15 Moviegoing Questions With Elisa Kalani, Writer/Director

"My honest go-to theater is the AMC City Walk. What can I say, I love chaos."

Name: Elisa Kalani
Location: Los Angeles
Occupation: Writer/Director
Links: Watch I Love You Forever on HBO Max, written and directed by Elisa Kalani and Cazzie David.

1. What’s your favorite day & time to go to the movies?

2pm on a Tuesday. It’s the right amount of playing hooky on a day of the week that otherwise goes unnoticed. It doesn’t happen often, but it feels so good when it does.

2. What’s your favorite movie theater?

My honest go-to is the AMC City Walk. What can I say, I love chaos. And I’ve never not been in a recliner there (huge for me, it’s important that I’m horizontal). I haven’t been since the new security system was put in place… I’ll report back if it changes things for me.

Then there’s The Vista. It’s gorgeous and not too far from me, and seeing a movie there can feel like an event. It’s like, we’re going to the theater, honey.

Both my go-to theaters to see smaller, indie movies growing up on Long Island have shut down since the pandemic. I wish I could shout them out but they’ve been murdered… I’ll shout out the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, NY instead. A bit far from where I grew up but they always have cool stuff going on that’s worth the trek.

3. What’s your go-to movie theater snack & drink combo?

Sour Patch Kids and popcorn, mixed together. Diet Coke, although I’ve quit Diet Coke. But Diet Coke up until I quit Diet Coke. Do not call me out if you see me drinking Diet Coke. I do not want to hear it.

4. What’s your dream movie theater snack & drink combo (if noise and sound weren’t an issue)?

I’m always craving sushi, so maybe sushi. And Diet Coke. Elite combo.

Sonically speaking that’s not really an issue though. I don’t know. Chips and salsa? And Diet Coke in slushie form? So its loud?

5. First movie you remember seeing in a theater?

Gladiator. I don’t think it was actually my first theater experience but it’s my clearest first theater memory. Mostly because I was way too young to be seeing it. I don’t know if my parents thought we were going to watch a cartoon gladiator or if they really just wanted to see Gladiator and couldn’t find a babysitter.

6. Last movie you saw in a theater?

Backrooms, like everyone else you know.

7. Is there a movie you wish you could have seen in a theater?

Ok I’m going to admit something embarrassing to you - I haven’t seen Interstellar and it’s because I’m desperate to see it in a theater.

There are some movies that are so perfect for the theater that if I don’t watch it on a big screen it’s possible I never will. I think too much about the movies I could have seen in theaters in my lifetime and didn’t, to even fantasize about ones from another era… I know Interstellar comes back to theaters sometimes so I still have hope.

Interstellar dir. Christopher Nolan (WB)

8. Have you ever seen a movie more than once in theaters?

So many movies. I am obsessed with bringing people I love to see a movie I love and watching it through their eyes. In my freshman year of college I saw Spring Breakers three times in theaters. I absolutely freaked out the first time I saw the “Everytime” scene, I felt like I was tripping. I needed to take every person I knew to the theater to have the same experience as me (easy to do when attending a film school with an AMC theater one block away from the dorms). If Spring Breakers was a hallucinogen, I was their shaman.

9. Do you stay through the credits or leave as soon as the film ends?

Depends on the movie. Is that bad? Is that an -ist? Like elitist or classist or something? I’m sorry to have judgement in this way but I do think some movies warrant me sitting through the credits and some don’t.

10. What’s one thing you would change to make movie theaters better?

There should be special screenings for people with small bladders. If a movie is over two hours long I would like to have the option to go to a screening with an intermission for a pee-break.

11. Tell me about an especially memorable moviegoing experience that stands out in your mind.

Twilight, opening night. Sold out theater in a mall on Long Island. I was 13 years old. You can’t even imagine the level of yearning in that room.

Twilight dir. Catherine Hardwicke (Summit)

12. What’s a movie you’re looking forward to seeing?

My friends have movies coming out this summer!! Okay I have cool friends, okay I’m bragging! My friend Esti Giordani co-wrote Her Private Hell with Nicholas Winding Refn. Another friend Georgia Bernstein wrote and directed Night Nurse. I’m dying to see those two. And The Odyssey, obviously.

13. What’s your dream combination of director and lead(s)?

Alexander Payne and Parker Posey sounds lit as hell.

14. If you could live in a movie, which one would it be?

Can I live in the first hour of The Talented Mr. Ripley? Like, before murder enters the chat?

The Talented Mr. Ripley dir. Anthony Minghella (Paramount)

15. Why do you think people should continue seeing movies at the movie theater?

Imagine a world where theaters become extinct. A world where every single multiplex is an abandoned, defunct building. Where emerging filmmakers have indie theaters with clout to help them build a cult following before their big break comes. No hearing borderline insane questions during a Q&A with the cast. Where all those 200-flavor robot soda machines have rotted to their demise. Apocalyptic, no? Not a world I want to be in.