In the horror comedy “I Don’t Understand You,” Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells play Dom and Cole, a married couple seeking an Italian getaway while in the exhaustive process of looking to adopt. However, just as they receive good news, a trip to the countryside results in the two getting lost, and this minor mistake sets off a series of increasingly terrible encounters as the night gets a lot bloodier.
Directed by David Joseph Craig and Brian Crano (“Permission”), the film leans into the darker comedic moments and the realities of being in a long-term relationship. That realism helps ground the heightened moments that increase in frequency throughout. While Kroll and Rannells have worked together for years on the Netflix adult-animated series “Big Mouth,” this is their first time working on screen together. We spoke to the two about the draws of the script, building likable but deeply flawed characters, and eating bad Mexican food in Italy.
READ MORE: Summer 2025 Movie Preview: 50 Films To Watch
When reading the script, was there a specific element or moment that made you want to do it?
Nick Kroll: It was the email I read before the script that said Andrew Rannells was also being offered the part, and I think from that moment on, I was intrigued. Then I read the script and saw how both parts were written to our voices in a way that made it clear that this could be fun and easy to drop into, specifically with Andrew.
Andrew Rannells: Same, and it was so helpful to read it for the first time, with Nick’s voice in my head.
Unfortunately, I watched the trailer before the film – rookie mistake – and was spoiled by the twist. When you first read the script, did you see the twist coming?
Andrew Rannells: That’s a good question. I don’t feel like when they sent it to us, I necessarily knew where it was going to go. I knew it was a dark comedy, but I don’t think they included the logline, and that’s how it ended. So I was surprised. And it was exciting because we got to take this film to SXSW last year, and that was the first time we’d seen it with an audience, so it was super satisfying to see their surprise.
Nick Kroll: Genuinely, it’s an interesting thing when you’re marketing a movie and telling a story of what happens in the film, and whether audiences want or need some sense of what will happen, or if they will be genuinely surprised by it. Watching it with an audience as they discover what happens in real time was very gratifying. It’s an entertaining twist. So I guess depending on how you come in – if you come in knowing there’s a twist, you can watch it one way, but if you can’t tell, you go in cold, I think just knowing something will go down is also good. I think it was intended for how we conceived it.
It’s a bit of a departure for both of you with the horror elements. Was that another part of the draw, and does it make you want to dabble more in horror?
Andrew Rannells: It was certainly not anything I’d ever done before, and it was very exciting. We had Nash Edgerton, our stunt coordinator, who put together all of those big sequences, which were unlike anything I’d ever done.
Nick Kroll: I think when you’re trying to figure out a movie or a show or anything to do, if you have the luxury to decide, it’s fun, and I always enjoy doing new things. That felt like a real opportunity to try some stunt work, shoot abroad, and all those new and different elements. I would have signed on to do anything with Andrew, but doing this kind of movie felt exciting and fun.
The directors mentioned that the characters are loosely based on their neurosis – how was it to embody that? Does it add to the stress of playing a character, or is it fun to be able to interpret the people you’re working with?
Andrew Rannells: It was beneficial, especially at the beginning, to see their interactions. It’s a very accurate thing to say. For example, these characters aren’t 100% based on them. But there are certain elements, and the neurosis is accurate. But I think what both of us took away from watching them work is that they are such a great team as writers and directors, and they’re always presenting this united front.
And that’s something I was attracted to in the script because our characters never really break. There’s never a moment where they’re like, “What the f*** are you doing?” We always help and support each other. As insane as things get in this movie, they stay together, which is pretty impressive. And that speaks to both Brian and David’s relationship and the relationship between Cole and Dom.
That’s an excellent point because I do get frustrated when there’s that forced tension when there doesn’t need to be. Like, isn’t there already enough going on?
Andrew Rannells: Yeah, we didn’t need, like, a false breakup or something in the third act.
Nick Kroll: I think that is the benefit of basing or using things from a real couple. Like we’re in this together. We’ll have highs and lows, and one of us might have to step up while the other person freaks out, but we’re always together on this journey. And it’s not a question of will-they-won’t-they as a couple as much as it is will-they-won’t-they be able to get home and adopt this child that they’ve been trying to do for many years. The possibility of it finally coming true just as the circumstances facing them in Italy become more fraught.
What was the balance of making Cole and Dom likable while inherently flawed and doing all these increasingly terrible things? Because by the end of the film, you’re still rooting for them, which makes you question yourself. Have you seen any divide in how people react?
Andrew Rannells: The few times we have seen it with an audience, they are strangely going along with us and rooting for us to get away with it [laughs].
Nick Kroll: You have to earn it by feeling invested in the couple and what they’re after from the beginning, and then watching them fight for that allows for a lot of leeway for some wild shit to go down.
I’m curious because while watching, and I’m not a parent, so I’m maybe not motivated in the same way, but I kept thinking that when the car breaks down, I wouldn’t have even gotten out. I would’ve been in there until the sun came up. While reading, was there ever a moment where you were like, yeah, this would be a tap-out point?
Nick Kroll: I’ve thought about it a lot when it’s like zombie movies if ‘uh oh, everyones dying from the zombies’ I think I’d just kind of roll over and be like “let’s go, eat my brains, I don’t want to be living in some f****d up shack.”
Andrew Rannells: No – I don’t even like camping. To be on the run. But I agree with you, I think I’m probably at the point – I wouldn’t have even left the city. I wouldn’t have left Rome. I’d be like, “We’re going to eat here. We’re not driving out to the country.”
Nick Kroll: Let’s find the McDonald’s—nothing like Italian McDonald’s fries.
What was your experience shooting on location in Italy?
Andrew Rannells: There was a certain point while staying there where I was just done with pasta. I couldn’t do it anymore. And I walked way too far to get a subpar burrito. Because I was like, I need something that’s not carbonara. So I found this Mexican place in Rome and it was pretty terrible, but I went there three or four times while we were shooting. I was wondering if I could get a burrito or a quesadilla up here? Is that so much to ask?
Nick Kroll: And I tried to franchise out of –
Andrew Rannells: You tried to open up a Papa John’s there.
Nick Kroll: I opened a Papa John’s pizza there to a ton of protests for many reasons, and that was also sort of another journey for another day. I’ll come back to do press on that, a true-crime documentary.
Andrew Rannells: You should have combined it with Taco Bell pizza. We should go back and do that.
Nick Kroll: Everyone likes their goddamn gelato meanwhile I’m trying to open a Baskin Robbins.
Andrew Rannells: Can’t we get a Pinkberry in Rome? Jesus.
“I Don’t Understand You” is out now in limited theaters via Vertical.
