00:25But the actor's journey, I'll start off with you, Elizabeth.
00:29And since I know this is an extension of relative in a certain way, but the idea of the psychology
00:36of a character is built usually when you first see them.
00:40It's about first impressions.
00:41But then, you know, when you expand mythology, it becomes a completely different thing.
00:46You know, could you talk about sort of those elements of Hekla as a character?
00:50Because she's very optimistic, and yet she doesn't want to wait for things either.
00:55She wants to move forward.
00:57Could you talk about that?
00:58Yeah, definitely.
00:59That's actually one thing.
01:01Oh, sorry.
01:02Let me turn this down.
01:03That's actually one thing I love to do with characters that I play.
01:06Have you ever heard of the Enneagram?
01:08Yes, I actually did.
01:10Yep, yep, yep.
01:11Yeah, I love, especially when it's like a very big character, and I need to get to know her on
01:19a deeper level.
01:20I love to give my characters and find out and pick what Enneagram I think that they would be.
01:25And I think Hekla is definitely the achiever.
01:27And just, I don't feel like, I know I worked with Hekla during Relative.
01:33But her being a younger, I mean, in college, not really sure of herself yet.
01:40I definitely think working on Hekla, I went so much deeper into kind of figuring out who this character is.
01:46Not only because she's more, we get more of her, but because she also is becoming who she is at
01:53that time.
01:54And when you're in college, you just, you're still kind of figuring everything out.
01:57But I feel like late 20s, you really have had that moment of wanting to get to know who you
02:03are as a person.
02:04And so getting to do that for Hekla was so exciting, but also intimidating.
02:11Because she is a larger than life person.
02:13And I feel like she is at a 10 at most points in her day.
02:19Which makes it more difficult, even for me, to kind of figure out who she really is underneath.
02:25So getting to just sit down and kind of figure out what's important to her and what she's scared of
02:33was a really intimidating experience.
02:37But I loved doing it.
02:38I loved just kind of sitting down and even chatting.
02:41Because my husband worked with me on the script a lot, too, because he's in the film.
02:45So just like chatting about her with him was always a joy for us as well.
02:50Turn your head to light just a little bit for me, please.
02:52There you go, dear.
02:53Beautiful.
02:54Chin down.
02:54Just a little bit.
02:56I'm a girl of action.
02:58I like to do first and ask questions later.
03:00I have four auditions today, which is like the most I've ever had in one day.
03:04And I have a show later tomorrow.
03:06Soft smile, dear.
03:07That's amazing.
03:08That is beautiful.
03:10Let's get a really beautiful headshot for your agent here, okay, hon?
03:13Wonderful.
03:13Eyes right through camera.
03:15Right through camera.
03:16Little less smile, dear.
03:17Little less smile.
03:18The problem is that you're married to your work, so anyone you end up with is going to come second.
03:23Sit up a little bit.
03:24Wonderful.
03:25Powerful.
03:26Remember, you're a queen.
03:27You are a queen.
03:28Are you kind of into Amina?
03:30Buy me a drink?
03:32Absolutely.
03:33Have you had a chance to read the script yet?
03:38Well, she's all different genres because she tries so many different things, but she can go in so many different
03:44ways, which is what an actor needs to do.
03:46But sometimes you need to sort of go with your instincts, but you have to balance that out, obviously, with
03:53the director.
03:53And the good thing is, obviously, you guys wrote it together.
03:56Could you talk about that yin and yang?
03:58I mean, I think because Liz and I are close friends, it was easy for us to write this together.
04:07I felt like I had a very good, and because we had worked together before, I had a very good
04:12understanding of what her skills are as an actress.
04:17And she's very, very diverse.
04:20I mean, she can do a lot of things.
04:22Back when we made Relative, I wanted her to do a monologue from an Oscar Wilde play.
04:30And I asked her, you know, have you ever done a British accent before?
04:35And she said, no, but I can learn.
04:38And I loved that.
04:40And she did a lot of homework.
04:42You know, she practiced.
04:44And she was flawless in the film.
