Interview with 2010 FFF Best Actress Winner Makinna Ridgway
Interview by Greg Carlson
2010 Fargo Film Festival Best Actress Winner Makinna Ridgway shared some of her time to talk about acting and her work in “Taylor’s Way,” which is showing at the festival on Wednesday, March 3 at 2:20pm on the main screen and Friday, March 5 at 3:30pm on the Off Broadway screen.
First of all, congratulations on “Taylor’s Way.” It is a haunting, thought-provoking movie and your performance is central to its success. How did you get into acting?
Thank you. The film was a lot of fun to make so I’m glad you enjoyed it. So the big question… The first time I got into acting I was in the fourth grade, and it happened by accident. Some family friends are location scouts in Portland and they scouted our house to use in a commercial. The production ended up using not only the house, but us, our neighbors, and extended family who lived down the street.
I loved watching our house turned into a buzzing set, filled with people working like crazy and then seeing the magic that happened when action was called and everything: the people, the noise, the work, fell silent for a few brief moments while the action took place – and then cut, the bustle picked up right where it left off. The energy was intoxicating and mystifying, even to a 9-year-old, and I was pretty much hooked.
Tell me about an actor who inspires you.
I had an acting teacher in high school insist I watch Kate Winslet in every film I could get my hands on and I’ve always been amazed. She gained my respect when I saw her as Ophelia, and, I’ll say it, my teenage love in her performance in “Titanic,” but when I saw her as the orange-haired, quirky Clementine in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” she could no longer do any wrong.
She is able to fully encompass each character she portrays, make me understand Shakespeare like I would my favorite childhood story, and all the while maintain this seamless ability to expose each emotion and thought she experiences to the audience.
Have you formally studied voice and movement?
I started studying theater and music in high school, and took private singing lessons. In college I pursued a BA in acting at the University of Southern California, but I probably got my most formal and in-depth voice and movement training in London at the British American Drama Academy, where I spent a year in their conservatory program.
Since graduating I’ve worked with Madeleine Dahm, who is a fantastic movement teacher, and I’ve studied at several theater companies, acting and dance studios around LA.
How did “Taylor’s Way” come into your life? What was the audition process like?
I saw the post for the role on an online casting site, and immediately submitted for it. I could not pass up a chance to go to Vancouver for work. I got called in for my first audition with the casting director, Danielle Aufiero. When I walked into the office I realized I was in an office that casts some of TV’s major shows, and the girl auditioning before me had just beaten me out for another role a few weeks earlier, so I got incredibly nervous.
However, the second I walked in the room Danielle immediately put me at ease, we did the scene once and then she gave me a few specific adjustments that really made the scene click. When I walked out of the room I felt like I had just been in a great acting class as opposed to a grueling audition.
When I went in for the callback, I was the only actor there and Rene, the director, ran the audition in the same style, doing the scene several times and each time trying something new. That’s the way I like to work so I knew we’d get along.
I think Rene and Sarah, the producer, had made up their mind to cast me before the callback, and were just using it as an excuse to make sure I wasn’t crazy (since we were going to be spending two weeks in the woods together). They offered me the role on the spot and I was in.
What kinds of physical challenges did you face shooting so much of the movie outdoors and on location?
Let’s see, we had a run-in with a mountain lion, an attack of killer mosquitoes (look closely at the swimming scene), a bear scare, and a several-mile hike into a mountain that ended with a barefoot walk through a freezing cold glacier stream. In all seriousness, the experience wasn’t nearly as physically challenging as I had anticipated.
We hiked a bit to get to certain locations, but I love to hike, and getting to do that in Vancouver and Whistler, where everything is incredibly beautiful and lush, especially compared to LA’s desert trails, felt more like an adventurous vacation than anything else.
The most challenging thing I faced was being in the car on the drive up to Brandywine, where we got some of the more scenic shots. We had to off-road in 4×4 trucks to get to the location, and we were driving on what was essentially a glorified hiking trail with a jagged cliff on one side and a straight drop on the other side.
As someone who is afraid of heights and prone to being in car accidents, I spent most of the 30 minutes uphill with my eyes closed and my headphones blaring.
The press notes for “Taylor’s Way” openly include “spoilers” alluding to the film’s enigmatic ending. Without giving anything specific away, did you talk about multiple interpretations with director Rene Brar?
There were several endings thrown around, one in particular that I was rooting for, but the one you see on screen is actually much more elusive then the one that was initially written and filmed. I defer to Rene for details, since I wouldn’t want to give anything away I wasn’t supposed to. Or maybe we can talk after the screening. . .