Geekscape Interviews: Dichen Lachman on “Lust for Love”
We’ve all been missing our Whedonites—you know, the familiar faces we see in all of Whedon’s films/tv shows/home movies turned massive cult favorite (we’re looking at you, Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog)—and here to save the collective geekscape (see what we did there?) from the terrible pangs of withdrawal is Lust of Love, a charming romantic comedy starring Whedon alums Dichen Lachman (Dollhouse, Being Human, Last Resort), Fran Kranz (Dollhouse, The Cabin in the Woods, Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing), Enver Gjokaj (Dollhouse, The Avengers) and Miracle Laurie (Dollhouse, Any Day Now). Even Felicia Day (The Guild, Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, Dollhouse) and Maurissa Tancharoen (Dollhouse, Dr Horrible’s Sing Along Blog) make an appearance.
Written and directed by Anton King, Lust for Love follows loveable-but-socially awkward Astor (Fran Kranz), who seeks the assistance of Cali (Dichen Lachman) when Mila (Beau Garrett) the love of his live—and Cali’s best friend—breaks up with him.
We had chance to interview Dichen Lachman on her multi-faceted role on the film: she both starred in the film and, as Producer, was instrumental in getting the movie made, including running a successful Kickstarter campaign for the initial production costs.
Q: What was about this project that interested you? What drew you to this movie?
A: I just thought it was fun. It was something we could achieve with alternative funding options. It’s rare to come across material that’s sweet and charming in this budget range—it’s normally horror films that are produced at this level—and this was just a really charming film.
Q: It’s been mentioned a few times that this seems to be a Whedonite reunion. How did that come about?
A: Well, I was new to LA when I started shooting Dollhouse, and so I made a lot of really strong, lasting, meaningful friendships. When Anton [King] said ‘Let’s do this,’ the show [Dollhouse] had been over for about a year and a half, and I thought, ‘what a wonderful opportunity to work with all these people again.’
Q: Besides acting in Lust for Love, you were also a Producer. What was that like?
A: I just learned so much, you know, even though the film is released I’m still learning. I have so much more respect for those pro-Producers, because they’re like magic, they just know. Know the right people to work with, casting, how to manage all the personalities on a set. I was learning as I went. And it was amazing, such an experience.
It was a lot of work—there’s just so much. Like rights clearance, getting music cleared. It’s really expensive. And editing—what you see on the screen is very different from what was on the page at the beginning and after watching the same sequence, you know, 100 times, it’s very hard to see the right thing to do. So I discovered how important it was to make sure to get the right voices in the room with us.
And even after the film is released, there’s so much with marketing and trying to get the film out to everyone.
When we first started talking about making the movie, I told Anton, ‘I don’t know the first thing about producing!’ and he said ‘who else is going to give you the opportunity to be a romantic lead?” And I sort of took a moment and then agreed. And it was just such a great project, we really just all fell in love with the script.
Q: That brings up a great point. The movie is very diverse and has a lot of strong female characters. Was that something that drew you to the project?
A: Well, Anton wrote some very interesting female characters, very off-beat. And really the film is very light, very charming. I didn’t really think it was doing ground-breaking work, but then I went to this screening, and this Japanese-American girl came up to me and told me that this movie had inspired her. And that meant a lot.
I mean, it does portray an Asian woman as a lead romantic character, and the opposing romantic lead [Karim Saleh as Franck] is Lebanese. But the movie never even brings up those things, they’re just people. It’s just who they are.
Q: Kickstarter has been successful for a number of smaller films seeking production funding. What was like running a Kickstarter campaign? Was it something you would use again?
A: Well, we used Kickstarter for our shooting costs, and we did have to supplement with more traditional fundraising methods. I’d never done a Kickstarter campaign before, and it was remarkable—things like Kickstarter are definitely going to change the way films like this are financed…it was just an amazing experience. It is something I would use again, with the right project.
It was a little difficult, because we had this pressure, knowing that there were fans out there that come out and supported this movie. And the development cycle is so long—three years from script to screen–so it was sometimes a problem keeping people updated with what we were doing and were we are. A lot of the time that only status was ‘still working!’ And sometimes people would be annoyed that we didn’t have any more to say. So I spent a lot of time, you know, answering emails personally and letting people know what we were doing.
Q: So, any other projects coming up?
A: At the moment it’s really just getting this movie released and getting the word out…getting people to watch any way they can. We’ve got it streaming, and on DVD–there’s a lot of options!
Watch the trailer for Lust For Love:
Lust for Love is available on iTunes, Amazone Instant Video, Vudu HD Movies, Xbox, YouTube, PS4. You can also pick up the DVD from the Lust for Love website.
