As the writer-producer-director and star, Michael Angelo Covino knew what he wanted with his farcical comedy “Splitsville.”

Here, two couples – Covino and Dakota Johnson and Kyle Marvin and Adria Arjona — have a weekend in the country that combusts into desire and violence with issues about divorce and monogamy versus an “open” marriage.

“It started,” Covino, 40, said in a virtual interview, “with a desire to really just do a screwball comedy. Kind of a sex comedy that was a throwback to those old films from the ’70s that dealt with subject matter like this and just would go off the rails. They were a ton of fun.

“Like Lina Wertmüller films or ‘Divorce Italian Style.’ These outrageous, almost farcical films. But they were always grounded in emotion. I just think there was a heritage of bold, audacious, like screwball comedies that also dealt with cheating and betrayal and jealousy.

“Kyle, who wrote the film with me, we love writing about characters who are extremely flawed — but we can laugh at those flaws. We can put them through situations and watch how they flail about and make bad decisions and bump into each other — or smash into each other in this case! There’s catharsis and a lot of humor to be found in it.

“It also felt very, sort of, ripe at the moment. Because these are conversations going on — and then these are conversations that were probably going on 500 years ago. But they’re certainly going on right now. About monogamy and infidelity and the challenges of relationships. I just felt like this was a fun subject to explore.”

A spectacular aspect of the “Splitsville” experience is how we see the intensely physical battles, complete with crashing furniture and flying glass, are not stunt doubles but Covino and Marvin.

“The fact that you noticed it is part of why we did it,” Covino said. “I believe there’s something subconscious that happens when you’re watching a movie. You go, ‘Wait, is this really happening?’

“Because a lot of time we’re watching and we know that everything we’re watching is fake. Everything.

“So when you recognize that it’s the actor doing the thing, it breathes a little more energy into the experience. Like, ‘Whoa! what I’m watching is something really happening right now.’ And I perk up.

“The other thing is, it gave us an opportunity to incorporate comedy and lines into the fight sequence in a way we wouldn’t get to if we were using stunt performers.

“I could smash through a table and in the same instance deliver a funny line or throw something at him. Or even improvise. That was very important to us: To approach it differently.”

“Splitsville” is in theaters Friday

Michael Angelo Covino balances on a chart as he poses for a portrait to promote “Splitsville” earlier this month in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)