FEATURE INTERVIEW

May

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SM: The film seems to split people right down the middle into love it/hate it camps. The first time I watched it – unfortunately on a video screener – the friend I had over couldn’t take it and left. The second time I saw it, I dragged a different friend to see it in the theater and he thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and has now seen it twice since Saturday. Why do you think that is and do you ever worry that people might find the gore in the film exploitive?

AB: She walked out? Yeah! Right on! That’s so cool. I just love that!

[Listen], I just think some people like to be disturbed and then there are those other people that just don’t get it. Then there [is] a third sect of people who can see it all as an art form, taking a sort of artistic, cinematic look at it all.

But, really, I’m not worried what people say about [the film]. It is what it is and everyone says something a little bit different. When you’re an actor, you expose what you make to the public so you have to know what to expect. Not everyone is going to like [“May”] or [me] in it. But I just get into it all. Like me with the press and how they talk about my whole career. Saying things like “she’s a freak” or “she’s pushing it too far.” I love that emotion; forcing people to take a stand and have an opinion.

SM: Well, you can’t watch “May” without forming one of those, that’s for sure. I mean that short film inside the movie alone…!

AB: In know! You know, the guy that made that is my neighbor. He is seriously one demented dude.

SM: You completed this movie almost two years a go, and Lions Gate is just now getting around to releasing it. Why do you think that is?

AB: Well, I don’t think we were ever given a chance even before the film was made. Once Lions Gate got [distribution rights], they kept trying to release it straight to video and all, treating it like this [little bad] horror movie. But then it just started getting this response everywhere it went, and [Lions Gate] slowly responded to that. The hype it got forced them into a limited release, even though they kept getting in the way of [the film]. Maybe if it makes more money than they expect it might go wider.

SM: Well, it’s playing on only one screen in Seattle and I think it was in the top ten for the weekend, and that’s saying something considering we’re in the middle of summer and the Seattle International Film Festival just got over.

AB: Seriously?

SM: I think so. I’d have to check, but I believe it was sixth this weekend.

AB: Right on. I’ll have to tell Lucky that. (Writer’s Note – having checked, despite doing quite well, it does not appear the film was in the Seattle top ten for its opening weekend. Final numbers will not be posted until later in the week.)

SM: Is acting what you always wanted to do?

AB: Well, it was always what I did. I started at six, but I didn’t really plan on making it a career. It sort of just happened that way.

SM: You grew up in Austin, TX. What was that like? Did your parents encourage you to be an actress?

AB: I was mostly raised by my mom. She’d hate me for saying this, but she was sort of a hippie. She was really open to the arts. We were going to everything; opera, ballet, theater, movies; there is a great arts community in Austin. I started out doing Community Theater and she supported it. I think she thought it was going to be a hobby.

Now she realizes it is a hard profession. I’ve been at it for 11-years now and [I think] she’d tell you it’s made me a neurotic freak. I [can] understand why a lot of actors have reps for being neurotic freaks. It’s a really inconsistent [business] and it’s [hard] to save for the future. It’s hard to plan for the future [with] such an inconsistent career.

SM: What’s up next for you?

AB: I’m supposed to do this Tobe Hooper film, but it keeps getting pushed. Hopefully it will still happen.

Lucky has another movie he’s doing for [United Artists], but it’s primarily set in a high school and he really wants actual 16-year olds. I keep telling him I can still do that, [though]. I’ve read a handful of his stuff [now] and he’s a genius screenwriter. In fact, we’re working on the brother script to “May” called “Roman.” Only this time, I’m directing and he’s acting.

SM: Sounds great. So, in that vein, what’s your favorite memory from working on “May?”

AB: The memory that comes to me right now is more of an amusing anecdote. We were dealing with the lesbian scene [with co-star Anna Faris] and it was basically the first thing that [Lucky] directed. He was really uncomfortable; so cute and humorous about it. So we all sat around drinking shots of whiskey. We ended up doing like 20,000 takes of me and Anna kissing all while drinking shot after shot of whiskey. It was great.

It was also fun to play with all that blood. It was great to have it slowly creeping up my arm and all.

SM: I loved that in the movie, the way it just kept going up and up as you killed more and more people – and all everyone kept saying was, “great costume!”

AB: I know! Wasn’t that great? Or how about the guy that asks if I’ve got a cold one in the cooler? I love crazy dialogue like that!

SM: So I guess that means you see yourself making the foray into horror again soon?

AB: Kind of looking like it. I seem to get cast that way. [But], after doing this movie thinking about it makes me want to work with Lucky again. And then there is that Tobe Hooper movie, if it ever moves forward. I can’t wait to work with him.

SM: Any final thoughts on “May?”

AB: Gosh, I don’t know.  I guess, “If you can’t find a friend, make one.” Don’t you think they should have used that on the poster? I mean, “Be careful… She just might take your heart.” How [stupid] is that?

I also liked what Harry Knowles said on Ain't It Cool News, “Wait until you meet Amy.” That’s good, too. ▪

[Click here to read a review of May.]

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