Interview With "Love Lies Bleeding" Star Katy O'Brian & Director Rose Glass

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[00:00:34] interview with the director and writer for Lovelace Bleeding Rose Glass and the film star, Katie O'Brien.

[00:00:42] The excitement in the air is palpable. The atmosphere is electric, a celebration of history and the making.

[00:00:52] What is this place? I'm looking pretty good on that. This one pretty serious line's going yeah?

[00:01:03] Why don't you want me working through that? It's a psycho.

[00:01:07] It's not that big girl. That it too or maybe together.

[00:01:13] Are you like guns? I prefer to know my own strength.

[00:01:18] That's not what I'm paying you for.

[00:01:21] If you touch her, I'm going to tell them everything you ever did.

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[00:01:38] I love you, you idiot.

[00:01:46] You overgrip this? Oh yeah.

[00:01:53] Hi, I'm Matt Negley with Next Best Picture. I'm joined right now with filmmaker Rose Glass

[00:01:57] and star of the film Lovelace Bleeding Katie O'Brien.

[00:02:02] Hello.

[00:02:03] Hello, ladies. I am so excited to talk to you about this film. This film really knocked me on my

[00:02:08] ass when I saw it as well premier at Sundance. I love me a good neo-nauir, especially one that mixes

[00:02:15] elements that range from... Gosh, I saw so many influences in this from Wild at Heart, True Romance,

[00:02:23] a bunch of others. I want to start off a few rows. Can you talk to me a little bit about just

[00:02:29] some influences that found their way into this story for you? What was the

[00:02:34] intention that you were coming to the story with following your very successful future debut,

[00:02:40] St. God? I think coming to this next one I was just excited to get a chance to make another film.

[00:02:47] So I just wanted to do something really fun but sort of try something that I wasn't sure if

[00:02:52] I could pull off or not. And in terms of like the cinematic references, I think because of when

[00:02:57] and where the film takes place, there's sort of so many sort of big famous classic films and

[00:03:03] some of the ones that you mentioned. That feed into that sort of time and place that I was

[00:03:06] if anything I was a bit self-conscious about not wanting to overly reference other films

[00:03:12] because it's going to happen anyway because so many of those films just sort of like seep into

[00:03:16] the cultural sort of consciousness. So I still haven't seen True Romance. I didn't watch Wild at

[00:03:22] hearts or that you know I'd never seen Thelma and Louise until post. I think I sort of like

[00:03:29] deliberately avoided watching it because I just knew I get too self-conscious and be like oh no

[00:03:33] that bits too much like this, although it's like but probably a lot of those films is just a lifetime

[00:03:38] of the sort of omnipresent influence of a whole range of American films. I even got a sense

[00:03:44] just due to the location alone from Albert Kurgie in New Mexico. I was like man I'm being reminded

[00:03:50] of like the best elements of something like Breaking Bad Well Watch in this where it's just ordinary people

[00:03:54] caught up in very for us you know that wouldn't get involved in such things just very unimaginable

[00:04:01] dangerous circumstances. That's what you think. Exactly. Similar circumstance, maybe you do

[00:04:07] this thing with these guys too. Ah I don't know these are some really really bad people that

[00:04:11] they're getting mixed up with here so. But Katie go over to you. I feel like this in many ways,

[00:04:18] especially when you first hear about it, it must feel sort of almost like just a perfect

[00:04:25] marriage of your past experiences and what you're striving to do now as an actor. Can you tell me

[00:04:32] a little bit about just this role and how it spoke to you? Yeah I've been joking that I'm like a

[00:04:38] serious method actor because I've been prepping for this for 10 years. But I mean I definitely

[00:04:47] obviously can rate late so like a queer bodybuilder from the Midwest and so when that was like just

[00:04:52] the general pitch at the beginning I'm like oh my god yes absolutely. And then to find out that

[00:04:57] it's this character that has all these layers is even more incredible and it's you know from a

