I got the opportunity to speak with an amazing actress known as Jamie Bernadette. She is starring in not one, but two films that release this April. Killing Joan and 4/20 Massacre. Check out the conversation below.
Killing Joan comes from writer/director Todd Bartoo in which Jamie plays a vengeful spirit and is doomed to wander the Earth until she is able to take down the men that attacked her. 4/20 Massacre is from writer/director Dylan Reynolds and is being touted as the first-ever “stoner slasher” movie.
RONN!E: So you have not one but two movies coming out April 3rd, do you find time to sleep?
Jamie Bernadette: (laughs) Actually, I filmed Killing Joan three years ago and I filmed 4/20 Massacre a year and a half ago.
RONN!E: Oh okay so there was some time between films. Let’s start with 4/20 Massacre, You play Jess, tell us about your character.
Jamie Bernadette: She is a martial artist. A down to earth kind, courageous person that’s pretty much it. She’s a good loyal friend. Willing do anything for my friends, willing to put my life in danger.
RONN!E: Did you have a lot of preparation for the role?
Jamie Bernadette: We did a lot of fight training. The stunt where I had to flip this guy over my back took some time and practice. I was pretty sore after doing that, but it was a cool move. It was fun.
RONN!E: So were you familiar with martial arts before this?
Jamie Bernadette: I was. I had never formally trained at a studio, but I had been trained over the years during other shows with different stunt coordinators. They’ve had to teach me how to fight.
I didn’t know I would be cast in so many films as the tough girl, the strong girl. I am getting cast in these roles quite often. I am not sure what it is about me. I’m not sure if it’s that I come across that way or if it’s the way my face looks. But I if I had known I would have been taking martial arts lessons from day one.
RONN!E: What was it like working with all these girls in such an intense film? It is an intense movie, did you make friends become close? Did you do a lot of preparation together before?
Jamie Bernadette: I wouldn’t say we did a lot of preparation together ahead of time. We did a table reading and everyone was really good. Solid actresses. Some actors like to prepare ahead of time. Some don’t like to do practice a scene before they do it on camera. Clint Eastwood said, “with every take you take out some of the life/light of the actor.”
Sometimes I found that to be kind of true; where we would do the first couple of takes and they were the best. Then we ‘d continue and it would lose some it’s newness and energy. But then other times we would do a couple of takes and I would feel the scene grow … and grow into something I didn’t know it would grow into.
For this film though we did read together a bit. There wasn’t an actress who didn’t’ want to rehearse and so we would run through before shooting. All the girls were really awesome, easy going and friendly. There was no drama or anything like that. It was a good time.
RONN!E: You’ve played a lot of really intense characters, what is your method to mentally prepare for these damaged characters or with so much going on.
Jamie Bernadette: Well, I have a lot to pool from. I wouldn’t say I’ve had an easy life, but I won’t go totally into that but it was difficult childhood. I am sure we have all had some traumatic experiences. So I guess the technique would be a method.
But, I also am in the moment when I am on camera when I am that particular character. It’s imagining what they’re going through and actually being them in the present moment. It can be very powerful to get to the emotional places that you need to get to. being that person, playing that character.
Also when we talked of rehearing earlier, I don’t ever rehearse the emotion. I will rehearse the lines but I will not rehearse the emotion because I’ve noticed that the emotion will wear out. Like Eastwood said, “taking the life from the actor with every take” emotionally I have found that to be true. I can hit some nice heights with the first couple of takes, I can cry or whatever I need to do.
So I don’t go through the emotions mentally in my mind when I am learning my lines or rehearsing with the other actors. I don’t take myself on that journey mentally, I stay aloof from it. I don’t submerge myself totally until I am on camera.
Same thing for when we’re just rehearsing on camera, they will do rehearsal a lot, but I don’t go all out, I don’t waist the emotion than either.
RONN!E: So that brings us to Killing Joan. Where you play another intense character. Tell us about Joan Butler.
Jamie Bernadette: Well, the director Todd Bartoo (also the writer) had a very specific vision. Joan is an explosive person, she flies off the handle, doesn’t think clearly. Insane. She has had a very dark past, a rough upbringing … so it was intense. So after she is transformed into a spirit, after being killed, she brings that explosiveness with her and the character arch is bringing more honesty to her emotions. I think before death she did feel things but she masked them behind anger. So after death, she is more honest about her emotions.
