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Your new movie Lexi
- in a few words, what is it about?
Lexi is
mockumentary horror feature about an influencer who moves into a
new house and soon after goes missing under mysterious
circumstances.
One of the main topics of Lexi
is internet fame (and the dark side of it) - so your personal thoughts on
the topic, and to what extent are they mirrored in your movie? I find the
concept of social media so interesting. There's all kinds of
studies done and how excessive use of social media leads to tons
of negative outcomes, including increases in depression and
anxiety. There's this thing that happens where everyone only wants
to broadcast the most airbrushed, curated version of their life.
And so we're all comparing ourselves and our REAL lives against
everyone else's highly curated life with all the negatives edited
out. And then we see it so often, whenever things go bad for
someone in the public eye, especially
a famous young woman, there is a definite schadenfreude that
happens where people love to watch them spiral. We've seen it with
Britney Spears, Brittany Murphy, tons of people over the years.
The part of us that's jealous and thinks they have everything
loves to watch them fall. So I've always found that piece of human
nature interesting, and social media sort of brings that nasty
part of us out in a really extreme way. Other
sources of inspiration when writing Lexi? There is this
footage of a girl named Elisa Lam (ironically, a Netflix
docuseries came out during the pandemic about it after we'd
already shot Lexi) who goes missing at this hotel in Los Angeles
called the Cecil Hotel. The hotel has this insane history and the
footage of this girl in the hotel lobby having a conversation with
someone maybe off camera, or maybe just having a meltdown, is so
compelling. Me and Eric have always been fascinated by that
footage and wondered why no one had ever made a film using
security camera footage. To me there's something inherently
unnerving about it because you feel like a voyeur watching
something you're not meant to watch. So we were kind of inspired
by that nugget of an idea to use security camera footage.
You
have written Lexi together
with Eric Williford - so what can you tell us about him and your
collaboration on the script? We've
been writing together since about 2016, so we have a really easy,
fun way of collaborating. We go back and forth on an idea and kind
of finetune it, and then we each do passes of the script until
we're happy with it. I personally love having a writing partner.
Writing can be such a lonely, isolating thing so having someone
else to bounce ideas off of and go on the journey with is really
fantastic. We're always brainstorming concepts and planning our
next moves. Lexi
isn't the first time you've worked with Eric Williford - so do talk about
your previous collaborations, and how did you two first meet even? We met maybe 10
years ago. He hired me to act in a horror project he wrote and
directed. We really enjoyed working together but that was kind of
that. And then a few years later he called me out of the blue and
asked if I'd want to collaborate and write something together. I
thought he knew I had started writing, but actually he didn't, he
just really enjoyed working with me as an actress. But it was
really serendipitious because I had begun taking some
screenwriting classes that same year. We brainstormed ideas for a
series and worked on a project called Tithes. It's a half hour
dark comedy pilot about two girls who have shit jobs, major money
troubles, and can't seem to catch a break. They get this idea to
start a scammy church to make some money. It's placed in a bunch
of screenwriting competitions, Screencraft, We
Screenplay, The
Script Lab. We actually wrote the entire 10 episode first season
because it was such a fun way to dive into the characters and the
world. We also wrote two additional pilots, a horror feature, and
a short, and a webseries. We produced the short in 2019 and the
webseries in 2020. It's called DisGraced and it began its festival
run last April. It's played at over 30 festivals and piled up 20
award nominations and 10 wins. We have a half hour pilot script
we're working on based on the webseries as well. And then last
October we produced another horror feature that is in post right
now.
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You've
chosen to go the mockumentary route with Lexi
- so why this approach, and was it intended from the beginning or did it
just grow out of the material ... or out of necessity, really? It was really out
of necessity due to the limitations of Lexi.
Lexi was born out of
Covid. Like everyone else our plans were completely waylaid by the
pandemic. So we were trying to think of something we could write
and shoot during lockdown and the early part of the pandemic when
things were very much closed down. We knew it would have to
largely be me in my house because that's what was available to us.
