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On Directing

M I would really like to hear about your approach to directing an actor who’s playing multiple characters in the same film. Did you very carefully plan and ensure that Juno played both roles with specific differences and nuances, or in the case of an experienced and talented actress like Juno, did you trust her to take charge of crafting subtle differences between her performance of both characters?  

A The idea for the same actor to play both roles came to me while I was writing the script. I thought it would be an interesting challenge as well as provide a different and more abstract interpretation of the film (which I’ll leave to the viewer!). Juno was immediately on board as she had never played two characters in the same project prior to this film. Since you never see Ella, it was important that we set her apart from the very first word we hear her say. I knew Juno could do an amazing American accent, so we decided to have her be American on screen and play Ella with her native tongue.

During our first meeting, we discussed at length the personality differences of both characters as well as their back story and relationship. It was fun to hear Juno’s interpretation of each woman based on the script and then get into the nitty-gritty of how she would make them personal. Again, it’s such a blessing to work with an actor who is so passionate about their craft and can come forward with unique and interesting choices. This is what I love about filmmaking - the collaboration. 

For the actual execution, we decided to record all of Ella’s dialogue first so that Juno would loosely know what she was responding to on camera. We then shot the film and went back to re-record Ella’s dialogue to make sure her lines matched up with anything we changed on set. It was a bit of ping-pong but in the final edit we used parts of both recording sessions, and it worked out great.

On Process & Discovery

M In making and finishing the film, what did you discover and learn that you might adopt or further explore in future projects?  

A There are several themes woven into this film that I’ll continue to explore in future work as I find them to be so universal - isolation, loneliness, facades, betrayal, impermanence…the things in life we all experience and can’t escape. Yes, I want a film to be entertaining but I also want the audience to walk away with something to chew on - something that feels personal. 

In terms of visual discovery and process, I guess I’m always striving to make the film’s images as beautiful as possible without feeling gratuitous or trendy. It helps to align with a cinematographer who has the same objective - my Director of Photography Jeff Tomcho did an incredible job of honouring my vision and offering wonderful suggestions about how we could accomplish our visual style while always serving the story. 

The founder of Hommage, Mark Shaba published this interview on 10.12.2021. Mark is a grassroots filmmaker from Victoria, Australia. He respectfully acknowledges the past and present traditional owners of the land on which he creates, promotes and screens art, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation who are the custodians.