Would you stay in a ridiculously cheap apartment if cultists were routinely breaking in to conduct strange rituals? It would be a hard no from me, but Claire and Paul just can’t seem to pass up their posh new apartment in 7 Stages To Achieve Eternal Bliss By Passing Through The Gateway Chosen By The Holy Storsh. The unconventional black comedy, which made its debut at Tribeca Film Festival on April 20, stars Kate Micucci and Sam Huntington as a small town couple from Ohio trying to make it in Los Angeles. There are even cameos from tons of comedy superstars, from Superstore‘s Mark McKinney to Community and Rick and Morty creator Dan Harmon.

Watch my interview with 7 Stages To Achieve Eternal Bliss By Passing Through The Gateway Chosen By The Holy Storsh actors Sam Huntington and Kate Micucci, below:

Sam Huntington shared what enticed him to be a part of this unique project: “My character spends most of the movie in pajamas. That was a huge draw, not going to lie to you. I’m not going to have to do anything to myself, I can just come to work, so that was the only thing that drew me to the film,” he joked on the Tribeca red carpet. “No, it’s a great project. The script is hysterical. The characters are really funny. I love Kate [Micucci] and she was involved. We got to sing some songs and that was cool. It was like a whole medley of fun shit going on.”

Micucci chimed in: “We got to do a hand clap routine!” (You can see them attempt to remember the routine here!) Throughout my interview with the duo, you could really see the easy comedic chemistry and banter they had and how that would flow naturally into the film.

7 Stages revolves around cult members breaking into Claire and Paul’s apartment to enthusiastically and ceremonially off themselves in honor of their former guru. “We had so many great cameos in this movie, so many amazing people,” Micucci told me. “Each one that pops up is a different fun moment.” Huntington continued: “A different flavor of cult member.”

Watch my interview with 7 Stages To Achieve Eternal Bliss By Passing Through The Gateway Chosen By The Holy Storsh actor Mark McKinney, below:

“[Vivieno Caldinelli], who’s the director, is an old friend of mine from Canada and we’ve done a lot of comedy together over the years. He mentioned this part of a cultist and I was immediately intrigued,” Mark McKinney told me on the red carpet about how he got involved in 7 Stages. “The film, as you will see, is really funny. It starts with a fabulous premise. It’s almost like a New York premise because it’s like this couple gets an apartment and it’s crazy cheap and there’s a reason. [At that price] you know there’s something wrong with it!”

Actor Brian Girard was interested in the film the minute he read the script. “The producing team are old friends of mine and they had sent me the script and upon reading it was like anything I can do to be a part of this madness,” he told me. “Especially once the cast started to come together! It became such an ensemble look of some of the greatest comedic actors that are working today. Anything I could do to be part of that I was down so it was an easy sell for me.”

Watch my interview with 7 Stages To Achieve Eternal Bliss By Passing Through The Gateway Chosen By The Holy Storsh actor Brian Girard, below:

When asked what it was like playing the dark role of a cultist in a comedic way, McKinney told me: “You play it straight. He just has to believe he’s there to do something very cult-y. At this point, he’s just totally motivated to go through with what he’s got to do.”

“The comedy just comes through in the performances. It’s such a wild idea,” Girard added. “The darkness is dealing with everyday shit, everyday problems, everyday life, and the comedy comes from within dealing with these conflicts over and over and over again and watching these people try to deal with them. No matter what they try to do it’s going to be fun to watch.”

But as fun as it is to watch the madness play out on the silver screen, Micucci and Huntington would not be into the situation in real life. “I’d be so okay with having 10 roommates rather than having crazy stuff go down,” said Micucci. “Definitely not,” said Huntington. “I don’t think my kids would like that very much. I don’t think the kids would be into people climbing in the window.” He teased Micucci, adding: “I don’t want anybody in my house that I don’t like. Have you been invited?”

7 Stages To Achieve Eternal Bliss By Passing Through The Gateway Chosen By The Holy Storsh is absurd through and through and Girard hopes that audiences have a good time watching it. “It’s full of laughs. It’s fun. It’s just the right amount of weird,” he said. “If you come out of a movie with that kind of a feeling I think it’s a good cinematic experience.”

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