JESSALYN GILSIG: Somewhere Slow & Vikings
By Briege McGarrity
Montreal native Jessalyn Gilsig is gifted with brains, talent and beauty. She graduated from McGill University, received her theatrical training at Harvard’s prestigious American Repertory Theatre and has stage credits that include an Off-Broadway production of Fifth of July with character actress, Parker Posey. Gilsig went on to portray a diverse range of television characters in Glee, Nip/Tuck as well as recurring roles on Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Prison Break and Boston Public. Most recently, Gilsig also stars opposite Gabriel Byrne in the mini-series Vikings, which premiered on the History Channel on March 13th.
In her latest film project entitled Somewhere Slow, Gilsig plays Anna Thompson, an unhappy sales rep with low self-esteem and bulimia who goes on a journey of self-discovery. She also served as co-producer for the film which was written and directed by Jeremy O’Keefe and co-stars Graham Patrick Martin (Two and a Half Men), David Costabile (Suits) and Robert Forster (The Descendants).
IFQ’s Briege McGarrity was delighted to catch up with Jessalyn to find out all about Somwhere Slow and what attracted her to play a very different type of character – one that showcases her versatility.
IFQ: Tell me what you liked about the character you play in Somewhere Slow?
Jessalyn Gilsig (JG): What I liked so much about Anna’s journey was how small it was. The step she takes in the film is almost imperceptible and yet life changing. When I read the script I knew immediately what I wanted to do. When the film begins we see Anna going through a series of transactions: ordering in a fast food restaurant, speaking with a nurse from work, buying a pack of cigarettes. And in each one, she makes weak and almost robotic attempts to personalize the exchanges, usually by paying a superficial compliment. At the end of the film, she drops some items off at a Dry Cleaners and the exchange with the owner (played by Robert Forster) is calm, grounded and simple. That is the journey she travels, to simply be that small yet significant amount more present in her life. I joke that in the hands of a writer other than Jeremy, Anna would transform by cutting and dying her hair in a gas station bathroom and buying a new wardrobe at a thrift store and finding a job as a waitress at a truck stop. Life doesn’t happen like that, our growth is incremental and almost imperceptible. I had never read anything that captured that the way Jeremy’s script does.
IFQ: You normally play somewhat over the top characters such as Gina in Nip/Tuck. Was the role of a sad, bulimic woman who turns out to be very brave challenging for you?
JG: You’re absolutely right. Much of my career, I have played very active women who enter a scene, drop a bomb and exit. This was a rare opportunity for me to be present through the story. The challenge for me was to be still. Anna is totally passive; she is actually catatonic at times. Jeremy was my guide as he would encourage me to allow the others to move around me and to believe that the stillness was enough. I study film and performance all the time, and I like to set personal challenges whenever I’m working and daunting as it was, I wanted to see if I could serve this character and trust that the events around her would move her forward. It was an invaluable experience which I know is serving me in Vikings as my character there is a listener and information gatherer and though she is much stronger than Anna, they share a stillness.
IFQ: In real life are you a risk taker, or are you more grounded?
JG: I suppose if I look from the outside I would appear to be a risk taker. Just being an actor and now producing, there is no set rhythm to my life. One minute I’m working and over extended and the next I’m in a cavern of silence with no apparent end. You have to be comfortable with the unknown to live like that. I also know as an actor I need to be a little bit scared in order to perform well. I thrive when I feel I am stepping off into the unknown, with no apparent foundation. However, there are things about me that are quite traditional, I am a nester, and I like to plan, I have just had to accept after all these years that any plans I make will be broken.
IFQ: Graham Patrick Martin was a great fit to play Travis. How did that come about?
JG: GPM as we call him was the most important piece when producing the film. Jeremy, Michael, Christopher and I were relentless in our determination to find the right actor for this role. We all agreed we had to find someone who was right at that moment, which is so brief, where a boy is crossing into manhood. We met many talented and passionate actors who worked so hard for the role, but the boy in them was gone. I remember the day GPM came in to read and when he walked in I thought, “What if he can act too?!”. GPM is a lovely young man, but he is not Travis, his performance is a transformation. I know this because in the scenes our romantic relationship felt completely viable and the age difference never seemed an issue and then they would yell “cut” and I would think, “How can I kiss this kid, he’s young enough to be my child?!”
IFQ: I liked the rain in the scene at the convenience store. What were some of the challenges on the movie locations, and with the film in general?
JG: Thank you. Our Producer, Michael Anderson and our Line Producer, Dawn Wiercinski deserve all the credit for the rain. As you know the budget on an indie comes down to the last penny (literally) and as we assembled our schedule and realized we would be filming both in LA, to accommodate cast and in Rhode Island where we had the hero house and so much production value, the rain machine was always coming up as a budget drain. But we all knew that for Anna to cross out of her life/self, into the unknown the rain was imperative visually and symbolically. And even when Jeremy would say “Tell me if we have to lose it, I’ll find a way to live without it”, Dawn and Michael would always say, “We are getting you your rain, we will find a way”. And they did. Independent film making isn’t about being cheap, it’s really about being prepared and resourceful and we were lucky to have that on our team. If you are going to invest in a rain machine, you have to know your shots, and be ready both technically and performance wise to maximize the return. There are no second takes on a rain day.
IFQ: How was it working with and partnering with director Jeremy O’ Keefe?
