scafaria previously wrote and directed “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” which stars Steve Carrell and Keira Knightley as strangers who form an unexpected bond, and she penned the screenplay for “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” a romantic comedy starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. Since making ‘The Meddler,” she gave us “Hustlers” which featured a critically acclaimed performance by Jennifer Lopez which somehow got snubbed by the Oscars, and she has directed several episodes of the acclaimed HBO series “Succession.”

I had a lot of fun talking with Scafaria about “The Meddler” and how the screenplay was inspired by similar situations with her mother. We also discussed what it was like working with Sarandon and Simmons, and we even talked about the time when she used to fake book reports to get a bunch of Pizza Hut gift certificates. It turns out she was not the only one who did such a thing.

Please check out the interview below, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven’t already. There are many more videos yet to come!

“The Meddler” is now available to own and rent on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital.