‘Back in Black’ Director on Lovable Serial Killer Doing “Bad Things for the Right Reasons” in Christopher Walken-Starrer

Ron Murphy’s satire about a failing funeral home has Christopher Walken starring as family patriarch Clyde Mortimer who is staring down bankruptcy. But his business enjoys a sudden rebound in fortune when Sam, his quiet granddaughter played by Ella Ballentine, triggers a suspicious rise in the number of small-town murders that leaves local police stumped and a trail of cadavers arriving on his doorstep.

All of which begs the question: what is it about benevolent serial killers that’s expected to have Toronto Film Festival audiences cheering Sam on as an antihero while her town’s local kill count rises? “It’s a bit of a trick, isn’t it? Most people in test screenings that we’ve done are rooting for (Sam). And meanwhile, what she’s doing is morally reprehensible,” Murphy tells The Hollywood Reporter ahead of Back in Black , his debut feature, having a world premiere at TIFF. Related Stories Movies Fina Strazza to Star in, Produce Romantic Drama 'Any Way You Want Me' (Exclusive) Movies Toronto: Irene Dionisio's 'IDDA' Lands at FilmClub Distribuzione for Italy (Exclusive)

It turns out Sam, an embalmer by day and cold-blooded killer by night, is preying on local townsfolk because she doesn’t want to see Mortimer and his wife, played by Jane Curtin, fight over finances and be denied a dignified retirement. “I’m asking the audience, how far would you be willing to go for someone you love,” Murphy adds about his morality-bending psychological drama that has Fargo meets Six Feet Under vibes.

Not that Walken’s Mortimer character, for his devotion to his family and its generational business, isn’t himself cunning and ruthless. Murphy recalls getting on the phone with the Hollywood legend with his prolific film resume and Oscar-winning role in 1978’s The Deer Hunter soon after he read his Back in Black script.

“I think he was testing me because he said, ‘Ron, I’ve played these dark characters for 50 years, these morally questionable characters,’” and Walken was suggesting that, at his age, actors just want to play normal people.

After insisting Clyde Mortimer was not a bad man, but in service to people he loved during tough times, Murphy added with an Avis, Try Harder sales pitch: “By the way, I didn’t write this for you. Nick (Torokvei) and I wrote it for Jack Lemmon. And he’s not available. You’re our second choice.”

Murphy is also with the layers of moral contradictions in Back in Black , urging audiences to explore how, in a world filled with injustice and inequity, serial killers can help as well as harm — even if that helps Mortimer cash in on bereaved relatives by upselling them on pricey caskets.

“It’s important that a bad person gets their comeuppance. But if they’re doing bad things for the right reasons, then an audience’s morality bends, as we’ve seen in the screenings. That’s very upside down, because innocent people are being harmed,” the director argues.

For Murphy, while Back in Black is his first feature, he has deep roots in the TV business.