Your new movie Mask
of Thorn - in a few words, what is it about, and what can you tell
us about your character in it?
I would describe it as like a horror, sci-fi action adventure
film. Not sure how much I’m allowed to say about the storyline but
without giving anything away it’s based around a group of teenagers, one
being in a bit of a ‘chosen one’ style predicament, called Bethany. I
play a character called Mia Adams who has come to seek out Bethany and
ultimately try and stop her from being killed. Mina and Thorn have
some awesome fight scenes and there’s a lot of emotional scenes for my
character too. What did you draw upon to
bring your character to life, and how much Maria Lee Metheringham can we
find in Mask of Thorn? Mina
Adams has been through a lot of pain, anguish and torment throughout her
life . She has been in hell and has come into this world very hardened to
her emotions. I like to play characters like Mina as I’m very much
"get
on with it, get stuff done, no excuses, no moaning", that’s
the way I am as a person so I could easily bring that into Mina. Nothing
fazes her apart from Thorn who is her biggest weakness as well as Bethany
for certain reasons you find out in the film. You
play quite a badass girl in Mask
of Thorn - so how did you prepare for the more physical aspects of
your role?
I love playing a badass, and the more fighting and stunts I get to do
the better! I train on a regular basis anyway with fitness and martial
arts just to keep myself at a basic level all the time. If I’m playing a
badass role I just increase that training and practice more in areas I
know I’ll need for the characters.
How did you get involved with the project in
the first place, and to what extent could you identify with the film's
slasher theme? I actually got in touch with Mike
regarding Slasher House
2, I thought the style of their films is visually
very cool but the character I applied for needed to be younger. However
when Mike was planning Mask
of Thorn I happened to drop him a message
before the casting and he pretty much straight away knew what character he
wanted me to play. I’m a big fan myself of 80s horror movies such as Halloween,
Friday the 13th,
Nightmare on Elm
Street, Fright Night
and more recent horror like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Wrong
Turn and Scream. So I’m pretty up with all the horror stereotypes
and clichés involved in a good traditional horror movie. What can you tell us about
Mask
of Thorn's director Mj Dixon [Mj
Dixon interview - click here], and what was your collaboration
like? He’s great fun to work with, he’s like a super
professional big kid. He knows what he wants to get in terms of shots and
what he wants from the characters and sticking to the time frames set but
at the same time he’ll run around set with toy guns and have swords
strapped to his utility belt. I hope I’m allowed
to say that! Haha, secret's out! So yes, an enjoyable director
with awesome ideas.
Do talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set
atmosphere! Great on-set atmosphere, even when all
your energy has drained from your body and the sun is rising after a long
night shoot everyone was still in high spirits and looking forward to the
next shoot the following night. Atticus who plays Thorn was a good
laugh, doesn’t take himself too seriously. Eve who plays Bethany is an
absolutely lovely person and always smiling and willing to give anything a
go. Mike and Anna are an awesome team, just backing each other up all the
time to get stuff done. We were shooting on a roof one night and had all
sorts of stunts going on up there, it was great. Any future projects you'd like to share? I’ve
just wrapped on another feature film titled Remember Remember, which is an
awesome horror action movie about Guy Fawkes versus vampires. Again I get
to play the baddass role of sergeant Katherine Parsons, the second
in command of the female vampire hunters. I’ve also just finished post
production on my own horror feature film Pumpkins, which has just started
going around film festivals beginning 2018. Now that’s complete I’m
working alongside Kat Clatworthy on an amazing feature film project called
V vs V (working title). It’s going to be an amazing
action/horror/adventure which we’re making for a good cause, raising
awareness and working alongside cancer research and Alzheimer's. What
got you into acting to begin with, and did you receive any formal training
on the subject? I got into acting when I was at college
studying dance. I was asked by media students to appear in their
short films and I was pretty clueless at the time but after I gained more
and more experience I started to figure out my character types and what I
enjoyed doing. It turns out I was more interested in acting than dance and
I went on to do an acting degree following my dance diploma.
Besides acting, you are also stepping
behind the camera quite frequently - why is that, and do you see yourself
an actress or a filmmaker first? I’ve always had an
interest in the filmmaking side because I take a big interest in all the
elements involved in getting the end project together when I’m on set,
rather than just being immersed solely in the acting. I’m not one of
those actors who will try and make suggestions or tell the director how to
do his job unless I’m asked on my opinion but I love to watch how others
work in the low budget industry and pick up tips and pointers for making
my own films. It’s so cool seeing your script turn into a living
working picture. I’m definitely an actress first but I will always
make my own films when I can. What can you tell us
about your filmwork prior to Mask
of Thorn? I started out as I said doing student
films, moved onto low budget shorts and music videos, then went onto low
budget feature films. I’ve always gone for the main roles, if
I’m going to be in film set doing what I love then I want to be right in
the middle of it getting stuck in. I have done fight choreography and
stunt work for teaser trailers too which I would to do again as I think
I’m pretty good at choreography due to my dance background. I’d
actually just finished playing the lead female cage fighter Kat in Enter
the Cage just before I starting on Mask
of Thorn, so was great timing.
How would you describe yourself as an
actress, and some of your techniques to bring your characters to life? Fearless.
I will literally throw myself into any role concerning any topic. I
have no hold backs mentally or physically. I actually said this to a
writer/director recently and he took on the challenge of writing a script
that was so wrong and would gross people out but when I read it I thought it was
awesome. So hopefully I’ll the doing something pretty shocking
next year! Besides
making movies, you're also a musician with the band Great Northern
Hotel - so do talk about your music and your musical influences for a
bit, and how did the band first start?
I’ve been involved in Great Northern Hotel for about 10 years. I
started off as just a keyboard player when the sound was more quirky and
alternative but now I do lead vocals alongside Carma Ray and the sound is
very synthwave/80s/alternative. The band was actually named after
the hotel in David Lynchs Twin Peaks due to the unusual style and the head
of the band is actually my partner in crime Will Metheringham. We’ve
been working with a lot of other musicians at the moment with vocals and
mixes such as James Atkins from EMF, Tim Muddimun from PWEI,
Katherine Downham, Lilly Krupa and Jessica Jay (QVC presenter).
Actresses,
filmmakers, musicians, whoever else who inspire you?
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Very
much inspired by filmmakers such as David Lynch, Michael Mann and John
Carpenter. Actors I like to follow are Ray Liotta, Milla Jovovich, Jamie
Lee Curtis, Jason Statham and Michelle Rodriguez. Notice most of
those are action film related Your
favourite movies? Oh I love all the classics! Don’t get
me started, I’ll try to keep it brief ... American Werewolf in London,
Terminator 1 & 2, Die Hard, Gremlins, Escape from New York,
Aliens, Big Trouble in Little China, Lost Boys, Resident
Evil. I’ll
stop before I go on forever! ... and of course, films you really
deplore? I don’t think I deplore any films. Being
in a low budget industry I can appreciate any film efforts even if it’s
bloody awful. I will say though the type of films I don’t like to
watch are usually romantic comedies, chick flicks, dry teabag drama
(I call it teabag drama when it’s just pretentious boring drivel).
Your website, Facebook, whatever else?
https://www.facebook.com/FeatureFilmGame
https://www.facebook.com/marialee.metheringham
Take a look at Maria L Metheringham (@Actress_Maria_M):
https://twitter.com/Actress_Maria_M
Anything
else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? I
think I’ve probably gone on about myself enough ... I like to collect
film figures and display them on my shelves like ornaments. Thanks
for the interview!
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