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Your new movie Mark
of the Witch - in a few words, what is it about, and what can you
tell us about your character in it?
My
character, The Demon Witch, is a very mysterious and powerful being. She's
eternal - or at least her spirit is - and she moves from body to body like
a possessing demon. But she's
also human, or at least has human memories and some human feelings, and
these feelings are constantly at war with her innate desire to be powerful
and forever young and beautiful. Playing a
demon/witch - how do you even prepare for such a role, what do you draw
upon to bring her to life ... and can you find anything of yourself in
her, honestly?
I grew up having a strong interest in
supernatural beings and in superheroes, so I was most definitely
interested in playing a character with supernatural/superhuman powers. Really,
who doesn't have a secret desire to be more powerful than
they are and to be, at least in part, invulnerable to hurt?
The
role also gave me a chance to use some of the physicality I had learned in
the numerous stage shows I've been a part of, especially the Grand
Guignol-like shows of Zombie Joe's Underground Theater Group. I always enjoy roles that are more physical than verbal, actually,
because when I'm given a lot of dialog, there's always a part of my brain
that has to be in charge of making me say my lines with the correct
accent! With the more physical roles, I can just let my body do its thing
without worrying about what I sound like!
You just have to talk about the special
effects makeup you wear in some scenes of Mark
of the Witch for a bit, and how much of a pain was it to get it on
and off, and to act through it, actually?
Two things about the special effects make up in Mark
of the Witch have stuck in my mind:
(a) that our makeup artist, Narcisse Chico
Kitabata, is absolutely AWESOME!!!! Seriously, I think everyone should use
her on their films!
(b)
that, during one of our shooting days, putting on and taking off my
loooooong nails took about three hours! I distinctly remember just sitting
in the makeup chair for about 90 minutes after I had wrapped shooting for
the day waiting for the nails to weaken and the adhesive to dissolve!!! How did you get involved with the
project in the first place? Once
upon a time, I responded to a casting call Jason [Jason
Bognacki interview - click here] had posted on Craiglist
for another project. He called me in to read for them, and he must have
liked me because he's cast me in almost everything he's shot since then!
He first offered me the role of the Demon Witch in the short film, Another, which would eventually grow up to become the feature
Mark
of the Witch, and I
actually was the first talent to become attached to the project. What can you tell us about
your director Jason Bognacki [Jason
Bognacki interview - click here], and what was your collaboration
like?
Jason
has a very interesting way of directing his projects, and, also, it's
very, very special when the director is also the writer as you're sure to
have the story interpreted exactly as it was meant to be interpreted. With
Jason, there is no ONE way to perform a scene, and he was continually
asking us between takes to put different spins on our performance.
Eventually I learned that all I really had to do to prepare for a shoot
was to learn my lines for the scenes scheduled for the day and then leave
the bulk of the interpretation up to Jason! What can you tell us about the shoot as such, and
the on-set atmosphere? Oh we had TONS
of fun on set!! I had obviously worked with Jason and Aline (his wife and
co-producer) lots of times before, I had worked with Paulie on the Justin
Calen Chen feature Folklore and I had known Nancy for years and had
directed her in a production of the award-winning play, The Gin Game. All
of this made our shooting days like some kind of fun family reunion
instead of work! Any future projects you'd like to
share?
Yes!
The first feature I co-produced, Brandon
Scullion's Live-In Fear, will be released by WildEye Releasing next month
under its new name, Consumption. I also act in the film, as does Nancy
Wolfe from Mark
of the Witch.
I'm also awaiting the release of the features
Axeman II: Overkill, Marrtown and 60 Seconds To Die, all of which are, I
think, scheduled for later this year. Wolf Mother also recently premiered
at Dances with Films, and it's now on the festival circuit, and Faraway,
another feature I co-produced, has just hit Amazon Prime where you can now
watch it for free!
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And,
of course, I just CANNOT wait until I Spit On Your Grave: Deja Vu comes
out of post-production in October!!!! This is the official sequel to Meir
Zarchi's iconic 1978 film, I Spit On Your
Grave, and stars the original
Jennifer Hills, Camille Keaton, as well as the amazing Jamie Bernadette [Jamie
Bernadette interview - click here] and myself. Your website, Facebook, whatever else?
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MariaOlsenFanPage
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1864017/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mariaolsen66
Anything
else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? I'd
like everyone to be kind to each other and to remember that love is the
driving force behind the universe :) Thanks
for the interview!
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