Your new movie All
Through the House - in a few words, what is it about, and what can
you tell us about your character in it?
All
Through the House
is a Christmas themed 80’s throwback slasher
flick written and directed by my brother, Todd Nunes [Todd Nunes
interview - click here]. My character,
Rachel Kimmel comes home for the holidays. She has abandonment issues
and starts to unfold a mystery she’s been longing for. Fortunately,
it’s a slasher film, so we get lots of gore, kills, and the creepiest Santa
ever!
What did you
draw upon to bring your character to life, and how much Ashley Mary Nunes
can we find in Rachel? My oldest brother Robert, who passed
away when I was 16, was a huge source of inspiration for my character,
Rachel. I have a million in one questions for Robert that I will never
have answered. I feel like Rachel took a lot of risks trying to get
answers and I believe I would take those same risks. So, I guess I brought
a little bit of Ashley Mary Nunes.
With All
Through the House being a slasher movie, is that at all a genre
dear to you?
Absolutely! I was born and raised loving the horror genre. I can’t
imagine my life without the gore, the scares, the screams, and all of my
brother’s terrifying stories and pranks. I grew up admiring Jamie Lee
Curtis and knew from a young age that I wanted to be just like her, a
final girl.
From what I know, you've already been in an
earlier incarnation of All
Through the House, Here Comes Santa - so do talk about that
movie for a bit, and the process of developing it into a feature, as far
as you were involved? Here Comes Santa is a
Christmas-themed horror short that Todd and I did in 2011 with Melynda Kiring who
plays Mrs. Garrett in All
Through the House. We shot the short in one day
while visiting our family back home. The backstories are completely
different, but the idea of a Santa
killer is well, the same. When Todd was
approached with writing a script he instantly wanted to improve Here Comes
Santa. I remember Todd pacing back and forth brewing up ideas for All
Through the House. And that’s where it began.
All
Through the House's director is also your brother and frequent
collaborator, Todd [Todd Nunes
interview - click here] - so what's working with him usually like?
I am a huge Todd Nunes fan! I love working with my brother, so of course
I would jump on any opportunity that I can just to work with him. Todd
knows that he can push me past my limits and that I will deliver. I
trust him 100%. Plus, we have my entire lifetime working with each
other.
Ashley with Todd Nunes
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What
can you tell us about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? There
was a lot of passion on set. Without passion, I don’t think we would
have accomplished what we did. We were on a micro-budget, where every
dollar counts. We were fighting ‘time’ day in and day out. We worked
long restless hours and no one complained. We were making a movie! You're
also in the upcoming Safe Place - so what's that one about, and
what's your character in there?
Safe Place is about a man who suffers through a horrific tragedy that
involves his family. He decides to live his life in isolation and fears
the world around him. He crosses paths with a group of friends in the
prime of their lives and vows to save them. Even if it means
taking them out.
So how are you preparing
for your role in Safe Place? I can’t give away too
many details about my character at the moment. But I will be approaching
this role the same way I do with all my roles. I will find the
“Ashley” within my character and build from there. I will be playing a
kick ass role, so watch out! Do talk about Safe
Place's director Nicholas Hunt [Nicholas
Hunt interview - click here] for a bit, and what's your
collaboration like so far?
When Nick approached me about a
role for his film, I was ecstatic! Nick is a huge horror fan and knows the
genre really well. He’s very passionate about his work, so I am grateful
to be a part of his team on Safe Place. You have to have passion! He’s
working hard as we speak and I look forward to shooting. Any other future projects
you'd like to share? I am currently working alongside my
brother on our next horror feature, Death Ward 13. It is a reimagining of
the 70’s cult classic, Don’t Look In The
Basement. I can’t reveal my
role in this film just yet, but I can say that I am the model on the
poster. I am very excited to be working with Todd again. Going through your bio, you seem to
have had a very colourful career that includes track and field athlete and
probation counselor, and you've a degree in psychology - so how did this
past of yours prepare you for your acting career, and what made you pick
up acting eventually? And did you receive any formal training on the
subject? I was involved with pageants, modeling, and acting
at a young age. I put acting on hold when I went to Middle School. From
that point on I became a full time athlete with Track and Field being my
priority. I got a lot of praise as a runner, so I continued to run and
received a scholarship to California State University, Stanislaus in
Turlock, CA. I ran the 400 meters, 400 meter hurdles, and the Mile Relay.
