PassionPod

Episode 17 - Hollywood Dirt

• Tosca Musk, Ali Whitaker and Lauren Olsen • Episode 17

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In this episode of PassionPod, the team celebrates the 3rd anniversary of the release of Hollywood Dirt, Passionflix's first film. The hosts are joined by author Alessandra Torre and actress Emma Rigby. Alessandra discusses her initial skepticism and eventual excitement about the film adaptation of her book. Emma shares her experiences on set and how she related to her character, Summer. Highlights from the behind-the-scenes, such as the collaboration, memorable scenes, and funny moments working with the Clucky the chicken, are discussed. The episode ends with reflections on the journey of Passionflix & its continued success.

Lauren: All right. Hello ladies. How are you doing?

Tosca: Good. How are you?

Lauren:  Welcome to this new episode of PassionPod which is exciting another one. And for those who don't know i'm Lauren, The Director of Development.

Ali:  I'm Ali, I'm the Director of Marketing and PR.

Tosca: And i'm Tosca and I’m the CEO and Founder of Passionflix.

Lauren: Awesome.And how have your weeks been, ladies? What's been going on?

Ali: A lot. A lot of good stuff. Margie and Tosca and I saw maybe a first little cut of the trailer for Gabriel's Inferno Part 3. That was exciting. So that's very exciting. So we'll have an update on that soon.

Tosca: Yeah, super cool. Yeah, and I just came back. We were scouting in Atlanta and Georgia last week for all upcoming movies and trying to see how many movies we can make in the same place and how safely we can go ahead and start making these movies and and then exciting to get the ball rolling a little bit on casting Some of these quickies that we're going to be making and testing the waters, so to speak.

So it's exciting. I'm glad to be getting back to it. It's obviously my first love is filmmaking. And when we don't get to do it, it's a little heartbreaking, but hopefully everything will align and we'll be able to shoot soon. 

Lauren: Yeah, that'll be awesome. And I've I've been reading more.Which is good and working on some script notes, which is also part of my job And that's what's fun. So yeah, just trucking along getting things done doing what we can while we're getting ready to film more which is exciting back in, back working from home again and all that stuff. It's nice. 

Tosca: And we're all back home. You have this interesting thing where everyone goes to, you know, a few of us went to Atlanta for a week. And then when you come back, you actually have to isolate for a while because you don't know. And we take tests and you do all the things that you need to do, but you just want to make sure you're keeping everybody else safe.

So you isolate for a bit, I mean, but we're all figuring out. 

Lauren: Yeah, it's awesome. And I'm super excited about the PassionPod today because we have a very special anniversary edition of sorts because we are going to be having the incredible Emma Rigby, who played Summer in Hollywood Dirt and the incredible Alexandra Torre, the author, joining us today. Unfortunately, Johan couldn't be with us because he's doing a trip in Europe right now, but he sends his love. And I see Alessandra in the waiting room right now, but I don't see Emma yet. So I'll let her in and we can get started. Okay.She's joining

Tosca: She's on the phone Can you hear us, Alessandra?

Alessandra: How are you? How are you guys? We had a hurricane come through, but it was a tropical storm when it came by like four or five days ago. Now it's hit New Orleans. New Orleans always gets it, man. So they're a cursed city, but they but yeah, and it's hot as blazes here. It's a hundred and two.

Ali: Oh, great. Tosca’s favorite weather. 

Alessandra: Can't complain because you guys are dealing with wildfires and you know, your quality. And yeah.

Lauren: So it's crazy right now. 

Alessandra: It's not as bad as in LA though. Like I have business partners in San Francisco and I know it's bad for them is. Los Angeles bad. It's the air quality is bad. 

Ali: Yeah. And I went out for a quick run this morning and I, it smelled smoky. Lauren, I don't know if you've been outside yet. We live in the same neighborhood, but it was smelling pretty smoky. 

Lauren: Yeah, I played tennis this morning and it was smokey.Yesterday morning when I played there was like finally some blue sky again, but it's still pretty crazy. Not as bad as San Fran, I don't think. 

Ali: Yeah, no, nothing like that. 

Lauren: It's wild. It's so wild. 

Tosca: I'm by the beach and it's actually the sky is just a little grey over here. It's just not like no clouds, it's just not clear. Hopefully the rains will come. Yeah. 

Lauren: Rain really badly. 

Tosca: But anyway, so how have you been? It's been a while. It's been a minute since we've connected. 

