Original subtitles

[screams]

[soft piano music playing]

[cellphone vibrates]

[woman] Clay?

-Tasha. -Sorry I'm late.

It was, uh...

Please take a seat.

I'm in no rush.

You are so much more beautiful in person.

Thanks.

You're not so bad yourself.

Shall we start with a drink?

Excuse me, miss?

-So, Tasha, what do you think? -[woman 2] Talia?

Oh, my God. Hi.

Hey.

That's so funny.

-What are the odds? -Right?

Huh, crazy.

Anyway, what can I get you guys?

She'll have a Dark and Stormy.

That's your drink, right?

And I'll have a Guinness.

Thank you.

Wow, you really read my profile.

She's stalking you or something?

Do you want it taken care of? I know a guy.

No, she's, uh...

we know each other from school.

Oh, right.

Did she call you Talia?

Did she?

Oh, that was my nickname in college.

Why?

Started as an inside joke and then it just stuck.

-There you go. -Thank you.

You embarrassed to be seen with someone older?

Yeah.

A little.

No offense.

But you're attracted to older men.

Men your age, are like boys, unsophisticated?

No.

I just have really serious daddy issues.

Okay if I call you papa?

Uh, no, thanks.

I already got two that call me that.

Kids?

With my ex.

Yeah, we were divorced a little over a year ago.

-Sorry. -Well, I'm not.

Best decision I ever made.

The marriage was broken.

As soon as I realized that, I ended it.

Wow.

That's the secret to happiness.

Take charge of your destiny, or someone else will.

-It's funny. -Mmm.

I believe in going with the flow.

Surrendering to where life takes you.

Mmm.

To surrendering control.

Trust me.

I'll make it worth your while.

Okay.

To surrendering control.

[screams]

Oh.

[grunts]

[grunting]

[breath trembling]

[groans]

[mumbling indistinctly]

What? Where are you?

No! No!

[line ringing]

[Marvin] Clay?

I, I...

I can't, I can't, I can't... it hurts.

Are you drunk?

I'm due in the OR this morning. I'm hanging up.

I'm not... Marvin. I'm not!

Somebody's cut me open.

It's... [screams, grunts]

Hey, hey, take a breath. Okay, just calm down.

Tell me what happened.

I woke up in a motel.

Somebody cut me, like, like an operation.

It's over my scar.

It's, it's...

I'll send a pic.

Oh, okay, listen, that's a surgical incision,

and not a good one.

Is it my kidney?

Listen to me, you need to get to a hospital now.

I can't, I can't. I can't call.

They left a message.

A threat, Hannah and Jack, they're watching them

and if I do anything, they'll--

Calm down.

You can survive with one kidney.

Marvin, it's over my scar.

Oh, jeez.

You only had one kidney.

Am I gonna die?

You're not going to die.

You can survive without any kidneys,

but you need hemo dialysis. In 48 hours,

you'll go into septic shock.

Where are you?

...motel.

I texted you the address.

I'll be there in 30 minutes. Don't drink or eat anything.

[sobs]

[grunts]

Snake.

Bitch. I'll kill you for what you did.

You, you sick fraud.

[screams]

Clay, wake up.

Clay?

Nod if you can hear me.

Come on, buddy.

Stay with me.

You're okay.

You're good.

-It feels weird. -I cleaned and dressed your incision

and gave you something for the pain,

but we got to get you to a hospital.

No, no hospital.

Sorry, Clay, doctor's orders.

I need water.

Your guts are gonna turn on you if you eat or drink anything now.

All right? Let's go, buddy.

Come on.

Listen, Clay, I had to push a procedure to this afternoon.

Said I had a family emergency.

You got to tell me what's going on.

What's the last thing you remember?

-Stop the car. -I'm going to try and get you onto dialysis,

-okay? -I have a friend in nephrology.

No one can know about this.

How did this even happened, Clay?

[cellphone vibrating]

Who is this?

[man] Can't you read?

That is your kidney.

You really should have treated me better,

or I wouldn't have left.

I'm gonna kill you.

You want this thing back or not?

What do you want?

-You called the cops? -No, I swear.

I hope not

for your kids' sake.

2655 Golf Road.

Price when you get here.

How much, how much do you want?

Rest of my life.

What does that mean?

[line disconnects]

-Stop the car. -No, listen, Clay,

we gotta get you to the hospital.

Stop the...car.

[grunts]

They gave me an address and they just want money.

I can get this back.

How do you know you can trust them?

I don't.

But what choice do I have? How does this go for me?

I get on a donors list and wait, what, two years, three?

Average wait is four years.

Four.

You told me it was 48 hours, right? Before I need treatment?

-That's plenty of time. -48 hours maximum.

It's probably more like 36 now.

[breathing heavily]

They just want money.

