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Your new movie The Pact - in a few words, what is it about,
and what can you tell us about your character in it?
The
Pact is a horror/thriller centered around 3 women - who have been
friends since high school - plotting revenge against their husbands, all
for different reasons. I can’t really disclose too much about the plot
as I wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone, but I can honestly tell you
that this will take the audience on a rollercoaster of various emotions
throughout, hopefully leaving the viewers shocked. I portray Jenny, who I
would say is the most light-hearted & gentle one out of the three, but with
a dark side you wouldn’t imagine. She’s a challenging yet awarding
role to play, & so far it’s been really good fun! I have Paul Sutton [Paul
Sutton interview - click here]
to thank for that. He’s just amazing for giving me the opportunity to
bring this character to life.
What
did you draw upon to bring your character to life, and how much Danni
Shepherd can we find in her? For
most dark or difficult roles, I always do method acting. I find this
really encourages me to make the character believable & helps it
become second nature to me. With Jenny, she comes across as your everyday
“good role model” type, a nice girl with a little adventure/fun in
her. & to be honest, I would say that I share a lot of similarities
with Jenny. She’s sensitive, she’s kind, she’s gentle & very
free-spirited - but the dark side of her, the devil on her shoulder, is
something that I had to work on in addition to everything else I have
brought to her character. I’m used to playing characters nothing like me,
so this is a nice change! She’s incredibly fun to play & it’s
something I can’t wait to share with everyone as I find she is different
to what I have played before.
How did you get involved
with the project in the first place? I
have worked previously on a feature film on Amazon Prime called Flower
Boy with two of the crew members - Chris Dudley [Chris
Dudley interview - click here] & Andy Wright.
Chris recommended me to Paul who messaged me about 2 years ago asking me
to be a part of this film. A close friend of mine & Paul, Sharon Spink
[Sharon Spink interview -
click here], also recommended me & messaged me in regards to the role of
Jenny. I was excited to work with new faces so I asked to see the script
& I fell in love with it. The plot, the characters, the entire twist
& crazy ride it takes you on made it hard to say no. What can you tell
us about The Pact's director Paul Sutton [Paul
Sutton interview - click here], and what was your collaboration
like? Paul
is absolutely amazing. He knows exactly what he wants, he’s extremely
driven, he’s good fun to work with on set, & he’s absolutely
brilliant at what he does. As soon as I read the script, I knew we were
going to work well together. We had the exact same idea on Jenny’s role
as one another which makes my job as an actress 10 times easier! I never
met Paul until the first day of filming, which is super weird because we
got along instantly & felt like we had known one another for years.
He’s really easy to work with & he has an incredible outlook on this
film, so I have absolutely nothing but positive feelings about it.
Do talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set
atmosphere! Everyone
that’s worked on this film set is brilliant. The girls I act alongside
with, Ellen Carnazza & Lucy Oke, are just fantastic actresses. It felt
so natural in the last scene we worked together on, & they knew exactly
what they were doing. I have previously worked with Dale Hooley too,
he’s a fantastic actor that brings so much to his roles. He’s a muse.
I think we have a really strong cast & crew here, so I have nothing but
excitement for it. The atmosphere is just all round fun & banter.
Sometimes it’s healthy on a dark film to break the tension as it’s
occasionally hard to break away from our characters' emotions/feelings. We all gel really well together so it’s just been a great
experience for me. Any future projects you'd like to share? I have quite a lot coming up but I aren’t really sure if I am supposed to
disclose much information on them yet! I also have a couple of auditions
coming up & an exciting project I have been offered a role on. There
is a lot coming up but I try to take it day by day & keep as busy as I
possibly can! I'm even producing my own mini series which I am excited for,
as it's another skill/challenge for me to learn. Sometimes I think I am
running at 100mph in this industry but I wouldn’t have it any other way :D
What
got you into acting in the first place, and did you receive any formal
training on the subject? I
have wanted to become an actress since the age of 4. I used to re-enact
films/TV shows all of the time when I was younger, & my mum used to
video record me doing it haha! I have had training indrama schools such
as Stage 84, Yorkshire School of Acting, I gained a HND qualification at
Bradford College as well as participating in online classes. I do a lot of
research, I gain a lot of knowledge & study things I need to in
regards to learning more about my characters, develop new skills &
really try my best at making these roles believable for the audience to
watch. I tend to watch a lot of films with award winning actors/actresses
in & write down notes on what/how they’re doing it. I just
constantly like to learn new things, & I find it’s my biggest hobby. What can you tell us about your
filmwork prior to The Pact? I
don’t even know where to start haha! I starred in the feature film Flower Boy as the main antagonist. The film
centers around bullying,
& my character had to be the most awful, deranged, formidable person
you could imagine. This is a role I had to do method acting for & it
was NOT easy. I portrayed Claire in The Family Man, your typical
alternative teenager with absolutely no idea of the secrets hidden in her
family's life, I starred as Lisa in A Light Through Coloured Glass,
which I found had a similar lifestyle to Loretta in Flower Boy, but was not
the same in any retrospect. I found she was definitely the comic relief of
the film which was a nice contrast to other films. I played Layla in Love at Last Sight, who is the polar opposite to all of them. I also
portrayed Casey Becker in the remake of the opening scene of the first Scream
movie which I had won
Best Actress for. So it’s been
a hell of a journey so far!
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How would you
describe yourself as an actress, and some of your techniques to bring your
characters to life? Like
I said previously, I do consider myself to be a method actress but I also
delve into a lot of naturalistic acting too. It really depends on the type
of role you do in this industry. Sometimes you play very “normal”
roles, roles without much of a challenge to them, & others you have to
really research, understand & learn everything about that character
for it to work. You have a hard job as an actor to do this, & people
don’t understand the amount of work, craft & dedication that go
into it. It's insane! Actresses (and indeed actors) who
inspire you? I
am a huge fan of Tom Hanks. I think he is one of, if not, THE best actor I
have ever seen on screen. I absolutely love Jodie Comer, Margot Robbie,
Jennifer Lawrence & Sarah Paulson. I am a major fan of Evan Peters
too. I think he portrays every character amazingly & you can tell he
works incredibly hard to do so, the same as Sarah Paulson (can you tell I'm a massive American Horror Story fan?). Your favourite movies?
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Wow.
This is a hard question… it has to either be Forrest Gump, Titanic,
Requim For A Dream, Shawshank Redemption or Schindler's
List. These films
all left me feeling something, & no matter how many times I watch them, I
still feel that exact same way as I did the first time I watched them. ...
and of course, films you really deplore? I
don’t really know to be honest. I wouldn’t say I “deplore” any
film as I know the amount of hard work that goes into filmmaking. I guess
my least favourite films are films that are incredibly long with very
shallow narrative & not really an intention of leaving me to feel
anything. Also, films with really bad endings that make no sense - they
just confuse me! Your website,
social media, whatever else? I
am on Facebook, Instagram & I am Spotlight-registered, so I have
attached you those links below!
https://www.facebook.com/danni.shepherd.98/
https://www.instagram.com/danni_shepherd/
https://www.spotlight.com/6575-7868-3722
Anything else you're dying
to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Just
that I think it’s important to keep driving yourself be better at what
you love to do. Keep going, be happy & most importantly, appreciate
the hard work you strive to do & it always pays off in the end! Never
give up! Thanks
for the interview!
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