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photo by Jules Doyle |
Your latest movie, the Monster Busters-segment
of A Stab at
Love - in a few words, what's it about, and what can you tell us about your
character in it?
Monster Busters is a behind-the-scenes look at a show hosted by a married
couple who are hunting for cryptids and other legendary creatures.
Unfortunately, backstage everything is falling apart, as the saying goes.
I play Jean, the show’s long suffering camera op. She’s a no-nonsense
sort of lady. What did you draw upon to bring your
character to life, and how much Rachel Jackson can we find in Jean? I’ve
produced a lot of theatre and a few short films, and worked as AD a couple
times, so I’d say I brought that aspect of me to Jean. It’s very much
a “could we all just be calm and prepared and do our jobs, please”
vibe. Jean was relaxing to play, honestly, since she was so laid back. And
her clothes were super comfortable. I still wear the cargo shorts from time to time. You
actually did double dutry on Monster Busters,
also being the segment's director of photography - so what can you tell us
about that aspect of the movie, and how much of a challenge was it to
pretty much be on both sides of the camera?
It wasn’t as hard as I expected, I think because my real behind-the-scenes
job was the same as my character’s job. I’ve worked on projects where
I was AD and also an actor, and that was much harder. Mostly because one
involves a “constantly thinking ahead”-mindset, and the other requires
you to be very in the moment. When I was actually in the shot for a Monster Busters
scene it was a little more challenging, but fortunately the
camera had a flip around view screen, so I could check the framing without
having to run back and forth. Yay for technology. How did you
get involved with the project in the first place. what drew you to it? I’m
basically always happy to work with the film's director Tonjia Atomic [Tonjia
Atomic interview - click here]. But specifically this
script made me laugh. I watch a lot of Discovery Channel, etc, so I felt
like I really understood where this was coming from. To
what extent could you identify with Monster Busters'
brand of humour? Very much. pop culture satire is my happy place, so mashing up a married couple
HGTV-type show with a creature hunting show, and mocking all of it in the
process, was totally in my wheelhouse. What can you tell us about Monster Busters'
director Tonjia Atomic, and what was your collaboration like?
Working with Tonjia is always great; she’s very creative but also very
low-drama, so all the energy gets directed at the project. I’ve worked
with her on several films, but never running the camera before. It was
surprisingly comfortable for a new role. Tonjia would talk/step through
the action of a scene, and I’d set up a frame that made sense to me, and
generally she was happy with what I’d chosen. Once again, I’m going to
thank my many hours of watching HGTV and the Discovery Channel; the visual
language was one I felt very familiar with.
Monster Busters
isn't the first time you've worked with Tonjia Atomic - so what can you tell us about your previous collaborations, and how did
you first meet even?
Tonjia and I first met working at a small local theatre. She was the box office manager and I was the
marketing cirector. It was a very small staff and
our boss was horrible, so everyone really bonded and kept in touch after
moving on.
I think the first time we worked together on one of her films was when she
needed a creature for her short Companion, and she reached out to
me because she knew I was a puppet maker. Then she offered me a part,
probably because I was already going to be on set, and everything has just
kind of gone on from there.
The biggest thing we’ve worked on together by far was Manos Returns,
the sequel to Manos -
The Hands of Fate. She was the director, and
in the cast, and I was 1st and 2nd AD, and also in the cast. It was the
kind of shoot where everyone had to wear multiple hats. We made it through
10 days of super intense filming, plus we shared a room…I’d say the
fact that we’re still speaking at all, plus still working together, says
we collaborate pretty well.
When I decided to take the jump into making something specifically written to
be on film (as opposed to filming something written for/performed on
stage), she’s the one I reached out to for help. And that’s how she
came to be co-producer/co-director on my puppet buddy cop comedy José and The Hawk.
Back to Monster Busters:
Do talk about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
It was sort of a cross between a sleepover and 48 Hour Film Fest, because we
shot it in such a short period of time and 3 of the four of us stayed over
at the same house. After we wrapped the first day, we wound up watching
some ghost hunting shows before bed, so the theme of the film pervaded the
entire trip. You
also did a fake dating video for A
Stab at Love as your Monster Busters
character- now what can you tell us about that one, and was this at all
scripted or mostly improvised? That
was super fun. It was mostly improvised. I prepared the questions for
myself, based on a little YouTube research, and then got into character
and answered them on camera as best I could. Any future projects you'd
like to share? They’re
still in the screenplay stage, but I’m working on new shorts for both José
and The Hawk and my character Creepy Doll (separate things, not a
crossover episode - yet). I’m also looking into publishing some of
the fairy tales I’ve written for puppet slam acts. What got you acting in the first place,
and did you receive any formal training on the subject?
