Director Paul Bunnell on making A Blind Bargain with Crispin Glover, son of Bruce

By: Mark Cerulli

Published:
2025-11-12

Paul Bunnell, A Blind Bargain, Crispin Glover, review

As a friend of Bruce Glover’s, there were many times he would proudly talk about his gifted son Crispin Glover – including a story from the set of Diamonds Are Forever (1971) where Sean Connery bopped the young lad on the nose and said, “You’ll make a good James Bond one day.” Well, that hasn’t happened – yet – but Crispin can soon be seen in an inventive new indie film, A Blind Bargain (2025).

If the title sounds familiar, it’s because 103 years ago Lon Chaney made a film with the same name, based on Barry Pain’s 1897 novel The Octave of Claudius. Sadly, the Chaney version is now lost but Executive Producer John Falotico felt it was ripe for a reboot. Originally, another director was involved but when that low budget attempt fell apart, in stepped Paul Bunnell, a seasoned filmmaker with 10 projects under his belt along with a wealth of movie knowledge. He brought all his skills to bear in telling this tale of a Vietnam vet (Jake Horowitz) who owes money to a nasty local thug (Rob Mayes). Desperate for a payday he enrolls his own mother (brilliantly played by veteran actress Amy Wright) as a test subject for an experimental age reversal therapy. He gets the cash he needs but at what cost is it to his mother?

“It really fell into my lap, Bunnell told From Sweden with Love. “It wasn’t a film I set out to make, but I said, ‘I can do this for you, but we need to make it as a professional film.’” Armed with a now serious budget and a crew of trusted colleagues from previous projects, Bunnell commissioned a new script from writer Bing Bailey, which he and Falotico rewrote.

A Blind Bargain, Jake Horowitz, Jed Rowen, Amy Wright, Crispin Glover

A Blind Bargain, Jake Horowitz, Jed Rowen, Amy Wright, Crispin Glover

Paul Bunnell directing Jake Horowitz, Jed Rowen, Amy Wright and Crispin Glover in A Blind Bargain. Photo by Sara Ross-Samko. Copyright © 2025 A Blind Bargain Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.

“I’m a monster kid, I love all that old stuff... and I’m very pleased with the film because I got to do something like one of those old Night Gallery TV shows,” Bunnell said. A Blind Bargain is set in 1970, and the director embraced that challenge. “One of the great things about doing a period piece is I can really go to town with the art direction and costumes.” He then adds with a laugh, “I was pretty young in 1970, but I do basically remember it, and we did a pretty darn good job of capturing it.” Also adding to the film’s look were atmospheric title artwork and paintings by his wife, Claudia MacLeod.

Bunnell still needed to find the perfect actor to play “Dr. Gruder”, the evil genius conducting the anti-aging experiments at his mysterious clinic. He reached out to several noted genre actors including Brad Dourif but word came back that after a 50-year career, he was retired. Then a light bulb went on: “Crispin Glover just popped into my head.” Bunnell’s casting agent put feelers out and the actor liked the script. “We did a 90-minute Zoom call and one of the reasons he wanted to do the movie was because it was going to be shot on film and he was a big silent movie fan.” Bunnell’s decision to shoot on Super 16MM paid off in landing Crispin and giving the movie a retro, grainy look. “I’ve never shot on digital... everything I’ve ever made was shot on a film camera of some kind.” But as any filmmaker knows, film itself is notoriously unforgiving. “It takes a lot of discipline; you can’t keep rolling the camera and doing endless takes. You have to have everything pre-planned out, which I always do.”

Once in production, Bunnell worked well with his star. “Crispin kept me on my toes,” he chuckled, “he comes in with ideas and sometimes they’d be expressed moments before we were about to roll the camera! But they always made the film better and I knew he was serious about it.” Crispin Glover turns in a delightful, trippy performance as the enigmatic doctor out to turn back the hands of time at any cost.

Paul Bunnell directing Crispin Glover in A Blind Bargain

Although they never discussed his father’s Bond role, the director included a sly homage to the famous dinner scene in Diamonds Are Forever where Mr. Wint is about to serve Bond a final meal. In A Blind Bargain, “Crispin’s Dr. Gruder holds out a bottle of wine and says, ‘1940, a good year’ with kind of a smirk on his face... Every time I see that scene, I think of his father in Diamonds Are Forever holding the wine out for Bond.”

A Blind Bargain comes across as an almost surreal experience in an America that is no more, filled with big cars, cheap gas, wide lapels and young people dealing with the daily reality of Vietnam. Every actor in the film delivers. “I’m very particular about the cast,” Bunnell admits, “I don’t cast somebody because they’re a friend, they have to be right for the role.” Initially reluctant to leave New York for the grind of making a movie, Amy Wright took the plunge once she learned that Crispin wanted to work with her. She turned in a stellar performance at age 75, bewildered yet canny. “We got along swimmingly,” the director laughs. Another memorable character actor, Jed Rowen plays “Logos”, Dr. Gruder’s henchman. “With Paul I did two once-in-a-lifetime movies,” the actor says, recalling their collaboration on The Ghastly Love of Johnny X. As for working with Crispin, Rowen said, “I was impressed by how down to earth and transparent he was about the acting process.” “Jed and Crispin worked well together,” Bunnell noted.

A main theme of the film is Dr. Gruder’s search for perfection and eternal youth – which fits perfectly with the film’s LA setting. “We’re always looking to go back because we remember things differently than they actually happened,” Bunnell offers. “Compared to today, yesterday was always better.”

A Blind Bargain will be getting an international release in the near future so watch out for it – coming to a theater or streaming platform near you! Crispin also has another project in release, No, You’re Wrong, a film he made with his father in the Czech Republic, which was recently screened in select theaters in the US followed by a Q&A with Crispin himself.

Official trailer for A Blind Bargain starring Crispin Glover

Another 007 connection in A Blind Bargain is the film's editor, Russell Harnden III, who edited all the US trailers for Pierce Brosnan's James Bond films. Small world.

Text by Mark Cerulli. Copyright © 2025 From Sweden with Love. All rights reserved.

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Director Paul Bunnell on making A Blind Bargain with Crispin Glover, son of Bruce

Official trailer for A Blind Bargain starring Crispin Glover

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