Your new movie Never
Open the Door - in a few words, what is it about, and what can you
tell us about your character (characters?) in it?
Never
Open the Door
is about a group of six
friends celebrating Thanksgiving together, in a beautiful rented cabin in
the woods, who are suddenly disrupted by a knock at the door. Behind
the door is a Stranger, who becomes violently ill and dies, as my
character lets him in. I play Tess, who goes from being an ordinary
girl, to several characters whom kind of morph. I can’t say too
much, without giving it away. J What
did you draw upon to bring your character to live, and how much of Jessica
Sonneborn can we find in Tess? And since your character's pretty much
literally going through all the motions, how much of a strain was that for
you as an actress?
I
loved playing Tess; it was exciting going from an ordinary person through
the transition of what happens to her. It’s always great to have a
character or characters that you can have range with, so I wanted her to
be very quiet at the beginning. I’m one of those people that is
very quiet and reserved when I first meet people, until I’m
comfortable… and then I’m pretty outgoing. We did a lot of improv in
the movie and we also shot somewhat in sequence, so the first day was the
opening dinner scene. A lot of that Tess is me: watching,
observing and listening. As she transitions, it’s obviously less
and less me, ha ha! But I really did and do enjoy becoming
characters that are far from who I am, so this one was a blast. How did you get involved with the
project in the first place, and what drew you to a film with such an
unconventional story as Never
Open the Door?
I worked with Vito Trabucco [Vito
Trabucco interview - click here] and
Chris Maltauro on Bloody Bloody Bible Camp (along with actors Deborah
Venegas, Matt Aiden and Mike Wood). Chris reached out to me a few
months after we wrapped Bloody Bloody Bible Camp and asked if I wanted to participate in the
next project with them, which he explained would be quite different.
I had a blast working on Bloody Bloody Bible Camp, Chris and Vito are awesome people and I
believe in both of them so much, so of course I said yes. I really
enjoyed the script, and read it in one sitting. I was so happy to
see how different my character was from the one I played in Bloody Bloody Bible Camp (Brittney
– who was also SUCH a great one to play)… but it’s always nice to
bounce off to a different dimension with characters. J Part of
Never
Open the Door you spend in heavy monster makeup - so what kind of
a pain was it to apply that, and in what way (if any) did this affect your
acting?
I spent quite
a lot of time getting my make up done and luckily, George Troester and
Maggie Dillon, who did my SFX make up, were so awesome to work with.
It made the long sits in the make up chair totally worth it, to be around
them. Having the make up totally helps you get into your
character… I was fitted with a few different prosthetics, so all of
those helped, especially the claws! What can you tell us about your director Vito
Trabucco [Vito Trabucco interview -
click here], and what was your collaboration like? Vito
knows his stuff. He knows the genre so well and he also is great to
work with as an actor, because he allows you to play. He may ask for
a take his way, and let you also do what you want to do for one… I
really like and respect that. Do talk
about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? We
were all living and working in a cabin up in Big Bear with lots of snow
outside…so it was warm and cozy inside. Everyone was a blast to
work with, so it was great waking up and having our meals together and
going to work together. This was one of the special ones.
Any
future projects you'd like to share?
I just had two features that came
out, Dog Eat Dog with Nicholas Cage that I have a small part in,
and One Night of Fear that I’m a lead in. Both are
available on Amazon. I also have several coming up: I just
finished directing a segment for a horror anthology that I also starred in
called Labor Day, and just wrapped up working as an actress with Oscar
winning SFX artist Barney Burman on his directorial debut Wild Boar.
A film I acted in Dark Roads, ’79 (with Bill Moseley) out of Spirit
World Pictures in Atlanta is premiering in January at the Idyllwild
Film Festival and will be released soon after and The
Haunting of Alice D came out last May and is available on Amazon.
Your website,
Facebook, whatever else?
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The links below will take you just there!!!
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www.jessicasonneborn.com
Twitter and instagram: @jesssonneborn
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/actressjessicasonneborn/
Anything else you're dying to
mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? I
don't think so J Thanks for
the interview!
THANK YOU!!! J
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