Enjoying the fun, hard work

CYNTHIA RAMSAY

The days are long on the set of Complexity, but there’s “lots of love in the air,” according to Emilie Ullerup, who plays Clara, and “the positive atmosphere is really strong,” said writer, director, actor Adam Bogoch.

Complexity is Adam’s second feature film, his first being the award-winning Avoid Confrontation. His current project is about a young woman, Clara, who is “stuck in a place of uncertainty, being pushed and pulled in all different directions by her family. When Clara meets Scott, a man very interested in her, things take a drastic turn from bad to worse.” The table read happened a few weeks ago.

“For me, it’s always really cool to see your entire cast in one room, sitting around a massive table, reading your script,” shared Adam. “It’s pretty surreal.... It was my first time directing Complexity. Sure, it was from sitting behind a table, but directing nonetheless.”

Marvelling at the acting talent, Adam said, “But the best part of the cast is actually how down to earth they are, in general and with each other.” He added that he and producer Mattie Shisko didn’t hire anyone with “diva tendencies” – “‘Check your ego at the door’ was Mattie’s motto,” said Adam. And even he has had to do so: “There are always rewrites after table reads and rehearsals, so, yes, there were more script revisions,” he admitted. “However, only about four major revisions were made to the seventh draft.”

After the table read, it was rehearsal time. “Rehearsals are more or less to let the actor be aware of themselves as the character and aware of some of the other characters they’ll be interacting with,” explained Adam. “It’s difficult because the space and vibe is always so much different than that of the actual set. However, working on character relationships is a lot of fun, and it not only helps the actors but the director as well.

“For a couple of the days, I ran rehearsals with Mattie, especially when I was rehearsing for my character, Parker. The majority of my scenes take place with the character Holly (Destini Willan), and I’m so lucky that she’s so easy going and great to work with. We have some slightly awkward scenes, but we work really well together, it’s all big laughs.”

The shooting has been going well, said Adam. “You always have those little issues, like forgetting this prop, or running out of this or that, etc. They are easily fixable problems, but still throw us off schedule a bit. Time is money in this industry, no doubt, and we don’t have a lot of time ... or money.

“Another challenge that we face every day,” he added, in good fun, “is that there have been times when Emilie will lock herself in a bathroom and just not come out. I don’t know what goes on in there, but sometimes it’s hours before we see her next. It puts us behind schedule and is incredibly inconsiderate.... Love you, Emilie!”

If such comments aren’t evidence enough, Adam said, “There is a certain vibe we like to keep going on set, which is positive, comfortable and relaxed. No one, no matter what his/her job, is to be treated with disrespect. Every job on set is incredibly important, especially with a smaller crew. As a director, this is something I take to heart. It’s nice and all to be a good director, but even better to be a good human being. Mattie and I hired cast and crew who have these same ideals and, so far, it has worked out very well. Yes, we have to get to set early, but it’s great seeing everybody every day. The jokes run high, and not just with our energetic cast, but with our energetic crew. Everyone is getting along so well, being creative, enthusiastic and having fun, it’s truly an inspiration!”

There is no such thing as a typical shooting day, explained Adam. The majority of time, he said, “the call time for hair and makeup for cast is about 7 a.m. We bring the crew (including me) in at 8. I usually have some dialogue with the director of photography and cinematographer (Paul Mitchnick and Harvey LaRoque, respectively) and then with the first assistant director (Anthony Epp). The actors take a short break from hair and makeup and come to set for scene blocking. After Paul, Harvey, Anthony and I block out the first scene we’re doing, the actors are sent back to hair and makeup and the stand-ins are brought in while the crew sets up for the shot. Once everybody is ready, we might do a rehearsal or, if it’s an emotional scene for the actors, we just shoot when they are ready, in order to get the best possible performance out of them.

“We usually work 12-hour days, so if we are called in at 8 a.m., we finish about 8 p.m., or if we are called in at 4 a.m. – when we are shooting bar scenes, for example – then we finish about 4 p.m. It’s not easy getting up that next morning ... oh man. I usually finish an hour after everybody else, as I have to do some clean up and organization for the next day of shooting.”

About working with 18-year-old Adam, Emilie quipped, “Umm, working with Adam ... has been hard, if not almost impossible. He has this thing for M&Ms but not the blue ones. Definitely not the blue ones. So, he sits in his chair all day, eating the M&Ms he likes and saves the blue ones in his pocket. When we do something he doesn’t like, he whips them at us. Hard. He has made me cry on several occasions and I’m pretty sure both Patrick [Spencer] and Kyle [Cassie] have welled up, too.

“No. I’m kidding. I’m sure you thought it was true. Adam is a wonderful guy, and I am glad to have this opportunity to ‘give back’ to such a great project. Adam is quite mature for his age, and is very capable of keeping up with the seasoned crew. He communicates well and is good at listening, making the creative process a healthy two-way street. While he is the writer, it is up to the actors to bring the characters alive and it is so important to find a good middle ground, where both writer/director and performer feel that they are staying true to their personal vision of the character.

