Florence Hartigan is
one of the fresh faces amongst the Ridley Scott-produced Phoenix Forgotten, now available on Blu-ray and DVD. And we caught up with her for a chat.
I first got involved
with this project a couple years back actually - I had done a few
commercials and music videos with Justin Barber (the director of our
movie), so when he and T.S. Nowlin, our writer, were looking to shoot
a test for the film they asked if I’d be interested in being a part
of that shoot. We went to Phoenix and shot a few scenes. I didn’t
know if that was going to translate to me being able to be part of
the feature version, especially when Scott Free became part of the
equation, so I was super happy to get to audition, and even happier
to be given the role. To be able to see this project through from
beginning to end has been something very special for me.
What were they
looking for in you?
I think one of the huge
things for the casting was to get people who were not only good
actors, but who could improvise well. We were so lucky to have T.S.
(Nowlin of Maze Runner) as our writer - but it was part of the
documentary-style of film we were making to not only shoot the script
as written, but also shoot an improvised version of pretty much every
scenario. So I think my improv background was super helpful - I have
a comedy improv background (I’ve studied at UCB and The Groundlings
here in LA), which I didn’t ever imagine would be so integral to my
performance in a sci-fi thriller but there you go!
Was it daunting
knowing you’d be the lead?
It’s definitely
always a bit of a scary thrill taking on a big role, whether or not
it’s the lead. It’s kind of like climbing a mountain Since this
is a documentary-style project - we were really influenced by Werner
Herzog, and filmmakers like him - there are actually real people in
the movie, who we are just asking questions about their actual real
life experiences. So I wanted to make sure Sophie fit in with those
real people and never felt “acted”. I wanted to give her lots of
layers and depth. So, like climbing a mountain it was one step at a
time. It was an incredibly rewarding role to dig into.
What makes the
character tick?
Sophie is someone who
grew up in this terrible shadow of the tragic disappearance of her
brother. When we meet her in the movie, Sophie’s mom is finally
selling her childhood home, closing the chapter on a lot of those
memories. Sophie is a filmmaker, so making a film is how she knows
how to express herself. So what’s driving her is the need to come
back to all that stuff with new eyes and find out more, anything else
she can, and through her film, cast light in those dark places.
Did you get along
well with your co-stars? Get much time to get to know each other
before the shoot began?
We actually all spent a
lot of time together - Clint Jordan who plays my dad, and Cyd
Strittmatter who plays my mom, and I made sure to put in some solid
time together before we shot. There was so much improv in the
process that we wanted to make sure we had key things we all knew to
be true - fixed points to base the freestyling around. Also pretty
much everything was on location so even though I don’t have scenes
with any of the teens (the film takes place in two time periods, 20
years apart, and the teens are in the other time period) we all saw a
lot of each other. Everyone was good people, and very talented,
which is what you want when you’re working together. We still
hang out from time to time which is nice.
Some of those
locations you shot at looked pretty cool too. Where did you largely
shoot?
We mostly shot in and
around LA, but we shot some desert stuff in Anza Borrego (near San
Diego) which is absolutely beautiful, and we did a week or so
actually in Phoenix too. My favorite day shooting was the day I got
to go fim in a Cessna (which is a 4 seater aircraft), and then chat
to Jay Pirouznia who is an ex undercover cop turned PI who in real
life handles cases like the fictional one in the movie. He has the
best stories in Arizona. He’s the real deal!
Has the film opened
doors for you?
I’m so grateful to
have had my first lead in a feature be this film. It was incredible
to be part of such a collaborative experience, and to get to play
such a thoughtful, intelligent and relentless woman - it’s
up-levelled me as an actor in every way. On the heels of this, my
next project is ‘Malevolent’ - an animated horror film starring
Morena Baccarin of Deadpool, where I play an emotionally damaged
valley girl dealing with addiction and a very bad family dynamic….!
You can buy Phoenix Forgotten from Amazon US by Clicking Here
