The Big Picture

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff talks with
Sharp Corner
‘s Ben Foster, Cobie Smulders, and writer-director Jason Buxton at TIFF 2024.

Sharp Corner
is a thriller about a man with a dangerously unhealthy new obsession.
In this interview, Foster, Smulders, and Buxton discuss the idea of the everyman dealing with obsession and societal detachment.

For a film inspired by a Canadian short story, directed by a Canadian filmmaker, and filmed on location in Nova Scotia, it’s more than appropriate, after twelve long years, for co-writer/director Jason Buxton’s sophomore feature Sharp Corner to have its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Top-billed by Ben Foster and Cobie Smulders, Sharp Corner is a psychological thriller and dark satire serving as a cautionary tale about control, power, and the fragile nature of contemporary masculinity.

Sharp Corner tells the story of a man’s spiral as he tries to find greater purpose in his life. It follows Josh (Foster), a hapless family man who is drawn into saving the lives of the car crash victims at the sharp corner in front of his house. As Josh’s obsession takes hold, he places his wife, Rachel (Smulders), and son, Max (William Kosovic), in jeopardy, setting in motion a series of events that threaten to break his family apart.

While promoting their film at TIFF, Collider’s Perri Nemiroff had the opportunity to sit down with Buxton, Foster, and Smulders at the Collider interview studio at the Cinema Center at MARBL to discuss obsession, their characters as human beings, and the “weird intimacy” — and deep appreciation — between the lead actors and artists on the film. You can watch the full interview in the video above or read the conversation in transcript form below.

‘Sharp Corner’ Was 12 Years in the Making
Image via TIFF

PERRI NEMIROFF: Because we’re at a festival, a lot of folks out there will not know what the movie is about just yet. Jason, would you mind telling our audience what Sharp Corner is about?

JASON BUXTON: Sharp Corner is about a family man, played by Ben Foster, who becomes obsessed with saving the lives of the sharp corner victims at the sharp corner in front of his and his wife Rachel’s house.

It’s been a good while since Blackbird . What has been going on between that film and this film? What kind of hurdles did you have to overcome in order to make this one happen?

BUXTON: I started this one, actually, 12 years ago and was looking for the right production partner. I put it aside, and I was working on a miniseries for about three or four years. That didn’t happen, so I focused my energies back on Sharp Corner in 2018, working with Paul Barkin at Alcina. It took about six years from that point to bring it here today and five years to bring it to camera.

Because you first started working on it so long ago, what is the biggest difference between how you pictured the film turning out back then compared to the finished film everyone will see now?

BUXTON: It’s a little bit different tonally. I think a lot of that has to do with who you work with and the contributions to collaboration — not just with the actors but with everybody. What I like to do is find who I think are the best people for the work, invite their collaboration, and try to get the best of what they can offer. And the movie always turns out different than the movie that you imagine in your head. I’m excited about this version that we’ve made.

Jason Buxton’s Greatest Resources Were Grace and Audacity
Image by Photagonist at TIFF

I have one more question that I wanted to ask you about getting the green light on this, because that’s one of the most difficult parts of the process. Was there any particular person you met, a resource you acquired, something that happened that made you stop and go, “Now is the time! Sharp Corner will go into production?”

BUXTON: For Canadian film, the anchor is Telefilm Canada, so that was really our focus. And once that was in place, I wouldn’t say this film was ever technically “greenlit.” It was just having the audacity to push forward and decide that we’re gonna make this movie and address those hurdles in-process as we were heading into pre-production and even into production. So, it was a very difficult challenge to get it made and to get the financing together for the film.

Cobie and Ben, I have a two-part question about working with Jason. Do you remember the first thing you saw in him that made you say, “I am in good hands with him as a director?” But then I also want an example of a time when he exceeded your expectations on set.

