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Your new movie Introducing
Jodea - in a few words, what is it about?
First: Mike thanks for the great review, I appreciate you taking the time to
watch. Introducing
Jodea is a Pygmalion-type story of a very
untalented wannabe actress whose fortunes change when a world-famous
director drives into the back of her car. To
what extent are the goings-on in Introducing
Jodea based on your own Hollywood experiences, and is Jodea in any
way based on yourself? Yes,
in many ways Jodea is based on myself - the clumsiness and the
determination. Much of what is in the film isn't stuff I've
experienced, it's more taking a little of what I've gone through and
blowing it up to make it funny. So I like to make fun of a lot of the
things Hollywood is paranoid about, such as security in agents'
buildings, it being impossible to get to see an agent, being told you
have "the wrong look," which amounts to "you're not
pretty enough." In this version I have Grant the agent
virtually calling Jodea "ugly" to her face and telling her
her "tits are too small." Of course in real life they
"suggest" you get breast implants. In a comedy there's no
such polite talk. (Other) sources of inspiration
when writing Introducing
Jodea? As
you can probably tell, I'm a huge fan of the Pygmalion story and this was
something I wanted to do a modern version of but set in the movie biz.
The initial idea came to me once when running an errand at one of the
top agencies in Australia. I thought "What if a world famous
director were to drive into the back of my car?" And it took off from there. Another thing that inspired me a lot was seeing the huge
gap between rich and poor in Hollywood. Something that really shocked me
when I first came over. I wanted to write about it and portray the two
worlds. Do talk about Introducing
Jodea's approach to comedy! I've
probably said most of that in the previous question. Introducing
Jodea is a way of taking the things in life - in this case the film industry -
and exaggerating them. Making them bigger and funnier. You also play the
title character in Introducing
Jodea - so what can you tell us about her, what did you draw upon
to bring her to life, and have you written her with yourself in mind from
the get-go? And quite frankly, how much fun was it to play a really bad
actress?
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Initially
I had Jodea down as being a practical tomboy kind of girl who is just
not into the Hollywood beauty scene at all. But then as the script
emerged I started to make her more geeky, more clueless, more clumsy, but
at the same time really innocent. I drew upon my own determination for
the role and I also made myself look at life like a kid just out of
school. This is what makes Jodea unique - she's not bitter and
twisted despite the fact she's living in a trailer home and is
basically insulted all the time. She keeps the dream she had as a kid
and still has that innocence. Acting badly was fun - more so
because of Jeff's reactions to me in the initial audition scene. I had
to work to make it bad (sounds funny I know), but when we started
rehearsals, director Jon Coeh kept telling me that I wasn't bad enough, that I had to
be bigger. So I made it bigger and then subsequently put myself into
Jodea's frame of mind which was "This is how it's done." What can you tell us about the rest of your
cast, and how much of a say did you have when it came to casting? Jon
and I cast it together. Judd Nelson was initially attached to play Zac
but the film he was shooting in Europe got delayed and we only had a
small window in which we could shoot ours because Jon was over here on a
visa. Jeff Coppage meanwhile was initially cast as Greg the cheating
boyfriend. So we got all the Greg candidates and auditioned them and
Jeff blew us away. Casting was a lot of fun. Harold was a hard one
to cast but then we thankfully found Ryan Pratton who nailed it. Do
talk about Introducing
Jodea's director Jon Cohen, and what was your collaboration like? Jon
is one of my best friends in the world. He was in fact the first person
I showed the script to 10 years before we shot. He had a lot of input
with the script which was how I knew he would be amazing directing it.
We saw the same thing. We had the same vision which was important.
A
few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? There's
always an intensity on low budget films because you only have X amount
of time to shoot, but the team we had could not have been more
professional. The actors were amazing and gave it their all and it was a
lot of fun. We had some comedians present like Steve Kimbrough who
plays Fred. He would crack us up all the time as his ability to do
improv is really something else. A lot of his lines are things he came
up with on the spot. The same for Ryan who plays Harold. He's amazing
with improv and made up a chunk of Harold's dialogue then and there. The
$64-question of course, where can Introducing
Jodea be seen?
