How did a girl-next-door type get the part of a teenage serial killer in training`? "Well ... as sweet and lovable as I really am, I have a bit of a dark side," Taylor explains. "I was called in to audition after answering Justin's ad, and I performed a monologue that impressed him enough to offer me the part. Before I accepted, he asked me to read the script to make sure I knew what I was getting into. I read it, loved it, and accepted."
KatieBird is set apart from most other indies by a visual approach to storytelling seemingly inspired by the graphic novel; Robert Rodriguez took a similar avenue with this year's hit Sin City. The movie plays out in pseudo-comic book style, utilizing black borders and boxes of differing ratios, giving Ritter the freedom to compose shots at his whim. I asked Taylor about this out-of-thebox approach.
"I thought the idea of having closeups while sustaining a wide shot was innovative and aesthetically pleasing. I actually didn't know about the multi-paneled, aspect, but I did know that Justin was interested in a variety of angles and color themes."
To Helene, Ritter's approach was just as intriguing.
"No doubt about it. Justin was clear on his approach right from the beginning. The difficulty was that he could not give me any real examples because this technique had not been done before. I had to trust Justin -he had a vision."
"It honestly wasn't any different on other films' that I've shot," states Taylor. "We actually had very few takes as a result of great preparation from both the cast and the crew".
Helene notes: "We had only one camera. Justin knew his shots inside and out--a lot of it we did in just two or three takes. There were a couple of times I had to do endless takes, but it was kind of gruesomely fun."
I asked the actresses how they prepped to play such a deranged woman, each at different points in her life.
"I was in a very twisted and misogynistic relationship at the time," says Helene, who freely admits that there were times when the divide between real and reel life is penetrable. "I have to be careful about the kind of roles I take. We all have everything in us; the murderer, the hero. There are some experiences you can never come back from. I admit that doing KatieBird was the most grueling, hellish thing I've ever done-just thinking about that time can give me the heebiejeebies-though I'm proud of it."
Taylor gives a slightly different perspective, this being her first feature-length film. "It was nerve-racking at first because I didn't know if I could handle shooting scenes out of sequence, with some of them four or five days apart. I made sure in my preparation that I knew the arch of the character and where she going and that was my saving grace." Taylor continues. "It was difficult only because I realized that there was a younger and older version of me in the film as well, and I needed to find the middle ground. I had to give teen Katiebird a journey and transition into her version of adulthood, and it became a welcome challenge to play with that idea. I made a decision not to draw on my years as a teenager, because I was a know-it-all who thought she needed no parental guidance whatsoever."
Taylor invested time in researching similar roles, drawing upon a pantheon of horror and violent crime films to draw inspiration from. "I started with looking at `Buffalo Bill' in The Silence of the Lambs, but my main inspiration was Eihi Shiina's performance in the Japanese horror flick, Audition. Justin had recommended it, and it is probably one of the most disturbing films I've ever seen. I actually felt dirty after watching that movie - her calm collectedness disturbed me to the core of my being."
Horror fans will be thrilled to discover Helene Udy boasts an impressive resume, appearing in the wellknown '80s shockers Incubus, My Bloody Valentine, Nightflyers, and The Dead "Zone. Did being a horror vet help her with the KatieBird role?
"I've played a few funky horror movie characters. In My Bloody Valentine I was an innocent teen-I died of course! In Pin I was a nasty little tart, and took my top off (tastefully) and scared the hell out of this poor guy. My greatest claim to fame is as the hooker-with-the-heart-ofgold `Myra' on the TV show Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman."
The younger Taylor hasn't yet built up a grocery list of horror films she's acted in. I asked her point blank if she was big on scary movies.
"YEEESSS!!! I saw Poltergeist when I was 4 years old and have been disturbed ever since. I'm obsessed with horror films -I always have this adrenaline rush and subsequent longing for more when I watch them. This part was perfect for me because it fulfilled my desire to be the very bad girl without compromising my self-respect."
Though there is no explicit nudity in KatieBird, there are several deviant sex acts graphically executed, and in one scene teenage nudity is implied. For beautiful, eager young actresses, requests to disrobe are a common occurrence. After discussing the subject with Ritter, it was quickly revealed that nudity wasn't necessarily what he was looking for. Taylor M. Dooley had strong opinions on the issue.
"The fact that there was no nudity in the film was probably what impressed me the most. A horror film with attractive women, handcuffs, and no boobs? NO WAAAAY. I absolutely refuse to let it all hang out, and this was a rare opportunity, because Justin insisted that there be no nudity. My cup of tea!"
" Helene concurs. "Justin never had nudity in mind. It was part of his philosophy not to lean on nudity as a distraction and ticket selling ploy. He didn't want to muddy up what he was really trying to do. That's one of the ideas that made me feel safe to go further with the other stuff."
It fell on Udy's shoulders to perform the more intense sexual encounters, all of which are brutal, yet restrained. "The graphic sex and my part in it, was very disturbing to perform. Very. 1'd come home with actor's jet lag." I asked specifically about the scene where she ties her co-star, Todd Gordon, to a bed.
"The tying up part'? Hey, come on ... we've all done that haven't we'?"
KatieBird relies largely on the quality of the performances. Ritter realized intense rehearsals could pay off handsomely in terms of optimal characterization. It presented the interesting challenge of various actors working together to portray the same character at different stages in her life. I asked Helene and Taylor how the collaboration worked.
"Taylor and I exchanged a lot of ideas." states Helene. "We wanted to find a similarity in our behavior. We wanted to make it cohesive. As a team, we were very devoted to getting it right or losing the audience in the transition, so we kept communicating. Taylor was great with that."
