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Your new movie Life
of Riley - in a few words, what is it about?
Logline: "In
the intriguing drama, when Riley, an American woman, witnesses a
suspicious act involving her Dominican partner, Juan Carlos, she is
pushed into uncertainty setting off a chain of events that leads to a
profound exploration of trust, trauma, unconscious bias, and its
unforeseen consequences in love and friendships."
It explores multicultural and multiracial relationships and
friendships in ways we don't often see on the screen. It explores the
after effects of trauma on our present actions, our deeply programmed
unconscious biases, but with a sense of humor and hope. My goal was for
the audience to care about and become involved in the stories of
these characters right off the bat.
What
were your sources of inspiration when writing Life
of Riley, and is any of it based on personal experiences?
I was doing research and stumbled upon an article from 2015 entitled The
Secret Life and Terrifying Journey of a White-Collar Undocumented
Immigrant that I found fascinating. This really got the
ball rolling for me on this film.
Each character is inspired by personal experiences or experiences people
have shared with me - i.e. my
childhood best girlfriend growing up, was a black girl in a primarily
white community, so the friendship between the 2 women, Riley and
Danielle, is loosely based on that relationship in adulthood. I've
always had a very diverse group of friends, romantically,
professionally, so that's my 'reality' and I can't imagine it
otherwise. I had a really interesting conversation a few years back
with two female friends, about what it's like growing up and being a
black woman in America, that really stayed with me.
The character Juan Carlos is inspired by conversations I had with two
Dominican men I met through a group of European friends in New York
City, both architects. They shared stories with me about biases they'd
experienced in the US, some of which they themselves had
internalized. He's also based on a lot of research I did, talking with
1st generation sons of immigrants, and the pressure they feel to be
successful and
not let their families down, because of the sacrifices made for them
to have access to opportunities their parents did not.
What can you tell us about your directorial approach to your story at hand?
I've always loved directing and coaching actors. I've done it since high
school. The most important thing was that I created an atmosphere of
trust, respect, safety, both emotional and physical, and
professionalism, so that everyone, cast and crew, felt at ease to do
their very best work. I've never seen an atmosphere of anxiety,
mistrust, and fear produce successful results and people doing their
best work. When people behave that way, it's about ego and insecurity.
I interviewed every single person involved with the film to make sure
they were not only great at their jobs, but also good humans to have
on set. You
also play the lead in Life
of Riley - so what can you tell us about her, what did you draw
upon to bring her to life, and did you write Riley with yourself in mind
from the get-go?
Riley
is loosely based on experiences I've heard from many people, what I
see and read and things I've experienced myself. Especially during and
after the anxiety of the pandemic, a lot of people were taking their
unhealed s**t out on other people - trauma, racism, cultural biases,
misogyny, "toxic masculinity" - and it's happening now.
Getting
into what's underneath all that, what causes it and how we
change it is REALLY interesting to me. She's me in some ways, and not
at all me in others. My mom spoke some Spanish growing up, as do I, so
having that element in there was also really fun for me to play, as an
actor. When would I ever get to speak Spanish in a role otherwise,
right?
I did not write Riley with myself in mind to play her and had not
initially planned on taking on the role. But then two things happened -
a few people in my life said "Why aren't YOU playing this
role??" And I watched an interview by Oprah Winfrey with Bradley
Cooper, a few years after his film A Star is Born came out (which I
loved). I was so inspired by some of the things he had to say, and
thought if Bradley Cooper can do it, so can I.
Do talk about the rest of Life
of Riley's cast, and why exactly these people?
I love talking about this cast - they are fantastic actors and people,
and all deserving of having their talents recognized.
The doorman character of "Simon": Silas
Weir Mitchell, the actor playing the role, and I did the play Three
Day of Rain together at Portland Center Stage. He and the
third actor, Sasha Roiz, were shooting the TV show Grimm at
the time in Portland. Silas would sometimes come into rehearsal
quoting Proust, Shakepeare, Nietzsche or some philosopher he'd been
reading the night before, and we'd crack up "Proust before 9am,
Silas?" I
knew he was perfect for this role and I wrote it with him in mind. Also,
one of the doorman in my building in NYC is Costa Rican and speaks
Spanish with me, so we always chat and joke around when I come through
the lobby, And did you ever see the series Modern
Love on Amazon Prime? There's an episode called When
Your DoorMan is your Main Man that I absolutely loved. He was very
paternal and protective of one of the female tenants and didn't approve
of any of the boys she brought home, until one day he did. And that's
who she ends up marrying.
Dionne Gipson and I first became friends doing shows together in Los Angeles
called For the Record: Tarantino and For the
Record: Paul Thomas Anderson. We got really close during those
experiences and have remained dear friends. She's so talented and I
could hear her voice in my head while I was writing this
character.
