How to Kill Yourself in One Year #6 "Uncle. Niece."

An Actor Prepares...Ilana Mollick's process for Uncle. Niece.

Ilana Mollick, on Uncle. Niece.

What drew me most to the character of Joey was her incredible strength and determination to fight through her given circumstances. A lot of actors fall into the trap of playing the victim; I tried to do the opposite. I believe it is more intriguing to watch a character in a shitty situation fight to make it through.  For if you give into the pity party people will stop watching, and therefore the character will no longer come across as the hero (or heroine in this case).

I approached the role with rigor. I wanted to create a contrast between looking like the young ingénue on the outside, and being a fighter internally. Before I went into any scene, I did a vocal warm up and some Alexander technique in order to enhance my breathing, focus, and range.  For the breakdown scenes, I preferred to step onto set literally right after my warm up, so that no time elapsed for me to get distracted or lose the place I needed to be in. The breakdown scenes were the most challenging because I had to sustain the emotional place I was in for about a half hour. I breathed, and Kirk limited the amount of dialogue between takes. At one point my mascara leaked into my eyes, and the PA had to get me a tissue. I used that physical pain to propel me into the emotional pain my character was experiencing.

Overall this shoot was a great experience. I am trained in practical aesthetics, and so analyzing the script was quite time consuming. However once I did the prep work, I was ready to dive in and have fun. Kirk was incredible to work with. He set up a work hard play hard type of environment, which gave everyone an incentive to work their hardest. On the last day, we went out for a wrap dinner after at this Mexican place, which was DELICIOUS! Buy me Mexican food, and I’ll act as good for you as I can J 

Uncle. Niece. Photos from Day two...

why yes, honey, I A.M. drinking on the job...but it's FOR the scene, see...

I promise this scene is more interesting than it looks...

...because i realize it looks like it's a scene about a guy watching T.V.

and my objective? To WATCH....(tv)

don't break...don't break...

she broke!

getting ready for THE scene. the heartbreaking one...

"i don't want you to fix this...I want you to love me", "I..."

Tawnya, either doing stand-in stuff or taking a nap.

Photos from Uncle. Niece. day one

I was eating terrible gluten free crackers and maple syrup. she was eating terrible gluten free crackers dipped in diet coke. those crackers were awful.

Ilana Mollick as Joey

so what's my motivation?  to NOT look fat.

after losing her mother and grandmother on the same day, Joey heads for her new "life" with her estranged uncle.

I call this one, "Fat David Duchovny"

and I call this "Fat Blue Steel"

Ilana is phenomenal in this role. Can't wait for you guys to see...

there were banana cameos...or "banameos"

The sixth one: new year...old script...new actor!

Uncle. Niece.

We tried to do this one in November, after Sandy fucked up the November script (Boo...which is now going to be April's film...unless I just decide to scrap it altogether since it seems like every time we try to make it, some huge catastrophe occurs.) but then some actor-centric personal issues derailed that. And, as with everything else HTKYIOY related, it would seem that was actually one of those meant-to-be moments because I now get to make Uncle. Niece. with the incomparable Ilana Mollick playing Joey.

Ilana was cast after a bona fide NEW YORK audition, which I said I wasn't going to do but decided to after I had exhausted my own personal talent pool (although you WILL see Franny again, sports fans).  I met four (out of ten that were called in, four showed up...hmmmmmm) supremely talented actors who, although Ilana was the perfect Joey, I will definitely be asking to participate in other HTKYIOY entries. So stay tuned.

January also marks a shift in the aesthetic of HTKYIOY. The first five were kinda all about just getting the things done.  I'd like to use the rest of the project to start honing certain skills so each month from now on will, in addition to trying to make a great flick, also include a technical and/or artistic challenge.

This month we are (finally) going to get our shit together with regards to SOUND. Sound, the bane of my directorial existence and pretty much the long-running comment that anyone who watches these (or my feature, F**k New York) makes.  So for January I will be focused on creating a great sounding film.

stay tuned...and as always, thanks for your time...and attention.