Alessandra: You guys have been busy as anything. I swear. I don't know. I know how busy you were when we worked together. So I can't even imagine because that was like you're prepping for one minute. Movie, though you had others lined up, but you've gotta have just so many moving parts right now. Things are great here. I can't complain. I'm busy, but busy is good. So I'd much rather be busy than so I've got plans in three years to be on a beach and to not do anything the rest of my life.What about you guys? 

Tosca: Good. Good. Can you believe that it will have been three years since we released Hollywood Dirt? Oh, I don't believe it. 

Alessandra: It feels like a year and a half. 

Tosca: Right? It's gone so fast and yet surprisingly it wasn't that long ago in the world of filmmaking because you know, movies take a long time to be made, but the fact that we released this a year, like three years ago, and then we went to Cannes.

Alessandra: It moved so fast. I remember just even book production, like when I have a book with a publisher we finish it and it's nine months before it's released. So it's crazy to me that a movie can release quicker than that. Yeah, I was all set to wait a year and a half or two years.Yeah, you guys rock and roll. 

Ali: I can't believe it's been three years either. I had my daughter. I was pregnant when I first heard about PassionFlix, and so my daughter was born on September 19th, and then the movie came out September 20th, so I said it was the perfect maternity leave thing for me, but it's so wild that it was that long ago.

So can I ask where did you come up with the story for Hollywood dirt? 

Alessandra: That's a great question. I'm from a town, very similar to Quincy, a farming town that our main it's called Statesboro, and I'm actually from a small town outside of Statesboro, which is really tiny.

So just that environment was somewhere I always wanted to write a book. And then I think the main idea came from when I watched Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, if you've ever seen that movie. And I just loved that idea, like as a girl, as a, I was a teenager, I think I was in high school and I saw that movie.

And I loved this idea that like a movie star could come, you know, and I wanted her to end up with a movie star, you know, even though that wasn't what, where she was supposed to end up. But so I think it was that, I think it was like watching that movie and I just watched that movie on a, you know, it's just the perfect scenario.

I watched that movie on a day where I was thinking about, you know, being back home and everything came together. And so I wanted to do it, but I wanted her to end up with the movie star and not, you know, and not the grocery boy. Yeah. That's what happened. 

Lauren: I love that. I love that.You can actually see that Emma is in the waiting room now, so I'll let her in really quick. Hi, Emma! Hi! It's dark there.

Emma: Hello. How are you? Oh, yeah, everyone's great.

Ali: Emma, you haven't met Allie, have you?

Tosca: She had her baby the day before Hollywood Dirt released and then watched it during her maternity leave.

Emma: Lovely. What did you call the baby? What did you have? What did you call your baby?

Ali: Daisy. 

Emma: Oh, cute! 

Lauren: Yeah. Super cute name. Love it. 

Tosca: Three years ago. Hollywood Dirt. Yeah. So crazy. 

Lauren: And we're so glad, we're so glad you both could join us today. And Alessandra, you just talked a little bit about what your, where your idea for this book came from. And could you also talk a little bit about what your thoughts were when PassionFlix first approached you about bringing Summer and Cole's story to life on screen? 

Alessandra: Yeah, it was a weird time for me because I'd just gone through a two year process with a studio on a different book with The Girl in Six Seas, which and with, and I had such a roller coaster of emotions with that book, you know, because as an author, your dream is to have your book made into a movie like that. And it's as soon as you become an author and as soon as you start becoming successful, the most annoying question that people ask, they're like, Oh, you're an author. Are you going to have any of your books made into a movie? And I don't realize that is like a pie in the sky thing that never happens to anybody, you know, but it immediately makes you feel like a failure because.

But it's one of those things, like you always want to happen. And so I had gone through this roller coaster of emotions with a studio on a different book and had really become just disillusioned by Hollywood. And I got an email and and it said, you know, we're interested in Hollywood Dirt. Can we have a call?

And I said, sure. But I didn't, not that I didn't, I loved you guys, but I didn't believe that anything was going to happen because I was just so many, I've had so many calls with screenwriters and directors and producers over the years and they love talking big games, right? So this idea that they were going to film Hollywood Dirt and they were going to keep it true to the book and whatever.

I was like, that all sounds amazing. And I thought that is never going to happen. You know, the curtain's going to be pulled away and there's going to be, you know, there's going to be a delay or something, you know, so I said, sure, sounds great. But I didn't think it would happen. And then y'all started sending over a script and I read the script and the script sounded great.

