‘Bad Education’ Director Cory Finley Doesn’t Pass Judgment on His Characters

When he was in high school, Cory Finley starred as Sonny in a production of “Grease.” At the time, he didn’t care that he was playing “one of [lead character] Danny Zuko’s deadbeat friends,” he says, laughing. All he could see was how great it was to be the youngest member of the ensemble. He was a freshman or sophomore (he can’t remember which) and the rest of the cast were all seniors, “so, despite the minor role, I thought it was really cool to get to hang with the big kids,” he continues.

Almost two decades later, the now-31-year-old found himself back in high school. This time, his role was far from minor: He was directing “Bad Education,” the HBO film inspired by a real-life case that’s been described as the largest public school embezzlement scandal in American history. 

“Bad Education” takes a look back at what feels like too-recent history. The film, set in 2002, stars Hugh Jackman as Frank Tassone, the suave superintendent of Roslyn School District on Long Island, who, unbeknownst to his staff and students, is using school funds to pay for an extravagant lifestyle of custom suits, plastic surgery, and travel. 

“I knew Hugh first as a superhero, then as an amazing singer and dancer,” says Finley. “So one of the joys of this role was seeing him do something so different from what he’s best known for.” In Finley’s first film, “Thoroughbreds,” which he also wrote, two young women rekindle a friendship in order to commit a murder. That project’s tone displayed Finley’s ability to dig deep into characters without snapping to moral judgments.

He achieves the same with “Bad Education,” which never feels like a sensationalist look at the amorality of affluent suburbs, but instead is a humanistic take on how seemingly innocuous decisions can lead well-intentioned people down a path of crime. When he directs actors, Finley remains respectful of the screenplay (“Bad Education” was written by Mike Makowsky) but also allows actors room for improvisation. 

In fact, one of the film’s most memorable moments—in which Frank, who’s following a strict low-carb diet, is teased by his co-worker Pam (Allison Janney, in top form), who dangles a sandwich in front of him—was completely improvised. That’s what happens when “you have these really pro, experienced actors riffing on each other,” says the director.

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For the look of the film, Finley was inspired by “All the President’s Men,” which “finds real poetry in not traditionally pretty institutions.” Going back to 2002 also forced Finley to come to terms with the passage of time. “It was surprising going back,” he says. Before he and director of photography Lyle Vincent, costume designer Alex Bovaird, and production designer Meredith Lippincott began diving into the specifics of the look of the film, the time period felt closer than it was. “As soon as we started looking back at old yearbooks and old photos and just seeing the fashion alone, [we realized] it was so deeply different from what it is right now,” says the filmmaker.

Vincent’s camera, guided by Finley, captures moments in which the unremarkable fluorescent lights of diners and offices illuminate the complex beauty of people we only know about because they happened to do things that are either extraordinary or heinous.

“Bad Education” was screened at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, where HBO bought it for a whopping $17.5 million. The film, released in late April, showed the director that there could be a new kind of audience reaction. “It was there immediately for the whole world, [and] it gives me hope that we can still have sort of a communal experience around art and entertainment even when we’re all stuck in our homes on a Friday,” he says excitedly. “Although I hope it’s not the only kind we can have going forward.”

This story originally appeared in the Aug. 13 issue of Backstage Magazine. Subscribe here.