|
Fan Forum Legend
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 848,071
|
Quote:
Bellisario isn’t just pursuing a career in front of the screen. She wants to do it all — act, write, produce and even, one day, direct. She recently financed her first feature screenplay, a project seven years in the making. The indie film, titled “Feed,” stars Bellisario and “Harry Potter” alum Tom Felton as 18-year-old twins Olivia and Matthew Grey, who were “born into a world of privilege and high expectations.”
“I’m nervous,” Bellisario said. “I want to make so many other movies. For the rest of my life, I want to continue to write and act in and maybe one day direct. But I want to continue to create in this medium. It’s a really nerve-wracking thing to step out with your first feature because if it doesn’t go over well, you have the task of picking yourself up and saying, ’Am I going to continue, even if this wasn’t as successful as I hoped it would be?'”
“And then if it does go well, then it’s like, now I have to figure out how to keep doing this thing.”
For Bellisario, bringing “Feed” to life was an “insane struggle.” Given her limited amount of time between shooting “PLL,” Bellisario fought to get her film financed. Though, she often found herself not being taken seriously by studios and financiers. “Because I’m a name in television, studios or financiers don’t trust you with a feature,” she said. “I’m not a proven feature actor, nor am I a proven feature writer. This is my first script. It’s my first leading role in a feature film.”
So, after years of telling herself, “If I don’t make ’Feed’ next year, I’m never going to make it,” Bellisario had finally accepted that she was never going to make her first feature. That is, until a friend stepped in to give her a much-needed boost of confidence.
“I just really fully accepted that I was never going to make this movie. I was like, ’Maybe, if I want to, when I’m like 40, I’ll direct it.’ I completely gave up on making this film. But it took my best friend and collaborator, and trusted director of 10 years [Tommy Bertelsen]. took it from me. He said, ’As long as you show up to these meetings, and you support me in what I’m saying, we’re going to do this.’ He didn’t really give me an option. I was completely blown away that he took my dream, when I had completely given up on it, and made it his dream and then we made it our dream — and them we made it a reality.”
“I hope, now, when I have my next feature, if ’Feed’ does well, then studios have a little bit more faith in me and people will want to come onboard,” she added. “So things will be easier for me there.”
|
X
__________________
ღ The power of three will set you free
|