And the script was true to the book, and I thought, this is great, isn't going to happen, right? And it was just I was getting excited, but I was, it was like, my subconscious was really fighting me because I didn't want to have my hopes and dreams dashed, you know? And and I didn't want to get really excited. And I was worried. I get my readers really excited and something not happening. So it wasn't really until then, you know, casting videos are coming and and we're talking about filming locations and I'm seeing photos and I'm like they're actually looking at, you know, filming locations, maybe this is going to happen.

Then again, I'd be like, no, it's not going to happen. You know, don't get excited. And it wasn't until, I mean, I was standing on set and listening to Emma say lines from the book. And that was really the moment where I was like, wow. This is actually happening there's no way they're doing all of this and it isn't, you know, gonna be amazing. I think I can actually get excited right now and I love that 

Lauren: I love that it didn't hit you till then. 

Alessandra: Yeah, I'm a huge pessimist, I think I've learned through this process. Yeah, so it was really exciting, and what I really loved about Passionflix, there's so many things I love about Passionflix, but one of the things is that y'all really gave me a look into the process, and that was important to me I wanted to learn, I wanted to see how a movie's made, and the moving parts, and things like that, and and I was able to do, to really see all of that happen, and have input in all of that, which is so drastically different than any other experience I've ever had with a studio before.

Ali: Yeah, I love that. And Tosca, what was it about the story that made you realize you wanted it for Passionflix?

Tosca: So I read Hollywood Dirt. I just couldn't put it down. When I first got it, I just loved it. And and it was a story of two broken people and then they find each other and they, have to learn to forgive, and then try and figure out a way of how they can move forward and trust again, because both of them have been so painfully hurt by people that they truly loved.

And so it's very high risk. And so that's what really appealed to me story wise. And then I loved the character of summer because she was. She's it's still my favorite line, Emma, when you're like you know, it's what was the, it's the how much money I have is not indicative of my worth.

If it were, I would be the lesser person on this porch. And I was like, this is the best! It's not about money, it's about truly valuing yourself and making sure that you are aiming for what's really important to you. And so I, I just really loved. That. And then of course, I got to work with Emma again, who I just worked with just before the last movie that I'd made before starting Passionflix, I'd worked with Emma on Cinderella Christmas, at that time, called Christmas Stocking.

And then I was like, hey, Emma, what's your southern accent?

Lauren: And Tosca, you definitely, you knocked it out of the park with casting the first film. But Emma, I wanted to know what drew you to the role of Summer when you first heard about it. 

Emma: It's interesting that we're revisiting, like it's the anniversary now. Yeah. And hearing Tosca say that, it's this is, What I feel like I needed reminding off and I constantly need reminding off that we as women and I think is depending on how we've grown up, we're so conditioned to not value ourselves, we always feel like we should be doing better doing more.

And it's and for me personally, it was never enough. And when I read the story in the script, I can relate to it, you know, with the Cole character and that kind of I, I feel at myself as I always feel broken and I'm a hopeless romantic and I'm desperately searching for that, you know, one person to really, when it's that type of love where nothing else matters.

And the character of Summer is just such. I don't know, a magnificent character, and there's something really charming, and I guess it's that, you know, that southern charm, but it makes you realize, it made me want to wake up and be like, you know, I can be like that, I can do that, I can be Summer. 

Ali: I love that.

Tosca: Yeah. 

Ali: And Emma, I know we just mentioned, or Tosca just mentioned, that you guys had just worked together right before this. Can you tell us what what's the difference between shooting a Passionflix film and other projects you've worked on? 

Emma: Ah I mean, just the fact that I get to work with Tosca, that's a big difference.

You know, it's so nice to be around, again, women. And I mean, for me, I love acting, so any project that I do is you know, I really enjoy the process of being on set and getting to do it because it's, you know, not often we get to fulfill our art and our passion. And then passion flicks. I just know that this was a particularly Hollywood dirt was a real moment where I had the most fun out of any project.

It really was like a really special, just a brilliant time. And it didn't feel like work because it I guess that, you know, the location being in Georgia, and Tosca, and Johann, and you know, Johann really taught, you know, taught me a lot in just in, in life as well. And I don't know, it was lovely for Alessandra to be on set, and you know, to be with an amazing novelist, and.

Yeah, so it's a lot of fun, a lot of fun. And I will say the most important part was there was an amazing restaurant that had the best dessert that I would eat every single night, which was like a French milk toy with raspberry. I don't know, I've still never had a dessert quite like it. So I pretty much had that every night.

Tosca: I am not that happy that you get to eat dessert every single night and still have a perfect body, Emma. That's really not fair. It was like the first time we worked together and you were like, will you stop losing weight? I'm like, I'm standing up.