Of
course. Introducing
Jodea is opening at the Laemmle Theaters on
June
4th. And
don't worry if you can't get out the house cause it's available as part
of their virtual screening program as well as in-person screening. Anything you can tell us about
audience and critical reception of Introducing
Jodea yet? So
far very positive. Thankfully. I think it's something people want
to see at the moment in that it's a happy story. I think after the last
year we need more happiness and more to laugh about. It's been
doing really well at the film festivals. We're so far at 9 wins and 13
nominations (including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best
Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Script). Any future projects you'd like to
share?
So
many. Lol. But it's hard to know which one will be the next one. That's
what this business is like, you have to have several projects on the go
and see which one gets snapped up first. What made you want to become an actress in the
first place, and did you receive any formal training on the subject? I've
wanted to be an actress from around age 4 or 5. As soon as I was old
enough to work out that the characters in the movies I was watching
weren't real I knew that was what I wanted to do. I've never done any
formal training at an acting school although I've taken tons of classes.
And yes the trust games they play in Jodea like running into a wall and
not stopping were things we genuinely had to learn to do. I
sucked at those games! And I told Jon we couldn't do the other "
trust" game they make you play in acting class. Standing on a chair
and falling backwards trusting your fellow actors will catch you. How
would you describe yourself as an actress, and some of your techniques to
bring your characters to life? I've
realised I'm a method actress. I really do need to stay in character all
the time on set. As mentioned I did attend numerous classes only
to discover that many of the methods I was being taught just didn't work
for me. This is something that I think is Jodea's problem too. She was
taught the wrong way. I was taught in class about emotional recall,
and it's taken about 10 years for me to realise that emotional recall
doesn't work for me. I can't force myself to be emotional about a memory
that has nothing to do with the scene I'm acting. I have to be the
character in the scene at the moment. You also have a
background in documentary filmmaking - so what can you tell us about that
aspect of your career? And how does working on a hard-hitting documentary
like A Stranger in My Homeland compare to making a romantic comedy
like Introducing Jodea?
I
made A Stranger in my Homeland because I was very passionate about the
situation in my home country Zimbabwe. I'm not a documentary maker but
I'll make a documentary if a subject interests me enough like that
one did. It was incredible to do. I met the most amazing people who had
been tortured and left for dead for their political beliefs. It
was truly inspiring seeing such people able to survive and speak out. I
don't think you can compare the two. The one is reality the other
fantasy. Introducing
Jodea isn't the first film you've written either - so do talk
about yourself as a writer for a bit, and what made you pick up writing in
the first place? Like
acting, writing is something I've always done and known I wanted to do.
But I started writing my own films because in Australia where I was
living at the time there were very little roles being written for women.
That was when I decided to start making things happen. What can you tell us about your
filmwork prior to Introducing
Jodea, in whatever position? There's
so much to tell... lol. I'll just say though that my main loves are
acting and writing. Producing is something I'll do but it's not a love. Actresses, writers,
filmmakers, whoever else who inspire you? So
many. Actress-wise I love Anjelica Huston, Meryl Streep.
Writers and filmmakers - I'm a huge Woody Allen fan. I also love
Bertolucci. I'm a huge fan of foreign movies as well. Any French film I
generally love. Your favourite
movies? I
have a huge range, from Last Tango in Paris to Notting Hill to
My
Fair Lady to the most recent one I saw, an amazing French romantic
comedy called Love Me If You Dare - amazing. ... and of course, films you really deplore? I'm
not a huge fan of action movies. Unlike everyone else I tend to switch
off when there's a lot of action. I lose track of who's hitting who,
which car rolled (the good guy's one or the bad guy's?), etc. Huge
action scenes send me to sleep.
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Your/your
movie's website, social media, whatever else?
My IMDb page is
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2081915/
Facebook:
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Instagram:
#RealChloeTraicos Anything
else you're trying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? I
think most of it was covered. Thanks for a great interview and hope all
your viewers enjoy the film. Thanks
for the interview! You're
welcome
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