Jacob Tierney's film career launched in 1993, at the age of thirteen, when he starred—alongside Joan Allen, Martha Plimpton and a young Jake Gyllenhaal—in the adolescent road trip comedy/drama Josh and S.A.M. For the next ten years, the Quebec-born actor was cast in relatively obscure independent films featuring legendary character actors, such as Neon Bible (produced by his father, Kevin Tierney, and starring Gena Rowlands) and Rainbow (directed by and starring Bob Hoskins). In 2003, he made his directing and writing debut with Twist, an adaptation of “Oliver Twist,” and its success in Canada granted Tierney the opportunity to shoot a higher-budget film: The Trotsky, released last year to acclaim and starring geeky heartthrob Jay Baruchel of Knocked Up fame.

For Good Neighbors (which comes out today), Tierney, once again at the directing helm, cast Baruchel and Trotsky co-star Emily Hampshire, as well as Scott Speedman (most known for the TV drama Felicity) as three ill-at-ease neighbors in a dimly-lit Montreal apartment building. Adapted from Chrystine Brouillet's noirish 1982 story Chère Voisine, this black comedy concerns a serial killer on the loose, a war between an equally demented cat killer and cat enthusiast, and one of the more grotesque murder sequences of late. Screen Comment talked with Tierney about his favorite early acting experiences, his break into directing and his distaste for setting movies in our current Internet-dominated era.