Really? As soon as she starts shooting, she would just, she just keeps eating constantly. And I'm like, I need you to not move. She's I'm just standing. Wait, if I stand, I'm like sit, don't move. 

Lauren: I keep telling Tosca that she needs to do, we need to do like a commentary for Hollywood Dirt because every time we have it on in the office in the background or we turn it on during lunch, she's Oh yeah, that’s. I learned something new every day.

Tosca: Never a dull moment. Never a dull moment. Remember like our first day we were shooting. We actually shot all of the movies, the movie scene stuff first. So we shot, you know, when it's a movie within a movie. We shot all of that first on the soundstage, which was an old Dunkin Donuts factory in Augusta. I didn't know that either. Oh, random again. And it was freezing cold and they couldn't turn the heat on because it was too loud for the camera. It's has this giant coat that they would throw on in between and you're wearing like nothing like it was a little spaghetti straps.

Emma: And that just shows that I'm an actress, because I'm totally immune to that, because I spent all my life freezing cold, perpetually cold, from when I started when I was 14. Especially when I started in England, and we're used to the freezing cold. 

Lauren: Yeah. That was good. And I feel like you were cold a lot too, but that's just England. And that was summer. 

Tosca: Yeah, that was the summer weather. But yeah, so it was that. It was all, shooting all of that freezing, freezing cold. All of us sleeping. Like, all Patagonia's, everything up. And there's Emma in her tiny little strap. And she's that's good. And action. And then as soon as we would call cut. Whoosh. It's someone get her a blanket. Get her a blanket. I practically see the cold air coming from her mouth. 

Lauren: And Emma, you missed this part where I said that Johann couldn't join us today because he's traveling a bit but he sends his love and you mentioned a little bit of what it was like working with him, but I was wondering if you could share a little bit more about your experience with your leading man on set.

Emma: Yeah, I mean, it was really funny. I remember when Tosca and I first met Johann. And he's got such a powerful and lovely aura. I was like, after we met, I might tend to talk, I was like, Is he for real? I was like, is this real? And then as I got to know, you know, know Johan, and he taught me so much about spirituality and meditation and so I'm forever grateful.

It's so interesting how a film you know when a work project can change your life personally and lead you on a journey. So I'm so grateful for that and and obviously Johann's very handsome, which is exactly is perfect for Cole, so Yeah, it was a wonderful experience.

Tosca: So we called him Yo. Yeah. You called him Yo. I did, I called him Yo all the time. Yo! Sometimes you have to bring him down a peg. [00:20:00] Yeah. It's So fabulous. And Yoga Johan. But I loved him. He would come in with his little moccasins and and his beads.

And he's like very spiritual very meditative. What I loved the most is that, so he's Super into exercise and he would do all these exercises and like massive sprints and keeping himself super fit and all these things. And then he's Emma, you know, I'll show you this routine and maybe we can all do it.

You know, maybe you can learn something from this. I thought this was the most hilarious thing ever because they worked out like crazy. Emma kept up with him the entire time. And then the next day he was like, Oh, I'm sure Emma's going to be sore.

Ali: Emma and Tosca, and for you, Alessandra, what was your favorite scene to film and then Alessandra, what was your favorite scene? To see coming to life on screen.

Tosca: I think my favorite scene to film was the vomiting scene. So gross. It's so good. I love so many of them. But I guess that's the, not my favorite scene to film, but the favorite scene to, to really watch at the end was that vomiting sequence. I've never laughed so much.

And there's Emma in the back. 

Vomiting everywhere, all over around. That seems to be the case. And you have the odd department trying to catch all the vomit. 

Lauren: And I'm so impressed that of all of the cast and all of the crew, no one had such a bad gag reflex that just seeing someone fake gagging wouldn't automatically get them going.That's impressive. 

Alessandra: I remember walking through the kitchen, like, When they were preparing and I had to leave that morning and it was like, I was like, I can't believe I'm going to miss filming this scene. Like it was the, you know, and it was like, is there any way I could make it work where I can stay?

But I had to get my son back to school. And but I remember they were like cooking the vomit, like the fake vomit or they were preparing it. I was just like, Oh my God, this looks so nasty, you know? And she was like, Hey, do you want to taste? I'm like, I'm Nope, I'm good. You could cook to the vomit.

Emma: I loved all the, because I love films within films, so I loved all the, I loved getting to dress in period, so all those kind of scenes, you know, in the office, Oscar, they were really great. So I love those. I mean, all of it, there's just I mean, it's great to be, I love being in Tosca's films because you get to be in every scene, which is very refreshing as opposed to, you know, yeah, it's awesome.