The movie is very much like a graphic novel. Todd did know what he wanted, he didn’t want it to be subtle. We talked about lines like, “I am going to get you.” and he didn’t want them to be subtle. So the film turned out to be very artistic, it’s very stylistic. Almost, graphic novel like, some reviewers have said it could have been an animated film, and I totally agree I totally see that. So the character was bigger in the acting than I would normally play but that is what the director wanted. That was his vision and it was my job to bring out his vision.
RONN!E: So without giving away spoilers, what was it like working with the special effects?
Jamie Bernadette: (Laughing) Acting is about Imagination. Because you’re playing someone who you’re not, in situations that don’t exist, so as actors we need really big imaginations. Like how children do. Like children when they are at playtime; if they are playing a cowboy, they really believe that they are the cowboy and they really believe that their pencil is the gun.
I believe as actors we do that all the time. So for me to react to special effects that aren’t there, this/that is totally normal. That’s what we do and Todd was great about communicating. he would make it very clear what the effects were and what I was doing. Same with the emotional scenes. He would sit down with me before a scene and take the time to ask where I saw the characters’ emotional state and where he saw it. So he was really a great director! That he took the time, even when we were shooting, and we would be shooting fast, he would still do that with me and the actors.
RONN!E: So with the special effects was there a lot of choreography and blocking that needed to be done? Or more how long did it take to film the movie with all of its special effects?
Jamie Bernadette: I don’t really remember since it was shot three years ago. But it wasn’t more than thirty but over ten. Independent films tend to shoot really fast, with maybe one or two takes at a time. Doing several pages of dialogue in a day. Where big blockbusters will shoot half a page in three days. And a day is 15 hours. That’s not every big film, but I’ve seen it done. So they may be getting seventy takes, where on small films we get maybe two takes. A lot of people don’t realize that about independent films. Then people are like “well that actor wasn’t totally believable .” Well they may have had only one or two takes (15:49) and the actor may have just been getting comfortable in the environment on set, or in the scene, and it was over.
I don’t remember that about every film. But with Killing Joan I do remember us ending off a day going “well we got what we got” let’s go on. It was shot so fast.
Commercials are like that too where you do the line fifty times in a long day of shooting for only a few seconds of airtime. I wish reviewers realized that about small films. Some reviewers are fantastic and great. But a lot of people don’t know that we aren’t getting long rehearsal or even a rehearsal at all. We get two takes and we move on. I think they would be more forgiving to the actors if they knew that.
RONN!E: I do have one more film to ask you about … “I Spit On Your Grave Déjà vu.” Can you tell me a little about that?
Jamie Bernadette: Well, it is the only sequel to the original 1978 where the writer/director, Meir Zarchi, came to do this one. And Camille Keaton, the original lead actress, comes back to play my mom. I am the leading role in this one. Maria Olsen plays the lead antagonist in this and she is fantastic. In fact, everyone is great. The film has been in post-production for some time now but I think they’ve about wrapped it up. I’ve seen a rough cut, and I think there is a long director’s cut on the DVD. There will be other cuts as well so you will get to see the entire story that Meir Zarchi wanted to tell. It should come in around 2hr 20min. So there is a lot of stuff to see when you buy the DVD, and I know they want to release it this year.
I know I get a lot of questions and tweets asking when it will come out. But you know Meir Zarchi waited 40 years to come back and write this. He is in no rush to release it without having gone over every inch of film. He is making sure it is the edit that he wanted. That being said it will come out for the 40th anniversary of this film this year, 2018.
RONN!E: I have one last question for you that I like to ask everyone. Is there a role that you haven’t done, that you would want to do?
Jamie Bernadette: (laugh) Yes! I would love to play possessed, like in The Exorcist. I know that’s crazy but I love to create crazy characters and just run with them. I have wanted to do that for so long. I have also wanted to play a Vampire.
And also be in a Survival film forever where it’s you against the elements. That one I am actually getting to do! I fly off soon for South Africa to be in a film called The Furnace with an Oscar-nominated director Darrell Roodt.
Darrell was nominated for best foreign film Yesterday in (2004) and just finished a movie called The Lullaby, I don’t know if you have seen it.
RONN!E: Actually just posted a review of that. Really good movie.
Jamie Bernadette: Oh, I agree, it is so beautiful every frame is just stunning. I wish more films could be that gorgeous. It’s just so rare. And I get to work with the entire team that made Lullaby in this new film.
Yep, I am finally getting to do a survival film that I always wanted. It will be me in the desert by myself for a lot of the film.
RONN!E: Well, I will keep my eyes open for The Furnace. I want to thank you so much for speaking with me.
Jamie Bernadette: Thank you as well.
*Special thanks to October Coast and Peggy Burkhart Oakes.
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