[00:05:02] time period I'm really passionate about it and I think it is like this glory age of bodybuilding

[00:05:07] and it just all of the little elements like every little bit of it came together to be this

[00:05:12] perfect concept and script. And then there was this weird kind of thing where I was like who is

[00:05:16] this made for except for me Kristen and wrote because like I didn't know if audiences would enjoy

[00:05:23] something like this but it was also I didn't care because it was like such a fun cool project work

[00:05:29] on and that's at the end of the day all I really want to do it's like I want to make movies or be

[00:05:34] able to participate in movies that I want to see and that I want other people to like maybe take

[00:05:40] something from or feel something for or not be bored going into the movie theater anymore you know

[00:05:45] just any of that. Now well it's certainly not boring I'll definitely give the film that for sure

[00:05:51] and then some but I want to know just I'm always curious about how these things come together. Katie

[00:05:56] did you find Rose or Rose did you find Katie? How did how did the two of you come together on this?

[00:06:02] I don't know what happens on your end. I think you kind of found us I mean because we were working

[00:06:06] with the casting directors Betty May who were great but you know they were kind of like

[00:06:10] getting so many people to tape and like searching for Jackie for a long time and we were struggling

[00:06:16] and getting a bit nervous to be honest. And then I think they put out a sort of casting call on

[00:06:22] Twitter and then somebody who's a fan of yours sent it to you and then you got yeah then you

[00:06:27] got in touch so it's kind of that's amazing. You found us that argues her and then she appeared and I was

[00:06:31] like oh my god. Yeah and Katie go back to your background too just working in martial arts

[00:06:40] being a former police officer as well can you tell me about like how some of that like

[00:06:45] found its way into the physicality of your performance is there like a moment on set or

[00:06:50] a moment of stunts where you thought to yourself oh good this is coming in handy here.

[00:06:55] Uh stunts that wise is pretty light you know I'm used to doing a lot more heavy lifting for sure

[00:07:02] I think I delivered to even throw a punch. I don't know yeah probably compared to some of the

[00:07:08] other stuff. It's a bit lighter but there's like a few bits where you like you know J.J.

[00:07:12] You've got to see Katie's like martial artists anyway so that was yeah that was pretty fun.

[00:07:19] Not the hardest part but there was definitely a moment where you know I have to hold a gun a lot

[00:07:23] and I'm like Jackie doesn't do this so I had to hand it to Rose and I'm like let me see how you

[00:07:28] hold them you know I have to really learn how to not hold a gun right you or how to hold it

[00:07:32] like someone who had picked it up for kind of maybe the first time or yeah exactly.

[00:07:36] It's still afraid of it. See how I do. Oh yeah you're like do you want me to do the whole like

[00:07:39] closing the eye thing? Are you not going to do that? I do I don't know yeah and then like when we

[00:07:44] were doing there's a scene in a police station where Jackie's getting booked in fingerprints and stuff

[00:07:49] and it was kind of like I don't know you're doing that wrong. Yeah yeah and you share many of your

[00:07:54] scenes opposite Kristen Stewart in this movie who I think is one of our greatest actresses working

[00:07:59] today you just talked to me a little bit about like just as a scene partner what she's able to give

[00:08:04] you within a scene and just how that informs your performance then as her co-star in this movie.

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[00:08:47] Kristen I think we have kind of different styles and I tried to see if some of it worked for me

[00:08:53] and you know you take what you can and get rid of what doesn't but she's very physical which was

[00:09:00] surprising but like you know before a really intense scene emotional scene she's jumping up in town

[00:09:05] like yeah some screaming happening sometimes you know really getting into the moment in a very

[00:09:10] physical way like literally raising her heart rate so you know it helps put you in that scene

[00:09:16] you know like okay yeah stakes are high we're here this is it you know we're in a big moment

[00:09:21] um and then otherwise you know we can kind of be like uh we can both kind of be

[00:09:27] almost in the moment and guarded sometimes too so when we're having those like really lovely

