Kathrine Brooks – Loving Annabelle

Q.  How did you obtain funding for Loving Annabelle?

A.  Begging. Pleading. Street corners. Praying. Mostly friends, private investor. Tax incentives helped. Myself. My producers. My DP.

Q. I understand it took 7 years to bring this film to the screen. Was this a financial issue, casting…?

A.  Annabelle wasn’t something I was in a hurry to make. I was very young and inexperienced when I started writing the film. Also, while I was writing, I started directing a lot of TV and also gaining experience making short films and work shopping the script with Erin (Kelly). I also had other writers that I would workshop it with. Mainly Karen Klopfenstein and Olivia Bonhoff. The script is such a personal story and I was doing a lot of traveling and growing and discovering myself and finding my voice. It was finally made at the perfect time.

Q.  Who are you: Annabelle or Simone?

A.  When I first started writing the script I was a lot like Annabelle. I was attracted to people who were emotionally shut down and hard to get. And by the time the writing process was over, I had experienced love and heartbreak, so I was more like Simone. A little shut down and hurt. Now that the process is over, I’m a mixture of both of them.

Q.  If Simone had not met Annabelle and vice versa, do you think either woman would have come to terms with their isolation and loneliness?

A.  I believe that you meet the right people at the right time who give you an opportunity to look inside of yourself and grow. I know that when I tend to isolate it’s because the world gets to be a scary place.  But, someone can come along that helps to open your eyes to the beauty of it all. And the beauty in you.

Q.  What aspect of the film did you really fight for?

A.  ERIN. From the very beginning I fought for Erin because no one believed she could play Annabelle. When you meet Erin, she is very quiet and shy and has a baby face and pure and innocent persona. And Annabelle is quite the opposite. It just goes to show how fantastic of an actress she really is. I fought almost everyone for her. And I can’t tell you how many apologies I had after they saw the film.

Q.  How do you direct your actors?

A.  I don’t direct them. I try to listen to them and support them and create a space that feels safe so they can take risks. It’s hard to put yourself out there and be so open and vulnerable in front of strangers and a big camera in your face. I try to make it as comfortable as possible on a journey for them that can sometimes be absolutely terrifying.

Q.  You have quite a bit of experience working in the reality television vein. How has this influenced your directing and writing style? 

A.  It’s taught me a lot about capturing real moments, which ultimately is what you want to do with a film, take an unreal situation and make it totally “real.”  It also taught me that my passion is film, not TV. I guess that’s why I don’t watch it.

Q.  How much back-story did you craft for Annabelle’s character? Would you care to share a bit of what you created?

A.  We didn’t work much with back story – I know that Erin kept a journal, but we really worked from the present and pulled from what was inside of Erin and what was real in her life that we could use to help give to Annabelle.

Q.  Is it true that you had originally wanted to create a very realistic and hot sex scene between two women? Was Loving Annabelle the setting for this goal?

A.  YES. I hate sexual tension created in movies only to have it climax at a fake looking kiss and then a tilt down to see there hands holding. BORING. I wanted it hot and realistic and I wanted the audience to feel like they are in the room.

Q.  Do you consider this to be a love story or a lesbian love story?

A.  Love story.  A lot of straight men and women love this movie and the whole reason I made this movie was because I didn’t want love to be labeled or defined.  

Q.  The ending of the film could be construed as uplifting and positive for both women. Why did you shoot a separate ending?

A. Options. I like having options. And the end of the movie is never an end to me. It just doesn’t happen that way – the characters still live – the story is still being told – so the last moments of the film it’s important to allow the story to have a life beyond the ninety minutes.

Q.  Could you tell me about your latest project?

A.  It’s called Mad World. It’s hard to explain because it’s not a linear movie and it deals with parallel lives and the theory that there is no such thing as time. It’s also a love story between a psychiatrist and her patient. I think it’s my current theme, exploring “taboo” and forbidden love.