Interview
SLIFF 2019 Interview: Lara Gallagher – Director and Writer of CLEMENTINE
CLEMENTINE will screen at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar) Saturday, Nov 16 at 5:00pm as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. Writer/Director Lara Gallagher will be in attendance. Ticket information can be found HERE
In a desperate plea for attention, unhinged and heartbroken Karen — who’s unable to let go of her failing relationship with an older and more successful woman — steals away to her estranged lover’s lakehouse in a remote and beautiful Pacific Northwest forest. While there, she becomes entangled with Lana, a provocative young girl hell-bent on moving to California and cultivating an identity that lives up to her expectations of the world outside of her small town. As Karen grapples with her difficulties in the past and expectations for the future, her relationship with Lana oscillates wildly. Is Karen serving as a surrogate mother to Lana? Is she the watcher or the watched? Are they friends, sisters, or lovers? Equal parts psychological drama and sexual coming-of-age story, CLEMENTINE is a tense rumination on who to love and how to let go.
Writer/Director Lara Gallagher took the time to talk to We Are Movie Geeks about her film CLEMENTINE.
Interview conducted by Tom Stockman November 8th, 2019
Tom Stockman: Your movie CLEMENTINE plays at the St. Louis International Film Festival next Saturday night. Will you be here for the screening?
Lara Gallagher: Yes, I’m excited.
TS: Have you ever been to St. Louis before?
LG: I was there many years ago on a family cross-country road trip, but not since. I’m looking forward to it.
TS: I enjoyed CLEMENTINE quite a bit. Tell me, was this a personal story?
LG: Yes, it’s something I wrote as well as directed, and it was inspired by feelings that I had coming out of my own really rough break-up with an older and more successful woman.
TS: That’s kind of the film’s theme, the crazy things that can happen in the heat of a break-up.
LG: Yes, I haven’t seen a lot of movies that are about that point after a break-up when your friends are tired of hearing about it but you are still not over it. You can see yourself going in multiple ways in that situation. Do you let it take over to your life? Do you do something drastic or crazy? Or are you going to somehow get over it? That was the kind of moment I wanted to tap into, when you have to decide how to move on.
TS: I found the film relatable. I think everyone’s had their heart broken.
LG: Yes it’s part of adulthood and setting yourself up for better relationships.
TS: Where was CLEMENTINE filmed?
LG: It was all shot in Oregon. Primarily all in a town called Florence, Oregon, about three hours south of Portland.
TS: I found your film quite suspenseful. You direct suspense well. You introduce a gun early, and there are threats, and veiled talk about harm and suicide. You don’t know where it’s going to go and I was on the edge of my seat. I think the music helped in that aspect as well.
LG: That was definitely my intention. I wanted to dip my toe into the thriller genre. The main character could really do all of those things. I think when your life becomes dismantled, you have to recognize that you do have choices and those choices can be definitely the wrong choices. Burning the house down is an option but you have to make those decisions for yourself, because you’re the only one that can do it. That was the inspiration, to try and get in her head and make it as psychological as possible.
TS: The main character’s name is Karen and she is played by Otmara Marrero. Did you audition a lot of actresses for that role, and what was it about Ms. Marrero’s audition that spoke to you and made you want to cast her?
LG: Yes, we looked at quite a few women for that role. Otmara had a quality that I didn’t know that I was looking for, but when I saw her tape, it just kind of clicked. She’s very casual and she’s very calm. She was OK with silences, she wasn’t rushing to do something. I felt a very compelling stillness with her in her audition, which I think is a really hard thing for actors. They are usually trying to get the part and wanting to show their excitement. Otmara just came with this kind of stillness and wait that was really important for this character of Karen. On the other hand, when I watched her previous work in a show on Crackle called a Start Up, where she’s basically an action star, I’m so glad for the different skills that she brought to CLEMENTINE. It’s my first film. You can write things like somebody jumping through a window or rowing a boat, that you think that somebody will just do, but Otmara was just incredibly tough. We had padded her stomach for the scene where she climbs through the broken window and were being conscientious about her safety, but she just flew through that window like it was no big deal. Her being able to do that physical stuff was something I was so thankful for.
TS: Also Sydney Sweeney was good as Lana. She was also one of the Manson girls in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD. Did she act in your film before or after the Tarantino film?
LG: Before. She’s had a really big a couple of years. We finished filming CLEMENTINE in the fall of 2017, just exactly two years ago, and since then she has gone on to do The Handmaid’s Tale and Sharp Objects and ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD. And she’s in Euphoria, which has been one of the big hits of the summer. We were lucky to catch her on the upswing. It’s really been awesome to see what she’s been able to do and that people are recognizing her incredible talent. She really brought it, and she really brought Lana alive and always gave us something extra, an extra look, and a real depth and understanding of that character.
TS: What were some of the unexpected challenges in making your first feature film?
LG: The time certainly. We were shooting six day weeks, which meant no breaks and always feeling behind. I’m a real planner but having a never done a shoot for this duration, so it was kind of hard to know from the get go exactly what you need to do and always feeling behind, always feeling that clock and that pressure. Knowing that this was our one chance to do this, I think was the greatest challenge.
TS: Did the cast stick to your script closely or was there some improvisation that went on?
LG: They pretty much kept to the script. My favorite scene though was the scene with the pot-smoking, their first kind of real coming-together moment and that was an improvised scene, Karen teaching Lana how to smoke. That kind of casual ease with them getting to know each other was improvised and it had a lot to do with them really liking each other and becoming friends during the course of the shoot.
TS: There are some interesting songs in your film. Tell me about choosing those songs?
LG: Lightning Dust is a band that I have loved for years and years. They are from Vancouver. That album was one that I was listening to a lot during my break-up, so it was something that I really went back to when I was writing the script. It helped me to remember those feelings. Music can be a powerful way to transport yourself to other times and moments in your past. That band was always written into the script and we got their permission to use their music. It’s actually the album that she puts on and the first song that plays is the first song on the album. Later in the hair-braiding scene, it’s another song from that same album. For me, it was nice to think that this was music that was important to the character of Karen seducing Lana too. Music is important to relationships, especially when you’re dating somebody older.
TS: Did you grow up as a movie buff?
LG: Yes, I’d say so, but I would say even more television than the movies. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania. There were not a lot of movie theaters around but we did have a video store that I frequented often. I was constantly watching television and reading. I was always a real lover of stories.
TS: Have you taken CLEMENTINE to a lot of film festivals?
LG: We premiered at Tribeca in April where it was really exciting to be on such a big stage in New York. Since then we’ve been traveling all around the country and have been to some interesting places. Recently, in the same weekend, we screened in La Grande Oregon at the Eastern Oregon Film Festival and at the LA Downtown Film Festival. That was very exciting. We have been to Wichita, Bend Oregon, kind of all over.
TS: Have either of your lead actresses been able to attend any of these fests with you?
LG: Yes they both came to Tribeca and we did some press together and some photo shoots. It was really fun and kind of glamorous. Otmara was able to come to the LA Downtown Film Festival where she won a Breakthrough Performance award which was really exciting.
TS: She deserved it. What are your distribution plans for CLEMENTINE?
LG: We just secured domestic distribution, so it will be coming to theaters in 2020, which we are just thrilled about. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going and figure out an international festival strategy and international distribution as well.
TS: What is your next project? Do you have something in the works?
LG: I’m working on a script right now. It’s another coming of age story about a girl who gets her period for the first time while she is traveling with her dad at a remote Oregon convention center. There, she comes to discover there is a coven of maids who are harvesting her virgin blood. It will be my first foray into the horror genre. I’m excited to strip back my personal stories that have driven my work up to this point and do something different.
TS: Oh, that sounds terrific! Keep me updated on that project. I raised two daughters so I can relate to part of that, but not the part about the coven! Best of luck with CLEMENTINE and all of your future projects.
LG: Thank you. See you in St. Louis!
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