I majored in psychology and graduated with honors. I later became a probation
counselor. I think at this point I realized I was just settling.
That this was not what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I was born
to entertain. I was born to SCREAM! I had to make a change. I will take
all those life experiences and apply them to my character developments in
future roles. What can you tell us about your filmwork prior
to All Through the
House and Safe Place? Just prior to moving
to Hollywood, I saw an ad on my Facebook page looking for actors to submit
footage of a couple of short scenes for a horror feature called Redd Inc.,
directed by Daniel Krige. It was a contest, and in my eyes a long shot. I
called up Todd and told him the scene and asked him for his direction.
With my neighborhood backing me, we filmed the scene and submitted it. And
I won! My scene was featured in the movie's opening sequence now titled
Inhuman Resources. It is distributed by Fangoria. That was the trigger I
needed to get back in the game. The film turned out great and something I
am proud of.
Besides acting,
you've also been competing in SyFy's
Robot Combat League - so you obviously have to talk about that
experience for a bit? Robot Combat League was the
experience of a lifetime. I still can’t believe to this day that I
controlled and fought with 8ft tall giant robots! For those who don’t
know the show, it’s a competition series where teams of two coordinate
fighting skills together, rock ‘em sock ‘em style. I honestly went
into it not really expecting to go far. I lost touch with my competitive
side for a while and this show definitely brought the fire back. We made
it to the finale and placed runner-up. Forever Team Steampunk! Any other talents of yours you'd
like to share? I am very athletic and quick to pick up
techniques. I may not be the best with swords, but if I trained, I would
probably kick a lot of ass. How would you describe yourself as an
actress, and some of your techniques to bring your characters to life? I
would say that I am pretty versatile as an actress. I believe there is
always room to grow and risks to take. I don’t look at actors or
actresses as guidelines to how I would approach a character or scene. I
don’t want to imitate characters that have been done before, because we
are all different. Not one person is the same. I like to give a good
backstory and find myself within the character. Actresses
(and indeed actors) who inspire you?
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I have so much love
for my all time favorite Friend... Jennifer Aniston. She’s my kind of
funny. But I am also a huge fan a Jamie Lee Curtis, who also happens to be
my kind of funny. There's also something about Kevin Spacey that
absolutely intrigues me. He could be talking about a doorknob and I would
be listening lol. He definitely inspires me to want to work on finding my
voice and delivery. Your favourite
movies?
My all time number one favorite horror movie is John Carpenter’s Halloween. The opening POV sequence of young Michael still
fascinates me to this day. I’m also a huge DC Comics fan and I have
been waiting my whole lifetime for a Wonder Woman movie. After seeing
Gal Gadot on screen in Dawn of Justice and the Wonder Woman movie
trailer, I am very confident that Wonder Woman will be my favorite movie
ever! June 2017!
... and of course, films you really deplore? You
know, I can’t say that I 100% deplore a film. There are certain topics
that I choose not to watch (close my eyes). Like, unnecessary rape scenes,
with the remake of The Last House On The Left being an exception. Even
though it was extremely hard to watch the rape scene, the movie was done
extremely well and it paid off in the end. Your
website, Facebook, whatever else? I keep my social media
accounts pretty active. You can find me on Instagram @girl1der2002,
Twitter @girl1der, Facebook AshleyMaryNunes, and Snapchat girl1der2002.
And by visiting my website,
www.ashleymarynunes.com
Anything else you're
dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Yes,
you can now buy and rent All
Through the House from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu,
and all major VOD platforms. You can also find more about my projects by
searching All
Through the House, Death Ward 13, and Safe
Place on IMDb and like and follow the social media accounts for
updates. Thanks
for the interview!
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