So thank you for that.
Alex Scharfman:Thats what Jenna said too.
Jenna was not into unicorns.
© A24
I mean, I wasnt into unicorns until I started researching the movie.
io9:I get it now.
They can be metal as hell.
© A24
Lets start at the beginning.
What is the backstory on you taking on this project specifically?
Because its a wild ride.
© A24
This very naturally just started pulling the thread of like, Where does that lead?
and What if someone hits a unicorn with their car?
What is a unicorn?
Like, what do we bring to that as a people?
Scharfman:At the time, no, it was before actors or charactersit was a scenario.
It took me a couple of years to even start exploring it.
Scharfman:Can I just say Im a huge Kurt Vonnegut nerd?
And he actually has a story about a father and son in the Middle Ages, which is weird.
io9: Oh yeah, his unicorn hunting story.
Scharfman:Unicorn Trap.
Scharfman:Yeah, okay.
So you know the story.
io9: Did you actually think about that while you were writing this, or was it happenstance?
Scharfman:That was kind of happenstance to be honest.
I have read and have the full Vonnegut anthology.
Ive read every short story hes ever written.
io9: Definitely with that in mind, obviously youre a huge fan of satire then.
io9: Like the whales versus yachts!
Scharfman:I couldnt agree more.
What kind of personality throw in did we as a society develop and foster into existence?
io9: He and everyone you surrounded Jenna with are the funniest people.
That bit with Anthony [Carrigan] and the damn grandfather clock.
I did not catch it on the first view until Jenna pointed it out!
Scharfman:That was one of my favorite jokes; it really kills me.
It was just fun populating that and then Jenna was kind of the audiences surrogate.
Shes our eyes and ears.
Shes the person whose values we agree with.
Im so happy you didnt shy away from hiding them.
io9: What did the actors have to act against for all those suspenseful scenes?
Scharfman:It was a combination of things we had.
At times we had live horses on set, we had puppets on set.
We had really large beautiful puppets.
I love the puppets; they were so much fun.
And whenever possible we use the puppets.
Death of a Unicornopens this Friday.
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