“I’m excited to see where Adam will go from here. He is so far ahead of other young filmmakers because he has surrounded himself with people that want him to grow and learn. We all work through the challenges together and I think Adam will come out of this project with a greater sense of what it means to shoot a movie. Lots more to learn but, fortunately, he’s got nothing but time!”

Like Adam, Emilie, 25, found her calling at a young age – “Grade 2, to be exact,” she told the Independent. “As I grew older and began to study ‘the greats’ of our time, I realized that if I wanted a fair chance in this industry of millions of hopefuls, I needed a strong base, a set of tools that could help me battle the masses of other blonde girls for whom I so easily could be mistaken. I decided that I couldn’t just graduate high school and call myself an actor. Like one has to do for most other professions, I knew I had to cry, sweat and bleed (sometimes literally) before I got to honor myself with the professional title of actor.

“I also decided that L.A. wasn’t the place to start,” continued the Copenhagen-born actress. “It’s too big an ocean down there, and it seemed overwhelming. I had heard of Vancouver being a busy place for the film industry, so I decided to give it a shot here. Vancouver Film School was the obvious choice for me as it offered a full-time program, which I couldn’t find anywhere else in Vancouver, and it was only a year and a half long. So I would still be young after graduating, a real advantage (if not necessity) in the film business, and it would equip me with the basics of all aspects of the world of film. Fortunately, it turned out to give me so much more than I had hoped for and, despite feeling terrified to graduate into the real (and unapologetic) world of entertainment, I was as well prepared as I could have been.”

It was at VFS that she connected with Mattie, who was one of her teachers. Then, said Emilie, Mattie “wrote me an e-mail out of the blue last year, telling me that she had taken on this project and had instantly thought of me for the role of Clara. I read the script, met with her and Adam and then decided that I wanted to be a part of this whacky piece. It was that simple!”

In discussing her role, Emilie mentioned her boyfriend, Kyle, who she met while on the TV show jPod, and who plays a lawyer named Calvin in Complexity.

“Clara, in many ways, hits frighteningly close to home, personality wise,” she said. “The need for control and order in her life is something I battle with every day. Clara’s OCD tendencies run stronger than mine, but they are there nonetheless. Just ask Kyle. Ha! As well, the neverending need for approval and acceptance is something I am learning to let go of as well.

“Both Clara and I need to be as close to perfect as possible all the time, which, I do realize is an impossible task, because what is perfection really? When a character lands in your lap that bears traits that resemble ones that are a battle in your personal life, it can be frightening to take them on, because it means facing the things that you do your best to run from in everyday life. Fortunately, and without giving too much away, Clara goes through a great metamorphosis that inspires strength and conviction. Staying true to yourself is really the moral of the story and I think that is something we can never be reminded of too often.”

About building an on-screen romance with Patrick, who plays Scott, Emilie said, “Well, this is part of the job that is, at times, a bit of a hurdle. It feels like a roadblock in your heart and stomach ’cause you know it isn’t real. It isn’t something you’ve chosen, it’s been chosen for you – by the writer. (Damn you Adam!!) Fortunately for me, Patrick is such a delight and so comfortable in his own skin that he makes you feel at ease very quickly.... For me, as long as I can feel comfortable around someone, even when I hardly know them, it becomes easier to convey feelings of ‘like’ or even ‘love.’

“I don’t think it makes a difference that Kyle is on set with me. It’s a weird thing for actor couples to go through, but, as long as there’s trust, it’s just something you get through!... With both of us being actors, at least we understand the process and how it’s really not real, and mostly just awkward because you have to focus on which way your head is tilted for the kiss, am I blocking his light, and ‘Oh God! Everyone is staring at me kissing this stranger!’

“If anything, for me, it helps having Kyle there. I just have to look over at him to feel the real thing. And bang! I’m right where I need to be for the scene.”

At the time of the interview with the Independent, the shoot was almost over, “which is bittersweet,” said Adam. “I’ve missed having a social life and, most definitely, missed having sleep. However, I love going to work every day, as I’ve said, being with these people is just awesome.... I am sincerely happy with the results of shoot so far. I have seen all the footage, it’s beautiful, it’s fresh, it’s new and it’s fun. There are a lot of dramatic and big emotional arcs in this film, but, overall, it’s boisterous. At the end of the day, when we stop rolling, when the curtains close on production and reopen for post-production, whenever that may be, I have full confidence that we all will be very happy with the end result.”

There are film credits for purchase: executive producer (title credit) for $5,000 and up; producer (title credit) for $2,500; co-producer (end credit) for $1,000; associate producer (end credit) for $500; and thanks (end credit) for $100. Contact [email protected] or send a cheque payable to Redhaired Productions, 6209 Tisdall St., Vancouver, B.C., V5Z 3N5.

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