Joel Edgerton Was Terrified Of Directing His Own Terrifying Film

"I was actually kinda terrified of doing it and as I got closer to doing it I kept pushing it further and further away," 41-year-old actor Joel Edgerton explains of his directorial debut, in his own film, The Gift. "It's like turning around and facing the monster in your dream, I was so scared of doing it and then I finally kind of did it and I was like 'Oh, this is actually really enjoyable.'"  

As a Western Sydney-raised actor, Edgerton says that although his new film was produced and shot entirely in LA, he did wish he had more opportunities to make films in Australia. "I always want to make movies in Australia. This was something I'd written in America so it felt like a very American movie even though universally the themes of the movie could happen anywhere." Realistically it came down to funding and as Edgerton puts it "the first people to write the cheques were like, 'We want to shoot this in LA,' so that's where it ended up". However that's not to say The Gift doesn't have an Australian touch. The film's producer Rebecca Yeldham and editor Luke Doolan, who Edgerton worked with on Animal Kingdom, are both fellow Aussies. "It made me feel really safe to have an Australian guy that I know so well be there with me to help make the movie."

"I do have a fucking opinion and if you want to ask me shit, I will say stuff out loud."

The psychological thriller is filled with scares and edge-of-your seat moments, a technique Edgerton perfected in his debut. "I think that you don't need to have daggers and buckets of blood in a movie to scare a person. Someone tweeted something about Hitchcock saying that 'it's not the big bang that scares the person, it's the waiting for the bang.' That to me is the moment where I always get scared in a movie."

The lead cast — which includes Edgerton as the socially awkward Gordon 'Gordo' Mosley and married couple Simon and Robyn, played by Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall — have chemistry, which contributes to the effortless build-ups of tension in the film.  Bateman, in particular, best known for his roles in popular comedies such as Arrested Development and Horrible Bosses, shows a very creepy side to his acting repertoire that's rarely been seen before. "You get comedians who have done dramatic parts — think about Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and Robin Williams in so many great movies; these people who make you laugh can also make you feel a lot of other things and they do it very, very well. I felt like it was a special thing for me to take all of those qualities of Jason that I knew he had: the good-natured, trustworthy guy, all the way through to the spectrum of being a complete jerk." 

Though primarily based in LA, Edgerton admits he still keeps up to date with Australian news. He recently made a negative comment about the federal government's stance on same-sex marriage, which he says was blown out of proportion. "What I hated about what happened the other day was that people were going, 'You celebrities, get off your high horses!' I just made an off-the-cuff remark. I'd be the last person in the world to pretend to be a political spokesperson, but I do have a fucking opinion and if you want to ask me shit, I will say stuff out loud."