[00:09:32] intimate scenes and stuff there's still like there's this wanting to expose yourself but feeling

[00:09:37] a little bit like you know holding back so it's it's kind of uh it was a cool dynamic and then also

[00:09:42] you know working with Ed um he's he's a very different style as well so it's just cool to see these

[00:09:49] really well-known actors that you know up until then only seen on my screen um their processes

[00:09:55] and how different even they are from each other and getting to I don't play around in their worlds

[00:10:01] absolutely yeah Rose I gotta ask I feel like there are like there's violence in movies

[00:10:08] and then there's violence in this movie compared to some others out there and I have to

[00:10:14] imagine that that definitely is a creative choice I love it it's shocking it made me uh

[00:10:22] gleefully giggle in my seat when I saw it happen because I just love seeing filmmakers just go for

[00:10:27] in moments like that can you talk to me just a little bit about those shocking moments or brutality

[00:10:33] and what went into creating those well I'm glad to use the word gleeful because that's kind of I'd say

[00:10:40] one that I word that I'm sort of like certainly what I felt making and writing a lot of this film

[00:10:45] and yeah the the violence um I mean it's kind of it's almost like operatic some of it so it's um

[00:10:50] I guess that's that's just sort of what came out I kind of like enjoyed thinking about it like a

[00:10:56] sort of choreography and I don't know it just felt like this sort of film where you know you want all

[00:11:01] of the characters emotions dialed up to this very intense kind of feeling so the violence had to be

[00:11:07] very violent the sex had to be very sexy and um but the whole film hopefully has like it's got a

[00:11:14] humour to it as well in a playfulness so obviously violence and reality is obviously terrible

[00:11:19] whatever the circumstances and very serious can be um so it's kind of I enjoyed looking at it through

[00:11:25] this slightly more heightened melodramatic kind of lens and that's I mean that's the fun thing about

[00:11:30] doing violence and terrible things in films this is not reality and we get to experience some of

[00:11:35] these darker things from the safety of a comfy cinema seat I remember you uh scard me for life

[00:11:43] with the end of uh St. Maude and I will never forgive you for that at the same time I love you for

[00:11:48] it so thank you um and stuff about it I think as well thank you yes um and here you deliver another

[00:11:56] extremely memorable ending I was curious heading in if there would be sort of this almost connected

[00:12:01] tissue between the two films in that regard there there are some similarities but this one in

[00:12:05] particular I was like wow Rose really knows how to enter movies on a particularly memorable moment um

[00:12:12] I don't care about spoilers I hope that by the time my audience listens to this they have seen

[00:12:16] the movie as well I need to know what went into both for you Rose and Katie just creating that

[00:12:24] gargantuan moment I mean that it was really fun for me yes spoiler spoiler um she's a giant at the end

[00:12:32] so that was really fun I mean it for me it was the first time I because you know we obviously

[00:12:38] like shot the kind of like plate shots of like Lou and her dad kind of reacting to Jackie appearing

[00:12:44] like this um so for me it was the first time I'd shot any stuff where you've got actors reacting

[00:12:49] to like tennis balls on sticks and then obviously we shoot Katie against grey screen in the place

[00:12:54] where we shot the gym so that was just sort of new technical side to me which was sort of strange

[00:13:00] and fun but it's also a little bunch of films so you can't go too reliant on C.J so I imagine there's

[00:13:06] got to be a lot of old school practical tricks at play too right well it gets I mean you get very kind

[00:13:12] of like you start counting the number of shots where you can see um see the giants uh very

[00:13:17] carefully because each one costs quite a bit of money to put it all together you worked with me a lot

[00:13:21] on the movement leaning into it and like stuff that I had to do it will you know like opening my

[00:13:26] mouth extra wide and cracking my neck a little and all this creepy stuff and flexing you know

[00:13:32] certain ways so it was like I don't know I felt like I was doing kind of a fun little like

[00:13:37] exercise is like uh oh yeah like when you're sort of transforming those bits yeah the outtakes

