I Used to Be Darker

I Used to Be Darker
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Matthew Porterfield
Produced by	Eric Bannat Steve Holmgren Ryan Zacarias
Written by	Amy Belk Matthew Porterfield
Starring	Deragh Campbell Hannah Gross Ned Oldham Kim Taylor
Music by	Linda Cohen
Cinematography	Jeremy Saulnier
Edited by	Marc Vives
Production company	The Hamilton Film Group Steady Orbits Nomadic Independence Pictures
Distributed by	Strand Releasing
Release date	January 19, 2013 (2013-01-19) (Sundance Film Festival)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$42,394
Box office	$22,214

I Used to Be Darker is a 2013 independent drama film set and shot in Maryland, the third feature film directed by Matthew Porterfield.

In July 2011, Matthew Porterfield started raising money to fund the production of I Used to Be Darker via Kickstarter. The project achieved its goal of $40,000 on August 13, 2011.

Porterfield had already known Ned Oldham for several years before casting him as Bill, and Amy Belk went to college with Kim Taylor in the 1990s. After meeting Taylor and seeing her perform, Porterfield "knew almost immediately she had what [he] was looking for". Porterfield first met Hannah Gross and Deragh Campbell when they attended the premiere of his previous film, Putty Hill (2010), but didn't keep in touch with them. He later auditioned Gross, following advice from a friend who is a professor at New York University, where Gross studies in the Experimental Theater Wing. Through Gross, Porterfield later met Campbell and cast them both in the film.

Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 80% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 20 reviews, with a rating average of 7.3 out of 10. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 69, based on ten reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

I Used to Be Darker won the award for Best Narrative Feature at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2013 and Matthew Porterfield won the award for Best Director at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema.