Anne Winters is an exciting new actress who has made her mark on TV shows such as Zac and Mia, 13 Reasons Why, Tyrant, and Wicked City. In her new film MOM AND DAD, from Brian Taylor, the co-director of the CRANK movies and GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE (2011), Anne plays the daughter of Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair, who has to fight for her life when a mass hysteria sweeps the nation and parents turn on their children. I spoke to Anne about her initial reaction to the script, how it was to work with Cage and Blair and her experience of making such an intense and chaotic movie.
What was your first reaction to the MOM AND DAD script? To what extent did you relate to the story?
What was your first reaction to the MOM AND DAD script? To what extent did you relate to the story?
My
first reaction to the script was: What is this? This is so crazy!
I’ve never seen anything like it before. This would just be so
much fun to film. Whoa! I want to do this.
Yes,
I was a fan of Nicolas Cage before the film. I have watched so many
of his movies. VALLEY GIRL (1983) is one of my favorite movies. It’s
really old. I love that movie.
He was really, really fun to work with. He literally is Nicolas Cage. Everyone has their own perspective of him. He is just crazy. He is out there. He is totally his own person. It was really fun to see him work and watch him dive into his character. He is very method. Whenever he has anything, he’ll go into his own room and not talk to anyone. Just be in his own element. It is so much fun to watch him work. When we were working together, it was very scary. It was more fun to watch him work behind the scenes. When we worked on set together, he was trying to kill me.
He was really, really fun to work with. He literally is Nicolas Cage. Everyone has their own perspective of him. He is just crazy. He is out there. He is totally his own person. It was really fun to see him work and watch him dive into his character. He is very method. Whenever he has anything, he’ll go into his own room and not talk to anyone. Just be in his own element. It is so much fun to watch him work. When we were working together, it was very scary. It was more fun to watch him work behind the scenes. When we worked on set together, he was trying to kill me.
How about Selma Blair? Were you a fan of hers beforehand? What was it like to
work with her?
I
love Selma Blair. We became like best friends on set.
I was
a fan of her before. LEGALLY BLONDE (2001) was one of my favorite movies growing
up. I knew of her a while ago. She is so much fun to work
with. She is also crazy in her own way. She is also very, very just
hilarious and funny. Working on set with her, one minute we were
laughing and cracking up and the next minute, we are like trying to
kill each other and it was a very bipolar set and a crazy experience.
It was very fun. She was awesome. I love Selma.
Do you have a favorite memory of the shoot?
The
scene when I am trying to get my mom in the closet. It was a really
long scene. We start fighting in her bedroom and then we chase
each other down the hall and we end up in my room. We throw a canopy
at her and ram her into a closet. That was my favorite scene
because it was such a long fight scene and we had so many memories
getting caught in the net with the canopy and trying to get her into
the closet.
Given the heightened intensity of the film, in what ways was it a
fun shoot and which ways was it a demanding one?
It
was a fun, crazy shoot in a sense that you always had to be on. It
was very high intensity. Like in every scene I had to be screaming
and running or crying and that was demanding. You had to always be
ready to go on. You could be chilling in your trailer and on set,
and then it is your turn, you have to go and pick up where you left
off. You have to start crying, yelling and screaming. It is
very demanding and definitely taught me a lot of about basically
have to put it on, be there at the moment and can’t think about
it. You just have to go.
What is Brian Taylor's directing style like?
What is Brian Taylor's directing style like?
Basically,
go crazy and do whatever the hell you want. He gave us so much
freedom. First of all, Brian is amazing. He is an actor’s friend
on set. He is always talking to you about the scene and he gives you
the freedom to do whatever you want and just throws in random stuff
and you just go with it. He taught me to literally throw anything
crazy out there. If it sticks, it sticks and if it doesn’t, it
doesn’t.
Brian Taylor |
That
is an interesting question. I like that. I think so. There are dark
things happening in the world but also, let’s make the light of it
and make it over the top and funny.
I
think any comedian will tell you that they want you to laugh instead
of cry and even about themselves in their own life situations. The
best way to get over pain is to laugh. If you’re laughing at
something outrageous and crazy, that is of course, therapeutic.
Anything fun that makes you smile and/ or makes you intense, laugh at
someone’s pain, in a sense. It is kinda therapeutic for your own
self.
Did you look at your own relationship with your parents a little
differently while making the film?
I
tried not talk to my parents that much during the film. I wanted to
stay in the mindset of ''My parents are trying to kill me. '' It is so
different than my parents. It is a completely other world. I didn’t
relate it to my family at all. I definitely warned them before
seeing the movie. They knew what they were getting themselves into.
Just
honestly have a good time. It is one of those movies where you don’t
need to sit there and figure out what happens. Just go out and
have an open mind. Just watch it and have fun. Just laugh with us
and scream if you want to. Go on with this adventure with us
and you’ll end up having a great time. It is just a fun time.
You have had success on TV with dramas that tackle serious topics –
cancer in Zac and Mia, suicide in 13 Reasons Why. Do you gravitate twards dark material?
Yes,
for sure. I love dark material. I think it is super fun, and super
fun to dive into, which I don’t know what that says about me as a
person. I think any actor thrives to do something that they will
never do in their life or have experienced in their life or don’t
plan on experiencing in their life. It really gives an outlet into
another realm and it’s super interesting. If I get a chance to
delve into something dark that will never happen to me or hopefully
will never happen to me, it is so interesting. My favorite thing to
do is to dive into something else other than what I am. It is fun.
What can you tell me about your next projects? NIGHT SCHOOL sounds
interesting. What has it been like working with Kevin Hart and Keith
David?
Kevin
Hart is Kevin Hart. He is crazy and funny all the time. There were
so many scenes where I was hiding my face behind my hair trying not
to laugh. Every scene that you do has a million different things
going on, as in each take you do is different. He will throw
something different in there and then it will become a
different kind of scene. You are always surprised and every surprise
is hilarious and so hard not to laugh. That was my main takeaway
from the movie, it is so hard not to laugh on set. I can’t
stop laughing. He was fun.
I
didn’t get to work a lot with Keith David that much. He was on set
the one day I was there. I met him and he seemed very nice. The one
scene that we had together, he was hilarious. It was mainly
between Kevin and him. I didn’t get to interact with him a lot.
They had great chemistry and they are really funny to watch
together. It is really going to be funny movie and I’m excited
for it to come out.
MOM AND DAD is now out in theaters and on VOD from Momentum Pictures.
The trailer to MOM AND DAD.
Interview by Paul Rowlands. Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2018. All rights reserved.
MOM AND DAD is now out in theaters and on VOD from Momentum Pictures.
The trailer to MOM AND DAD.
Interview by Paul Rowlands. Copyright © Paul Rowlands, 2018. All rights reserved.
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