04:46That was the first time she'd ever done a British accent.
04:48So I felt like...
04:49It's pretty good.
04:50It's pretty good.
04:52And I was like, oh, I can throw anything at her, and she's going to bring her A game.
04:57And so for this film, I asked her to sing, you know, which is something she does not do.
05:05And yet I knew she would put in the work to, you know, be able to do what I was
05:11asking her.
05:12And she actually hired a vocal coach.
05:16You know, Liz is the kind of actress who likes to do homework.
05:19Not a lot of actors do.
05:21And so I tried, you know, to craft a script that would really be a showcase for her.
05:28As a performer.
05:29And it was very important to me that the types of auditions she goes on are very diverse.
05:35You know, in terms of we see her read for a movie where she has a scene partner.
05:40We see her do, you know, a classical monologue, which is the Oscar Wilde.
05:45We see her do a commercial, which is, you know, pretty crude and silly.
05:52And then we see her do an experimental play where that's the one time where she's not even reading lines.
05:59The director just wants to interview her.
06:01So I didn't, you know, it was really important to me that the script not feel repetitious.
06:07Even though you see her go on four different auditions.
06:13And, yeah, and I think Liz completely understood, you know, why I wanted to make this film.
06:20And asking her to come on board as a co-writer was the best decision I made.
06:24Because her contributions to the script just elevated the whole thing.
06:30What do you mean you don't want to do this anymore?
06:32I don't want to do it anymore.
06:34Everything feels routine and stale to me.
06:36I just want to feel free.
06:38Routine, my ass.
06:39You're not even giving us a chance.
06:41It did give us a chance, Tyler.
06:43I'm just trying to be honest with you about how I feel.
06:46I feel like we've been on a downward spiral for a while now.
06:50You think this is getting stale, but there's so many things about each other we don't even know yet.
06:55So many nooks and crannies of each other's brains we have left to explore.
06:58Jesus Christ, Tyler.
06:59What is oh so important about your brain that I don't know yet?
07:02You don't know what my favorite vegetable is.
07:08Yes, I do.
07:09It's broccoli.
07:12Wrong.
07:13It's cauliflower.
07:16Really?
07:20No, it's broccoli.
07:23Is this a dagger which I see before me?
07:26I'll jump back over to you, Liz.
07:27Because this life, whether you're in development, I've worked in that, or production or press or filmmaker or actress, it's
07:35a very abstract life in terms of the way you enter into any conversation, the way you enter into any
07:41area.
07:43And it's interesting because you meet these really unique people.
07:46And of course, that's what sort of the day in the life is supposed to show.
07:50I mean, from that first director with the mustache.
07:55I've run into people like that.
07:57But to the experimental director, obviously, this is dedicated to Lynch, because I know that connection.
08:03And he was always talking whenever I've met him.
08:07I met him a couple times.
08:08And he would always be talking about describing something in the distance.
08:12And it would always reflect back on what you were talking about.
08:15But it wasn't really talking about that.
08:17And that's why that story, I think, Liz, that you say in the experimental, the story, it's as much about
08:23what it means as what it was actually living in.
08:27It's a metaphor for life.
08:28I think I had to channel a lot of Hekla and just kind of be a mirror ball to the
08:33people around me because I was learning.
08:36It was not it was just so much learning was going into each part of the entire process that I
08:44was a part of.
08:45I had never written before.
08:46I had never helped produce before.
08:48And I was just kind of luck.
08:50I mean, thank goodness that I had Aaron and Mike to let me kind of ride on their coattails and
08:55just watch and let them and be so patient with me while I'm learning this entire process.
09:01And I just I really wanted to bring everything that I could so that because this I mean, this entire
09:07project was so important to me and I just wanted it to come out as beautiful as possible.
09:12And so putting in the work is always very important to me.
09:17And so I think just kind of.
09:21Heading into each position, you just have to put like the fear behind you and kind of just act like,
09:29you know, confident.
09:30And I think Hekla learning her was very.
09:34A great tool to have during that time as well, I was just kind of faking confidence until I make
09:39it.