It's all anybody ever wants.

I need your help, Marvin.

I can't do this alone.

Man.

What am I doing?

So now what?

I think I know how to get in.

Hello? I'm here.

How'd these guys even get my name?

Why target me?

You're rich.

Okay, then why here?

I don't know, man.

I don't like the look of this place.

You get any signal?

-Nope. -Me neither.

Okay.

We're done.

Wait, wait.

We haven't even looked around yet.

Few more minutes.

Okay, you check downstairs.

I'll go check upstairs.

Meet me back here in 10 minutes, okay?

You don't find anything. That's it, I'm out.

We'll find him.

I'll write him a check, get me the kidney back

then we'll go to the ER.

All right? That's how this whole operation works.

All right.

Just don't do anything stupid, Clay.

[grunting]

[camera shutter clicks]

[camera shutter clicks]

[man] Hey!

Those aren't free.

It's a little bit much, isn't it?

You guys trying to scare me? What are those, pig hearts?

So what are we talking about here?

I haven't got all day.

250,000. Sign here.

I know, it's an arm and a leg.

You know, this isn't even my kidney.

My ex-wife, she donated it to me when both of mine failed.

Wow. Hope you bought her some flowers.

I wouldn't have issue with the price if it was mine,

but it's, it's kind of pre-owned, you know?

250 seems a little bit steep.

How much would these go for on the black market right now?

Right, whatever like 10, 20?

How about 100 even?

This isn't a flea market.

Whoa, hold-- Wait, wait, wait, I'll sign.

You can afford it, Clay.

We know all about your offshore hidey hole.

Don't... with us. Our boss is watching your kids.

Believe me.

You don't wanna piss him off.

Hey.

[grunts]

Hey.

[groaning] No.

What are you doing?

We're gonna take your other kidney too.

No, I only had one kidney.

You weren't listening.

That's a new one. Says he doesn't have another kidney.

Oh, please. Listen to me, listen to me, please.

Please, please, listen.

[grunts] No.

Please.

Don't.

No, no, no, no.

[grunts]

[screaming]

[groans]

Marvin.

Hello?

Marvin.

Where are you?

[line ringing]

You reached Dr. Marvin Bell.

If this is an emergency, please call 911

or go to your nearest emergency room.

If this is a personal matter, please leave a message.

Hey, man, where are you?

Give me a call back.

I got jumped. I didn't get it.

They conned me. They ripped me off.

So I'm in a taxi heading towards the hospital.

I don't know know what else to do at this point.

Where'd you go then?

Give me a call back when you get this.

I hope...

I hope you're okay.

[cellphone chimes]

Hey, change of plans.

Okay, ladies, who had the Singapore Sling?

Who is she?

-I'm sorry? -You called her Talia.

Tell me her address now.

I'm sorry I don't know who you're talking about.

[gasps]

My manager is calling the cops.

Your friend ruined my life, I want to talk to her.

Tell me where she lives and I'll leave.

-I don't know the address. -What?

It's an apartment building on Alexander and it's...

and there's a pizza place across from it.

[breath trembling]

[woman screams]

[grunts]

[grunting]

[screams]

Scream and I'll shoot.

[panting]

Where is it?

I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to.

Where is my kidney?

I don't, I don't know anything about that.

I don't know.

Who sent you to meet me?

This guy messaged me on the app, okay?

He just said he wanted to play a practical joke on someone.

I don't know, okay?

He gave me $5,000 to match with you,

to go out on a date and to slip something into your drink.

What could go wrong?

I just really needed the money.

-Who hired you? -His name was Jacob

and but it was a fake picture, Victor probably wasn't his real name, okay?

I heard his name. I heard his name. I heard his name, okay?

[coughs]

A person on the phone called him Marvin.

Okay? Marvin.

He was Black, he was about your age.

What is this?

Stop lying to me.

I swear, I swear.

Yeah, that's him.

That's him.

So sorry, I'm really...

[grunts]

[yells]

No, no, no. No, no, no.

...do that for?

[engine starts]

Hi, Amy.

I should have figured that out sooner.

So the guys in the basement, guess you hired them too, huh?

Like the girl?

Don't you...move.

I said don't move.

So why? Why, Marvin?

Because it's mine

and I wanted it back.

You wanted your kidney back?

You cheated on me with someone half your age,

then you decide you're done being married.

Okay.

Then I get everything back that's mine. Everything.

You're insane.

You ruined my...life, Amy.

Good.

Now you know how it feels.

This is...

You loved giving me your kidney.

You couldn't shut up about it.

You want to walk away, you give me back everything

that's mine.

[sniffs] And the money?

I didn't like the settlement the court landed on,

it didn't seem fair.

You're going to jail. Both of you.

How could you do this?