Akende Munalula was recommended to me by a wonderful casting director and
teacher I've worked with - Risa Bramon Garcia. She has some of the
best taste in the business, so when I was looking for this role, I
reached out to her for suggestions.
Sergio Carlo jokes that I "found him on Google" - which is basically true.
I was looking at actors and wasn't quite finding the right fit. Then I
googled "Latino film actors" and Sergio's name popped up.
Fortunately, his agents had his reel online. I watched and thought,
"Holy cow, this guy IS Juan Carlos." So, I reached out
to his agents in Atlanta, asked if I could send their client the
script, they got back to me, he liked it, we met once over Zoom and it
was a done deal.
A few words about the shoot as such, and the atmosphere? Honestly,
it was fun, calm and organized. I'm really proud of that. We were
prepared. I had a fantastic team around me, and I made sure, as the
director, that my communication was clear, and put the cast and crew
at ease. It's the director's job to set the tone for the cast and crew. I believe
that's how you get the best performances out of people. I've never
seen anyone perform at their best from a place of fear or anxiety.This
has been a life changing experience for me in such a positive way, and
it seems like everyone on set was really happy and enjoyed working on
this project. The
$64-question of course, where can Life
of Riley be seen? Right
now, only at film festivals. There will
be more coming up this January - May, 2024. Some
of the festivals ask that the film not be available publicly online
while in their festival, which I understand. They want people to
attend in person. Eventually, I should be able to make it available
online and I'm working on developing it into a television series. It
was intended to be a full length feature film way back, but as I
started working on it in this short film form, I
started to realize I have many more stories to tell with each of these
characters, and there's so much great writing on TV these days, it's
on that path now. Anything you can tell us about
audience and critical reception of Life
of Riley?
So far, the response has been incredibly positive. Of course, as the
filmmaker and this being the first film I've directed, I see things I
would do differently etc., but I think that's only natural. So far the
reviews have been wonderful, critics and audiences seem to really be
picking up on the themes. It crosses cultures, race, gender, ages.
People seem to be really responding to that and left wanting more,
which was one of my goals.
One of the best audiences was at the New York Short Film Festival. It
appealed to such a diverse audience, different ages, cultures, races
etc., which is my goal as we move this forward as a television
series. There were a lot of Spanish speaking people in the
audience that night. They were responding to everything, not holding
back, it was awesome and at times hilarious.
Any future projects you'd like to
share? Well,
as you can imagine, a lot of things got put on hold during the strike.
As challenging as that has been, it's allowed me to put more time,
energy and focus into attending festivals and developing Life
of Riley beyond the short film. I have another project in my back pocket that
I'm writing - it will either be about sports or "the devil".
How's that for a cliffhanger? What got you into acting in the first place, and
did you receive any formal training on the subject?
I was a competitive figure skater, a
competitive equestrian, and a modern dancer, so I was very used
to performing in front of people from a young age. But I was more of
an athlete/dancer until I got to high school. I attended Highland Park
High School, which is known for its strong arts programs - people like
Jeff Perry and Gary Sinise met there and started Steppenwolf Theatre
Company, the list goes on... I took an acting class with a man, Tim
Conway, who became like a second father and mentor to me. And that was
it - I did a scene in class from A Streetcar Named Desire, as Blanche
Dubois, at the ripe old age of 14, then Shakespeare plays and the
musical Gypsy on the maim stage playing Gypsy Rose Lee, and after that, I was hooked.
I
did a summer of classical acting training at Boston University. Then I
attended the University of Michigan School
of Music, Theatre
and Dance. As a professional, it's been acting classes and
private coaching - HB Studios and Bob Krakower in NYC, BGB
Studios, John Rosenfeld
Studios and Chris Fields in LA.
What made you branch out into writing and directing eventually, and how would
you describe yourself as a writer/director?
I directed in school and I knew then I was capable of acting and
directing and loved both. When I got out of school, the landscape
looked much different. When I was in my 20s and working on Broadway.
I started the application process for graduate school for directing.
But I was making good money as an actor, graduate school was a big
investment, and I saw so few opportunities for female directors. To
this day, I've only worked professionally as
an actor with one female
director, two if you count me. So, it's a lifelong journey
and dream to be acting,
writing and directing.
On the writing front - I was feeling exhausted by stereotypes in film,
television and on stage, putting human beings in 'categories' never
made much sense to me, especially the confines of female
characters. And I could see others in my life and work frustrated
about this as well. So I decided to take matters into my own hands,
and instead of complaining, I started creating. My writing coach and
friend David Cornue says there are two types of writers - style and substance. I definitely lead more with substance. If I have a style,
it's Sorkin-esque in that I've spent a lifetime creating characters as
an actor, so I Iove writing dialogue and imagery. I hear characters'
voices in my head. Story structure and themes are what I'm continually
improving and working on.
