We love the Overlook. It’s sad people had to die there to make this movie.
Meet ELIZABETH
Synopsis: The Overlook Hotel and Suites is up for sale due to the fact that the hotel secretaries keep dying mysteriously. The staff tries to cover up the most recent death while attempting to make a sale. Highjinks and misunderstanding abound in this mysterious dark comedy.
Actress Molly O’ Connell who plays “Elizabeth” agreed to answer our provocative questions!
Laugh Track: How much time and energy did you spend making the movie?
Molly: ALL of my time and energy went into Creating Elizabeth. I really went all out with this one. We filmed for 5 days total ? (I think) And edited for a couple of weeks. Thanks to an amazing crew of willing and able helpers/lovers of movie making, this film was made possible. But mostly I thanks to Mark- the Director, for writing the script and showing up to direct my every move, and Kacey the Creative Developer/jack of most trades who is very tall and extremely useful both creatively and actually.
Do you think it was worth all that time/energy?
Apparently Yes, because you accepted it into your festival. (But I would say so anyway, this is just a bonus!)
No, honestly. Was it?
Yes. I laughed the entire time, and di I would do it all over again. I loved every minute with this damn crew. We shot and edited a very limited amount of time, and worked with some very patient actors.
What’s the funniest thing that happened on set? And by funniest we mean the most horrible thing.
The most horrible thing that happened was that the Producer/Cinematographer/Production Designer gave up trying to find and actress to play Elizabeth, and decided it would be easier to just act herself.
The funniest thing was (I think we would all agree) when we painted Brain’s (the corpse stand in) finger nails so he could play the “corpse”/and then fell asleep while we wheeled him back and forth on the luggage cart take after take.
Convince us why your film should win our top award. Best answer wins the award (joking…or are we?)
For a student film on a student budget, from a school that doesn’t really encourage the making of fiction films as a means for making a living, I think we did a pretty good job. Granted we don’t’ make our livings from these films(yet), but at least I have found a use for all those costumes I’ve saved up over the years- and I’ve found a way to put my sewing skills to good use. I had a good time illustrating this hilarious tale with bells and whistles. I think you should create an award for best costume made in the shortest amount of time- which isn’t a funny award but probably hasn’t been created yet.
But really, story matters here, which is why when creating this short film, Mark and I were inspired by our favorite episode of Mad Men. It’s one of the few funny Mad Men episodes that exists. So good job Mark for writing the story. Good job Molly for making it happen and good job Kacey for helping it all make sense. And thanks to Ms. Blankenship for the inspiration.
As for the non funny parts of the film- if you can find them, at least you can ask yourself, did someone make that bell boy costume? Is that the Brown Palace Hotel? I wonder if there is a blooper reel? Is that a real fur coat? Who cares. This girl cares. Maybe that’s a funny answer. Probably not. I haven’t seen what were up against, so perhaps I will be very embarrassed later-
See this film at @ – Click here to buy tickets.
Tags: bug theatre, elizabeth, short film, thursday films