Your new movie Silent
But Deadly - in a few words, what is it about? And what can you
tell us about your character in it?
Silent
But Deadly
is a quirky comedy/horror that all takes place in
a retirement home. I play Kitty, the activities director. Kitty is the
type of girl that loves attention and tight dresses. As an actress, what
has drawn you to the production side of things in the first place, and why
have you chosen Silent
But Deadly to be your first feature as a producer? As
an actress I’ve worked on a lot of features with both larger and smaller
budgets. After being on a good amount of sets I started picking things up.
I started producing sketch comedies and iphone apps about 4 years ago. I
had so much fun having my hands in something from start to finish that I
couldn’t wait to produce a feature. The two genres that I had the most
experience in was comedy and horror, so Silent
But Deadly
was a perfect fit
for my first feature as a producer.
You
have co-written Silent
But Deadly with Jason Lockhart - so what was your collaboration
like, what were your inspirations when writing the thing, and how did the
project come together in the first place? Jason and I
actually locked ourselves in his apartment with all our favourite snacks
while writing the movie. We watched some Mel Brooks movies for
inspiration along with Clue. Silent
But Deadly
was actually
Jason’s mother idea. Both his Grandpa and my Grandma had just moved into
a retirement home. His mother was talking about all the funny stories and
wondered why weren’t more movies taking place in a retirement home.
Within days Jason and I were writing a comedy/horror in a retirement home.
Do talk about Silent
But Deadly specific brand of humour for a bit? Silent
But Deadly
has a very quirky sense of humor, the characters are very
broad and colorful. It’s also a bit offbeat.
Have
you written your character Kitty with yourself in mind, and what did you
draw upon to bring her to life? And how much of Jacqui Holland can we find
in Kitty? Jason
and I did write Kitty with me in mind. I had always wanted to be an
activities director on a cruise ship when I was young, I dreamt of calling
out Bingo numbers. I used my experience of going to work with my mom as a
kindergarten teacher on all those Bring Your Daughter To Work Days to
build Kitty. Kitty treats all the senior citizens like their small
children. In truth I am nothing like Kitty, except I do enjoy singing
stupid songs a lot!... What can you tell us about the rest of your
cast, what was it like working with them - and as a producer, how big was
your influence when it came to casting? I can tell you the
whole cast was absolutely amazing!!! It was such an honor to get to work
with all these amazing names as a producer. I definitely had a vote as a
producer in the casting process. Truthfully, we all agreed on most of our
casting decisions. What can you
tell us about your collaboration with your director Jason Lockhart during
the shoot? Jason and I spent a lot of time together working
on the shoot. During pre-production we were at the office at 8am every
morning. Once we went in Production I fully trusted Jason to direct the
film.
Do talk about the shoot as such for a bit,
and the on-set atmosphere? We shot at an actual active retirement
home so there was a lot of residents playing extras being a
part of the movie. As I said before, the cast was absolutely amazing. I was
such a joy to be around all these amazing actors and no one had any sort
of attitude. Also our crew was fantastic as well, the whole experience was
a little surreal. What can you tell us about
critical and audience reception of Silent
But Deadly? Silent
But Deadly
did well at The
Hoboken International Film Festival, we ended up winning two awards there
and were nominated for a handful. An audience that’s in the mood for a
funny comedy/horror will really appreciate that film. You have since
Silent
But Deadly produced, written and starred in the webseries High
Heels, Low Standards - you just have to talk about that one for a bit!
High
Heels, Low Standards is a webseries about two bumbling bikini dancers,
Penelope Cheruby aka Spinner and Ashley Starling aka Soxs. It follows
their misadventures as they run amuck through the magical land of Hollywood. What
can you tell us about your upcoming movie Two Faced? Two
Faced is a much darker film than Silent
But Deadly. My character is a true
anti-hero. It still has comedic undertones but its much more of a horror. A
few words about the upcoming God of Thunder, and what was it like
to be the action heroine for a change? God of Thunder was a
lot of fun. I got to do a lot of running, jumping and driving large trucks. Any other future
projects of yours you'd like to share? I will be heading to
Fl. this May to shoot The Ritual where I’ll be playing Detective
Amanda Jenkins. Super stoked to play a Detective.
What got you into
acting in the first place, and what can you tell us about your education
on the subject? As
a child I was ridiculously shy so my escape would be doing plays, being on
stage really broke me out of my shell. I’ve studied acting and taken all
sorts of classes from Meisner to Chekov, but I’d say the best class in
acting has been being on set and actually becoming that character.
Can you still remember your first time
in front of a movie camera, and what was that experience like? The
first feature film I ever acted in was called Each Time I Kill, it
was directed by Doris Wishman. It was her last film before she passed
away. It was such an amazing experience I just wanted to do it over and
over again. What
can you tell us about your filmwork prior to Silent
But Deadly? Prior to Silent
But Deadly
I had done
some smaller roles in bigger budget movies and TV shows like My Best
Friend’s Girl, How I Met Your Mother and Desperate
Housewives. I was also acting in some independent films as well like
Hollywood Sex Wars and Gingerdead Man 3. Besides movies, you have also done
quite a few sitcoms - so how does working on a movie set compare to
working on a sitcom? Sitcoms get a lot more coverage than
films seem to get. Sitcoms usually have, you do a pretty lengthy rehearsal
then set up lights and then shoot the scene a pretty good amount times.
Films dependent on the budget usually don’t get as much coverage.
There’s lots of factors with independent films like making your day,
losing light and in my case washing blood outta your hair ;)
Two-Faced |
How would you describe yourself as
an actress, and what are some of your techniques to bring your characters
to life? As an actress I’d say I’m pretty real even
when I’m playing broader characters. I like to keep everything grounded
in some truth. I like escape and become the character. Actresses (or indeed actors) who inspire you?
Barbara
Stanwyck, absolutely love film noir. Reese Witherspoon because she’s
amazing. And Jessica Lange because I’m a huge fan of American Horror
Story and she’s fabulous. Your
favourite movies? The two movies that really shaped me
growing up were The Craft and Clueless. My all time favorites
being Baby Face, Fight Club and Donnie Darko. ... and of course, films you really
deplore?
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I
was very mad at Vanilla Sky, I love psychological thrillers and I wanted
to like it so much but I didn’t… I also felt that way about Inception.
Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever
else?
www.imdb.me/jacquiholland
https://www.facebook.com/jacqui.holland.90
and https://www.facebook.com/JacquiHollandFans
https://twitter.com/jacquiholland
instagram:
JacquiHollandxo
Anything else you are dying to mention and I have
merely forgotten to ask? Thank
you :) Thanks for the interview!
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