‘Offseason’ Star Jocelin Donahue Would Love To Play A Villain
Mary Beth McAndrews
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Mickey Keating’s latest film Offseason tackles grief and horrific family secrets through a thick veil of fog and a group of strange locals. Contemporary horror queen Joceline Donahue is the film’s star, playing Marie, a woman who visits her mother’s hometown after her grave is desecrated. But once she arrives in this small coastal town with her partner (Joe Swanberg), she realizes that perhaps she’s just a tiny cog in a massive cosmic machine.
We spoke with Donahue over the phone about starring in Offseason, getting her horror start with The House Of The Devil, her horror education, and wanting to play more villains.
Dread Central: So, first off, what drew you to Offseason?
Jocelin Donahue: I had been a fan of Mickey’s work. Each of his films has a really distinct feel and he always gets really great performances. So when he sent me the script and we sat down and talked about his vision for [the film]. I would say the initial thing that drew me to [Offseason] was the sense of place and this weird mythology that he had concocted. Then learning that he had grown up near there brought such a strong sense of setting. That was really intriguing.
What was it like filming? What was it like being in that small Florida touristy town?
JD: You can’t recreate that somewhere else. So it really was an immersive environment. The town of New Smyrna where we shot was just like what you see in Offseason. That little main street was built in the 1940s and really had this feeling of being stuck in time. Then shooting in this kind of tropical but goth feeling setting, it was just very evocative. But, you know, it wasn’t totally dead and isolated. It ended up looking deserted, but there were [tourists] outside of the frame. The place itself was really interesting and really took the characters there.
So you’ve been in quite a few horror movies. You’re a pretty big figure in the contemporary indie horror scene. And so I’m just curious what keeps drawing you to being in these genre films?
JD: Well, I mean, I keep getting hired for them [laughs]. But it does feel like a nice comfortable home. From the community of horror filmmakers and of course the community of fans, I’m just so grateful for the support that I’ve gotten through the years. Part of this business is that one thing leads to the next. And I have such a love and appreciation of what we can do in the genre. So it’s always really fun as an actor to get to play with these kinds of high-stakes scenarios. Anything can be horror. So there’s always a lot of emotion. There’s just so much that’s wrapped up in the genre. So it’s always something fun to play.
Yeah, for sure. And I know you’ve acted in several different genres of film. Is horror someplace you’d want to stay?
JD: Of course, yes. It’s just great to get to do interesting work. And I would say that a lot of horror filmmakers, especially the ones I’ve worked with, have such a real passion for storytelling and cinema. I think it’s one of the most interesting places in filmmaking today.
In Offseason, creating your character, Marie, were there any kind of movies or previous characters that you drew from for inspiration?
JD: The prep work is kind of like this stew where you’re pulling together things, references and touch points, whether it was visual elements or tone or mood that Mickey had mentioned or things I thought about just in terms of what Maria is going through as a character. [Mickey] brought up in our first meeting a couple of Southern Gothic stories, such as William Faulkner’s story “A Rose for Emily”. In that story, there’s a lot about the power of death and overbearing parent. He also talked about “The Summer People”, the Shirley Jackson story. I thought about those characters and then just in general about the horror of learning a family secret after someone has passed away. And Offseason is a doozy, so…
Just a little bit [laughs]. You got your big horror start with The House Of The Devil in 2009. Did you ever really think it would take off the way it did?
JD: No. No. When you’re making, when you’re making a tiny little indie film in the backwoods of Connecticut, you don’t know what it will lead to. But the love that came from that film means so much to me. It led to so much more for my career. So I’ll forever be grateful to Ti West for that. And it was such a cool artistic experience and then for it to catch on like that. And I think it really has to do with how much Ti loved the genre and had so much nostalgia and wanted to recreate something that really felt like the era. For people of our age and our generation, it was fun to revisit that. And he was one of the early [directors] to do that. So, yeah, I’m just really, really lucky for that experience.
You’ve worked with Ti West, but you’ve also worked with Mike Flanagan and James Wan. So like we talked about indie horror, but you’ve also worked in some pretty big franchises with some pretty big names. And so that’s gotta be really cool, too, right, to get to work with those people and get that experience to be on their films.
JD: Yes, exactly. You know, every work experience is different and you try to learn from each one and bring what you learn to the next one. The budget doesn’t necessarily matter. You can learn just as much on an indie film. Then, you feel a little more prepared when you step onto a bigger set or a bigger budget project.
Oh, for sure. And so I’m curious: are you a big horror person? When you’re not working, do you like watching horror movies? Are they a thing that you gravitate towards or enjoy?
JD: Now? I do. Now that I’ve been doing this for so long, it’s something that I love and appreciate and want to know about. So I’m always trying to keep up with what contemporary filmmakers are doing. Through my preparation for all these roles, I’ve had a great education. I’m still learning what I like in the genre!
What do you like in the genre now? It sounds like you didn’t really grow up liking it, which is totally valid. What do you find you like in the genre now?
JD: Well, you know, I did like certain things growing up, but I was always very squeamish. I still kinda am. But growing up, I loved The Gremlins, which is more like cuddly horror. These days I like a psychological thriller. I have a thing for minimalist sci-fi stuff. Like I love Alex Garland’s work. I love A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. There are so many great, great, great films that just happen to be horror. I also just recently watched Archive 81, which I thought was excellent. So, so good. And like really, really scary too. Like almost unbearably scary.
If you were going to be in a reboot of a classic horror movie, who would you want to play?
JD: Honestly I would like to play more villains.
Oh my God. That’d be so cool.
JD: I like world-building, I like witchy stuff. Um, so I would love to be some kind of coven. Maybe The Witches? I also loved Poltergeist growing up, so if I could be the mom in a reboot, that would be great.
Offseason comes to theaters and VOD on March 11.
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