Geoffrey Rush Interview: Making Twisted Horror Movie with John Lithgow & An Evil Puppet

From director James Ashcroft, who first rocked the horror community with his feature debut Coming Home in the Dark (2021), comes another Owen Marshall adaptation, The Rule of Jenny Pen, starring stage and screen legends John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush. The movie celebrated its World Premiere at this year's Fantastic Fest where Collider's Perri Nemiroff caught up with Ashcroft and Rush to talk about bringing the short story from page to screen.

In The Rule of Jenny Pen, Judge Stefan Mortensen (Rush) finds himself learning to navigate a new world when a stroke leaves him partially paralyzed and at the mercy of retirement home staff. Things get off to a rocky start for Stefan, who's uncooperative and stubbornly refuses to befriend the other residents, but then takes an especially dark turn when he finds himself at odds with the supposedly sweet Dave Crealy (Lithgow). Crealy secretly terrorizes the home with his dementia doll and his cruel game, "The Rule of Jenny Pen."

Ashcroft and Rush sat down with Nemiroff to chat about the making of the movie that Stephen King says is "one of the best" he's seen this year. They discuss how Ashcroft first dream-cast both Lithgow and Rush 10 years ago, what it was like to work with them on set, and how the movie is different from the original short story. Rush talks about why this was the kind of project he was waiting for, reuniting with Lithgow, and the most joyous moments from production. For all of this and more, check out this interview!

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