Interview: Bruno Mourral Talks ‘Kidnapping Inc.’ and its Haitian Sense of Humor

Blending social commentary and delirious genre thrills, Kidnapping Inc. was a highlight of Sundance’s Midnight section in 2024. Directed by Bruno Mourral, it follows two Haitian kidnappers who become embroiled in a larger political conspiracy when they take on their latest job. Following its premiere in Park City, Awards Radar caught up with Mourral to discuss the making of the film and the real-life kidnappings that shaped the final product.

Shane Slater: When I watched this film, the sense of humor felt really Caribbean to me. Even though it’s commenting on serious issues like crime and corruption, you embrace the comedy of it. How did this story and the playful tone come about?

Bruno Mourral: Well, I’m Haitian myself. I was born in Port-au-Prince, I lived in Haiti, went to film school in Paris, but came back in Haiti. And I came back, unfortunately, in 2005, when my father got killed in Haiti. And at that moment, there was a lot of kidnapping going on. I was living a tragedy, but I also wanted to start working on a film project, since I was in film school.

And that’s when I asked myself maybe I should do a film about what’s happening in Haiti, those kidnappings. That’s actually the moment I started interviewing people who got kidnapped. And every time people were talking in those interviews, I felt a little bit of humor. I felt the absurdity of the situation when they were telling their story. I was kind of laughing with them about what happened and how they got out. Or like you see in the film, he gives the money to the wrong person. This is actually something that really happened.

Actually, a lot of things that happen in the film are things that I heard in interviews. And the comments in the films are sometimes misplaced, or you don’t understand why the person is saying this. And these are things that I’ve experienced in Haiti. People talking about serious things and sometimes just changing subject and going into other things, which is kind of weird when you’re like listening to it.

And it’s so absurd that I’ve lived this. That’s why I really wanted to have that kind of humor in in the film because it’s the way I see the society. It’s the way I see the people in Haiti react to so many burdens, so many dark things that happen to them. And they always find a way of finding the humor and light of what they’re living. So it’s part of their resilience, it’s part of them going through all the bad things that are happening to them.

SS: How did the Sundance audience respond to the humor?

BM: I’ve been in two screenings and there was a very different way that the audience to reacted. The first screening had, I would say, lots of Caribbean, lots of African people that would understand the humor more. So I saw people laughing, I saw people reacting. And some people were applauding at some moments in the film. And that felt good.

But I have to say, the second screening was very different, but also felt very good because it was a white audience. I would say 99% white audience. They were focused on the film, I don’t know if they were understanding the jokes, or if they were not taking the joke as a joke, but taking it as a drama, you know? Which I do understand too, because we’re talking about real things. And it’s a drama too, but it’s our way of telling our stories that makes it funny in a way, so people that understand that and people that are used to that will probably laugh about it. But people don’t have to laugh about it. For me, having that white audience watching the film, and being focused on the story and what’s happening is okay for me.

So I felt pretty good too, in that second screening. And I have to say at the end of that second screening, everybody stayed for the Q&A, which was very interesting for me, because they were asking very interesting questions about the messages in the film, and why I did things like this or like that. So both screenings were very interesting.

SS: I was impressed by the scale of the production, especially coming from an underdeveloped film industry like Haiti. How did you pull it off?

BM: It was an ambitious film. And I have to say, that’s why we did it in three years. We started shooting in summer 2018, we finished at the end of 2021. There was political unrest and all the problems in Haiti. But it took that time because we really wanted to have an ambitious project for Haiti. We really wanted the action scenes with the budget to look good. So we were taking our time to do it the best we can, you know? Like the cop scene where you have the shooting, that took a week and a half, I think. There’s a lot of angles, and I have like, six, seven cameras. So we had to redo the takes every time and make sure that everything was working together.

So people were going crazy for real, like the actors. But we really wanted to have that production value. And I really wanted to succeed in those action scenes. Of course, not on the same level as Hollywood, because we don’t have the same budget as Hollywood movies, but at least to look at those action scenes and say, “Wow!” We’re not used to having those projects in the Caribbean. So I really wanted to try to put the bar as high as possible with the budget that we had.

SS: I read that there was also a real like kidnapping within your crew. Can you talk more about that?

BM: It was at the beginning of 2021. We started shooting, everything was going okay. But we had to move a location because it was to unsafe to shoot in downtown Port-au-Prince. And so we went to shoot in the south of Haiti in Jacmel. And while we were shooting in Jacmel, while we were going back to Port-au-Prince, we had 19 cars. Police in the front, police in the back. And a car just got in the middle of the convoy. And I saw four guys coming up with big guns. They took three of our guys. It happened very fast. Like, I would say 15 seconds max. And then after that, we did a week of negotiation.

So it was very difficult for the international crew, going back to seeing things differently, you know? International people are, of course, not used to it. And they thought that the film was done. There was no way that we were going to go back to shoot. And so I had to talk with them. A few people left. I had to really keep things very positive by saying to them that there’s a huge chance that those people will come back. And we’re used to it in Haiti, it’s part of our day to day. People get kidnapped, and then they come back, and then life continues, you know? Of course, it’s not the best way to see things. But it’s our reality in Haiti. So all the Haitian crew was very behind me and trying to talk with the international crew, to tell them to be patient.

The project is about kidnapping, we’re talking about kidnapping. So for us, it was very important to finish the film. And after a week of negotiation, what happened is that the Dominican crew got back home and started talking to the press and it got up to the president. Then the President put pressure on Haiti. So the government in Haiti got involved. And then they were the ones who kind of helped us release the three guys. And after a week of negotiation, they were back.

SS: Your two lead actors are great and have wonderful chemistry and comic timing. Is their background in comedy? How did they get involved in this film?

BM: So actually, Jasmuel and Rolapthon are two guys that I know from commercials. I used to do a lot of commercials in Haiti, mostly comedy. Both of them, actually, were in theater. Both of them have comic sensibilities. And so we’ve been doing those funny commercials, we did a lot of them. So I knew them. And when I started writing, actually, I was writing with Doc. So Doc is also a writer. And Doc also did comedy school in Montreal. So it’s a school preparing people to write stand up and things like that.

So I’ve been writing with him. And since I’ve already shot with those two, I knew they were the guys. So as we were writing, we were also sometimes rehearsing the script and sometimes changing the lines, changing the dialogue, as we were writing. So the project got made by also rehearsing together. They are good friends too, so they have a bond together. And since I’ve been working with them, we had a great team.

[This interview has been edited for length and clarity]