Simon Pegg, Katharine O’Brien & Nana Ghana – Lost Transmissions

By starrymag | May 28, 2019

By: Ashlee Dell’Arciprete

 

 

SIMON PEGG

 

Q) What was it like delving into this character and what was your process?

 

A: It was important for me to get this portrayal right. It was a priority of mine to actually find out what schizophrenia was. It’s an often misunderstood condition. People think it’s about having multiple personalities or it’s even referred to comedically sometimes. We use it in our language as “schitzo,” so it’s something that is trivialized by a lot. So, I wanted to get the portrayal right.  I went and spoke to people with the condition, who survived it, who were living with it and that was a really important part of getting ready to do the movie.

 

Q) How was the collaboration with Juno Temple?

 

A: Oh, I loved Juno straight away. We never met before we started rehearsing. I knew her through mutual friends and I knew of her, but it was a delight actually get to work with her. She an extraordinary talent, a genuine force of nature. It’s lovely to meet people who have that connection straight away.

 

Q) What was it like working with Katharine O’Brien?

 

A: Katharine is an amazingly assured and intelligent director. I think it’s probably because she was born in Santa Barbara. She’s incredibly laid back. She has that sort of beach kind of cool about her and everything about her is very zen and it helps to keep a very creative environment on set. She knows exactly what she wants. She’s got a very precise vision and as an actor you really need that and I was impressed and I felt very safe when I was working with her. I didn’t feel like this was a first-time director that I kind of had to like you know look after in any way. I just sat back and let her direct me and it was a delight.

 

Q) What was the most challenging part of the role?

 

A: I think just the subject matter. It was trying to portray a character that was sort of in such pain and still make it human and also communicating the motion that people who have this are still people and need to be helped. [There’s a stigmatism for people with mental healt.h] Yes, there is for sure. It’s easier for people who have mental health issues to become homeless and then just get lost in the system. They lose their house and then they’re suddenly on the street and then there’s no way for them to get help or to get back to normal life and that happens a lot, it’s very easy.

 

Q) Do you think people with mental illness are able to feel represented in this film in a positive light?

 

A: I hope so. It’s certainly in tackling the issue. It shines a light on it and I think people who find themselves in that situation and hopefully manage to come through it will recognize certain things for sure.

 

Q) And what do you have coming next? I know you have Dark Crystal and “The Boys” coming up.

 

A: Yes, Dark Crystal is coming up and I did a little guest-star in “The Boys,” which will be fun. And I got another two Mission Impossible [movies] lined up for next year and couple of indies in the pipeline. I’m developing something with Nick Frost, which will hopefully shoot this year.

 

NANA GHANA

 

Q) Can you describe your character in the film?

 

A: I play Cheyenne. She’s a party girl and she has a big moment in the hero journey of the main character. When you watch it, you’re going to see!

 

Q) What’s something that drew you to play in this film?

 

A: It was Katharine [O’Brien] and the script was so good. I just wanted to be a part of this word. I just wanted to be part of this snapshot of Los Angeles.

 

Q) Speaking of how it’s set in Los Angeles. Does the film have that LA vibe to it?

 

A: Completely. It’s authentically LA and what I love about it is I think Katharine’s point of view of LA is so unique and that was something that really stood out in the script to me and the description of all the scenes.

 

Q) And speaking of Katharine, a female director is still sadly rare today for features.

 

A: Yes!! More female directors! We need more female directors!

 

Q) After having done this role, what is something you took away from it?

 

A: I was able to take away the film was about mental illness and I think as an artist you’re constantly questioning your art and your state of mind. Your mental state of mind is always in question. What am I doing? Does this make sense? It this good? When is it going to happen? Are people going to like it? So, this job can really mess up your psyche so what I took from this is to be more mindful, gentle and kind to myself as the artist.

 

KATHARINE O’BRIEN

 

Q) Congratulations on your debut as a female director. Do you think this will encourage more films by female directors?

 

A: Yes, I really hope so. It’s something different I tried to encourage with the people I hired and mentored. I just really want women to start making films and go really big right away. We all have the tools and we can start at any time and just go and do it.

 

Q) How did your film school background prepare you for this feature?

 

A: Well yeah, I went to school here in New York. I went to Columbia. It was a really great place to further deepen my love for cinema. There’s incredible professors there. The historic Eric Mendleton, Betty Gordon or Staples – the New York film history.  Columbia specifically focuses on story and I feel like that’s my strength is in the narrative storytelling aspect and that was valuable because it’s such a special skill to have.

 

Q) Do Simon Pegg and Juno Temple both play British characters or use an American accent?

 

A: Juno uses her impeccable American accent, I didn’t even know that she was British. She nails it! Simon plays a British character living in Los Angeles and it’s about how they’re trying to get him home to London. Yeah, he uses an English accent.

 

Q) How important do you feel film festivals, as far as your experience with Tribeca, in highlighting films that may not have been able to get wide releases?

 

A: I think they’re so important. I mean, again, as a female filmmaker these institutions that allow the space that really allow women to perform equally like they do, it’s sort of the outside forces of industry that tart to free the imbalances when financing and things like that come into the picture. It’s really film school that people get assignments that perform the same way and film festivals like Tribeca that are really allowing space for women to show what they got.

 

Q) What are you hoping people will take away from this film?

 

A: I’m really hoping it’s going to open up a conversation about mental illness. I really hope that it’s going to let people see people with mental illness as just a person like someone’s friend or daughter or a full human being that just has a certain type of condition and just needs some help.