Conversation with Melanie Griffith, Rachel McDonald and Gale Herold at the Locarno International Film Festival 2014
On a sunny afternoon in Locarno on 7 August, Boyd van Hoeij from Variety moderated a discussion with short film “Thirst” director Rachel McDonald and its stars Melanie Griffith and Gale Harold. The topics ranged from the making of McDonald’s film, to the actors’ takes on the differences between working with men and female directors, to ageism in Hollywood.
I asked Rachel McDonald about using crowd-sourcing to fund “Thirst“.
Rachel McDonald : “We shot a teaser and put it on Kickstarter. I learned a lot about social media in a short period of time. We raised the money in two different rounds and were able to do the shoot. I was overwhelmed by the generosity and people who had faith in us. There are two donors here in the audience today; they drove three-hours from Italy today to be here! I think crowd-sourcing is amazing and people can be a part of telling a story in a different way.”
About Thirst
Rachel McDonald : “Thirst’s” themes are about compassion and about the human connection. There are definitely themes of mercy that reflect on ourselves and on each other. Sometimes that comes in the form of a complete stranger or those already in our lives. With an undercurrent of addiction.”
Melanie Griffith: “My character, Sue, is a down-and-out alcoholic. And this young man comes into her life and they have this sort of understanding and go through a metamorphous together. And Rachel, I must say was an incredible director and allowed what happened without the words, to happen in this world. I’m here because I love the film. I want to support her in many more movies.”
Gale Harold : “My character, “John” comes in about halfway through film; he has an oracle quality, he’s saying things he doesn’t have reason to know about and makes offhand statements that become echoed through the film.”
McDonald: “The movie takes place over a period of three days. The script, written by Michael Albanese, was inspired by a true story that happened to him when he was living in New York City in the 90s, and was broke and disconnected, and got a temporary job in Hell’s Kitchen. We developed the story together.”
Boyd: “You had a screenplay and a great story, but how do you get Melanie Griffith in this movie?”
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