Tosca: Yeah, that's because we're female forward. Yeah, we're female forward. We're like, alright. Women are all in movies. 

Lauren: Yeah. I love it. 

Tosca: Also I really enjoyed any any of the porch scenes where we had, as I mentioned earlier, where Summer would stand up to Cole and she was sitting, she goes, don't do that smile thing.And like all that, like all the outdoors at Summer's home, I actually really loved.

Lauren: And the Beverly, the woman who played Mama had some really good bits there too. 

Alessandra: So funny. Really good. I remember when we filmed one of those porch scenes at night and Tosca, I mean, yeah, Tosca was wearing this long sleeve white Cashmere sweater thing. I'm not sure if it was cashmere, but in my mind it was cashmere. It definitely was cashmere. So Tosca was continually like, Why am I the only one getting mosquito bites? And there were these huge South Georgia mosquitoes that were crazy. And they were attacking me as if, because all the light was reflecting off of my shirt.

She was like glowing, like she was a beacon. She was moving around, yeah. Yeah, so I just drew all the bugs away from everyone else.

Tosca: Thanks for reminding me. And we spent a lot of time in Georgia, but now I remember.

Alessandra: I liked watching, I mean, I like watching all of the scenes. It's hard for me to pick my favorite scene but I like, I thought it was just really cute, like the montage when they were like playing board games at the end and the chicken comes by and I love watching.

And that because I know that Emma wasn't crazy about the chicken. And you handle it so well, like you can't even tell on camera, you look totally comfortable with the chicken right there. 

Emma: I didn't want to hurt the chicken. I didn't Corky, I felt he was very temperamental.

Tosca: Oh, that's so funny. I'm like, okay Emma, we're gonna do this, it's gonna be okay. She's I'm terrified of chickens. I don't want those chickens. Have you never been around animals?

Emma: No, I don't live in a commune. Living in city in England.

Lauren: I love that so much.

And Alexandra, I know you were talking about. Some of your favorite scenes that you saw come to life, but did you feel like this book came to life the way you had imagined it?

Alessandra: I mean, better, I the one thing, I'm asked a lot in interviews what my casting would be for different characters.

You know, so they're like, you know, They'll be like, who, what actor would you choose to play? And I can never come up with an actor or an actress because I don't see them in my head. I just, I don't know. I just have this feeling of what they are. And I, it's hard for me to picture them or to picture an actor, an actress in that role.

So this was a really special experience for me because I could. Because I could see it come to life and I, my fear was I would be disappointed, you know, and it was completely the opposite. I was worried that I'd be just really stressed out and worried about, I don't know, or protective or something.

And it was completely the opposite. It was, it helped a lot that The movie stuck to the book so well and really, I mean, there's so much attention to detail of everything. I mean, every part, it was just amazing. Whether it was the outfits that the characters were wearing or the food and it matching with the book and, you know, in the setting and the location was perfect.

I mean, I couldn't have, I mean, imagined a better location, so there it I don't know what how I would have envisioned that book coming to life But it was better than I could have imagined if I yeah, i'm glad I wasn't in charge of directing I 

Tosca: remember when you were on set and one of the I think was one of the first times And I think we were at Summer's house as well.

And we were we were filming and you were just standing there watching. And then I turned to you and I was like, is that how, is that how you envisioned it? And you're like, Yeah.

Lauren: Tosca loves having the authors on tech because she can ask them that she can, you know, ask those questions of is it what you hoped going well.

Ali: I was gonna just go on to, you know, the film actually premiered at Cannes and Tosca and Alessandra, I know you guys went. Can you tell us a little bit about what that experience was like?

Tosca: Surreal.

Alessandra: That, that was my first trip ever outside of I mean, to go to that side of the world. I'd never been overseas. I've been to the Caribbean and Canada, you know, whatever, but I've never gone overseas. So for me, it was just such an incredible trip in so many different ways. And seeing the readers and we, it was, I just can't imagine a more perfect scenario than that.

You know sitting in that audience and seeing their reaction to the film for the first time We had a bit of a snafu with the closed captioning. So The it took longer to load or something So the readers were watching it without closed captioning which they were french, you know But it helped that they had read the book.

So because the movie follows books so You know They could keep up just fine. And so many of them spoke, I mean, you know, they do so much better with languages than us horrible Americans. So a lot of them could follow along with English as well. 

Tosca: Yeah, that, that was a little awkward.

