November 23, 2011

• Interview with an Imaginary Star.

  Okay so i probably should introduce this since it might sound a bit odd.

  A few days ago I was reading a sunday magazine (well skimming through it actually) and i read the first few sentances of an interview with some french actress or other, and while i wasn’t all that intruiged by the actress I was quite interested by the style of the writing.

  I’ve often had my attention caught by this Interview section of the mag because of its a mix of scene and personality that suggests more of a feel than actualy revealing all that much info.

  So as an experiment i’m going to write an interview, but since I have noone to interview myself it’s going to be entirely fictional. So the following interview, interviewer, interviewee and all other names, places or films mentioned do not represent any person(s) place(s) living or dead

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  Scary, Funny.

  After 10 years painting our screens red in some of the biggest horror films ever made,
  David Saint asks, why is Amy Lana the ‘princess of horror’ now asking us to see the funny side?

  When your setting up an interview you usually expect to be in some glamerous hotel somewhere waiting for your few rushed minuets with someone who might have five more journalists waiting in the lobby behind you, but as i sit back in a luxurious white deck chair surrounded by the gleaming white stone of Amy Lanas beach front residence I realise the truth in the old saying ‘to every rule theres an exception’, perhaps that should be her motto.

  At 27 she’s no stranger to the hollywood lifestyle Having started acting at the age of 12 she’s seen it all before, but even in her early career she hadn’t exactly been like most child actresses. At 15 she made her first big impact on the silver screen when she became the suprise star of Living Night the first in the now world famous Night series by directing duo Martins and Kyle

  Her performance not only won her acclaim but also cemented her position as the muse for many of the directors subsequent projects. What followed was one of the most successful franchises since Alien.

  But today Amy has broken her usually strict no interviews policy, not to talk about a new Horror but rather to promote the comedy drama ‘Frederique’ by French director Bruno Reen.
  I’ll admit that as I waited in the bright sunlight, listening to the distant sound of waves, despite a long career of journalism I was nervous. Amy Lana was one of those golden ticket interviews and I knew my editor would be waiting by his phone anxious for my call.

  My worries were soon laid to rest though the moment she stepped out from the sliding glass wall that separated her bespoke kitchen from the patio/pool area.
  She looked as normal as any superstar can, none of her simple outfit of flowing silks and cottons was branded, she wore no jewellery and hardly any make-up, it felt like i’d just popped round to visit a friend for lunch.

  She dropped down a large salad bowl and two smaller dishes and then threw her self into an opposite deck chair with a long sigh.
  ‘I adore the sun!’ she exclaims
  ‘I hope you don’t mind i’m desperate for lunch, we can talk and eat it’s just a salad’ She smiles and attacks her salad with vigor.
  Seeing this more relaxed side of Amy helps make sense of her move away from the blood and guts of her early years, having survived her tumultuous hollywood teenage life it make sense that she’d want to embrace more mature roles.

  “I don’t think that theres much difference between horror and comedy’ she explains in her silky voice which still carries the hint of a texas drawl ‘It’s all about expressing something pure and primal, that can be any emotion really, fear, laughter, sadness, joy. Some of the saddest things i’ve seen have also been the funniest.
  You know that moment when your having a good time enjoying a show and all of a sudden they spring something more ‘real’?”

  I’m surprised by how self possesed Amy is given her past I was expecting someone more fragile. Her parents lived a life of excess, her father Jason Lana the front man of Heaven Scent and her mother the designer Lucielle Lana have described their time together as one long divorce, which finally came when Amy was 15.

  Amy does an exaggerated eye roll when I bring up the subject of her family. 

  “Sh** I know, I know you have to go there, i’ve been dodging you guys and your questions for this long” Her tone is playful and toung in cheek, but I can see that shes not comfortable talking about her past. 

  “My life fell apart when my folks finally stopped fighting and split, they didn’t much care where or what I did they were too involved with each other and what they’d lost, and YES I did go live with the Boys” Her affectionate term for the Directors Nick Martins and Kevin Kyle with whom the fifteen year old Amy lived for almost 6 years.

  “We all read the papers and got a real kick out of what some of em wrote about us. The Boys are sweet, kind guys…okay their weird but i’m sure I was pretty weird too back then…hell not just back then!” She smiles and laughs leaning over to press my hand.

  “It made sense ya know? I’d just done their first film, they told me right off the bat that they had lots more ideas, I had nowhere else to be…and despite ya’ll speculating and thinking stuff about us, the truth of it was way more boring. We were just like siblings really, we worked, we played…it was kind of like I got my childhood again” Amy’s charm and confidence is disarming she’s all at once like a friend and a big sister looking out for everyone around her, but behind it all there’s still a fragility or perhaps yet another veil hiding some yet more private person.

  Despite my journalistic instincts I change the subject to the more comfortable territory of her new film. The director Bruno Reen supposedly created the part for the French starlet Julie Laroche but had the casting changed last minute when Amy read the script and asked to play the part instead.

  “It was Nicky who got me the script to read, just cos he thought I’d get a kick out of I think. But after i’d read it I kind of felt like I knew this girl and I called the Director more out of curiosity than anything else, and he was real sweet and got me in to read, despite them already having Julie all cast and everything. And a day later he was on the phone saying she was out and he wanted me…I felt kind a bad to be honest”

  The resulting media generated by the furious Julie can’t have hurt the mystique surrounding the film, but despite being by proxy in the spotlight once again Amy still managed to avoid the usual round of interviews and media frenzy so I ask why is it now that the film is done and about to premier has she decided to finally break her silence.

  “Well I guess I just finally have something to talk about” She flashes a mischievous smiles  ”Before…I don’t know, I just thought I had my acting and the character that The Boys had made and thats all I needed, but with Brunos film it feels like there’s so many more Amy’ out there to try”  

  We talk for most of the afternoon and finally when I come to leave she hugs me like we’ll never meet again. And later after I’d poured over my notes and listened intently to all my recordings I realize that despite her warmth and genuine affection I won’t be meeting that Amy Lana again.

  Acting was her escape from a life that never really began, and like a chameleon Amy has learnt how to perfectly conceal herself in plain sight. The intensity and honesty with which she can portray a role is as close to the real Amy as the world with get…for now.

  But If I learnt anything during our interview it’s that to every rules there’s an exception.    

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  Interview By David Saint – The Dawn Review –

  Frederique Will be in the cinemas February 2

    

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  Hehe This is actually quite tricky to do and has taken me far longer than I thought to finish, but if anyone else is tempted I’d love to see another writer/bloggers version of a fake interview, so tag me if you have a go. Other than that let me know what you think

  • 6:18 pm
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