And you take an oath.

Sorry, Clay, you brought this on yourself.

You...

you ruined five lives with this stunt.

Hannah and Jack are going to be traumatized.

You hear me?

You think I'm a monster?

You're worse.

[panting]

I'm going to hospital now.

I'm going to call the cops on the way.

[Amy] Clay,

we're over here.

It's getting a little blurry, Clay?

Double vision?

Well, you want to take that chance?

'Cause I'll do it.

I've already crossed the line today.

You don't even know the half of it!

-[screams] -[Amy screams]

[groans]

[Amy] You're wrong, Clay.

I'm better than you.

I know I am.

So I'm going to do something for you

that you never would do for me.

I'm gonna give you a chance.

One of these roads leads to a store about 10 miles away,

the others go nowhere.

If you can get to a phone in time,

you could get to a hospital and I'll let you keep the kidney.

Marvin says you have about 12 hours

and besides if you make it out alive,

I like the idea that there might be a piece of me inside you.

[sobs]

Oh, and don't bother calling the police.

We know about the girl.

Good luck.

[sobs]

I'm sorry.

So sorry.

[breathing heavily]

Go with the flow.

Go with the flow.

Go with the flow.

All right, that was The Harvest,

a classic, classic urban legend.

Probably the most known, the one we all heard as kids.

And I'm here with the incredible talented director

Jason Lapeyre.

Jason, pleasure, man.

Yeah. Nice to meet you. Thanks, Eli.

So, I love what you did with the room here.

-Beautiful, beautiful decoration. -Yeah, it got a little messy

in here.

But we're gonna make the best of it.

A little bit. So tell me, like, you're doing The Harvest

which is probably the best known urban legend.

And, you know, it's one that's been told before,

it's been filmed before.

It's also one of my favorite stories

'cause you still hear stories about it happening

in different places.

Was this an urban legend you grew up with?

I think everyone knows this urban legend, right?

Like, it's pretty universal. It happens in every culture.

There's some variation of it.

I had heard that, of course, and believed it was real

and probably until the internet, you know.

When I started researching it and started digging into it.

It got pretty funny pretty fast

how insanely unrealistic it actually is.

Like, someone online had actually done, like,

okay, let's say this actually was going to happen.

In order to do a kidney surgery,

at the bare minimum, a number of technicians involved is, like,

six or seven people who would all have to violate

-the Hippocratic Oath -Right?

in order to do it, it's not actually realistically possible.

And then the other thing that I thought was really funny about it

is that one of the consistent components

of the legend and all its variations is that

the victim wakes up in a tub of ice.

Oh, that was it, the bath tub's full of ice.

It's always the funny thing. I laughed out loud

when I realized that that's actually

a result of the broken telephone of an urban legend.

It's not the victim that has to be on ice. It's the kidney.

[laughs] So in the telling has evolved into this thing,

where the guy wakes up in a tub of ice.

So I sort of made this creative decision

in the telling of our version, that we're not going

to have him wake up in a tub of ice.

We're going to have a tub of ice next to the hotel room,

and, you know, the kidney's on ice throughout the episode.

But I thought I'd take this opportunity to correct

the urban legend.

Well, to ground it a little bit, you know what I mean?

Like, I think one of the things we're trying to do

is make these scarier by bringing them as close

to reality as we can, right?

-Like that's gonna make it scarier. -Yeah.

The more realistic that the episode could be,

the more closer to actual possibility,

I thought it'd be a little more effective for the audience.

[screams]

That's so interesting, because I'm sure a lot of people

would be like they missed the part about the tub of ice.

-Yeah. -But of course, I mean, yeah,

you could wake up in a bathtub full of ice with, like,

they take your kidney and now they want your swelling to go down?

-Like... -[laughs] No.

-That're that conscientious -It was definitely...

to fill a tub with ice and put you in it.

You wouldn't notice that.

-After you die of hypothermia. -I know.

-Yeah, it's like what? -It's another really funny part

of the original urban legend is, like, these people

were vicious enough to take your kidney out

in an illegal surgery,

but they want to make sure you're okay.

-They wanna make sure you recovered. -Yeah.

The recovery has to go well. The recovery has to go well,

-so you can tell the legend to other people. -Yeah.

What excited you about directing this particular tale?

When I first heard about the episode

and I started thinking about it, started digging into it.

What I really started to think about

was what anxiety does this urban legend express?

And for me, I decided it was about loss of control.

I think there's a reason why it's always a story about

a man who loses consciousness and wakes up

with a piece of himself missing.

I thought that was, like, a great starting point

for a story about slowly losing all control.

The other thing I got really excited about

when I started zeroing in on that,

is, like, the heart of the story was thinking

about film noir, which is one of my favorite genres.