That was like, okay, here's our English movie. And no subtitles at all. And thank God you read the book. Yeah. And It was beautiful. I mean, everything. There was a standing ovation at the end, which was really wonderful. That's awesome. And then I started crying and my mom was there. Oh, no yeah. It was just like, just such a bizarre. Anyway, yeah, so that was really great, but standing on the staircase leading up into the main Cannes theater was pretty surreal, so it was very surreal. We'll be able to do something like that again in the future. 

Alessandra: Yeah. Have y'all been back, and now things are so weird with COVID, I don't even know if, yeah.

Lauren: We haven't gone back to the Cairns New Romance Festival, but we did do, we did Rare London and Rare Rome last year, this time last year. That was fun. Yeah. And I think I met you, Alexandra, at the Holiday with the Bells, I think is what it was. Holiday with the Bells. Yeah. Which is really well done. That was really fun seeing you there. The book conventions are always great. And it's so cool that you guys got to premiere the movie there at Cairns. 

Alessandra: And the energy of the readers our first movie, we didn't, I'm trying to think if, I don't think we had readers really at the Hollywood Dirt set, not like y'all do now.

Tosca: Ee actually hadn't started the founding membership program until after and Emma got to meet a whole bunch of them on the Protector set, which was, Which was great, which was really nice, which is a great addition, yeah.

Emma: And then they actually came to see me in my play! Aww! 

Tosca: Yeah, remember? That's so cool!

Here's another special thing, you guys all know that Emma did a southern, she did a, firstly, when we did Christmas Stocking, she did like a normal American accent. I love the word. Then she did Hollywood Dirt with a southern accent, which is really great. Then she does The Protector with her sort of highbrow British accent.

If you haven't seen her in this play, where she has this Thick German accent. That's it, Emma. We are definitely making another movie And she came up with French, so I was like, okay. French. 

Emma: Language of love, right? 

Tosca: Exactly. We'll just have to deal with French accents, and we'll do something in English.

Lauren: And and Tosca, this movie still to this day is mentioned as one of your favorites you've made. Like every time we turn it on, you're like, oh, Hollywood Dirt. Can you talk about what moments from set stuck out to you the most, just that make it so memorable?

Tosca: You know, I'm not really sure if it's the, any particular moment from set, but we all lived. basically in the small town of Madison in Georgia. And it was like, we knew it was just a community. And and so the whole experience was just wonderful. And then I think that translated to the movie itself.

And of course it's our first movie for Passionflix. So I was, you know, super high stress, but at the same time, So excited that we were getting something going for Passionflix and that this was really becoming a reality and now when I watch it, I still think it's one of the best movies that i've made I think that the obviously the story is fantastic.

The acting is brilliant the chemistry both between the actors and myself. Was just really wonderful. So we all got along. And anytime that you have that going like when they all left I mean it was like They've left. This is so sad. I'm like a little heartbroken. When do I see them again?

Emma: I know, it was really emotional. I think I cried. And also I just remembered a flashback. I just remembered a moment when we were doing the very intimate scene in the kitchen when you were eating carrots. And I was like, Tosca, are you eating carrots? She's yeah.

Tosca: That was very funny. So it's because you know what's so funny is when we do You were engrossed. Yeah. It's just chewing away on a carrot. And then she's Excuse me. Is someone eating a carrot? I'm eating a carrot. Tosca, I'm not eating. You're like reprimanding me. But I was so hungry and it was like midnight or something.

Alessandra: There are two things that when I would watch a scene being filmed. And it wouldn't be quite right. Right? But I couldn't, I don't know why. It's just, it just wasn't quite right. And Tosca is, I suddenly now understand why directors are, I mean, the art of direction. Because she would immediately figure out whatever it was.

And it was, and sometimes it was just something like the way he touched her shoulder was too intimate or not intimate enough, or there was distance between them. And I just couldn't it was great because I would sit there and I go, Oh like that was just wasn't quite. And then she would immediately step forward and just decipher whatever it was.

And then she would step back and then it would be great. So I really learned a lot in terms of understanding the craft of, and how important and crucial a director is, because you can have the same lines and the same. But if you didn't have that angle or she would change like the way that the camera zoomed in and how close the camera was or how far the camera was so that was really interesting.

Emma: I think as well, like that shows Tosca's credit as a director and why I love her as a director, because whatever project Tosca is doing, she knows the material. It's almost like she lives the material. So it becomes within, you know, her subconscious, it's that attention to detail. That she always knows how to make it just right and have integrity and authenticity, you know, with each scene and each moment.