COBIE SMULDERS: The first time I met Jason, I found him to be very calm and very open. He was just talking about collaboration, and I think that was really my first experience with him, was meeting him and [him] just saying, “What do you think? What are your ideas?” So that was lovely. Exceeding expectations? We had a very quick shoot. We had a lot to do, and he just handled everything with such grace. We all had an amazing time, and the completion of this movie and the final product is just really exciting.

I’ve only known you for five minutes, but I’m already feeling the calm and appreciating it amid the film festival craze. Ben, how about for you?

BEN FOSTER: When we met after reading the script, the conversation rolled into very what you call dangerous territory in terms of identity, the societal markers of what success looks like, and he was so interested in kicking those tires without making a point. To me, there’s nothing more exciting than to go in, lock arms, and ask questions together.

Cobie Smulders Is a Jack of All Trades, but Don’t Ask Her To Do Musical Theater
Image by Photagonist at TIFF 

I love hearing actors give each other flowers, so for each of you, can you tell me something about the other as a scene partner that you appreciated, maybe even something they did that helped you reach a layer in your own character that you wouldn’t have been able to without them?

SMULDERS: It’s getting intimate. [Laughs]

BUXTON: It is. I’m a little uncomfortable.

FOSTER: Cobie doesn’t make eye contact.

SMULDERS: Yeah, that is a thing.

FOSTER: She wouldn’t look at me.

SMULDERS: I mean, I’m shocked that we have already done it today because, usually, I just don’t do it with humans at all.

FOSTER: She looks at my forehead, not at my eyes.

SMULDERS: Yeah, I find that that creates its own level of weird intimacy, just trying to be as uncomfortable on set as possible. That was my goal. Ben is wonderful and a dream to work with. Even though his character was hard to understand at times.

Image by Photagonist at TIFF

FOSTER: Just being a person.

SMULDERS: Just being a person, a version of a person that was challenging. Ben, in life, was nothing but a dream. That’s the truth. They wanted the truth, so I gave it to them.

FOSTER: It’s a joy when you get to work with somebody who is a jack of all trades. When I think about Cobie and talk about her, [she’s] someone who feels to be born in the wrong generation. She can do it all — drama, comedy, a great mover, improviser, keeps it bright. It’s ridiculous, and it means the world. You just know you’re safe going in to go, again, ask tough questions together. So, just the highest of talents, and a pleasure to be with.

You know I’m a big fan of your work, and I want to see you do everything. Is there any particular acting itch that you’ve yet to scratch but are eager to on a future project?

SMULDERS: I’d love to just do more theater. But you have to live in New York with your whole family if you do that. [Laughs] So, just really theater, not musicals. That’s the one thing. I’m not singing.

FOSTER: I’m telling everyone you sing.

SMULDERS: Oh, okay, well, we’ll see! Yeah, theater. I love doing projects where you get to work with amazing people, and I feel like doing an ensemble always makes you a better person, and you learn so much.

There’s regional theater!

SMULDERS: For sure.

Now I want to put the pressure on and see you in a musical.

SMULDERS: Oh, no. No, you don’t. Trust me.

‘Sharp Corner’ Is a Five-Act Exploration of Obsession
Image by Photagonist at TIFF

Digging into specific story details now, Jason, there was something that I was reading in the press notes that caught my eye. It said that your exploration of the short story had a very unique point of view on the hero complex. What was that unique POV? What did you think you could bring to this adaptation that maybe no other writer-director out there could have?

BUXTON: I expanded on the short story because the short story focused on one man’s obsession with these car accidents that were happening, but he wasn’t proactive about it. So I expanded on the short story and created a three-act, or in this case, a five-act structure that I wanted to explore — a man who’s lost, perhaps lost his sense of purpose in life, and here is an opportunity that’s presented to him on his front door, and how does he handle it? I was also interested in exploring obsession and how that can create blinders and create a type of narcissism where you no longer can be fully present for your family members. Those are some of the things I was looking at exploring.