So first it was like, why is she stuck in her house? Why are we
seeing what we're seeing? Etc. Once we came up with the
concept we felt like we wanted a way to open up the world. So
that's when we came up with the idea to do it in a mockumentary
format and incorporate the videos from her fans and haters just to
open it up a little bit and help tell the story with those other
elements. We really had to lean into its limitations which was a
very interesting exercise both on the writing side and producing
side of things. What
can you tell us about your overall directorial approach to your story at
hand? Since so much of
this is just me in my house, I had to direct, again, out of
necessity. This was a very interesting project because we found a
lot of it during the shooting process. There were a lot of things
in the script that were really hard to achieve in practice that we
ended up cutting, and likewise a lot of random ideas that we had
on the fly that we just tried to see if we liked it. So many of
the elements in it were just decisions I made because of what was
available to us and the unique limitations of our story. I have 3
dogs, and so I decided rather than trying to film around them I
would just make Lexi have 3 dogs. My husband was working from home
during this time (again, pandemic), so I had to film around his
schedule and my other projects. It was a very interesting process.
It took a lot longer than a normal film would, but we also had a
lot of flexibility because so much of it was just me doing
whatever. Okay, let's try this gag with the Roomba tonight and see
if we like it.
You also play the lead in Lexi
- so what can you tell us about your character, what did you draw upon to
bring her to life, and did you write her with yourself in mind from the
get-go? This project was
conceived as something for me to produce during the pandemic so I
always knew that I would be Lexi. We came up with the idea of her
being an "influencer" as a way to tell the story through
her own footage, her vlogs, her social media posts, etc. I watched
a bunch of random "positivity/life advice" type
YouTubers to get a feel for what they talk about and their general
vibe. Do talk about the rest of your cast, and why
exactly these people? My cast is
amazing! All 3 of them are friends that I've worked with on other
projects. Since this was shot during the pandemic before the
vaccine, etc, I just felt more comfortable working with people I
know. In general I always try to cast people I have relationships
with if at all possible. It just makes it so much more relaxed on
set, you trust each other, you know what to expect, you have a
shorthand, etc. All 3 of them are in my webseries DisGraced
and
amazing in it. So we wrote the characters with them in mind. Maya
Zapata plays Camille, Lexi's "frenemy". Maya is so dry
and awesome in roles like this so I knew she would be perfect.
Tommy (Thomas) Hobson plays Nate. Tommy is a friggin' force. He's
on this show that just came out on Netflix
called That Girl Lay
Lay, and he's hilarious in it. He's also about to be in a horror
feature called Ghosts of the Ozark. So he's just killing it right
now. He is one of my absolute favorite people to work with because
he operates very much like I do as an actress on set. He's able to
snap into character super quickly and give an amazing performance
while still being so much fun on set. And Susan Louise O'Connor,
who plays Elara, I've known from acting class for years. She's
worked with us on tons of our projects and always has such a
unique take on things. I just love working with her. A few words about the shoot as
such, and the on-set atmosphere? Like I mentioned
before, most of it was me and my poor husband (it's really hard to
be married to an artist) helping me work things out in my house.
