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Your new movie eVil
Sublet - in a few words, what's it about, and what can you tell us about your character in it?
eVil Sublet is about a middle-aged couple who KNOWINGLY move into a haunted apartment because the rent
is cheap. And, of course, chaos ensues! I play Alex, the
part of the couple to whom all the crazy stuff happens, while my husband
Ben is either in complete denial, or insists that the problem is merely my
penchant for the dramatic (or the state of my mental health). And
yes, we realize that that is a common horror trope, and the film is full
of them! What did you draw upon to
bring your character to life, and how much Jennifer Leigh Houston can we
find in Alex? To be honest, in some ways Alex is WAY
bolder than I would ever be, because the story demands that Alex either
rises to the occasion and dives headlong into danger, or she dies.
I’m not entirely sure if I’d be as brave as Alex if I were put
in some of the situations she is asked to endure.
On the other hand, Alex’s life seems WAY less creative than my
actual life, so there, lol. How did you get involved with the project
in the first place, what drew you to it? And how did you end up on the
production side of things as well? My
husband is writer/director Allan Piper [Allan
Piper interview - click here], and he wrote this film for me and
several of our other amazing friends to star in.
I was shocked when he presented it to me, as I had no idea he was
even writing it (he’s always busy, and he’s always writing something, most of the time it doesn’t have anything to do with me).
And although we had done several other projects together, music
videos for some of my songs, or small comedy scenes for online comedy
sites, and of course the political song parodies he’d helped me with
over the years, we had certainly never done a full length scripted film
together. To say I was
thrilled when he presented it to me is an understatement.
He just gets me and I’ve never felt so seen before.
To what extent could you identify with eVil
Sublet's approach to both horror and humour? Totally.
It makes complete sense to me. Honestly, this film and the line it walks between the horror and
the humour is, I’d say, a perfect reflection of the two of us (Allan Piper and me).
We are both fairly serious folks most of the time, but when we can
let our guards down, we are also the silliest, goofiest kids around!
I knew that Allan would be able to walk that horror/comedy line
perfectly when it came to directing this, just as he had captured it on
the page. He’s so damn clever. I might be biased… What
were the challenges of bringing eVil
Sublet to the screen from a producer's point of view? Oh dear God, well, the pandemic.
Our literal first week of filming, no our literally first DAY of
filming was the day NYC declared a state of emergency, so, I don’t need
to go into all the boring details of the tail spin we were thrust
into… canceled cross country airline tickets which were non-refundable,
lost castmembers as some of them moved out of the city during the
lockdown, keeping continuity with ever changing castmembers added
pandemic weight (right up there with the “freshman 15”), and rapidly
graying hair, costumes which no longer fit after coming back a year later,
the general fear of public places feeling comfortable enough to let us
book their spaces for locations… yeah, it was a bit problematic.
But hell, even on a good day, filmmaking is rough.
If it was easy, everyone would do it. What
can you tell us about eVil
Sublet's director Allan Piper, and what was your collaboration
like? Well, as I stated earlier, he’s my
husband, so it was pretty damned easy as we know each other so well.
It was pretty easy to argue with him, or sway him to my way of
thinking on certain things. There were a lot of sentences that
started out “so, just humour me for a minute here…” or “ok, that
sounds cool, but what IF…?” Do talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set
atmosphere! Well, thanks to our amazing production
team and the Covid safety coordinator, we all felt really safe and secure
on the sets, and in so many weird ways, we had Covid working for us.
For one thing, I loved that we were literally tested every single
day, and each new person who came onto set must be tested also, so really,
all in all, the set was the safest place in public to be!
But let’s face it, although there are many locations in the
movie, a lot of it takes place inside the apartment where Alex and Ben
have recently moved into, which happened to be Allan’s and my apartment.
So while Allan and I were cooped up there together with nothing but
time on our hands, we ended up thinking of so many more cool and horrible
things that could happen there. Oh,
and I didn’t mention that our entire building was vacant for almost a
year during lockdown, so we literally had the whole place to ourselves.
We ran amuck! Late night shoots, screaming through the halls,
pounding up and down the stairs, slamming doors, shrieking at all hours,
I don’t know how we would have managed all of that if all the occupants were there.
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Any future projects you'd like to share? Allan tells me that he’s writing a
horror/dramedy for Sally Struthers and I to star in but I don’t know
much about that. The only
thing I know is that it takes place in a car.
I’m chomping at the bit for him to finish it. What
got you into acting in the first place, and did your receive any formal
training on the subject? Yes, actually so much training.
I started out as mainly a dancer and was in a ballet company by the time I was 13. Went on to
receive my BFA in theatre performance and production from ASU, then onto
the American Musical and Dramatic Academy here in NYC, and spent years
doing tours, and ship contracts, and off-Broadway and regional work
as a musical theater performer, moving on to commercial work and
voice-overs with the occasional stageplay or cabaret show, and a few
bands. What can you tell us about your
filmwork prior to eVil
Sublet? I had only done two other films prior to eVil
Sublet, Apostasy by Andrew Bellware [Andrew
Bellware interview - click here], and as a producer and musician and participant in
Allan’s marriage equality feature film Married and Counting.
Other than that, I’ve got the music videos that I star in, and my
online cake show, Jen’s Shut Your Cake Hole, where I dare to be funny
and cute whilst showing you how to build and sculpt a fantasy cake - https://www.facebook.com/leopardlounge1
How would you describe yourself as an
actress, and some of your techniques to bring your characters to life?
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I don’t really know what to say,
I mean, when you’ve been performing since childhood, a lot of it
just comes naturally. But
honestly, I just really try to get inside the character’s head.
Really honestly make them 3D if you will.
There’s a level of vulnerability that you simply must be willing
to reveal, and you just have to forget
about yourself for a moment, and let the character be front and center. Actresses
(and indeed actors) who inspire you? Oh wow, that’s a tough one…there are
way too many to cite! Sally Struthers (big time… that level of comedic
commitment is goal-worthy!), Jodie
Foster, Kathryn Hahn, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, gosh I could go on,
lol. Your favourite
movies? This is just too tough to answer… I have
different favorites for different reasons.
Obviously, I watch a ton of horror, and a ton of comedies, but
let’s just talk about my favorite horror films since that’s mostly the
space I’m living in these days. For
a horror film to really get me, I need it to be both terrifying and
epically sad. Movies like The
Haunting (1963) The Other (1972), The Sixth Sense (1999),
The Others (2001), El Orfanoto (2007),
The Shining (1980). These films hit the mark for me.
... and of course, films you really deplore? Deplore?
Propaganda films based on hate and lies.
Your website, social media, whatever else?
Jen’s Shut Your Cake Hole: https://www.facebook.com/leopardlounge1
Jen Houston music: https://www.facebook.com/jenhoustonmusic
TikTok: @jenhouston2
Anything else
you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
I’m just so proud of the film. I’ve
never loved anything I’ve been a part of so much, and I just really hope
folks will watch! Thanks so much!
Thanks
for the interview!
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