Your new movie Wives of
the Skies - in a few words, what is it about?
Wives of
the Skies
is a romantic dramedy set in 1965 starring two
stewardesses, Fran and Marcy, from Fine Air, a well-appointed
airline. One
evening, after work at their stewardess hotel, they befriend Derrick, a
British photojournalist who wants to interview them as “subjects” for
his “documentary film”. As stewardesses Fran and Marcy are interviewed, they are revealed as very
different from what Derrick ever hoped for or could possibly have expected…
As they get to know each other, Wives of
the Skies
makes a contemporary
socio-cultural statement regarding the meme of “the good girl, drawn
bad”. Wives of
the Skies
clarifies the impact of the overarching
“men’s gaze” which objectifies women as carnal sex objects men seek,
while they look for love. Along the way, addressing the primitive issue
of trust vs. mistrust, Wives of
the Skies
displays the Japanese art of
rope binding, Kinbaku.
What were your sources of inspiration when writing Wives
of the Skies?
When
someone I worked with sent me a link to ebay to look at vintage stewardess
outfits from the 60’s, I was kind of blown away by what I saw. These
outfits were highly collectable, expensive and being bought, sold and bid
on almost exclusively by men - this just screamed “fetish” to me, and
perhaps that is where I folded in the Kinbaku. I did my research on aviation and the origins of
sewardesses, and was so very intrigued by the
history. I found these woman to be so very bold and dare I say brave to
decide on a career that not only they had to choose over motherhood but
also one that brought them so far from home, all during a time when woman
were expected to be mothers not career people. I found all of this very
inspiring and eventful.
To me, Wives of
the Skies takes a broad (deserved) swing at the "male
gaze", especially but by no means exclusively from the 1960s - now
what triggered that idea, and how easy or difficult was it to get this
exactly right in both story and stlye? Ha!
Thank you for asking that: My whole life and career I’ve been told
I’m this “good girl drawn bad” (Not unlike the two female
stewardesses in this story), and as such have been subject to the ‘male
gaze’ and have been very much treated by both men and women based on
their projections of how I “looked” rather than who I am. So I
suppose you can say that there is an autobiographical element to this
story. This vocation (airline stewardess) and era (1965) seemed
particularly fitting for this meme of the “male gaze”. The book Coffee,
Tea or Me, a tell-all book written by two stewardesses in the
60’s, speaks of wild flings and male attention in juicy detail. I looked
at it and there was something about the book that screamed ‘bogus’ to
me - this was when I was writing Wives of
the Skies. Several years later
when I decided to make the film, I read that Coffee, Tea or Me was actually
written by a man. And he was hired by the airline industry along with
these two stewardesses that quit their jobs to do a book tour - all a
ploy by the airlines industry to sell more tickets … to men - all sex in
the sexy skies.
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You just have to
talk about all your 1960s costumes, props and locations for a bit, and
what kind of a challenge was it to authentically replicate the era?
Doing
the costumes and sets was one of my favorite parts of the whole process.
It was something I spent months doing, researching and perfecting. In
my research I came up with a design for the uniforms, and Maddison
Bullock, who plays Marcy and was also a producer on the film, she had a genius
idea to write to different AirBnB’s and tell them we were filmmakers,
etc. to see if we could find a location to shoot on the small budget we
had (renting
an actual hotel lobby and room was so very costly). Quickly we got a
response and we got very lucky! The place we used looked a lot like a
mid-century hotel room, monochromatic (two lavender couches!), and had
everything we needed! Once we secured it I changed the uniform colors to
go with the set, and lucky me I had the props that were all vintage 60s
from my (groovy) parents. Regarding the rest of the costumes, I went
shopping at Good Will, and it was surprisingly possible to find stuff from
the 60s! My leading man, Drew Brandon Jones, who always dresses so
amazing, showed up at the fitting with all his fabulous clothes that were
appropriate for the period. So we got super lucky there! Regarding the
first location, the “Stewardess Hotel” lobby, Maddison found us a way
to use the Montalban Theater in Hollywood. My wonderful production
designer, Bryan Keith Davis, and DP, Davey Robertson, created magic there!
A
few words about Wives
of the Skies' very special brand of humour? Gosh,
thank you - I always write with humor. In this particular story so much of
the humor was with what wasn’t said.
What
can you tell us about your overall directorial approach to your story at
hand?
It
was super important to me that the actors played the piece “for real”,
and the two stewardesses really needed to play their relationship - after
all, they were in love. Coming from an acting background, I loved
working with the actors (you’d be surprised how many directors do not).
Also, I spent a long, long time working on the shots, and there was a nice
collaboration with my DP who is so crazy talented. For this piece,
because it was rather low budget, I ended up doing much of the work (shopping,
props, wardrobe, etc), lol, but it was go for me to do that.
I was able to create the world I wanted.
Do talk about your key cast, and why exactly these people?
I had worked with all four of the actors, several times for some, and they
had mostly all worked with each other! I knew Rachel Alig would make an
amazing Fran, how great is she????! Rachel can work so deep. And
Maddison Bullock gave such an intelligent, nuanced performance. Drew Brandon
Jones, when I worked with him, he blew me away with his work, he played
a nerdy teacher to my stern vice principal, but I knew he had this sexy,
funny and sincere Derrick Wooder in him! And Sebastian Fernandez, his part
was really in some ways the most challenging - and he played it
perfectly. I can look at him all day!! He’s so amazing and all the
actors were so receptive to working with me and trusting me. I told Rachel
for instance, the last scene, she really had to “bring it” for
that, those tears had to be real - there’s that word again,
“real” - and I told her they’ll be laughing while you’re crying,
and that’s okay.
