Vanessa Ferlito – All Mistakes Buried

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) I am not working right now. I just wrapped my show “Graceland.” I’ve been offered a couple of things, but when you worked on a show that long I just need a moment to reset. I just relocated to LA and I’m just trying to figure out what I want to do. Hopefully, something great comes along soon.

Q) Please tell us about your character in the film All Mistakes Buried.

A) My character is a girl from up north. She had a little bit of a crazy childhood. She is like a pimp/drug dealer. She goes down south, gets mixed up with people down there and becomes a big deal. I don’t know – maybe she brought her New York swag down with her, but she ends up taking over. She has a lucrative business down there with these crazy characters. She is kind of in that dark underworld of drugs and prostitution. She’s kind of the ring leader.

Q) What made you want to be a part of the film?

A) I love Sam Trammell. I think he is a tremendous talent. He is so good and he is a great guy. They asked me to read it and I love dark stuff like that. I feel like people who are into that stuff kind of gravitate towards each other. I don’t know what that says about me or what they see in me. I grew up in Brooklyn and I hung out in the streets. I have come a long way from where I am from and maybe that is a part of it. I’m always intrigued by that lifestyle even though I live so far from that. I don’t do drugs and I don’t really drink. I’m a mom. I always say I would have made a great CIA Agent. I just jump into things if it feels right and I respect the actors that I am surrounded by and the directors. We didn’t know how it was going to turn out because it was such a small budget. We filmed two hours outside of New Orleans in a small town. We didn’t even have room service in the hotel! I had a great time, but it was really dark and a lot of people that were cast were real people from that town. They were real drug addicts – people who are really a part of this world are in this film. We were in this grimy neighborhoods and it was intense.

Q) What was it like working with Sam on the film?

A) He’s such a doll! He’s so smart and so humble and nice. Whatever I threw his way and whatever he threw my way we just went with it. There was a lot of improv and the energy was so high. None of it was really scripted. There was a script, but when we were in a moment we were like, “Let’s just go for it.” That’s the good thing about independent films, when you’re in the moment you can say things and do whatever you want. That’s some of the best stuff, but we worked really well together. He was open for everything and it got a little rough at times. He is fantastic! I would work with him again in a heartbeat.

Q) What kind of guidance did director Tim McCann give you?

A) He is another one who is just a wonderful guy and really open to whatever we wanted to do. I said, “I feel like I want to throw him on the floor and just yoke him up!” He was like, “Just go for it! Whatever you want to do!” He was really open and excited to be working with us and we were excited to be working with him. He’s just a really laidback, cool guy. He’s really creative and wanted to hear our ideas and what we had to say about the character. He let us go with it. He basically let us do what we wanted to do. It’s not hard when you are in a small town like that and you are surrounded by real people (not even real actors). It’s not hard to get to a place like that – dark. You are going off of the energy around. You’re not on a beautiful stage in California in like Studio City. We are in these grimy bars and it was dirty. Sam was so wonderful and it was a lot of fun.

Q) You take on a lot of dark, dramatic roles. What is it about these types of characters that really draws you to them?

A) I think it goes both ways – I’m drawn to it, but those kind of directors are drawn to me too. Those kind of dramatic, dark, off-the-wall creatives. As I said before, what does that say about me? But I can go to a dark place and I didn’t have your normal upbringing where there was a perfect home with a mom and a dad. My dad died when I was two-years-old. He was a heroin addict. Maybe I was born with a broken heart. I don’t know. But people sense that. My life is really light and great now. I have an eight-year-old son and he brings so much joy to me. Maybe it is therapeutic for me because of my childhood and also my teen years – growing up in Brooklyn. I don’t come from money and I don’t come from this world at all. The school that my son is in, there are two parents and if they get divorced – great. But I don’t know how common it is anymore for a child to lose a parent at such a young age. I don’t know anybody who is widowed or any widowers at any of the schools my son has been in. So, that definitely had a huge effect on me as a child and having a mother who has gone through that. Maybe deep down inside it is therapeutic for me and I can relate to a lot of these characters. I think anybody who is able to portray roles like that – like on “Graceland” I was just pregnant and delivered a baby. I can just go to these places so easily. I think you’d have to experience some stuff to be able to do it. People hire me for these roles because they know I can really do it and it comes from a real place.

Q) What do you hope people take away from watching All Mistakes Buried?

A) I think that the people can relate to Sam’s character, Sonny (not necessarily my character because I think she is broken and could have just given him back the necklace if she was a compassionate person). Maybe if she would have given him back the necklace and helped in some way…But I think that for people who are in Sonny’s position that have their life together, a wife, a home and a family and screwed up everything that is really real and that really happens. Maybe people who are in that position or feel like that are falling into that they’ll realize, “I don’t want to turn into a crackhead,” and “I don’t want to be on the streets.” Maybe they can get some help because it is really real and people lose everything. They lose their mind and they lose everything, normal people with good jobs and a family. Everything just falls apart from drugs. Look at me! My father died when I was two years old. He was a good guy and to this day, my mom says, “I don’t know how he got so caught up in that.” It ruins lives. People think they can stop, but they can’t. So before you even start it, maybe this will wake them up.

Q) People still cherish your character Aiden from “CSI: NY.” How does it feel to have a character that still remains so memorable?

A) I often wondered what it would have been like if I stayed on “CSI:NY.” It was so wonderful and such a good experience, but I was so young and new to the business. Everything was happening so fast at the time. I’m grateful and I’d love to do that again. I’d love to work with CBS again. I think I’m ready now. I just did a TV show that was thirteen episodes and it was perfect and I wanted more. I’m older now and I have a child now. I like being able to go to work every day. That makes me feel really good. Maybe I can do something again like that – similar, but bigger because I am older now. Maybe I can do something like Aiden, but older now and carry the whole show. That makes me feel great and I loved it because it was a great experience. I loved it, but at the time it felt like the right thing for me.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

A) Honestly, nobody is more grateful than me. I told you a little bit about where I come from and it still is just so unbelievable that I am in this position and people even acknowledge me or my work. I’m so grateful. I never expected this in a million years, any of it. I hope to keep creating and putting stuff out there. I’m very, very grateful to people who like me at all.

 Watch the trailer for All Mistakes Buried:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIVaakInIUQ