Judith Light made a fashionably late entrance to the New York premiere of “Before You Know It” Thursday evening at the Landmark Theater on 57th Street.
Pouffing up her blond hair and vamping on the red carpet in an elegant white pantsuit, Light was unrecognizable from the nebbishy character Shelly Pfefferman she plays in “Transparent.” And she looks like time stopped since starring as high-powered businesswoman Angela Bower in the long-running tv series “Who’s the Boss?” more than three decades ago.
In “Before You Know It,” Light plays a MIA mother who happens to be a manic soap opera star. The wacky comedic drama is co-written by Jen Tullock and Hannah Pearl Utt, who is also making her feature directorial debut. Utt and Tullock are longtime friends and collaborated on the shorts “Disengaged” (2016) and “Partners” (2015).
Tullock and Pearl play co-dependent sisters — the former nutty and man crazy and the other sane and a lesbian — who live in their childhood townhouse above the theater where their eccentric writer/director father put on some 50 mainly failing plays. Utt portrays younger sister Rachel Gurner, and Tullock plays her stuck-in-adolescence older actress sister, Jackie. The sisters and Jackie’s 12 year-old precocious daughter, Dodge (Oona Jaffe), live together, and because it’s a New York story real estate figures heavily in the mix. It’s during the reading of their father’s will that the sisters discover their mother, Sherrell, whose name is on the lease, is still alive and thriving as a soap-opera star. Naturally the sisters hunt their mother down which leads to high jinks —and the opportunity for Light to wear myriad outrageous wigs and costumes — and an opportunity for the women to resolve some thorny and complicated family issues.
Following are highlights from the red carpet interviews with Light, Utt and Tullock.
The Knockturnal: You live in New York and you’re from Kentucky so what inspired you to write such a New York story?
Jen Tullock: Hannah and I met and became friends in New York, and New York really was the backdrop of our late adolescence. We spent the whole of our 20s in the city and like many people that come there from other places, I think, we sort of assumed it as an identity more so than people that are even from there, because I think we were both from places that we wanted to leave. And New York feels like such a larger than life place for people that have dreams, and so we started writing the script in New York. And then it also was because the family at the center of the film felt like they could only exist in New York because they live in this microcosm of sort of an anachronistic tradition.
– New York, NY – 8/22/19 – 1091 Media Presents The New York Premiere of “BEFORE YOU KNOW IT”. The film stars Judith Light, Jen Tullock, and Oona Yaffe. It is directed by Hannah Pearl Utt, and releases in theaters on August 30th, 2019.
-Pictured: Jen Tullock
-Photo by: Kristina Bumphrey/StarPix
-Location: Landmark 57
The Knockturnal: Describe your collaborative process of writing with Hannah.
Jen Tullock: It’s evolved a lot over the years. So, we like to say that our actual dynamic kind of evolved in tandem with this very script because this is the first thing we started writing together and have since made several other things. But we started as “writing partners” and then over the years we like the dynamic of best friends since then. Hannah would take the helm, first passes, I would punch it up and she would direct everybody. So, there is a symbiosis, I think that that happens between us because of our deep friendship, but there’s also a great amount of respect and communication which helps in any relationship.
The Knockturnal: Do you ever have arguments or diagreements?
Jen Tullock: You know, not really. We have the same therapist, which we find very helpful.
The Knockturnal: You have the same therapist?
Jen Tullock: Yes, we have the same therapist. I recommend that. And so that’s been a huge help. But I think we’ve just learned, I always joke, we’ve done more work on our friendship with each other than we have in any other relationships, so that’s beneficial.
The Knockturnal: How did you tap into your nutty character? She’s obviously very different from you.
Jen Tullock: Yes, thank you for noticing. She is based on a couple of women in my real life that I love very much, who struggle with mania and depression and needing to only perform through life. They’re never able to fully be themselves and settle down and tell the truth… But to be honest with you, her physical demeanor was based on a toddler that I know. A three year old. There were some like strange tricks that this kid did that I loved, and I started doing them with Jackie.
The Knockturnal: I read your next project is a screenplay. What is it about?
Jen Tullock: I’m writing a feature about my upbringing in the evangelical world in Kentucky. And as a gay person. So, that will be an interesting experience and then Hannah is also writing her next feature which I will star in. So, we’re excited about that.
Judith Light
Paula Schwartz Photo
The Knockturnal: What do you hope audiences take away from the film?
Judith Light: I hope people will feel good. I want them to go home and look at their own relationships. I want them to watch how they’re relating to their families, and to themselves. And, remembering that we have … whatever time is limited. And it’s important to use it wisely and well. And just be good to each other.
The Knockturnal: Would you call this a heartwarming mother-daughter story?
Judith Light: No! That’s so funny. No, No, I wouldn’t. I would call it a relationship movie of all different people, of all different types, of all different relationships and that’s what makes it such a charming and exciting film.
The Knockturnal: You are always so busy. You divide your time mainly between television and theater. How did you find the time to make this film?
JL: You make time when you love something.
The Knockturnal: How did you get involved in the film?
