Rene Perras | 00:05
Hello and welcome everyone, i’m Rene Perras, legal news reporter at Coffee with Q. Usually we host our subject matter Masterclass show with a legal professional but today we’ll be switching things around and airing an edition of the Elite Acting Professional. I’m here in Montreal, Canada, with my good friend, Dawn Ford, actor and voice performer, stand-up comic and star of the critically acclaimed movie, Bury the Devil, which made its world premiere at the Fright Fest last month in Glasgow, Scotland. Dare I say that Dawn is a late bloomer, but she’s always impressed me with her laissez-faire attitude while having a focus on her craft and creativity that has always impressed the hell out of me, no pun intended. Dawn’s persistence has again put her in the spotlight with the TV series Plan B, which is up for three Canadian Screen Awards. Hello, Dawn, welcome and great to have you on Coffee with Q.
Dawn Ford | 01:03
Thank you for having me. So great to be here.
Rene Perras | 01:06
Well it’s great to have you. So we’ve known each other for a long time. I’ve been to many of your shows as a stand-up artist, but I’m really excited for you in this breakthrough, breakthrough for Bury the Devil. Can you tell us about the work and this horror fright fest or fright flick.
Dawn Ford | 01:24
Fright flick, definitely frightening. It’s a directed by Adam O’Brien, the wonderful Adam O’Brien, and produced by Philippe Calin-Radiou, and Benoit Beaulieu, who was the cameraman who did an extraordinary job. Everybody, you know, it takes a village, right, to make something really happen, and it was just a beautiful connection, a beautiful community of people that came together. The actors, the crew, everybody, we all work together really really well.
Rene Perras | 02:00
Amazing. There’s been a lot of discussion about the movie being shot in a one-take. What were the biggest challenges of filming Bury the Devil as a one-shot production?
Dawn Ford | 02:15
Um, I think the biggest challenge was well, the rehearsal process was very helpful, very positive. We had to rehearse time after time after time after time to make sure that when we were actually shooting it was a flawless, from beginning to end, there were no glitches, no hiccups. So I think that’s the biggest challenge of all was making sure everybody, you know, everybody was in their place, and we all, and that took a lot of rehearsal, not only for the acting, but for the sound, for the camera the camera work, the lighting, everything had to be just so from beginning to end. So that kind of planning, it’s it’s astounding, the plan, the planning that goes in that, and, I mean, Adam at the helm as a director, he just had such a clear vision of what he wanted to do, and it was easy to follow him because of his leadership, you know, as a director. I just trusted him. We all did, I think.
Rene Perras | 03:24
There was something like two years of preparation. Getting all the camera angles figured out beforehand. That’s crazy.
Dawn Ford | 03:34
I know, I know, and it was all shot in a house, one house, one location. Just this huge house on Lac Saint-Clair in Quebec near Le Chute, and a beautiful home. That I guess that helped a lot that we were in one location to be able to do that one take as well. Then we went from room to room to room to room to basement, and back up again. So that that a really helped a lot doing the one take, and that’s where a lot of the rehearsal process happened before we actually started shooting. Over two years they were there in the house working it all through.
Rene Perras | 04:19
I haven’t seen the movie. I saw the trailer. You scared the hell out of me.
Dawn Ford | 04:24
I’m sorry. I mean, I’m glad. I did my job.
Rene Perras | 04:27
How did you prepare for the role?
Dawn Ford | 04:31
How did I prepare? Well, you know, preparation as you said, I’m a late bloomer, but I’ve actually been acting my whole life. It’s just come to this point where I’m a character actor, so I play smaller roles quite a bit of the time in films or TV series. It was just timing that this film came along and that I was able to fit the part and timing, you know, just real perfect timing, and I guess my preparation is my whole, my whole career led me up to that point, you know, where that I’ve had the experience because it’s a lot to carry a movie and that’s what they say about lead roles is you carry the movie, and not that I’m strong, but I’ve worked it and worked it and worked it for so many years, and that entails, you know vocal work, movement, physical training, mental training. I have a very strict buddhist practice so that I stay very centered when I’m, when I’m working. It helps me to start my shoot day and at the end of the day. So there’s so many things that go into being an actor that a lot of people don’t know, just like I don’t know what goes into being a lawyer. You know, it’s the same. It’s the same kind of deal.
Rene Perras | 06:02
What were the advantages of hiring an actor like you?
Dawn Ford | 06:06
I think you’d have to ask the producer and the director, but I think just all that experience probably, and the fact that I’m a bit cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.
Rene Perras | 06:21
You are a little zany.
Dawn Ford | 06:23
And horror movies demand to be a little daring, shall I say, you know, to play those, those parts.
Rene Perras | 06:31
I have an image of you on roller skates.
Dawn Ford | 06:35
Oh yes, I have done that too. Yeah.
Rene Perras | 06:38
Is this what you thought it would be like to star in your first feature role?
Dawn Ford | 06:44
Well, I guess, I don’t know, that’s a really good question, If that’s what I thought it would be like? I had no idea that the film would be as successful as it is so far, and it’s just just launching so who knows where it’s going to go, but we’ve had such great reviews. I’m so happy for the team, for everyone. So that’s kind of a delight, you know, like an unexpected delight. We always hope that there’ll be great success with the work we do, but we never know, there’s so many variables. Pictures get buried for well, not the devil, but pictures get sunk for different reasons. You know, we never know what’s going to happen. So, I guess um, i guess there’s a lot of hard work and good luck that has supported the film. Yeah.
Rene Perras | 07:44
So, what’s next on the horizon for you? On the, maybe you can tell us a little bit about Plan B.
Dawn Ford | 07:47
Plan B. Yeah, the series Plan B that, it’s a wonderful series. That is on CBC Gem, a Canadian network. It was first shot in French, five seasons, each season is a different storyline, different cast, and so it’s like its own little segment within itself. And the season that I shot, it’s a pretty heavy duty season actually. And what happens with all the seasons is the main character goes through a traumatic experience in the beginning and they wish they could do their life over and somehow they randomly get in touch with this phone number from someone and they call the number and they say, would you like to go back, what time would you like to go back? And you say, two weeks ago, or two years ago and you’re picked up in a van, thrown into a van and taken back to that time so you can restart your story. But we don’t know if that’s actually going to be better or worse, sometimes going back in time…
Rene Perras | 09:04
Interesting.
Dawn Ford | 09:06
It’s a powerful show.
Rene Perras | 09:07
and how about any new movies or?
Dawn Ford | 09:10
Yeah, I have a new movie coming out too this year called Walter, Earth Day Adventure, which is a very special film. I’m so lucky to work with all these wonderful people on films that actually make a difference. It’s an environmental drama comedy and I have another animated feature that won’t be out till next year, probably, because it takes a long time to animate. We just recorded all the voices in Quebec City, in February.
Rene Perras | 09:46
Well, Dawn, thanks for coming on the show today. Thanks for sharing your time and valuable experience about the wonderful world of horror. Maybe we’ll do it again.
Dawn Ford | 09:58
Thank you for having me, Thank you, Maybe we’ll do it again.