On Wednesday night, Director Aaron Katz and co-stars Lola Kirke and Zoë Kravitz came together at BAMCinemaFest 2017 for the premiere of Neon’s “Gemini.”
Kirke plays Jill, an assistant to Heather, a movie star played by Kravitz who claims she is worn out with the star lifestyle. When things go terribly awry, Kirke’s character is forced to strike out on her own to find the truth behind a gruesome incident in the heart of Los Angeles. Before heading into the theater, Katz and Kirke answered some questions regarding their experience working together on the film.
Q: What kind of story were you trying to tell with your film, Gemini?
Katz: I wanted to tell a story that reflected on the city of Los Angeles and the relationships that I’ve had a chance to observe there. I wanted to explore a world inside of the city that I feel like we don’t get to see; it’s the side of celebrity that’s a little more personal and it sort of gets into some of the emotional facets of that.
Q: The film’s story does seem very intimate, were you trying to go for that kind of angle and were you trying to cast with that idea in mind?
Katz: Yeah, we cast Lola because I think she’s an incredible actor and she is just one of the most, I think, truthful actors of her generation, and that’s what she brings to any project that she’s a part of. And yeah, if it wasn’t going to be an intimate exploration of that relationship, it’s not worth doing.
Q: How was working with Lola and the rest of the cast?
Katz: It was really really great. I got pretty lucky the cast and Lola was, it was written with her in mind, and she was involved very early on and we really worked on developing that character together and she has a lot of ownership over the role.
Q: How did you take your role and mold your character into showed on screen?
Kirke: I was actually doing a lot of creative dream work at the time … but it’s a really interesting way of using your subconscious to illuminate your conscious. I don’t want to tell you about my dreams because that’s boring, it’s only interesting to the teacher that you pay to listen to them, but that was very informative for what I was going for. I think this movie is a dream, or a nightmare in a lot of way because it involves murder.
Q: How was working with Aaron and the rest of the cast?
Kirke: Oh, it was great! Zoë Kravitz, Ricki Lake, I didn’t know I’d ever put those names in the same breath, but lo and behold. Yeah, it was awesome.