09:40That was the goal.
09:41But even in the singing of that song, it had to be you because you make it sound like you.
09:46It doesn't sound like anybody else's version.
09:49You know, could you talk about that?
09:51Finding those individual traits of her.
09:53And then I'll go back over to Michael as far as giving you those sort of precise directions as needed.
10:00Yeah, definitely.
10:01I mean, she's someone to admire, too.
10:03But at the same time, her relationship with Tyler is one of my favorite parts of the film.
10:07But you can see that Hekla does at one point see Tyler as another job, as work.
10:14And so like her memorizing all of Tyler's favorite things is more of like a little notes app list that
10:22she has in her brain.
10:23And like she has to make sure that she knows each little detail about Tyler because Tyler will pop these
10:29random quizzes on her and make sure that she does.
10:31And so she's just kind of getting into the brain of someone that puts work over emotions is it kind
10:41of came naturally to me, especially as a younger version of myself.
10:45It's definitely I feel like a young 20s mindset where you just feel like you have to impress and work
10:52from the bottom and kind of move your way up.
10:53And I really, truly believe that is how Hekla thinks everyone operates and how that is the way to get
10:59what she wants in life.
11:01I want to use you.
11:03I want to use your essence.
11:05Are you kidding?
11:08Wonderful.
11:09Wonderful.
11:10Lean towards me just a little bit.
11:12Good.
11:12And palm me in the dunnest smoke from hell.
11:16Thanks so much, Hekla.
11:17You'll be hearing from us soon.
11:20Either way.
11:21Beautiful.
11:22You are beautiful.
11:23That's Mindy, Hekla.
11:24Wonderful.
11:25So gorgeous.
11:27So good.
11:27There we go.
11:28Look at that beautiful way out.
11:30Let's try it again, but this time with a little bit more playful knowingness.
11:37Playful knowingness.
11:38Got it.
11:39Could you talk about capturing that, Michael, from a filmic language point of view?
11:45Because the way you use color, the way you use black and white, all these things point to that idea
11:49of what memory or what idea we're looking at.
11:53Because that's what the narrator does, gives that sort of idea from a different perspective.
11:59Well, one of the things that Liz and I talked a lot about is the fact that the scenes with
12:04Hekla and Tyler are kind of the moments where Hekla is most herself, you know, because I put a lot
12:11of myself into Hekla too.
12:13I mean, Hekla is sort of where my personality meets Liz's.
12:18And I think in particular, you know, we talked a lot about Hekla being a hustler, because if you want
12:25to be an artist in this day and age, you also have to be a hustler.
12:28And so even when Hekla's not literally auditioning, she's still performing, you know, whenever she's interacting with someone who might
12:38cast her.
12:39The only times where she's not hustling are when we see her with Tyler.
12:44And so I myself was going through a breakup at the time we made this movie.
12:51And so all of those scenes were very personal to me.
12:53But in terms of the filmmaking language, I loved being able to have color sequences.
13:00And some people suggested to me that the flashbacks, you know, should be in color or we should color grade
13:08the black and white differently to give it a different texture.
13:11And I thought that would be a little too obvious, to be honest with you.
13:16I wanted it to look indistinguishable from the present because the point of the flashbacks is there is no past.
13:26You know, the past and the present coexist within Hekla.
13:30And what she's doing during these auditions is she's using those memories to fuel how she performs during each audition.
13:42And then again, during the during the play at the end.
13:45So I wanted it to almost be a surprise like you had like you weren't even aware that we were
13:52flashing back until you thought about it.
13:55But where the color comes in are more for what we call the fantasy sequences, which are the moment during
14:04each audition where Hekla really gets into the zone.
14:08That's where she's really doing well.
14:11And I wanted that to be, you know, we wanted the production design to be very fanciful.
14:20And that's literally just a peek into her brain during those moments.
14:26And so that was a whole lot of fun to do.
14:29And I have to give a big shout out to our production designer, Heather Kuhlman, who was also the costume
14:35designer.
14:56And I have to give a big shout out to our production designer.
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