Area native sees potential in remake
Chadd Harbold takes a gamble on rewriting obscure ’60s thriller ‘Private Property’
Attention, aspiring filmmakers: The next time you check out a rarely screened old movie, consider the possibility of remaking it.
That’s what happened to writer-director Chadd Harbold, a native of Upper Arlington now based in New York.
In 2016, Harbold, who had already directed several feature films, checked out a screening of the obscure 1960 thriller “Private Property” as part of a retrospective on actor Warren Oates at Film at Lincoln Center in New York. The longunavailable-for-screening film, written and directed by Leslie Stevens, tells of a discontent married woman in Los Angeles (Kate Manx) whose home is being surveilled by two criminals (Oates and Corey Allen). Criminal complications ensue.
“I saw a triple feature of (Oates’ films) ‘Cockfighter,’ ‘Dillinger’ and then ‘Private Property,’” said Harbold, 35, who found himself fascinated by the last, and most rarely seen, film.
Sensing remake potential in the story, Harbold wrote a new screenplay that retained the basic setup and Los Angeles setting but brought the story into modern times.
“I watched this, and it stuck out to me that it had really good characters in it (and) the things that I’m interested in, where violence and sexuality meet,” he said.
Harbold’s remake stars Ashley Benson
Now, Harbold’s new film — like the original, titled “Private Property” — is set for release on Friday from Lionsgate.
The movie, which will be available on digital and on-demand platforms including Apple TV, stars Ashley Benson, of the TV show “Pretty Little Liars,” as Kathryn, the unhappy woman. Co-starring are Shiloh Fernandez, Jay Pharoah, formerly of “Saturday Night Live,” and Frank Whaley, a supporting player in “Pulp Fiction.”
Harbold — whose previous directorial efforts include “Revenge for Jolly!” (2012) and “Long Nights Short Mornings” (2016) — saw the ingredients of a successful low-budget thriller in the original “Private Property.”
“I had one or two bigger movies that I was hoping to make next, but it’s always good to have a one-location thriller in your back pocket,” Harbold said. “It’s genre; they get shot quickly; you get a couple of cool actors in it. Usually, you can find some financing for those.”
On the assumption that few other filmmakers would be interested in remaking a film as little-known as “Private Property,” Harbold wrote the screenplay before acquiring the remake rights.
“I just took the gamble: ‘The only thing I’ll lose here if this doesn’t work out is the work,’” he said. “If someone wants to finance this, then we’ll deal with the rights at that moment, and that’s what happened.”
Once cameras rolled, Harbold saw Benson’s television experience pay dividends.
“She’s done 150 episodes of television for her show ‘Pretty Little Liars,’” he said. “That kind of thing turns out a professional actor. There was nothing she couldn’t do. I’ve never seen somebody able to just turn it on when the camera goes.”
The movie was shot over 21 days in April and May 2021, but the short production schedule did not deter Harbold from aiming for high cinematic style.
“In terms of my own movies, the visual style and the way that they’re put together is incredibly important to me,” he said. “I want to give a really big shout-out to my cinematographer, Antonio Cisneros, who did incredible work on the film with very little resources.”
The shoot was pretty scrappy. “There are a lot of shots of pool reflection lights,” Harbold said. “We did that by shining a really bright light into a kiddie pool, with broken mirror pieces in it, and kicking the pool.”
Filmmaking a lifelong dream for Harbold
Harbold, who is also a prolific producer of movies directed by others, has wanted to make movies for much of his life.
“I come from the cinephile background, . . . just renting dozens of tapes from the library and Blockbuster,” said Harbold, who, after graduating from Upper Arlington High School, attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. “I was really, really into movies, and getting into more and more obscure ones and foreign ones.”
Among Harbold’s friends in Upper Arlington were future filmmakers Colin West and Chad Simpson: The three made the new movie “Linoleum,” written and directed by West and produced by Simpson and Harbold, which was recently shown at the Cinema Columbus Film Festival.
“We always kept up with each other, and were rooting for each other and checking out each other’s work,” Harbold said. “‘Linoleum’ was like a really nice reuniting.”
In the meantime, “Private Property” may give Harbold one of his widest audiences yet.
“Hopefully,” he said, “at the end of the day it’s just a stylish, entertaining thriller.”
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