5 Questions with Alanna Morton
Today’s premiere is “Wash Your Fruit,” a workplace comedy turned surreal nightmare about a woman who eats a pear she shouldn’t have. We asked director Alanna Morton about the beginnings of the project, the imaginative production design, and what inspired her vision…
1) I love your setup. Where did this story come from? Not personal experience, I hope.
Ha, fortunately this is straight fiction. The script had many prior incarnations. It started as a buddy movie between someone and their personal demon, which evolved to someone being possessed by a tree demon, and finally I ditched the demon thing and landed on this plant body-horror transformation story. I was also living on a sun porch at the time and was really feeling at one with nature - I’m sure some of the roots were planted there as well.
2) Your lead actress is wonderful. How did you cast her? What was the working relationship between you two?
Megan is kick ass! We were roommates at the time. I had been auditioning folks from Backstage but wasn’t finding “the one”, then she gave the sides a read and nailed it immediately. I feel so lucky circumstances played out the way they did. She was a freakin trouper throughout, especially with all the SFX make up. We’re good friends, we communicate well, and continue to work together on projects.
3) It’s a lot of fun to see the evolution of the visual components, the art direction, the costumes and makeup, etc. Can you discuss the process of designing and planning the stages of her turn?
Ah, thanks! Production design is important to me. Having some basic horticulture knowledge, I really wanted the process to relate to what actually goes down with a sick plant. Wilting, discoloration, loosing leafs, and eventually new growth when it recovers. I tried my best to work out what that would look like if being human was what was ailing the plant. Ivey, our make up artist crushed it at translating those ideas into practical effects. During the writing process a pal sent me this trippy documentary on how plants communicate with each other through hormones and scent. That doc really drove the choices made for the Productia scenes.
4) Can you name a couple movies or other media that you were thinking about when you wrote this, influences on either story or tone or visuals?
For this, campy horrors like “The Evil Dead” (1981) and “The Fly” (1986) were big influences for story. Stylistically I was really inspired by Michel Gondry’s work, specifically “Science of Sleep” (2006), as well as the UK series “The Mighty Boosh,” also “House” (1977), can’t forget “House".” In general I look to experimental films and surrealist art for inspiration.
5) What’s next for you?
I have a few things brewing. I’m super jazzed to release this dreamy music video I made for the band Wess Meets West in early March. Megan stars in it too! Besides that, I just want to keep making as much as I can while working my job in post-production for feature films. I’m in the script stages for some weird little projects, one being animated... we’ll see how that goes...
Contact Info
Email: alannam.morton@gmail.com
Social Media
IG: @uhhlannnuhh