JG: My relationship with Jeremy has become one of the most significant of my professional life. The script he wrote is exceptional and to have produced the film with him gave me a relationship with the material which is more intimate than anything I’ve experienced as an actor. What I enjoyed so much about producing, and why I’d like to do it again, is I liked recognizing a need he had as a director and finding a way to make that happen. Sometimes it was a question of reviewing the schedule and adjusting the days based on what we were learning about the light, or sometimes it was reaching out to cast that I had worked with in the past and then as a producer being able to structure things so everyone felt they were walking into a professional and efficient set, and sometimes it was as an actor being able to open up to camera as I would know that would save us from turning around thereby giving us more time for the next scene. Post-production deepened our relationship further as we had to find not only the film we had intended to make but also be open to the story we had found. This bled into the sound design (something I am obsessive about and King Sound and their sound design is one of the most important elements in our film), working with Barry Neely the composer and Brand Birtwistle the music supervisor. Working as a team with all these elements and finding balance, through this Jeremy and I developed a trust and a flow where we knew, and still know, that we are in service to the film. As an actor it is so refreshing to take the focus off yourself and to champion something because really you want the recognition for the film itself which is truly the sum of its parts.
IFQ: What led you into producing? And how would you rate the experience of getting finance to complete the film?
JG: I first read Somewhere Slow when Jami Rudofsky invited me to do a reading of it for a group of potential investors. As an actor, I really like doing readings as it exposes you to new writers and often you get to play roles that may not otherwise be available to you. It turned out to be a magical night, the script came together, Wallace Langham who is in the film was there and he immediately told Jeremy he would like to be involved should it ever be made. Jeremy contacted me after the reading and said he would want me to play Anna should the film be produced. I was flattered and thrilled of course but very concerned for him. I know that in independent film cast matters so much and although I am proud of my career I was well aware that I have no “marquee value”. I encouraged him to go out to bigger names and only come back to me if he couldn’t make progress, but he insisted and said he wouldn’t make it without me in the role. I felt it was a huge responsibility to shoulder his big opportunity so I agreed on the condition that I produce it as well. I felt I had to take the complete risk with him, make my contacts and relationships available and leave everything I had in the film. And so we agreed and partnered up. I know for me it is one of the best decisions I ever made.
As for getting financing, I think that’s like childbirth, it’s so painful at the time you swear you’ll never do it again, but then the baby is so beautiful and smells so good, you forget the pain and go for another. I remember hating it, but I wouldn’t let it stop me. Also much of the credit goes to Bliss Katopothis who found investors for the bulk of the financing, but even she says she’d go for number two.
IFQ: Were you in the audience when Somewhere Slow played at Cinequest? Audiences are sure to like your believable performance.
JG: I was in the audience at Cinequest. We had over 500 people there, and it was the first time I had seen the film with an audience so big but also with so many people I didn’t know and will never know. It is so tricky as an actor of course because you have to stare at your horrible mug the whole time. But the audience did seem engaged to the last moment. There were laughs in places I hoped people would find funny, but the best feeling may have been in the scene in the cafe. There is a moment towards the end of the film where Anna goes to a cafe with Travis and while he is ordering she checks the internet to see if there is anything written about her involvement in the convenience store robbery that was the catalyst to her walking out on her life. When the site comes up with a photo of her, there was an audible reaction in the crowd and I interpreted that to mean that they too had escaped Anna’s reality for a moment and just like her they were being reminded of the world outside the bubble she and Travis have built. I didn’t anticipate that and I felt there that the audience was completely with us, and that is all you an ever hope for.
IFQ: Good publicity is always nerve-wracking. How have press reviews been so far?
JG: The reviews we have received so far have been not only positive but thoughtful and I feel the critics are understanding the intent of the film, which is especially exciting because as I said, it’s a subtle story. I have been nervous of course to open it to critics and yet we made the film to be seen and we are open to the reality that it can’t possibly connect with everyone all of the time. But so far so good…knock on wood!
IFQ: Have you managed to find any kind of distribution deal yet?
JG: We have had some offers from distributors. What has been confirmed for me is that the name game is as important in independents as in studio films (if not more so) and so many distributors have responded to the film and have said they would even like to see it in theaters, but it would need a movie star to make it worth their while. So film festivals are our opportunity to build a following and hopefully a demand for the film which we are hoping will inspire distributors to invest more deeply in its distribution and to believe that although the industry is swayed by celebrity, there is a large and motivated audience out there that is craving well told stories with strong performances and if we make a film like this available to them they will come out to see it.
IFQ: I’ve had the pleasure of a few brief chats with Gabriel Byrne. Were you excited to star opposite him in Vikings?
JG: I was excited to work with Gabriel; he was a large part of why I took the role. Gabriel is a collaborative actor and for the role I have as his wife, I benefited more than anyone from that. He plays Earl Haraldson and I am his wife Siggy. Our back story, provided by the writer Michael Hirst, is that we have lost our two sons in battle and have a young daughter but due to what is probably the Earl’s impotence they have been unable to produce an heir. Gabriel and I talked often about our characters as collaborators, a dictator couple with a complex web we have assembled as we attempt to maintain our position which is now threatened. Gabriel was the first to suggest Lady M as a model for Siggy and many times he would be the face of our power but though the corner of his eye he would look to me for strength. To play with an actor who is so present and rich in motivation and reflection was an absolute gift to me.
IFQ: Is there a particular director or actor you would love to work with?
JG: The first director who comes to mind is Mike Nichols. I am curious about his approach since many actors seem to do their best work in his films. Indie wise, I think Beasts of the Southern Wild was the most exciting film of 2012. It was filmic and had a clear vision. I’m excited to see what Benh Zeitlin does next.
IFQ: Any other upcoming roles you are excited about?
JG: We are watching to see how Vikings performs and if it does well I think I will be able to continue Siggy’s story. It’s an exceptional role with more to explore. Other than that, my role remains as Producer, to continue to champion Somewhere Slow, to get our investors a return on their money and then convince them to do it yet again. That’s the madness of filmmaking.