And that's what I was always like. I'm always like, oh wow, you're badass. You know. 

Alessandra: The other thing was I didn't realize how incredibly like Tosca just mentioned she was hungry and it was midnight or whatever. I mean, I was exhausted by the end of these days. I don't know how you guys do it for a month, like straight, but they would work from, you know, like eight in the morning until, you know, midnight, but then, Emma would have to go back to her hotel room and learn lines from the next day that she would then just rattle off, you know, 45 minutes of lines that she's memorized.

And I was exhausted. I was, like, people are like, Oh, you want to go to dinner? And I was thinking, No, I want to go to bed I can barely stand up right now. So I don't, I mean, you guys are marathon athletes in terms of mental and physical stamina and to keep up with. With that what has been the most like exhausting, not in a bad way, but taxing movie that y'all filmed from passion flick so far in terms of schedule, are they all about the same?

Tosca: When we shot The Protector, because we were shooting in the UK, it was very different than shooting in the U. S. And we had to take a week off in the middle because we had a another shoot that he was doing, and so it was just a very odd, very unusual schedule, and so that was probably the most high stress that I have experienced.

But the interesting thing about Hollywood Dirt so while we were making that movie, firstly, I agree, Alessandra, I find it so amazing that our actors can go home and study all the lines for the enormous amount of work that we have to do the next day and they come fully prepared. Emma's always amazing at it.

Fully prepared to do all these lines, like memorizing six, seven pages of dialogue with emotion, with feeling with purpose, and then being able to take redirection from me on the day. It's really it's serious talent to do that. So thanks Emma. But Oh, I was going to say something else about Hollywood.

Oh, the interesting thing about Hollywood dirt. So while we were doing this, so hadn't launched yet, we were only launching that September and we were shooting this in. February, March very much beginning of April, something like that. And I was still raising money for Passionflix and still trying to build the platform.

So in the mornings before work, I was talking to investors. Then I was redesigning the website and then I was like, wait, we're going to have lunch. Great. I'm just going to get on this investor call. And I would go and I'd walk around the plantation. where we were. Farmhouse. Away from the chickens.

And I'd be like pitching. Let me tell you all about it. No, we're actually on set now. How exciting. And me and the mom. I'd go to my mom. My kids were on set. And they were like, Oh, great. And I'm going to pitch some more. It was just like this rolling and then we'd finish shooting and I'd go home that night and I would continue to raise money.

And call investors and all sorts of stuff. So it was like it was exciting on so many different levels because people Coming on board and they were excited to see what we were doing both with Hollywood Dirt. But you know it and then the design of the platform, but it was a very intense the most intense, shoot that I’ve ever done because of How I had to keep so many other jobs going at the same time.

Lauren: Very good use of multitasking.

Ali: Okay, we have a few members from our, sorry, a few questions from our founding members. I know we covered some of them let me just peek here. So Emma, Danielle asked, or she said, your southern accent was amazing. Was it challenging to get that right? 

Emma: Oh, I love doing accents. That's just what I love to do, but and it's great that like Tosca's really, her attention, you know, she would always let me know, like if something didn't sound right, which is really important because you know, you can't hear yourself, and it's just odd words.

I, but definitely you do have to be able to have an ear for, I think it's like singing. I think you know, I have an ear for accents because I know a lot of my friends that are actors, they just can't do any accent other than the, you know, their own accent. And it's just one of those things.

Yeah. I wonder what more accents I'm going to have to do. When anyone asks me, they're always so curious that though everyone tells me in real life, when they ask me, they're always like, Where are you from? And I'm like, I'm English. And no, you're not because my accent is so you know it's got so many different elements.

I never do my, I never speak in my own voice. So I'm like, I don't know what my own voice is.

Ali: That's so funny. And Laura asked Emma, do you ever find yourself being inspired by Summer's sass and straight talking attitude in real life after playing her? I love how her character isn't starstruck and treats Cole just like anyone else. 

Emma: I could do with some of, not the last part of that question because I definitely, I just have a person that I think, you know, I always treat, you know, everybody is, I believe that each moment with any person is like a real form of connection and I, See, you know want to be in that moment with whoever it is But in terms of I definitely could do with summer sass right now, especially in this time of my life I need some more summer sass.

I was just thinking I You know, everyone always says to me oh you're nice and it's I think actually it Does have a, sometimes it can be detrimental to you, you know, because people make mistake kindness for weakness. And so I need to get some tap back. Yeah, some more sass. Yeah, just because you're kind, it doesn't mean you're weak.

Lauren: Yeah, I like that. You can still be kind and tough.

