I had the pleasure of sitting down with Oscar-nominated directors Sam and David Cutler-Kruetz to discuss their latest short film, Trapped (2025). Our conversation was nothing short of delightful. The film tells the story of a school janitor who, due to childcare struggles, is forced to bring his young son to work. As the night unfolds, a series of unexpected challenges threaten both his job and his reputation at an elite high school. The Cutler-Kruetz brothers bring a deep passion to their storytelling and a remarkable synergy to their collaboration. With Trapped, they continue to prove that they are rising talents worth following.
Where did the idea for this film come from?
David- “It’s one of those ones that we’ve been thinking about for some time. We grew up, our mom was a teacher. And so, we grew up at a private school and we grew up as little kids running around the halls as kind of observers in many ways. And many of the issues that I think the film touches on were conversations that were happening around the dinner table for us throughout our whole life growing up and really seeing the dynamics between students, faculty and staff and really starting to try and understand the power dynamics that happen in private schools in this country and throughout the world. And so I think in many ways that’s kind of where the film was born and where the concept of the film was born.”
Your actors in this film are incredible. I thought their performances were amazing. What was the casting process was like?
Sam- “We had the privilege of working with Matthew Glasner who is a really talented casting director in New York City just for the lead role of Javier. He did an amazing job helping us find actors and we were just instantly drawn to Javier. As soon as we saw his tapes we were like, wow this guy is just kind of the guy that we just knew off the bat. The rest of the cast was assembled by us. We spent a lot of time going through casting reels, looking for the right combination of high school boys. Matt Woodward, who was the lead boy, he had never been in a film before. This was his first role. And so he was 18 years old. He’s gone on to go to NYU and is a really incredible actor. We kind of took a little risk on him, and I think he really did an amazing job. And then we’d seen Keith in Uncut Gems and we thought he was amazing and had just incredible presence and a great look and we reached out to him and we were lucky enough to have him get involved in the project. I think he brought a real energy that only Keith can bring, a guy who we come to really love and someone who I hope we can work with again as well, along with all these people, it was very exciting.”
This film and Aileen have such a tense atmosphere that really keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. I certainly was when I watched it. What drew you to this kind of theme throughout both of these films?
David- “I don’t think we actually set out to make both films so tense. Yeah. It’s funny how it happens that way. We really thought about with A Lien, our past film, we were really interested in the sense of claustrophobia and we were interested in the walls closing in on you. In Trapped, it’s very much the opposite. We’re really interested in the spookiness of being in an empty space, feeling the vacuum of space, feeling the fact that you’re in a school, which is a place that we all know but it’s twisted. It’s at night and you haven’t ever been there before. And you hear something boom down a hallway and you’re hearing the pipes hissing and you’re really feeling the space in a lot of different ways. And so for us, we felt like that really gave a new light and a very different feel to a space that folks knew.”
Sam- “With the tension you bring up, I think it just the films that we like to watch. Like, I think in some ways we’re not big horror fans exactly, but I do think we are fans of films that have a pretty good pace, a good clip. And so I think, the stylistic parts of the film, the similarities in some ways is a response to the things that we want to see and what makes it exciting for us versus intentionally going after that. Also with the short as well, we know you’re competing with programmers or with people online who are watching it. People’s attention spans are pretty short. And I think trying to find a way to make your film sort of like unturn-offable is important. And it’s so easy to close the window on your computer or look at your phone or do something else. In the feature film you’re trapped in a in a dark room and it’s kind of awkward to be on your phone though these days there’s less stigma there. Trying to find a way for a short to be really riveting right away is important.”
And just going off of what you just said about the types of films that you like to watch, what kind of films inspired this one?
Sam-“I’m not sure there’s any kind of like specific movie where like, oh, we saw this film, we want to do a film like this. I think there’s a little bit of Parasite (2019) in here. We really love No Country for Old Men (2007). That’s not related exactly, but there are some similarities here. We’re interested in filmmakers and films that really can kind of grab you. I don’t know if we had any distinct references for this. “
David- “A lot of times we just go back to films that we love and try to look at what is it that they’re doing? Go back to Jurassic Park and films like that where we’re like, how does that work? How are you in the moment when the T-Rex gets loose and you see the water move based on the sound. What are those techniques, even though they’re not obviously related to our film directly.”
Sam- “This film felt very much pulled from memory more than it did pulled from references. Our references were our experiences. Not that we went through this exact thing. Obviously I’ve never set that many rat traps up, well I did because we did it for the film, but I’ve never done that before this. I think there’s a certain memory of what high school was like, what high school kids were like and our experiences, you know, again, being with our mom after school with all the lights turned off as a little kid, it’s really scary. You wander off down a hallway, you turn around, there’s nobody around and you’re like this is an abandoned nuclear power plant or something. It’s really spooky. We’re trying to invoke that childhood memory. That is the reference for us.”
I found with both of your short films, there is this theme of being contained or trapped. With A Lien it is the ICE system with immigration or the class system as presented in Trapped. Do you find yourselves drawn to this theme of being trapped?
