5 Questions with Joanna Arnow ("Laying Out")
1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?
I’m from Brooklyn and was interested in acting growing up, in particular playing comedic characters or ones with darker sides. During my first year in college, I went to audition for a play, and wore my best outfit, a tropical print sarong - but when I got into the room, I realized I was very out of place with all the theater majors in black. I was very nervous in this new environment and it did not go well, and I gave up auditioning after that one try. But I still wanted to work in a creative field and when I took my first film class, I really fell in love with it, and it was exciting to throw myself into this new passion. I wasn’t a cinephile growing up, my family only had about ten VHS tapes, so it was exciting just to try something different - and study a medium that seemed to me to have so much possibility.
2) What was the initial idea for this project and how did it evolve from there?
The idea for the line about “keep doing that and you’ll get your dinner” had been in my head for a while – I was excited about the line, and then it seemed to naturally progress to this conversation roles about gender and sexual identity and internalized misogyny that all relate to this lack of dinner.
3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And the easiest part?
The biggest challenge was the difficulty of filming at the beach - we had to hold for climbers scaling our rock background, a loud volleyball team started practicing right next to us, it was hard to even walk quickly on the sand, and we were racing against the changing light to get everything in one day. It was also tricky to stage action right by the shoreline in terms of audio and hiding the mics in bikinis.
Working with Michole was the easiest part, because she brought so much to the role and we had a lot of fun rehearsing/exploring this unusual conversation together. I was interested in working with her, in part because I was excited by the musicality of her voice - she is a singer as well and I thought she could bring a lot to this dialogue driven piece. Because we ran short on time, we only had two takes for her final monologue and it was incredible to see what she did with them.
4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?
I just watched “Strangers in Good Company” this week and it blew me away. I think there was such earnestness and sweetness in the portrayal of these older women looking back over their lives, and the ways they related to each other. It’s a film that really invited me in with its quiet moments of both humor and sadness, and made me want to spend more time in that world.
5) What’s next for you?
I’m developing a dark comedy feature film called “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed.” It was part of this year’s Berlinale Talents Script Station, and we’re planning to shoot it this year. I also started drawing comics during the pandemic, and will be continuing with those too.
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https://vimeo.com/arnow | IG and Twitter: @arnowjo | www.facebook.com/joanna.arnow