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Writer/Director Jonathan Oster and Actress Amelia Barr talk to Fest Track about inspiration, character dilemmas and thematic depth in regards to their new film "Jane's Not Here" playing the Feature section of Dances With Films LA 2026 in Los Angeles, California.

#JanesNotHere #FilmInterview #MysteryFilm #Perspective
Transcript
00:00Music
00:26What's it gonna take for you to realize he's not real?
00:29Something happened, something that I can't explain.
00:32I need you to see that what I'm saying is real, it's true, and I'm desperate.
00:38I remember. I remember everything.
00:47With a film like this, it's obviously about perspective and perception.
00:52It's all about what Anna Jane is perceiving or what she wants, sees things to be.
00:58Could you talk about that sort of concept, Jonathan, from your perspective?
01:03Because it's a certain psychology where what does family mean in certain ways and how does that structure work?
01:11Yeah, yeah. You know, I think that that's really the reason that I was so drawn to making the movie.
01:16You know, I was really drawn to that premise.
01:19I've always loved kind of movies where there's some kind of just really grand kind of mystery going on where
01:24the audience or the viewer has to kind of piece all the, you know, puzzle pieces together, you know, alongside
01:30the main character.
01:31I've always loved things like that.
01:32And so, you know, my sister came to me with this idea for the film, you know, a woman kind
01:37of, she wakes up from a coma following this catastrophic accident and she's just, you know, consumed by memories of
01:42her husband and son, but they're nowhere to be found and the doctors tell her they're not real.
01:45And, you know, I just thought that that was so, that was, there's nothing more mysterious than that.
01:50And I've, I've always loved mystery and yeah, I mean, it's, it's kind of, you know, the film, the entire
01:55time you're kind of going along, you know, where you're wondering, you know, is, is this real?
01:59Which, which version of her life basically is real?
02:02Is what she's saying true?
02:03Is it not true?
02:04And you really have to figure things out with her.
02:06And, you know, it's also fairly ambiguous as well.
02:09I've always loved that as a viewer where a movie won't necessarily answer all the questions.
02:13I mean, there's certainly closure here as well, but there's a lot of questions that still remain.
02:17And I've, I've always loved that as a viewer.
02:19And I really tried to bring that to this film.
02:21Can you blink for me a few times?
02:25Can you tell me your name?
02:29That's it.
02:30What's your name?
02:38You remember why I said you're here?
02:42You were in an accident about three months ago.
02:45Many, many people died.
02:46At this time, authorities have not disclosed the cause of the crash.
02:49You were one of the lucky ones.
02:52She's not talking to anyone.
02:53She can eat anything.
02:55Are you going to go see her?
02:57She doesn't want to see me.
03:00And now, Amelia, talking about that, look, can you talk about the notion of duality?
03:06Because duality is obviously a psychological point of view.
03:10It's a mindset.
03:11But here, it's actually a physical thing of duality in certain ways.
03:15Could you talk about finding that?
03:16Because did you have to separate everything in terms of how you played her?
03:21Yeah, that's actually really interesting.
03:23For sure.
03:24I think I spent a lot of time cataloging just physicality between Jane versus Anna and kind
03:33of how she moves about her day.
03:36And I don't know.
03:37It's not something I've ever really encountered before as an actor, where it's in the same
03:42breath of whatever we're shooting for that day.
03:47I might be playing more Jane scenes, and then I might step into Anna a little bit.
03:53And so, yeah, it's an interesting thing for sure.
03:57I will say that there wasn't extreme differences, more so just small physical things.
04:08And then I think, obviously, like, you know, Jane is in such a terrible mental state for
04:14most of the film.
04:15And then, like, all of the Anna scenes or Diana scenes are lots of joy, lots of happiness.
04:21So it didn't really, they were never, like, super close together where it got, like, kind
04:25of confusing, if that makes sense.
04:26I was like, oh, it's very clear right now that I am being Diana versus Jane.
04:31I just feel like he needs to be more careful.
04:33I mean, that's, like, the fifth time he's fallen in two days.
04:35Oh, yeah, he's six.
04:38Sometimes I just feel like he doesn't listen to me.
04:43Yeah, he's six.
04:44You keep saying that like I don't know how old our son is.
04:47I'm aware of how old our son is.
04:48I'm just saying, he'll grow out of it.
04:51Well, you didn't.
04:52I mean, you never listen to your mother.
04:55No, you should be thankful.
04:56My mom's a lunatic.
04:59Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:00That is true.
05:04Okay.
05:05Do you want to do the dishes or give him his bath?
05:11Bath.
05:12Damn it.
05:15You know, I don't think you've given me one kiss today.
05:19Don't be a liar.
05:20The whole week, actually.
05:21Well, why should I?
05:23I'll do the dishes.
05:25But it's also this perspective perception thing, which I was talking to Jonathan, obviously, right before about is the idea
05:32of how people see her versus how she sees herself.
