Writer/Director Jordan Scott and Actress Sylvia Hoeks talk to The Inside Reel about perspective, empathy, performance and intention in regards to their new film: "A Sacrifice" from Vertical Entertainment.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00I
00:11Can feel your pain
00:16Then it's me she didn't come almost I can feel your pain you're very special
00:23I can feel your pain. Take a look at this. Who's that? I've got a lead. Purify and start again.
00:32Maz has been kidnapped. You've no idea how to reconnect with your daughter. Purify and start again.
00:40Where is she?
00:45For Jordan, um, could you talk about like looking at a story like this, you know, and even I mean
00:51originally it's called Berlin Nobody. It's that search for identity and based on that book, the
00:56book before that, could you sort of talk about looking at the notion of identity and what normal
01:02in the face of family means? Because that's a context that is both key to Sylvia's character,
01:09to Sadie's character, and to Eric's character. Yeah, in terms of identity, I mean, it's it's
01:14all of the characters are sort of, you know, they're living together in their kind of microcosm
01:21in Berlin, but none of them are really seeing or hearing each other. Like they, you know,
01:29they're seeing what they want to see a dad seeing what he wants to see about the woman he's falling
01:33in love with about his daughter that works for him. You know, the daughter's seeing something in a
01:40guy that she wants to see, which is probably not quite the right move. Yeah, so it's about being
01:48isolated. You know, when you're in all these relationships about being very isolated, but,
01:56you know, still still being in a family and still being in a relationship.
02:06What happened here? It wasn't accidental. They killed themselves in shifts. And then there's
02:11this. Sacrifice is redemption. The minute someone mentioned sacrifice or redemption, I smell cult.
02:23Mazzy. I missed you so much. What chapter are you on? Doesn't really work like that.
02:29Even you'd find it interesting. I'm trying to break out of the theoretical side of life.
02:34We are desperate for your insight. Everyone wants to be assured that this is not a misstep.
02:39Kids are totally isolated. They're all creditors just waiting for them. Don't talk to strangers.
02:45Talking from there, it's interesting, because and why I saw that, and I'll go back to you on this
02:50Jordan after that is the aspect of the chaos in the inside versus the calm in the outside,
02:55and how those sometimes flip back and forth. And that's very true of this character. You know,
02:59can you talk about finding obviously the modulation, but the psychology of this woman,
03:04because there's so much going on, so much trauma, so much intelligence. Could you talk about
03:10approaching that in that way? Yeah, I mean, I was so lucky to be able to represent a character like
03:17Nina. I think she's someone that I see a lot around myself in my personal life. I think she's
03:26just a driven woman searching for answers. She feels a bit lost. She's trying to belong,
03:36trying to find belonging. And she meets, in the character of Ben, she meets someone that gives her
03:44some sort of feeling of home, feeling heard and seen, something that she's so desperately looking
03:52for. And I think that, to me, really drew me to the character. It's someone that we could know in
03:58our day-to-day lives, you know, but there's so much going on beneath, you know, inside,
04:06that she's not able to talk about, doesn't learn to talk about. And that was really
04:13interesting and exciting to me.
04:43Jordan, the aspect of perspective and perception, I know Sylvia and I have talked about this before
04:51on other roles, is that, you know, the perspective of people going out, their greater good versus the
04:57perception inside or how they are perceived. Can you talk about the aspects of perspective
05:03and perception in these characters, but in this world you've created? Because nothing is sometimes
05:08what it seems. Well, yes. I mean, you know, obviously, nobody thinks that they're joining a
05:16cult and nobody thinks that they're running a cult. They think that they're running a, you know,
05:22truly good, sort of, doing good in the world organization and helping people and, you know,
05:27in our case, fighting, you know, for environmentalism. And so, you know, that's their
05:35perspective. But the way that they're executing that fight is not going to give it away, but not
05:41great. So, you know, everybody believes that they're doing the right thing. Like, you know,
05:50Ben, the father, Eric's character, believes that he's being the best father possible. But, you know,
05:57he's falling short. You know, Sadie believes that she's the most important. Mazzie, her character,
06:05believes she's the most important person or important thing in her father's life. And,
06:10you know, it sort of turns out not to be the case, even though probably truthfully it is the case.
06:17And, you know, Sylvia's character believes that she's helping this man and, you know, Ben and
06:26saving him and teaching him, you know, to be a better man and a better father.
06:33And they're all getting it horribly wrong.
06:56Sylvia, the aspect, it's interesting because you play the empathy of it,
07:10but the commitment of her. There's just sort of those two things raging back and forth.
07:15Of course, I love when you create that sort of physicality as you do in The Office,
07:20because I think that really gives an aspect of detail. But can you talk about the push and pull
07:25of her empathy versus her commitment to what she might or might not think is right?
07:32Yeah, without going too much into it and spoiling anything.
07:35Yeah, of course.
07:36I think she grew up a certain way and she knows life to be a certain way,
07:40that she's not able to see things differently. So she tries her best, I really do believe.
07:46And that's something that I try with all the characters I play, even though they're
07:49evil to some extent to the audience's eyes and what we need them to be in the story.
07:56I always try to find the reasons for it. Nobody's evil just because they're evil.
08:01Nobody's born that way, I believe. They've gone through traumatic experiences.
08:07Life has colored them in a certain way. And this is what they are now. And I always try to
08:14find the reasons and find the intentions for a character. So I really feel like she's doing
08:22what she thinks is right. And she's helping people in the way that she feels
08:27is best for them. She's really trying to do her best.
08:30Are you okay?
08:44Yeah. Oh, man. Don't ever have kids. You'll never get a good night's sleep again.
09:00And my last question for you, Jordan. Now, writing a thing, looking at a piece in your
09:07mind's eye is one aspect of it. Everything's obvious in our aspect. But on set, directing
09:13performances, what did you find with these specific characters that was inherent that
09:19you needed to bring out? I mean, there's the moments of breath, there's all these things,
09:24the push ins on the back of Sylvie, some of the two shots with Eric. I mean, could you talk about
09:29finding the right modulation of performance for you? And what felt right?
09:35I think throughout, there's a thread of everything's sort of a little bit double entendre.
09:46You know, so you can read things one way, or you can read things another way. And it's up to the
09:51viewer to decide, you know, what's good and what's bad in the terms of, you know, good and
09:59evil, I suppose. So yeah, there always had to be like a little bit of duality to everybody's
10:09performance. So you can take it whatever way you want to take it. And then you get all your
10:16at the end. I want you to meet him. Martin's told me so many great things about you.
10:22You're so happy to welcome you here. I see you, I can feel your pain.
10:28Something wrong? My dad, you lied to me. Don't tangle yourself with your parents.
10:34The sooner you stop relying on them, the more powerful you will be. Purify and start again.
10:40I see you.