No lie, I started acting in vacation bible school. The kid that was supposed
to play the jailer in the Paul and Silas in the Jail skit kept
messing around, so the teacher put me in the part instead. I fell in love.
(Really, when you think about it, The Jailer has the best character arc in
that story.) After that, I threw myself into every acting opportunity I
could find. I do have a BA in Theatre Performance, although I’m not sure you need
a degree necessarily. When I think back, I feel like I got the most useful
experience in college from helping produce the super bare-bones,
student-run series that toured to the residence halls. What
can you tell us about your filmwork ptior to A
Stab at Love?
I’ve been a stage actor for most of my career, so my film work has tended to
fall into two categories: Self-produced and helping out my friends. Also,
a lot of my self-produced stuff I would call film records of stage acts.
It’s much more recently that I’ve started actually writing for film.
I’ve definitely shifted more in that direction since Covid started. If I
had to pick my favorite previous projects, I’d go with Scottish
Ninjas, the 2 clips I did for a puppet recreation of Aliens,
and of course Manos - The Hands of Felt.
Besides acting, you also have a
career in puppetry, right? So do talk about that aspect of yourself for a
bit, and does your puppetry at all inform your acting and vice versa?
For awhile now, I’ve really considered myself more of a puppeteer than an
actor. Working without a puppet was something else that made Monster Busters
unusual. I lucked into puppeteering, which is a long story,
but it sparks my creativity more than anything else. Also I’m much
braver as a puppet performer than I am as a meat actor. I compare it to
Dumbo’s magic feather: Does he need that fly? No, but also yes. I can
get somewhat stuck in my head when I’m acting. Now when that happens, I
can ask myself what I would do with a puppet, and that helps.
I started with a long stretch of improv puppeteering, which I kind of miss.
My favourite thing there was recreating people’s first date stories with
puppets. I’ve also done a LOT of puppet slam acts over the years. Those
are short form pieces (3-8 minutes) in a variety of styles, aimed at an
audience of adults. The
puppet project I’m best known for is Manos - The Hands of Felt.
It’s a puppet musical that blends the plot of Manos -
The Hands of Fate with an increasingly fictionalized version of the story of
filming Manos. It started life as a stage show. Later, with the
help of a Kickstarter campaign, we remounted it and filmed it.
How would you describe yourself as an actress, and some of your techniques to
bring your characters to life? It’s
very easy for me to get stuck in my head as an actress, so most techniques
I lean on are aimed at getting me past that. If I can find something
physical to key into - a way that my character moves that I don’t, a
psychological gesture, even a prop or costume piece - that can be a lot of
help. This is also a reason I enjoy doing improv; if you’re truly
playing in the moment, there just isn’t time to spin out in your brain.
More recently, I’ve tried asking myself “what would be fun for me,
Rachel, to have this character do?” That’s been very freeing. You just
have to trust the director to reel you back in as needed. Actresses (and indeed
actors) who inspire you? I love the way you can watch thoughts and emotions travel across Cate
Blanchett’s face when she’s acting. Her episode of Hot Ones was also
really fun; she clearly has a lot of curiosity about people. Several
times, I have used thinking about how Bette Davis performs to spur myself
on when I’ve felt lacking in energy. Your favourite movies? It’s
hard to narrow this down, so I’m going to hit my top choice in several
genres here: Singing in the Rain, The Great Muppet Caper and
Sense and Sensibility. Kill Bill seems to be my go-to
comfort rewatch these days. And of course Manos -
The Hands of Fate. ...
and of course, films you really deplore? This
is difficult because I genuinely like a lot of bad movies (Con Air,
The Flying Guillotine). As far as deplore, I’ll say the King
Arthur movie with Clive Owen. I originally went to see that in the
theatre and walked out less than halfway through. And I’ve tried to
watch it several times since and have never made it all the way to the
end. I also hate Love, Actually for being a bummer fest that was
pitched to me as heartwarming. And of course Manos -
The Hands of Fate ;)
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Your website, social media, whatever else? My YouTube channel is the best place to see what I’m up to these days:
https://www.youtube.com/c/VoxFabuli
But I also have a website for form’s sake:
http://www.voxfabuli.com Anything else you're dying
to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Thanks
for reading this far, people of the internet. If you’re seeing this
anytime near when it was published (spring 2025), your favorite indie
artists are probably going through a tough time. Buy their stuff, suggest
them to you friends, etc. These are dark days, and not in the fun way. Thanks
for the interview! Thank you! It was fun to think about all this.
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