05:35And that's interesting because we sometimes we look at people that maybe have a certain mental, not illness, but blockage,
05:43and we don't know how to deal with them.
05:45It's about understanding versus accepting, you know, and it takes a while, specifically, like even with your brother to make
05:52that short of change.
05:53Can you talk about perspective and perception?
05:56Yeah, I mean, I think like, just that, like her perspective the entire time of being fearful that no one
06:05believes her.
06:06That is Jane, Jane's plight is that she feels a little bit like, maybe not gaslit, but she feels a
06:13little crazy, you know, made up this whole, this whole life.
06:17And so for me, I mean, as Amelia, that's like my worst fear.
06:22So I found those scenes to be really, um, they hit home a little bit more.
06:27And then Diana, it's like most of her perspective throughout the film is, is filled with like love and joy
06:32and, and, and family relation, familial, familial relationships.
06:38And they're not really being any kind of, there's nothing rubbing her, her life in the wrong way there.
06:45I guess, you know, you also just because, you know, you mentioned her brother Brady as well, you know, it's,
06:49it's really a story about, you know, these, these two people who are both kind of put into impossible positions
06:55kind of, you know, in different ways, right?
06:56So, you know, Amelia's character, Jane is just put into this impossible position of, uh, you know, no one is
07:03believing her, no one believes what she knows to be absolutely true.
07:07And then, of course, her brother, Brady is being put into the position of, you know, I want to believe
07:12you because you're my sister.
07:13And, you know, you're the closest thing in the world to me, but I have this whole lifetime of experience
07:17with you where I, I've witnessed what you're saying, um, just doesn't add up.
07:22You know, it's, it's, it's really great in that sense as well, I think.
07:25So it's really about these, these two people both being put into kind of impossible situations.
07:29I can't, I can't, I can't be here without him.
07:41He's not real, Jane.
07:42He's free.
07:46Then where is he?
07:51Where did you live with him?
07:53Hmm?
07:54I don't know.
07:54What school did he go to?
07:56I'll go out there right now.
07:57I'll go find him.
07:58Tell me, where did he go?
08:02I've known you my whole life.
08:04I know you better than anyone.
08:05All these photos of you, of me.
08:07Why isn't he in there?
08:15Jane.
08:20He's just a dream.
08:23Just a dream.
08:24But there's a certain truth, uh, in the details.
08:27Um, I'm not sure whoever wants to talk about this first, but you know, the details about
08:32certain things that, you know, that Anna, you know, slash Jane gloms onto, you know, certain
08:38things that are important to her.
08:40I mean, you know, could you talk about sort of finding those truths, uh, Amelia within her?
08:45I mean, I think, I think those like Easter egg moments, um, within the film were something that
08:51definitely John had plotted out.
08:53And I think together there was moments of like, oh my goodness, what if there, what if we added
08:58this little part in with the bookmark so that we are taken back as, as the audience, we are
09:02taken back to that memory of when Jane was on the train.
09:06Um, and yeah, I don't know.
09:08I, I feel like perhaps John, you might be able to answer that one a little bit better.
09:12It's been a while since we filmed.
09:13So I'm like trying to understand.
09:16Yeah.
09:16Yeah.
09:16I mean, I think for me personally, kind of as the director, but also that this, you know,
09:21the storyteller and the writer, um, for me, I always viewed it just as, you know, we don't
09:26want to expose too much information to the viewer.
09:28We don't want to reveal too much, you know?
09:30So it's like kind of throughout the film, you know, the, the Jane that we're seeing
09:34is, you know, 70% Jane and then 30% not Jane.
09:38And, you know, that, that 30% is always kind of seeping through a bit and at various times
09:41in the film, you know, that percentage changes, but, you know, I, I just viewed it in, in terms
09:46of, you know, she has this, this connection to this other life.
09:50Right.
09:51But it's, it's, it's never so intense as to be kind of spoilery or, or, or so for the
09:55viewer, does that make sense?
09:56You know, you have a character drama wrapped in sort of a genre.
10:00Rapper.
10:01Does that make sense?
10:01Because it, because the mystery and the thriller, it makes total sense, but that allows you
10:06to talk about darker themes.
10:08A hundred percent.
10:09And that's, that's actually something that I appreciate you saying, but it's, um, that's
10:13one of the things that I think makes this film so unique is that it really is, you know,
10:17a character drama with these very kind of, you know, these quiet moments of anguish, as
10:21well as these kind of very, you know, loud kind of rageful moments as well, you know, where
10:24she's just going through the ringer, going through the full gauntlet of things, you know,
10:27but it's absolutely, it's wrapped in things as well.
10:30You know, it's, it's a suspense, it's a mystery, it's a, it's a thriller.
10:34You know, as I said, I've always loved mysteries and kind of the whole time, um, the viewer is
10:38kind of putting pieces together with Jane.
10:40Right.
10:41Um, so it's really, uh, I think, I hope for the viewer, a really interesting kind of hybrid
10:46hybrid of different things.
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