Exclusive: Katie Cassidy Talks The Scribbler From the Set!
Continuing our coverage of director John Suit’s feature The Scribbler (due out on September 19th via XLrator Media), here’s our interview from the set with the film’s lead, actress Katie Cassidy. Read on.
We visited the set of The Scribbler, an adaptation of the 2006 graphic novel of the same name scripted by Daniel Schaffer, back in June of 2012 while the production was shooting day eighteen of twenty at the infamous Linda Vista Community Hospital in downtown L.A.
Starring Cassidy (“Supernatural”, A Nightmare on Elm Street), Garret Dillahunt (The Last House on the Left), Michelle Trachtenberg (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), Eliza Dushku (Wrong Turn, Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), Gina Gershon (Killer Joe), Michael Imperioli (The Lovely Bones), Billy Campbell (“The Killing”), Sasha Grey (The Girlfriend Experience) and Ashlynn Yennie (The Human Centipede), The Scribbler centers on Suki (Cassidy), a young woman confronting her destructive mental illness.
Sitting down with Cassidy, who dressed as her character of Suki was sporting multiple faux facial piercings, punk-rock clothing, and heavy eye makeup, the actress opened on her character at the center of The Scribbler, on working with director Suits, and on the set itself.
“Suki has multiple personality disorder,” stated Cassidy of her character, “and when I read the script, which is amazing, I was really intrigued by it and by this character. It was definitely a challenge. I wanted to do something different, and something that I could learn a lot from, and after doing research on people who have multiple personality disorder, I actually sat down with a woman who suffers from it, and I got to sort of watch and learn and observe. There’s a lot of psychology that goes into it actually, and my therapist played a big part in helping me find out how many alters Suki actually could have and what would trigger them, create them, and bring them to life. Usually it’s a pretty traumatic experience which has happened and also generally along the lines of some sort of sexual abuse. Once a person actually splits for the first time, it becomes easier and easier for them to split off even more. So it was an intense prep period for me, and it’s been an amazing, crazy shoot, but it’s been great.”
Of the multiple personalities inherent to her role, “There are seven (in total), and four are (represented by) voices, but we actually see three personalities (on screen),” Cassidy offered.
“We see ‘Suki,’ who is so guarded and so hurt, but I think she has a big heart. She just doesn’t trust anyone, and she’s skittish. She lives in fear. We see an alter that I actually named ‘Scarlet,’ and playing her was fun because she’s a sexual creature and wild and crazy and out of control, and is the bad side of Suki. And (SPOILER ALERT) we see ‘The Scribbler.’ ‘The Scribbler’ actually doesn’t speak, and I had decided that she was probably born when Suki was a very young child. All of these alters were created to make it easier for the host to cope and to handle any sort of stressful situation.” (END SPOILER ALERT)
Commenting on her working relationship with director Suits, “I feel that I know this character so well, and I’ve made very specific choices with her, and John has allowed me to do that,” said Cassidy. “It’s obviously really important for an actor and a director to have the same vision and to be making the same movie, and I think that John and I make a pretty good team. And again, once you do the research and you feel like you know what you are doing, the rest is just a playground. It’s certainly been a lot of fun, too, coming up with different and weird ideas with him. I keep saying, ‘I love this character; I’m going to miss playing this character.’ She’s just adorable although she’s just crazy.”
As for Linda Vista assisting her to get into her character’s head space (the structure, built in 1904 and shuttered in 1989 has been the site of several paranormal investigations), “Yeah, I think environment as an actor can certainly assist on tone, and to put you in a certain mood, so absolutely shooting here has been helpful. It’s kinda creepy,” Cassidy concluded.
For more on The Scribbler, see our exclusive chats with co-stars Ashlynn Yennie and Eliza Dushku!
XLrator Media’s sci-fi action-thriller The Scribbler is set to open September 19th.
Synopsis
THE SCRIBBLER follows Suki (Katie Cassidy), a young woman confronting her destructive mental illness using “The Siamese Burn,” an experimental machine designed to eliminate multiple personalities. The closer Suki comes to being “cured,” she’s haunted by a thought… what if the last unwanted identity turns out to be her?
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