David- “It’s a good question. It’s interesting. I don’t think I had thought exactly about A Lien through the lens of being trapped. I don’t think it was intentional that those were themes. I mean, other than I think there’s a real intentionality on our side of trying to make films that we think are about topics that interest us. And so many of our films are just born through conversation. Sam and I are just in conversation with each other about what’s happening in the world and what we’re thinking about and what we’re feeling. So I think in the connection kind of lies there more than saying it was specifically about being trapped. For us in, in Trapped, once we started to put together a space of rat traps and we already kind of knew the thematics of the film, all those pieces clicked together.”
The actual mousetraps in the film, were they there to represent or be a metaphor for something else within the film or was it just the literal?
Sam- “I think the idea of traps and characters being trapped in the gym and being trapped in their lives and everyone’s being trapped in this power cycle that exists certainly goes back to the title. The traps themselves are not necessarily metaphoric in any specific way though I do think this series of obstacles that exists in some ways is metaphoric. We both were trying to figure out what the right prank was for the film. For a long time, it was chickens before it was rat traps. We spent a lot of time talking about pranks and different possibilities. Finding the rat traps and the idea of trapped as a central metaphor for the film it was a moment where we both realized this actually could be cool.”
Obviously, you guys are brothers. How did your filmmaking journey begin? What’s it like working with each other? When did you decide that you were going to be this director pairing?
David- “It’s been such a delight. It was certainly not something that either of us ever expected. Interestingly, we grew up without a TV. We grew up just telling stories together. And so when we first started writing together and making things together, it was shocking to both of us. And then, of course, no surprise at all in that, in the funny kind of hindsight is, you know, it’s 2020. It just really came about because we both love telling stories and we love telling stories with each other. We’ve done it ever since we were kids.”
Sam- “I guess it’s hard to imagine directing without David in some ways. I don’t really know how people do it alone. Directing is such a hard thing. Writing is such a hard thing. How to do it without a partner, without somebody you trust super deeply and is a highly intelligent, capable person. There are so many moments on set and in the process in general, where I just like, couldn’t, I don’t know what I would do without David. I don’t know how I would function. I think I’ve been really lucky to be able to work with my closest friend that feels like it’s continued to be fun. It’s easy to lose the fun, I think. I think it’s continued for both of us to be a really good time. And so we keep doing it because we like doing it and we like doing it together. I feel blessed maybe is the best word for it.”
You both got Oscar nominated in 2023. Congratulations on that. Can you tell me about what your reaction was to that? How did you find out? What was the whole process like?
Sam- “It was crazy. I think we didn’t expect to be the case. You never know. It’s a big pool of movies. You don’t quite know what’s going to happen. So I think, there are these prediction websites that come up. I think one of the shortlists happens, there’s a prediction, like gold Derby or whatever, starts doing odds for who the thing’s going to win. And when the shortlist was announced and A Lien was on the shortlist, we were at the very bottom of the list, 100 to 1 odds to make the nomination. I I think by the time we stepped out of the red carpet the morning of the Oscars, we were like number one, which is a crazy experience. It was really fun for us to get to go through a process. We met a lot of really amazing people on the way, salespeople, PR people, EPs, a really incredible mix. Plus bringing our incredible team along with us for the ride. It was a really incredible experience. Trapped obviously is longlisted this year for the Oscars. And I’m hoping that people will see it and enjoy it, but who knows. It’s exciting to let the voters decide what they want to do. I hope this will resonate similarly, but you never know. And I feel lucky we got to do it at least once and maybe we’ll get to do it twice. That’d be pretty fun.”
David- “One of the things that was the most surprising to me about the process was the number of people who then went out and saw the film. Obviously that’s the goal. That’s the dream of making these is that they go out and resonate with people. It’s that someone sees the project and sees a part of themselves or can empathize with someone else or learn something or engage in some way. That was such a delight to see people out there reacting to the film. And so one of the things that makes me most excited for this upcoming Oscar season is just simply the hope that the film gets out there and that more people are able to see Trapped and engage with it and hopefully be able to take something away.”
Sam- “We had a church group call me yesterday from Massachusetts who wanted to screen A Lien. This is a year after the Oscars is over or six months or whatever. I think unfortunately the sad reality of the situation with A Lien is that it kind of came to pass in some way. it was almost predictive of the future. Trapped is a little less prescriptive in its story but the themes are equally salient in our current moment and people hopefully will respond to them the same way.”
Do you have any upcoming projects that you can talk about? Anything that’s in the works? Anything you guys are writing?
David- “Yeah, we’re hard at work on our debut feature. So that’s super exciting. If you have liked our past work, you’re going to love the feature. It’s really fun, really exciting. It’s a real ride. So we’re super excited to share it upcoming at some point. So definitely keep an eye out for it.”
Megan Hilborne (Instagram: meghillbilly) is a freelance writer and film critic based in Portsmouth. She graduated with a degree in Film in 2020 and has continued her study of the medium in her day-to-day life. She takes particular interest in indie, horror, feminist and queer cinema.