What Happens to the McCalls After the Credits Roll?
“Do we still want to be together as human beings?”
Image by Photagonist at TIFF 

Here’s another question based on something I read in our production notes. Ben, someone mentioned you’re not an actor who emotionalizes your roles or intellectualizes them; you mine them, digging uncommonly deep for purpose. What is the deepest you’ve ever dug for a character, and how does this particular one compare?

FOSTER: I don’t like to compare. I’ve had the great opportunity to ask questions, I suppose, like a journalist might go into a world with a question, and you follow that to the next one. That is, to echo off Jason, my obsession. It’s not having the answer; it’s not having the film perfectly formed in my mind; it’s about a resonance and finding that feeling. To me, we all know Josh. Josh is down at the office, in the cubicle. He’s at Target, he’s at Costco, he’s at church. He’s living his life almost sleepwalking through it, and an event occurs, and it’s as though this person wakes up for the first time, and rather than becoming introspective, he becomes obsessed in a way and proactive in a way that starts running a line that could be considered noble or obsessive and detached in different ways, and that curiosity of the everyman.

We all know that buzzing feeling of moments of apathy, of disconnect, feeling purposeless, rudderless. You can look around, and you say, “Okay, well, I have food on my plate, I have a roof over my head. Why do I feel so alone?” Tangentially, there’s a Talking Heads song that Jason and I talked about quite a bit — “Once in a Lifetime” — which is, “How did I get here? You got this beautiful house, beautiful wife, watching the days go by,” and something breaks and accelerates.

Image by Photagonist at TIFF 

When we first meet your characters, they’re at a breaking point when they move into this house where this terrible thing can happen. What kind of conversations did you two need to have before filming to establish what their baseline was before? For example, figuring out why they fell in love with each other or something to create and convey their foundation so that we care when it crumbles?

SMULDERS: I remember shooting those earlier scenes and going, “This is the happiest we get to be. This is the nicest, calmest.” I think it was establishing that, establishing that this was a positive family unit, so we had somewhere to go. So, we pushed for that, but that tire came pretty quick. We only got a couple of scenes in. But it was important to establish that and that this event sort of blew up the family unit.

I’ll admit, this is a terrible question to ask, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot since watching your movie. Had they not moved into that house where that corner existed, do you think there was a possibility that these two and their family could live happily ever after, or was something like this always inevitable for them?

SMULDERS: I don’t know. It’s hard to say. I’m just going into Rachel playing a therapist and always pushing for Josh to self-examine and self-examine, and I don’t know how far she would actually get with that. I think there’s something that happens in relationships. Suddenly your kid is, like, eight, and you’re looking at each other going, “We got through it! Now, do we still like each other? Do we still want to be together as human beings and not just as parents?” And so I think that would be interesting for them to examine.

How do you feel, Ben?

FOSTER: I tend to agree.

You’ve lived with these characters far longer than I have, but when someone has that kind of hole that they need to fill with an obsession, if not that obsession, I suspect it would have been another one. Perhaps with a different set of circumstances, but I think the same path.

‘Motor City’ Is a “Rock Disco Revenge Film” Scored by Jack White
Image via Prime Video

Ben, everybody on team Collider wanted to know about working with Alan Ritchson. People just love his work, and I know you two just worked together on Motor City . Can you tell me something about what it was like working with him that maybe speaks to why he is striking such a significant chord with so many people out there right now?

FOSTER: He’s very tall and very muscular and he’s very handsome. He’s terrific as a mover. I think he wants to do some deeper work or rather different kinds of work than he’s been doing, and that’s a joy. It’s also with Shailene Woodley, who’s just absolutely a terrific actor. The film itself, Motor City — we just wrapped — is virtually a silent film. There are five lines of dialogue. Jack White is helping with the music, so it’s like a rock disco revenge film. It’s like a graphic novel, so it’ll be interesting to see how that shakes out.

Special thanks to MARBL Restaurant for hosting Collider as well as our additional sponsors Range Rover, the official luxury vehicle partner of the Cinema Center and Collider Media Studio, poppi, Tequila Don Julio, Canada’s premium spring water brand, Legend Water, and People’s Group financial services.