SB: But I was intrigued and I saw that she has an appealing personality. And immediately I checked out every YouTube interview there was of Dree…
And it was her manager, Allan Mindel, who reached out to me, because he saw-we were also desperately looking to cast the Sadie role-and he saw that casting call and asked us if we had cast for the 20-year-old yet, and if we hadn’t if we’d be interested in considering Dree, and I had no idea Dree was even interested in acting. We were actually searching for quite a while. H2N: And then, how did you guys connect? Had you known of Dree? We had already made connections in the adult film world, and we were still going to have that scene done with a body double, but we were going to cast Jane with an actor, who may or may not be comfortable doing that.
So then we decided, let’s go after somebody who has had formal training, has an acting background, and we decided right there and then that we were still going to have that scene. And we found somebody and recorded her for a little while, and actually did some rehearsing with her, but it just didn’t work, for many reasons. And were looking for somebody who had that Jane persona.
We were going to hire an adult performer as the lead. Sean Baker: To tell you the truth, this is the first time I’m discussing this. And we talked about it too a little bit, but when it gets down to it, when there’s penis and vagina happening… it’s intense. Which leads me to wonder if you had initially envisioned casting an actress who would cross that line?ĭree Hemingway: I’m sure that he thought the actress he hired would do that. Hammer to Nail: At the Q&A yesterday, you were talking about the need to have a scene that gets graphic, the film deserves that and it wouldn’t have been truthful to not go in that direction. ***DISCLAIMER: WHILE THERE AREN’T NECESSARILY OVERT “SPOILERS” CONTAINED WITHIN THIS CONVERSATION, IT DOES PERHAPS HOVER IN THE SPOILER BALLPARK, SO PROCEED WITH CAUTION!*** Many months ago-the morning after Starlet‘s world premiere at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival, in fact-I sat down with Baker and Hemingway at The Highball to discuss their deeply impressive achievement. To compare it to Driving Miss Daisy might sound like an insult, but Starlet has an accessibility and warmth that cannot be denied.Īfter some initial concern that the brief-but-graphic content contained within the film might hurt its chances for distribution, it nonetheless receives a deserved theatrical release on November 9, 2012, thanks to Music Box Films (go here for screening information). And though it does indeed “go there,” it is as sweet-natured a film as you could hope to encounter. Shot digitally with vintage Lomo lenses, Starlet has a timeless cinematic richness that puts most low-budget indies to shame. Here is where Baker’s commitment to authenticity takes the film to an unexpectedly frank level. When Jane’s not easing her way into Sadie’s life with her adorable doggie Starlet, she makes money by working in the adult film industry. A beautiful 20-something girl, Jane (a knockout performance by Dree Hemingway), forms an unlikely bond with an 80-something woman, Sadie (outstanding first-timer Besedka Johnson). This California-set tale feels like several movies in one, yet Baker somehow manages to unify them. Budget and Box office collection of Starlet (real-time)Īn unlikely friendship forms between twenty-one-year-old Jane and the elderly Sadie after Jane discovers a hidden stash of money inside an object at Sadie's yard sale.Though Starlet couldn’t be more different than Sean Baker’s recent micro-budget gems Take Out and Prince of Broadway, it once again proves that he’s one of independent cinema’s shining lights.
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