[00:13:41] from that are really fun because we sort of like wanted to have lots of options to play within

[00:13:44] in post about exactly how the sort of like a whole king kind of short works so I was like okay now

[00:13:49] it's kind of moving up your back yeah um it's fun all that stuff you like you just

[00:13:53] feel like that's interesting to watch it's like stretched away a cutortionist would stretch or

[00:13:59] something like that yeah that's all the most fun stuff to get to do yeah absolutely um the sound

[00:14:06] tracking this movie also is awesome I loved it I cannot wait to listen to it in full when it gets

[00:14:12] released can both of you tell me if you have a single favorite needle drop whether it's because

[00:14:19] of how it works within the context of the movie or just a song in general well I rose gave me like

[00:14:25] a cool playlist that I get to listen to um kind of as I was going along and we did have the color

[00:14:32] box moon is blue song kind of right off the bat is like that's gonna be the bodybuilding song yeah

[00:14:38] so yeah my partner actually worked on the film as like a music consultant his name's

[00:14:43] deep bullborn so he was like so he did these um like the playlists for you and Kristen like we were

[00:14:49] trying to figure out what music each of these characters might listen to and so like you know

[00:14:53] Clint Mansell obviously did this amazing score but there's yeah there's a lot of commercial tracks

[00:14:57] in there as well and it's all kind of um yeah he just found all these really great sort of slightly

[00:15:03] forgotten gems from the 80s a lot of kind of slightly more left field ambient industrial kind

[00:15:10] of tracks which is sort of peppered throughout it so there's a lot that I really like there's

[00:15:14] a couple of um I love the throbbing the color box moon is blue the bodybuilding routine as well

[00:15:21] and then there's a couple of tracks used by this japanese woman called sheho yibuki and it's this

[00:15:27] kind of um who apparently is a musician and a magician so yeah so she's very cool but it's

[00:15:34] this slightly twinkly sci-fi sounding stuff which we score a lot of the scenes with Lou and Jackie

[00:15:40] by themselves which made me think of them both as being like slightly cosmic alien lovers kind

[00:15:45] of voting for the universe yeah there's a lot of good stuff in there and as we wrap up here

[00:15:50] and come to the end uh I need to know uh Katie I think for you this is gonna open up a tremendous

[00:15:56] amount of doors I know it's not your debut but it almost does feel for a lot of people this is going

[00:16:02] to be their discovery of you in many ways and I'm just curious to know like what you have your

[00:16:06] eyes set on for the future uh whatever that may be I mean I hope I get to do more projects like this

[00:16:13] something that allows me to kind of like explore and grow uh not necessarily just

[00:16:19] uh but I mean it's funny because you know everyone says like last year they're like oh it's a

[00:16:28] big year for you and I'm like I don't know nothing's happened you know and then it's it's the same

[00:16:33] so I never really until something happens I never believe it's gonna happen but um I do I am hoping

[00:16:40] to do a project uh it's kind of in the cycle horror realm later this year um so that is also very

[00:16:48] queer and really cool um and then I uh I don't know I just I just want to pay my bills too

[00:16:58] we're being real oh totally understandable and rose same thing to you before we leave here um

[00:17:04] I'm sort of writing something at the moment which I'm really excited about that I I shun't say

[00:17:08] anymore just yet that's totally fine we look forward to it because you're two for two as far as

[00:17:13] working certain right now so ladies both thank you for the time and I hope everyone gets a chance

[00:17:17] to check out Love Lies Bleeding if you have not already um thanks very much. Hey everyone thank you

[00:17:23] so much for listening to my interview with the writer and director for the film Love Lies Bleeding

[00:17:28] Rose Glass along with the film star Katie O'Brien here on the next best picture podcast

[00:17:35] Love Lies Bleeding will be released in theaters by a24 on March 8 before expanding wide on March 15th

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[00:18:07] thank you all so much for listening as always and we will see you all next time

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