What can you
tell us about your film- and TV-work prior to Life
of Riley, in whatever position? Most
of my work previous to this, other than a promo I wrote and directed
for a fashion event, has been as an actor. I started on
Broadway and have fought
hard to be taken seriously as a film and television actor as well. I
trained as an actor - classical theatre, musicals, later
on-camera so I didn't realize how separate those worlds were in
terms of casting until I started auditioning. Besides doing
movies and TV, you also have also appeared in numerous stage plays - so
what can you tell us about that aspect of your career, and how does
performing in front of an audience compare to acting in front of a camera?
And which do you prefer, actually?
I studied theatre primarily throughout high school and college, started
my career after graduating from the University of Michigan in the
original Broadway cast of Titanic which won the Tony Award that year,
so things definitely started off with a bang!
As an actor, I’ve done a wide variety - Broadway, Off-Broadway,
regional theatre, plays, musicals,
voice overs, even motion capture in video games -
everything from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which was very downtown,
rock-n-roll, to regional theatre plays like Three Days of Rain and Two Gentlemen
of Verona, which was all about language, and high profile
Broadway musicals like Titanic and The Full Monty, which is a lot
about stamina. A very intense schedule that requires vocal and
physical discipline. For about 10 years, I rarely walked into a noisy
restaurant or bar because I couldn’t talk over the noise - steam
machines, not getting sick, no eating after 9pm, constantly hydrating,
vocal training - to do 8 shows a week, indefinitely.
Truth is truth so that aspect of acting is the same. But doing a scene with
someone 5 inches from you in front of a camera is very different than
doing that same scene with an audience of 1200 people who need to both
see and hear you. You move and speak differently. They’re very
different muscles, both of which require work and training.
As far as preference, it’s less about the medium for me and more about
- do I love the script, character, director and people I’m working
with? And is my contribution being respected and valued. One of my
favorite things actually is getting to work in front of a camera with
another actor who has a theatre background, whether that’s acting
with them or directing them.
How would you
describe yourself as an actress, and some of your techniques to bring your
characters to life?
I like to dig deep. I've often been described as "an old soul in a
young body". I'm fascinated by what makes people tick. Acting
and storytelling has been such a good place for me because I have a
knack for empathy and seeing things through someone else's eyes. And
dialects and physical movement, walking and talking like a character,
came fairly naturally as well, probably from all the dance training. In
acting, I studied method and Meisner mostly, and ground level improv.
Actresses, filmmakers, whoever else
who inspire you?
Few women are better in front of a camera than Julia Roberts, Meryl
Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett and Viola Davis.
Margot Robbie too. Sandra Bullock can do it all. It’s like a master
class.
I’m a big fan of Steven Soderbergh and Ava Duvernay - very inspired by
both of them and on my bucket list of people I’d love to work with.
Mike Nichols was unmatched.
Kathryn Bigelow, Greta Gerwig, Chloe Zhao - 3 of only 7 women to be nominated
for Oscars for Best Director in 90 years.
There are so many great filmmakers, but if I must choose: Steven Spielberg,
Richard Linklater, Baz Luhrman and
Christopher Nolan. They’re all such great craftsmen of film.
My writing is definitely inspired by Aaron Sorkin.
Your favourite movies?
This is a hard question for me because there are so many in different
genres! Here are some of my favorites:
The Bird Cage - it’s so brilliant and few directors surpass Mike Nichols. I
think Bradley Cooper’s version of A Star is Born was breathtaking. Pretty
much anything with Meryl Streep or Cate Blanchett. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Empire Strikes Back,
Back to the Future, A Streetcar Named
Desire, Born on the 4th of July, Moulin Rouge, Grease, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Boogie
Nights, Forest Gump, Before Sunrise, Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill Vol. 1, The Devil Wears
Prada, Parasite, Whiplash, Gravity, A Man Called Otto, Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick. I
loved the new Barbie movie too.
...
and of course, films you really deplore? Anything
that involves children or women being physically or sexually violated,
demeaned or extreme violence of any kind, I find very difficult or I
just can’t watch. Sadly, a lot of film, television and now online
content contains it, and I think it spills over a lot into how we see
and treat people. Your/your
movie's website, social media, whatever else?
www.lisadatz.com
www.lifeofrileyfilm.com
www.imdb.me/lisadatz
www.imdb.com/title/tt12104652/reference/
Instagram: @lisadatz and @lifeofrileyfilm
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LifeofRileyFilm
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lisadatz/
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Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
If you could be any other profession beside your own, what's the
first thing that comes to mind?
Sportscaster.
Two things people don't usually know about you?
I was a competitive figure skater from the ages of 4-14, I don't
eat olives (but I love olive oil) or peppers (yuck).
What's one credit people often don't realize is you?
I played the role of Jessica LeClerk in the hugely successful video
game Red Dead Redemption 2, both voice and motion capture.
If you know me well, people have recognized my walk and facial
expressions. Thanks
for the interview!
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