5 Questions with Nancy Friedrich and Hans Holsen
“Nadine,” by directors Nancy Friedrich and Hans Holsen, shows what happens when an overeager friend decides to make a commercial for her friend’s old car. We asked Friedrich and Holsen how the project came together, their writing process, and biting off more than you can chew…
1) Can you talk briefly about your backgrounds, and how you first got interested in comedy?
We both cut our chops in Chicago performing at The Annoyance and iO Chicago. Hans also performed at The Second City, and Boom Chicago in Amsterdam (where he met his wife/Nadine producer Josine), and I performed theater around Chicago both comedic and dramatic. We both relocated to Los Angeles around 6 years ago and started doing sketch together with a group called The Blank Experience, and then continued working on projects from there. I'm not sure what led to comedy exactly, but I'll blame improv.
2) What’s the origin story of this project? What sparked the idea, and how did you make your first moves to get it rolling?
Nadine was Hans's real life car. Hans and I had met for coffee to generate some ideas, and I think he was looking out the window at his car, and said what if you sold me my car? From there we started fleshing out our characters and how far/absurd they could go with the task of selling this car. To really get things rolling we met with Josine our producer and she got us on to the organizing path of setting dates, emailing actors, nailing down locations etc...
3) I’d love to hear a bit about your writing process. Do you work together in the same room, or do you trade scripts or outlines, back and forth? Any particular challenges of forming this idea and getting the tone right?
For Nadine we sent outlines back and forth for a few weeks adding/heightening things, and eventually came up with the beat sheet. We used the beat sheet for shooting, improvising the beats from our outline. All of the actors in Nadine are very experienced improvisers we have known for years, some came up with us in Chicago and others we met in LA. It was easy to just give them the beat and the tone and let them run wild with it, and our DP Nick Ehart is also an experienced improviser so he knew what to capture. The whole day of filming almost felt like a party, it was so fun.
4) I love how far you take this idea. And it gets funnier as it goes. There’s so much you nail perfectly about behind the scenes conversations and personalities. Can you discuss what you were most interested in showing in terms of film sets and/or group dynamics?
We wanted to show how quickly things can spiral out of control when you bite off more than you can chew. All the characters are taking everything seriously, but in the end they get in their own way, or are derailed somehow.... We also wanted to show how natural it is for people to try to pull rank, and to establish dominance over one another, when they do a project together.
5) What’s the funniest movie you’ve seen recently?
The Favorite! The dance scene, the rabbits, the geese! Olivia Coleman is my favorite actor, drama or comedy, she can do no wrong! Hans hasn’t seen any movies recently, but has enjoyed laughing while watching “Barry” and “Veep” on HBO.
Bonus question) Any new projects in the works?
Yes, Hans and I are starring in a new short, "Diener Diearies" written by Mark Vannier (Nadine) and directed by Andrew Peyton (who created the trailer for Nadine). It's almost done with the editing process and we can't wait to get it out there!
Contact Info:
IG: @Nancyfriedvannier and @hansholsen.