Judith Light: When Eyde Belasco, who’s the casting director for “Transparent” sent it to me, she said these young women are working on this film would you be willing to go to Sundance Film Lab and work with them on developing it, talking about it, working on the characters, and I said absolutely, I’m there. So I talked to Hannah and Jen and we worked on it together and that really made a lot of difference. That was the real joy in working on it. And then through the year as they were in the process of working on it, getting the script done, we talked again and they sent me new drafts of the script and I gave them notes and we talked about different things and they were open and they’re really talented and just extraordinary human beings.
The Knockturnal: Was it fun to goof on and satirize the experiences of your early years as a soap opera actress?
Judith Light: That really wasn’t what the focus was for me. It happened to be my character’s job and we all wanted to make sure that it wasn’t a caricature and so we worked very diligently on that and that was important. It wasn’t like, oh this is a goof or this is a gag. It was like, here’s this real person with this life and this is what her work is.
Paula Schwartz Photo
Hannah Pearl Utt
The Knockturnal: You’re from Santa Barbara, California but this is a very New York story so what inspired the story?
Hannah Pearl Utt: I am from California but I grew up feeling like a New Yorker. When I moved here I felt very much at home and lived here for many years and that’s where I met Jen and that’s when we began creating the story, figuring out who these people were and then for a long time the story, the movie, was dictated by these characters who slowly but inevitably came to life.
– New York, NY – 8/22/19 – 1091 Media Presents The New York Premiere of “BEFORE YOU KNOW IT”. The film stars Judith Light, Jen Tullock, and Oona Yaffe. It is directed by Hannah Pearl Utt, and releases in theaters on August 30th, 2019.
-Pictured: Hannah Pearl Utt (Director)
-Photo by: Kristina Bumphrey/StarPix
-Location: Landmark 57
The Knockturnal: I read that initially, you were going to play Jackie and Jen was going to play Rachel. Why the switch?
Hannah Pearl Utt: We did talk about that for a little bit. We did a lot of musical chairs in the casting. I wasn’t going to be in the movie for a long time in one draft which was a different version of the movie. And then once Jen and I acted together and we realized our chemistry was completely aligned for our roles.
The Knockturnal: How difficult was it to direct yourself, especially since this is your feature film debut?
Hannah Pearl Utt: Challenging. There was a lot of running around. My producer Mallory Schwartz was working the whole time with a monitor…. I also had a hand-held monitor but basically after every take I would go to the producers and if they gave me a nod then we’d do another take and we’d rewatch it and we didn’t move on until I watched the scene, but yeah, it was a little bit of a juggling act. But I was working with Jen too and a lot of my experience as a director came from acting and it felt like the way to do it with the picture.
The Knockturnal: This is the third collaboration with Jen. What’s the secret of your success?
Hannah Pearl Utt: I think it is our commitment to growing together and basically creating a more effective and honest communication with each other. Also we make each other laugh in a way that nobody else can make the other person laugh. And we share the same therapist in New York and she’s really good.
The Knockturnal: Have you and Jen gone to the therapist together?
Hannah Pearl Utt: We haven’t yet. We’ve talked about it and the therapist suggested it before but we haven’t yet, no.
The Knockturnal: How do you choose your cast and crew? What’s more important, talent or getting along with the people you work with?
Hannah Pearl Utt: It starts with talent. I look at their work and then I meet them and then it’s about the chemistry and then I’m looking at their style of communicating and if it seems like they can talk their way through something the same way that I do then I know we can work together. And then if not, there are other talented people that I can work with.
The Knockturnal: Do you think of yourself now mainly as a director than as an actor? And we need more women directors.
Hannah Pearl Utt: Yes I do. And remembering that is a nice way to get over my imposter syndrome and inspires me to share my work.
The Knockturnal: Judith Light is so terrific. But when you and Jen wrote the script you probably didn’t have a mother in mind did you?
Hannah Pearl Utt: No, we didn’t. We didn’t envisage her until we met at Sundance Lab and started working with her then we couldn’t see anybody else in the part. I knew of her history in soap operas but I wanted to work with her because I just love her as an actor so much and it was kinda of like, maybe she’ll do the role, maybe she won’t, but she immediately brought so much insight to that part and taught us so much about the character and the role and actually shaping the script and part of the work that we all did together on the character.
– New York, NY – 8/22/19 – 1091 Media Presents The New York Premiere of “BEFORE YOU KNOW IT”. The film stars Judith Light, Jen Tullock, and Oona Yaffe. It is directed by Hannah Pearl Utt, and releases in theaters on August 30th, 2019.
-Pictured: Hannah Pearl Utt (Director)
-Photo by: Kristina Bumphrey/StarPix
-Location: Landmark 57
The Knockturnal: What’s your next project or are you tired of being asked that question?
Hannah Pearl Utt: I feel compelled to tell you all about it. My next project hopefully will be the script that I’m working on right now that is a rom-com that I want Jen to star in as an excellent composer who puts romance on hold in favor of achieving greatness in her career and she’s finally reached a place where she feels like it’s time to find the perfect partner and so we get to watch her apply her perfectionism to dating.
The film will be in theaters Friday, August 30th.