A
few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
Many
of the crew worked together before. One of the producers, Erik Bakken,
really pulled much of the crew together. And we only had two and a half days
to shoot everything - and I have to tell you, I’ve never seen a crew so
focused and quiet! It was remarkable! The
$64-question of course, where can Wives
of the Skies be seen? Gosh,
we have a dozen more film festivals lined up and every day that passes, we
are hearing about them being postponed or even cancelled. We’re
screening in New York, Toronto, Portland, Australia,
Chicago, Florida, Los Angeles - to name a few places. Also, we were
offered worldwide distribution, which is what we may end up doing sooner
than later, depending on the pandemic. I will be in close contact with
you though and keep you posted! That said, here is a list of some dates
and places:
Again,
I will stay in touch with you to give you more dates, places and when we
release for distribution!
Anything you can tell us
about audience and critical reception of Wives
of the Skies? I
am blown away and so grateful for the response we have had. We only were
in festival seven weeks before the pandemic hit and we have received more
than 26 film awards. Again, I’m so grateful for the response and the
reviews have been extraordinary. I’m very humbled and kinda weepy as I
tell you this, LOL! Any future projects you'd like to
share? I
play the lead in a horror thriller feature film that’s coming out
called Sweet Taste of Souls, and I love the people I worked with on that,
producer/writer Felicity Mudgett , producer Bee Pedersen and director
Terry Ross. Also, I will be acting in the feature The Knights of Swing
set to shoot in July. Regarding
directing… I hope to be shooting one of my features soon as I use this
time to prep.
As far as I know, you first entered the filmworld
as an actress - so what can you tell us about that aspect of your career? I
started out as an actress and I’m still doing it. I’ve done close to a
hundred films and TV shows and who knows how many commercials… I love it.
I’ll always do it and it still brings me so much joy. My IMDb:
imdb.com/name/nm0491065
You've
had a small role in Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula - so what was it
like working with the man? To
date, working with the Coppola family was one of the most amazing
experiences I’ve had. I say family because Roman, his son was very
involved and I was so taken with everyone. These are such creative people,
and having a nice budget was so welcoming. There’s a great freedom to
that and my “take away” from that experience was “be open” and
“be ready”.
You've also played the lead
in legendary low budget filmmaker Doris Wishman's Satan
Was a Lady - now for the sake of all B movie enthusiasts among my
readers, you just have to talk about working with her?
Thank
you for asking! Yes, I am the last Wishman girl! And working with this
legendary director, wow, what a trip that was! I’ve actually written
articles about it, lol! I feel like I’m a part of history with this
experience. It was truly amazing working with Doris and I think of her so
much and miss her terribly. She is our most prolific female director and
she had her own style of working. She at times would act the part out for
us and give line readings, kind of a throw back but I looked at the whole
thing as an exercise and I really value the experience. And she really
understood the idea of working in the moment and creating images that were
just incredible. I had a scene with a three legged cat… yeah, I did. What
made you pick up writing and directing eventually, and did you receive any
formal training on the subject? I’ve
always enjoyed writing, and like many actors took to writing material
for myself at times. I love it. I feel like the writing is something I
excel in as well and something I’ll be doing for the rest of my life. I
have several scripts, all optioned at different times.
I’ve written for several directors, I’ve written TV shows - I love
it. Presently I’m finishing a novel. Regarding directing, Wives
of the Skies is my third piece… I’m not sure I planned to be a director in my
career, but I’ve so far really enjoyed doing it. I plan to continue.
Regarding training - wow, I’ve read thousands of scripts and done so
much time on set… What can you tell us
about your filmwork prior to Wives
of the Skies, in whatever position? I
feel like I came up during a time when filmmakers were still shooting on
film, even low budget, and there is something to be said about that - when
shooting on film, you really need to be pointed in your work, we don’t
get as many takes as we do on digital, focus is so key. Actresses,
writers, directors, whoever else who inspire you?
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So
many people inspire me… wow… the list is long but here are a few:
Davey Robertson, Paul McCarthy (amazing artist), Damon McCarthy,
Tarkovsky, Stephen Scappa, MD, David Lynch, Janice Durkin, Sylvia Plath,
Tom Ford, Tim Braun and GAVIN NEWSOME - I’m crushing on him at the
moment, what a leader. Your
favourite movies? Easy… Bad Lieutnant (almost any film Abel Ferrara),
Joker (wow), Don't
Look Now, Redland… so many. ... and of course, films you really
deplore? Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel, Captain
Marvel.
Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever
else? Sure…
wivesoftheskies.com
honeylauren.net
facebook.com/WIVES-of-the-SKIES-109805650494563
imdb.com/name/nm0491065
Anything else you're dying to mention and I
have
merely forgotten to ask? I
just want to wish everyone well as we go through the contagion… I’ve
seen such beauty come out in people during this time and it’s quite
lovely. I
pray we find a way to keep the film industry alive - the challenges we
face are huge… but I’m hopeful. Thanks for the interview!
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