Fest Track On Sirk TV Interview: ODYSSEY [SXSW 2025] - Part I - video Dailymotion

Fest Track

Writer/Director Gerard Johnson and Actress Polly Maberly talk to Fest Track about details, characterization and intent in regards to their new film: "Odyssey" playing the Visions section of the 2025 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

Transcript

00:00This is Tim Wastbrook from FesTrackOnStreetTV.

00:29I'm here at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

00:33Well Natasha is, so she's operated in a traditionally a man's world, I suppose,

00:40and she takes no prisoners. She uses those men around her and she manipulates them

00:45as she uses everyone around her. I think she takes for granted the office folk as well and

00:50she believes fully that those who aren't with her are entirely against her and she wholeheartedly

00:56believes that, I think. She feels unloved because her dad, her dodgy dad, has become a

01:08hero in her eyes but he left her so she has a big blame complex from that, I think.

01:16And when pushed this week of her life she also becomes a homicidal maniac but then she's

01:24perimenopausal and therefore, you know, it's excusable.

01:31Look, he needs moving somewhere else. He's not safe here anymore. We just,

01:35we need your help to move him somewhere else.

01:39No. Yes. No. Yes. What are you doing? Let him go. It's too late for that.

01:45Douglas tried to pull a fast one on us, didn't you Douglas?

01:47No.

01:51We talked a little bit, it's not in the film, but we went back a little bit of what their

01:56relationship, what her relationship was with the Viking and it hints at it with the dad. Obviously,

02:01he was brought in to do some stuff for the family or for the mum and then they became like a

02:09relationship that was, Natasha was obviously younger. The Viking felt, even though he,

02:16it was his job, he felt almost a responsibility to look after that girl. And, you know, without

02:26any spoilers, when they get into sort of holding guns and everything else, it seems like there's

02:32also history there with the fact of weaponry. There's something that has happened before maybe

02:41that hints that Natasha isn't quite, yeah, obviously she's cold and calculated as an

02:46estate agent, but there's also something there that hints that maybe there's some

02:50violence there as well because the Viking is such a, he's so calculated in what he does.

02:58And I think he's like, oh, you've forgotten all the stuff that we did and all of this.

03:03So there was another side to it, which I thought was interesting, but without us going into it

03:07too much, you just, I like to leave little crumbs for people to pick up on and just to

03:15have a think about after the film was finished. You know, there's nothing worse than seeing a

03:19film and you just, it ends and you're like, oh, that was nice. Okay. I got that. And that's it.

03:26What did that mean? Or what was the relationship there? It's nice to have those. And, you know,

03:31I know it myself and I've gone through it, but I don't show it.

03:35I need to leave now.

03:36You listen to me. We're not asking you. We're telling you, okay?

03:42I'm not doing f***ing anything. You can f*** off.

03:45No, stop, stop, stop. Natasha, just stop. Just stop. I know. Hey, look at me. I know.

03:52It's f***ing mad. All right. If you do this and you're going to do this, yes, you're going to do

03:58this. You get to keep the line. When we did the workshops, this really helped establishing those

04:02sort of relationships. When we talk about the guy in the club, I think she appreciates

04:06and really excels on the control of the situation. She has confidence and this is her territory.

04:12But, you know, we have different things. We have the office crew who she takes for granted

04:17and you have Spike played by Charlie Palmer Rothwell. She treats like her

04:22sort of spoiled child. It's a child mother relationship and she's foul to him.

04:26And then you have, you know, Jasmine Blackborough plays Dylan and she's beautiful and charming and

04:34excels in her job and so she needs to be put in her place in my eyes and good for the good of her,

04:40we think, I think. And Safi is her best, her rock, her closest and therefore she is the worst to her.

04:48She takes her entirely for granted. I mean, I say therefore, but, you know,

04:53that was entirely clear in my mind that those relationships, well, no, we established them

04:58during the workshops, I think. And yeah, you know, it's funny. So it may be a tangent, but I tell

05:05that little story about the workshop experience and we had the first two days for me, which it

05:11was actually, you know, I'm not very good with the improvisational stuff. Well, I like the lines,

05:18but I don't, you know, there was lots of improvisation that became sort of established

05:22script as well, which I loved. I loved discovering the character and the workshop was totally

05:26invaluable. But we had two days where we were comfortably getting to know each other and getting

05:30very, you know, just together, knowing each other's backgrounds, the hierarchy of the office,

05:36et cetera. And then Gerard just suddenly went, right, let's get this on its feet. Come on,

05:39you've got the door, Polly. You guys carry on. And I was like, go, you know. And so I was out

05:43the door and I had this just cold sweat come over me going, I've just got to go in. I've got to go

05:50in and be Natasha, this cold hearted bitch, you know. And all of them inside, Kelly, Charlie,

05:55Jasmine, were just as nonchalantly, brilliantly improvisation and coming out with wisecracks.

06:01And I just entered and I just failed. I failed completely. And I just, I was laughing at their

06:07jokes when I shouldn't and I was trying to match them. And by the end of the second day, I was

06:12just, I just collapsed and said, Gerard, you've got the wrong girl. I'm not there. I'm not with

06:17it. I'm not capable. And I really just was stuck in this feeling. And then I had an epiphany of

06:25sorts where I realized I don't, I don't listen to anybody. Natasha doesn't listen to anyone.

06:31She doesn't match them. She just smashes through them. And whatever read that it would never have

06:38been the same experience playing her if I hadn't had that workshop time, you know, so that was

06:44invaluable. And she just became, when I realized she doesn't need anyone, she doesn't listen to

06:49anyone. She just uses them and bashes on through until she becomes out of control. And then that's

06:56the nuances.

07:17Every film I do, I have this long period of a workshop period and it's yeah, always. And it's

07:24not, it's like you come with a script and you get your actors and then it's sometimes you won't even

07:30talk about the script at all. You'll talk about personal stuff and everything else, but then you'll

07:35get, you might, you might do some lines, you might change some stuff, you might improvise around it.

07:40But what it creates, it creates a very strong bond before going into the shoot. Because as we all

07:45know, during the shoot, it's so hectic. It's so quick. You're, you know, you're in locations,

07:51you've got to move, you've got so many setups. So for me, it's always like to have everyone on

07:57the same page completely when they don't, they don't, yeah, you might,

08:03there'll still be some direction, but it's not like

08:07you're just excited. All of us are excited by the time the shoot happens. It's just like, right,

08:12I want to, I want to actually go into that location now because we've worked on it enough.

08:15We don't want to work at it anymore. And then, you know, there might be moments where you'll still

08:19say, no, it's, it's this or this, but you've, you've, you've had that time, that luxury

08:24of going over everything. So it's so empowering for the actors, for me as a director to just go

08:29in and know that we're so, we know what we're doing. It's almost like theater in a way that

08:34you go up and you're performing because you've already done those scenes before.

Fest Track On Sirk TV Interview: ODYSSEY [SXSW 2025] - Part I

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