And my favorite film noirs are the ones that spin

the most out of control, where the protagonist

really starts to have, like, a psychological breakdown

and is just by the end of the story struggling

to hold on.

I like movies where it almost starts to feel like

you're inside the head of the protagonist

and it's, like, are the things that are happening actually happening?

Or is this some sort of, like, surreal,

heightened perception that the protagonist

is happening, you know?

So we looked throughout the episode for little surreal touches

that we could do, like, those portraits of the kids

in the background.

Hannah and Jack are gonna be traumatized.

You hear me?

Over and over again, throughout the episode,

you'll see point of view shots sort of slide in and out of focus.

The protagonist is slowly losing control.

Clay...

we're over here.

Things getting little blurry, Clay?

Double vision?

Well, you want to take that chance?

You're a very experienced director,

do you still shot list, storyboard?

You know, these shows that we're doing shoot very fast

and on a low budget, but you never feel that

watching your work.

It has such an elegance.

I was just curious about your process as a director

approaching material.

Thank you, yeah. No, I mean, preparation is key.

It's crucial, but at the same time,

I don't want to prepare to the point where

it's calcified, you know? Like, I don't want to just be shooting a comic book.

-I assume you're a fan of body horror. -Oh, yeah, big time.

Being Canadian, you must have grown up with Cronenberg.

-Cronenberg's the man. -What was the first

Cronenberg film that got you so intensely excited

to either make movies or really freaked you out?

The Fly.Like, no question, right?

Like, The Flyis a waking nightmare.

And any film that can make me feel like I'm experiencing

a waking nightmare is just instantly in my,

you know, all time hall of fame.

I think it's a great lesson in how prosthetic effects

are, like, a crucial important part of horror,

but you need an incredible performance behind them

-in order to sell the prosthetic effects. -Yes.

One of your most powerful tools as a filmmaker

is the audience's imagination and the less you show them,

the better.

If you just give them, like, eight frames of a prosthetic effect

and cut to a great reaction shot

then you're... the world is your oyster.

That's another reason I was really excited about this episode.

I think our central protagonist Adam Fawns

knocked it out of the park with his performance.

And you know, as well as I do that when you're selling

a prosthetic effect, it's not the prosthetic effect.

It's cutting back to the actor's face

-to sell the prosthetic effect. -Absolutely.

I can tell you're excited about The Fly

'cause you're doing the Jeff Goldblum.

-Ah. Look at me. Let's go. -[laughs]

I'm gonna, I'm gonna vomit over my hand,

-in a sec. -Wow.

And we're gonna change the world.

Sorry, it's my Goldblum impression.

You think about all those movies from the '80s

that are the pinnacle of press... practical effects,

like American Werewolf in London,

and The Thingand The Fly.

They're all anchored by incredible performances.

-It's not a coincidence. -And there's that thing of, you know,

like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where the girl gets hung on the meat hook and

people swear they remember seeing the hook going

-through the stomach. -That's right. That's right.

The gore has to be just enough that you're, like, covering your eyes

and the sound, but if you... it's like if you don't give them enough,

people get frustrated or you deliver it in a way

they're not expecting.

Part of the problem is that we love that...right?

-So we always want more and more, more, more and more. -Yeah.

But there is a fine line like you say,

it's like you can pull it back to a point where

they are doing the work in their head

and imagine a hook going through her chest.

I'm a big urban legend nerd because I grew up

in Massachusetts in the '80s

when that was all we did was tell urban legends.

And I know that this one had been done to death,

losing control of your body, these things that are ours.

The idea that you're not donating it

to save someone's life, it's willfully being taken from you.

Just seeing that story actualized was something that

was really important to me.

It's the urban legend that is the most known,

but I wanted to see it done

and I absolutely love the way you did it.

One of the reasons we thought it was important to put

a real twist on it because it was so common.

We wanted to throw a few curveballs at the audience.

Well, what if someone stole his kidney,

and he only had one kidney?

-It's a great twist. -So that was a great twist

and then the other idea and this really speaks

to the urban legend nature of the story is the idea that

a wife did this to her ex-husband as revenge

is based on a true story.

There was a woman in the States,

as part of a divorce settlement

demanded her kidney back from her husband

that she had donated to him.

And the court did not agree.

-Yeah... wow. -Well, we wrote it.

We thought well, what if they did?

All right, so for people that are watching The Harvest

and learning about you and your work,

what are some other work of yours that

they can check out and where can they find you?

-My first feature is a film called Cold Blooded -Yeah.

which is very much like The Harvest,

a fusion of two different genres.

It's a crime movie and a horror movie.

The movie that I'm most proud of

is a movie called I Declare War.

-Amazing. Where can people, like, dig deeper to find you -Absolutely.

-and reach out? -jasonlapeyre.com