Olmo Schnabel’s directorial debut Pet Shop Days was received well at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, and recently had its U.S. premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival. The emotion-driven film stars Jack Irv (Bobby) and Darío Yazebek Bernal (The House of Flowers) as two crazed romantics that slip down a rabbit hole of depravity in Manhattan’s underworld. Willem Dafoe (Inside, Spider-Man, Eternity’s Gate), Peter Sarsgaard (Dopesick, The Batman), Emmanuelle Seigner, Camille Rowe, and Maribel Verdu also star.

The plot revolves around Alejandro (Bernal), an impulsive black sheep, and pet store employee Jack (Irv) who test fate and enter a whirlwind romance. Expect some frenetic intensity in the film, which Schnabel co-wrote alongside star Jack Irv and Galen Core (The Great Pretender). The filmmaker says he initially co-wrote the film as a kind of “love letter” to a New York City that no longer exists.

“I left New York,” said Schnabel, “I wasn’t attracted to the element of surprise there anymore. I feel like I kind of knew everything that was happening, and I wasn’t excited about the future. With this script, it just felt like the unexpected was right around the corner. And I found that refreshing.”

Schnabel is the son of revered filmmaker and artist Julian Schnabel, and had a part in his father’s 2000 head-turner, Before Night Falls, which starred Javier Bardem and recent headline grabbers Johnny Depp and Sean Penn. The talent is more than hereditary though, as Schnabel’s cinematic skills are entirely unique. He spoke more about the indie film, the emotional backstory, and what audiences can expect from Pet Shop Days in this exclusive MovieWeb interview.

Olmo Schnabel on the Personal Story Behind Pet Shop Days

Schnabel told us off the bat that he wanted to offer audiences an experience that was sincere and not convoluted:

“I want people to connect to the different characters and different things [in the film], and maybe disagree with it. I think as long as people feel compelled to have some sort of response, that’s enough for me. I’m satisfied with that. I hope that the film finds a home, and it can exist in a library, so people can find it and have an experience with it.”

Schnabel is all about an immersive film experience, and audiences can expect a plot loaded with sharp twists, high emotions, and a feverish search for connection and resolution. The film finds Alejandro — Bernal in a powerful role — fleeing his home in Mexico, uncertain if he will ever mend the torn bond between him and his unforgiving father. Flash forward to New York City, where Alejandro meets Jack, a college kid and pet store employee. They both have family baggage, and it’s not Louis Vuitton.

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Schnabel said the characters of the film were inspired by people he met when he was a teenager, particular the character of Jack. “Jack,” he explained, “is based off a friend of mine who I went to school with.” Schnabel had a deep affection for Jack, but so did his friend Alejandro. “When I introduced Jack and Alejandro to each other, there was just this electric attraction. They basically just wanted to run away together and get into all sorts of trouble. That’s where this adventure and this dynamic stems from.” Alejandro wasn’t the only one to feel that way about Jack.

“I’m drawn from a lot of different relationships I had or, you know, obsessions,” he added. “When I first met Jack, I was 14 years old, and we saw each other. In that instant, we decided, ‘Okay, everything behind us is behind us, and now we’re going to start our lives together, and we’re going to become best friends, and we’re going to conquer the world together. So, the film is a melting pot of a bunch of different things and for me, it feels like an exorcism of getting things out instead of letting them just weigh down on me as my own experiences. By being able to put something on the screen and use it to make art, it allows you to accept that something was really difficult to kind of get over.”

On Working with Willem Dafoe
MeMo Films

Audiences will appreciate the pace of Pet Shop Days. As Alejandro and Jack fall deeper into New York’s underbelly, there may be no way out. Then Alejandro’s past creeps back and suddenly Jack must make a difficult choice: choose between his family or being on the run.

Offering challenging family dynamics was key to the film. Schnabel appreciated what Jordi Mollà, who plays Alejandro’s cartel father brought to the creative table here. And Willem Dafoe, of course, playing Jack’s father, whose tarnished and very vocal relationship with his wife (Emmanuelle Seigner) has left a dent in the family dynamic. “Willem has known me since I was a kid,” Schnabel said of Dafoe, who also starred as Van Gough in Julian’s Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate. “Obviously, he has a relationship with my father and had a small role in Basquiat, and of course, At Eternity’s Gate, which I worked on as my dad’s assistant. We built a relationship.”

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Schnabel recalled how the duo became very close friends after 2018’s At Eternity’s Gate, and that he wanted to share the Pet Shop Days script with Dafoe.

He was super supportive. But basically, he said to me, ‘Listen, you know, I’ll help you work on this thing, and we’ll see if I have time, but I can’t make any promises.’ I’m really pushy, and you know when I want something, I really kind of go for it.

After some time, Schnabel found the right moment and circumstances aligned properly. “Willem people knew that he could be in the film, he made other actors interested in working on it, too,” he continued. “I think he gave us a stamp of approval, but obviously when he showed up on set, it was amazing to just work with someone like him. He has so much to offer.

“Willem is so generous with his time and his presence,” Schnabel quickly added. “That’s the type of people you want to work with. It doesn’t feel like it’s just work. He really makes it into something really intimate and special. Ultimately by the end of the shoot, when he was leaving, I think he was actually kind of sad to leave.”

Pet Shop Days continues to screen at film festivals; watch this space for when it will have a wider theatrical release.