Emma: Sorry, opens the door in my face. I'm like, oh, sorry. Why am I apologizing? 

Lauren: That's what we do. I, I apologize. Way too much. Yeah. It's ridiculous. . And oh, and we do have another founding member who asked. And I know we briefly touched upon this, but maybe we can talk about it a little more.

They asked, Tosca and Emma, was it fun working with a chicken? 

Emma: No chickens were harmed in the making. 

Alessandra: How often would the chicken, I now have six chickens, so I am much more familiar than I was. How often did the, would the chicken go to the bathroom? 

Tosca: Or on something important. I don't know that at all because it would just but the funny thing about this chicken is that, so we were we had a selection of chickens to choose from, but of course this is where it's handy to work with an author because I was like.

Alessandra, which one of you was the most cocky? I got to pick which one was cocky, yeah. It would be in casting, yeah. That was so cute. The biggest casting decision. I was like, oh my god, what does cocky look like? Oh, and speaking of, it's that first scene. This is something, I don't know if it is in the behind the scenes, but when we were shooting the scene where Summer actually brings Cocky to Cole's house, and she's I brought you a housewarming gift, and she brings them, then she comes in there, and then, this is actually a little thing that we cut out of the the movie but basically, Cole sits there and goes, as God is my witness, I've said something along the lines of, as God is my witness, if she doesn't stop doing these things, I'm gonna kill her and, Right after he does that, all of the lights turn off in the house.

We literally turned off and we were like, No, not keeping that line in the movie. Not in the movie. That was too close to a real threat. I don't know, I think that might be a thing, 

but we'll have a look, we're definitely releasing that clip, but it was so funny, and of course that whole scene with the bringing of the chicken, because it was such a weird day, it was one of those days where it was raining popcorn.

And then not raining the other half of the day. While we were shooting in this direction, it was all rain. And then we shot in this direction, it was no rain. And then we had to turn around and then quickly come this way because there was no rain. And we had a So we just shot that scene in so many different angles and so many times to try and make it work because of the rain and the chicken.

Lauren: I love that. Oh those are all the questions we had. And it was so wonderful to have you ladies here for our anniversary podcast and to get to see your faces and chat with you again. And I feel like our fans are going to super appreciate everything we got to talk about during this. So super exciting.

So thank you. 

Alessandra: Thank you guys for having us!

Tosca: Good to see you. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. 

Lauren: Bye. Oh, I love them so much. That was fun. 

Tosca: So great. 

Lauren: I haven't seen Alessandra since I guess I would have seen her at Bell's. As well, but and then Emma, I guess we saw last, no, I didn't even see her last year. When we went to the, oh, The Protector, oh, you know what?

I did see her last year. She couldn't come to The Protector premiere because it was on the day that she was on her, during her play, so she wasn't able to do it. But then I came, I went to go and see her play the next day. And and then we all, we had dinner, late night dinner. 

Ali: Whiskey's making an appearance.Hi, Whiskey!

Lauren: I had a plumber arrive during this and I was like texting my building manager. I'm like, can you open the door? I'm on a Zoom. And then, so I kept muting myself because they're in the bathroom right next to me. But yeah, what's going on?

Tosca: I'm actually quite surprised that my kids didn't come in, which would have been great because of course Emma's met them both on Hollywood Courage and on The Protector.

And it was actually really fun because, as I mentioned Emma and I chat on Instagram quite often, and so she was doing some other thing, and I was like, wow, that's another great accent that you can do, and she's we should definitely do another movie. We're like a winning team.

I'm like, I'll do anything with you, and she goes, yes, number four is the good luck. I was like, we just need another accent. 

Lauren: Another accent. Now that you know she can do so many, I mean, why not? Awesome. I love it. I do. Bye. Bye. Bye. Lovely getting together for this anniversary podcast, and we'll have more soon.

If you have any random questions for us, feel free to email us, or you can put them in the comments of this video below. And hope you're all staying happy and healthy, and we'll see you next time. 

Tosca: One thing that I'd love to say. It is our anniversary for the first release of Passionflix and it just means the world to me that everyone is still watching, that more people come on to Passionflix and continue watching.

They go all the way back and they watch Hollywood Dirt and I just can't believe that we're here. An anniversary. First film, the third anniversary and I can't wait for it to be the fourth and the fifth and the tenth and the twentieth and I think this will always still be one of my favorite films and you know, it's my baby for Passionflix and I just thank everybody so much for watching and being with us on this journey.

I love it. Alright, love you ladies. Bye.