My dogs were so hilarious. As you can probably tell from the
movie, they're really chill, and so they were completely
unimpressed and unphased by all the shenanigans. If they reacted
at all to anything it would only be the first take, so we had to
nail something on take 1 if we wanted any reaction from them. But
it was a very experimental process with all the security camera
footage components. For the expert interviews, we filmed them one
at a time and just knocked out all of their parts. We did it that
way so that everyone could get tested beforehand, it was just me,
the DP, and the actor. It was a really short, easy, laid back day
of filming for each of them, so honestly it was really fun. I
enjoyed it so much, because it allowed me to really work with the
actors as a director in a really stripped down way where it was
just me and them. Any future projects
you'd like to share? Yes! We shot
another horror feature in October called Cold Blows the Wind. It's
a much more traditional format than Lexi. It should be coming out
later this year. What got you into acting in the
first place, and did you receive any formal training on the subject? I have a
theatre minor from USC and have studied with some amazing acting
coaches since college. It's like any other skill, you have to
practice and put your 10,000 hours in. I treat class like the gym,
so I'm always in class whenever my schedule permits. I love to
keep my skills sharp and watch other people work. As far as what
got me into it, I've always loved performing. I love storytelling
and being part of the creative process. My grandparents used to
put on these insane talent shows every summer and we'd all have to
do a musical number and all of the grandkids would be cast in a
play. I think the first one I did was Alice in Wonderland. So you
can say that's how I got my start :P
In
recent years you've also moved behind the camera on several occasions - so
why is that, and which side of the camera do you enjoy more, actually? I basically got sick
of the opportunities that were being offered to me, if you can
believe that. There's only so many "hot blonde",
"dumb blonde" and "hot dumb blonde" roles you
can go out for before it starts to feel a wee bit unsatisfying. So
I started writing out of a desire to create complex and
interesting characters for myself. And then I just fell in love
with the process of filmmaking. I think the more you know about
how every other role works, the better it makes you at whatever
you do. Writing made me a better actress, directing made me a
better writer, editing made me a better director, and so on and so
on. The more I learn about all the different components that go
into creating a film, the better artist and collaborator it makes
me. It's all just different aspects of the same storytelling
process. I also love being able to set the tone on my sets. It's
wonderful to be able to treat people the way I always want to be
treated on a set and do nice things for my cast and crew, put
together an awesome group of people and create a really fun
atmosphere where the joy of filmmaking is front and center. I
think it's so important to remember that this is FUN and we are so
lucky to be able to do this, so despite all the things that
inevitably go wrong in a production I try my hardest to keep that
at the forefront of my mind always. What
can you tell us about your filmwork prior to Lexi,
in whatever position?
As far as projects
that I've written and produced, we have a comedy horror short
called We Accept Cash. We're actually working on making a pilot
with those characters as well. Then we have DisGraced, it's an 8
episode webseries. It's a dark comedy that satires the sexism and
ageism in Hollywood based on a lot of the most ridiculous
situations I've found myself in as an actress.
Filmmakers, actresses, whoever
else who inspire you? I'm extremely
inspired by writer/creator/stars. I absolutely love Michaela
Coel's series I May Destroy You. It was one of the
most interesting and thought provoking series I've seen in a long
time. I love Phoebe Waller Bridge and Issa Rae. Pamela Adlon.
Rachel Bloom. Anyone who is out there taking things into their own
hands and creating opportunities for themselves. As far as
directors, I love directors with a really strong visual style.
Edgar Wright, Taika Waititi, Sam Esmail, Janicza Bravo, Hiro
Murai. I'm always watching for whose episodes of TV are really
interesting and awesome. I try to keep tabs on all of them. How would you describe yourself as
an actress, and how as a director? I feel like I'm
definitely still finding myself as a director. It's still very new
to me and I'm learning every time I'm on set and with every
project. As an actress, I'm drawn to things that are messy. I love
moral ambiguity, gray areas between right and wrong, good and bad.
I love complex, complicated characters. My absolute favorite place
to work is dark comedy or drama with humor. I love comedy, the
rhythm of it, the technicality and skill required to execute, but
I love it in a dark, grounded way best of all. Your favourite
movies?
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Hunt
for the Wilderpeople. This was the movie Taika did right before
JoJo Rabbit (which I also love). It just has that mix of humor and
heartwarming that I absolutely love. Silence of the
Lambs. Such an
excellent thriller. I love anything about serial killers and cults
and weird dark creepy shit. And then on the other end of the
spectrum, Bad Boys II. I love Will Smith and it's just such a feel
good summer action flick. ... and of course, films you really deplore?
Oh man. Romcoms.
Sorry. Just not my jam. Or honestly anything that is completely
cliché or has completely one dimensional characters. But as my
aunt always says, "everybody's different, honey" and
that's what makes it all so fun. What I love another person may
hate. There's space for all of us and all of our visions.
Your/your
movie's website, social media, whatever else?
www.victoriavertuga.com
www.instagram.com/victoriavertuga
www.twitter.com/victoriavertuga
You can check Lexi out at
www.vimeo.com/ondemand/lexi
www.twitter.com/lexifilm
Anything
else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? I don't
think so! Thanks so much for having me!!!!!! Thanks
for the interview!
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