Movies

Natalia Leite on “Bare” and working with Dianna Agron

Writer/director Natalia Leite may be getting a lot of attention now for her debut feature film Bare, starring Dianna Agron and Paz De la Huerta, but we’ve been fans of Natalia’s work for some time. Along with her Purple Milk co-producer Alexandra Roxo, Natalia starred in the charming and funny web series, Be Here Now-ish. We got a chance to talk to Natalia right after Bare premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City to sold out crowds.

AfterEllen: So I am very infatuated with this movie. I say infatuated because it’s the best fit. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and replaying certain scenes in my mind. The rush of colors, the music-it gives me butterflies. How did the idea for the film even come about?

Natalia Leite: Well, it was the first feature screenplay that I ever wrote. It’s a story that I’ve been wanting to tell for a while. It’s not an autobiographical story, but it’s very much inspired by a moment in my life when I was figuring out what kind of path I wanted to carve out for my life and the relationship I had with another woman. Realizing that I could reinvent myself and that I could be the creator my reality, and how empowering that was. Sort of learning through that relationship gave me a lot of strength at times and brought me to where I am today. I think also the process of making the film gave me reassurance of that, like you can do this. You can break out of whatever sort of mold or path that other people have may have set out for you.

AE: It’s incredibly hard to get a film made, especially ones with queer leading characters, which is why so many filmmakers are turning to crowdsourcing. How were you able to make Bare?

NL: I had done crowdsourcing for a web show that I was in and I put together called Be Here Now-ish, which was a very successful crowdfunding experience, but it’s so much work actually for not a lot of money. For this film, Alexandra (Roxo) and I had actually met two investors of the film through Be Here Now-ish, and sort of established a relationship with these investors and came back to them with Bare, and they loved the film and put money into it. And then one person introduces you to the next person, so we raised the money from a few investors and it’s a small indie film. The pieces just started falling together and we figured out how to make it happen.

AE: So you did it the old fashioned way.

NL: Yeah the old fashioned way, and it worked!

AE: That gives me such great hope.

NL: You know I think a lot of it is trust, too. These people who put money into this feature, who invested in it, it had been a year of hanging out with them and talking to them about our project and building a friendship. They really trusted that this would be worthwhile and they had seen us hustle on other projects. That’s really important. Then it’s great because it’s this family of people who support your work it just keeps growing. That’s the ideal scenario, right?

AE: You have recently been at Tribeca where the film picked up some really excellent praise. People are really excited about the movie, and want to know when they can see it. Is there any news on that front yet?

NL: Well we can’t say anything yet, but we are working on it. We are working on making sure it gets out to the audience so that everyone around the world can see it. It’s incredible, I think also though Glee, which was such a huge worldwide success, there’s people from all over different countries-like I tweeted the other day “We’re going to get it to your country” and that got retweeted and I got so many responses. “Bring it to the Philippines!” “Bring it to Mexico!” It’s just so great to see the response from different countries and different cultural backgrounds of people who are excited to see it. So yeah, we’ll have something out there, soon I hope.

AE: The casting in Bare is so specific that I don’t think it would be the same film without that cast. I was especially impressed with Dianna Agron, who just owns this film with such quiet grace. You just get so drawn into her, like what is she thinking? When you were casting this movie, did you already have her in mind, or was it just the luck of auditions?

NL: I knew about her work. I had watched Glee but I wasn’t a huge fan or anything like that. It was more like, I was following her career path and seeing the choices she was making. I had been talking to her manager actually at some point, seeing that she was sort of ready to take some bigger risks in her career and make some bolder statements in the roles that she was choosing. We ended up meeting up and having lunch one day. I had sent (Dianna) the script and she read it and had the most amazing feedback, and really smart. She was like, “I don’t know if you need this scene”-she’s a director too, so she was just really involved and had a lot of great things to add. It’s a hard role to play in a way because her character, the character of Sarah is a little bit passive and she’s sort of taking it all in.

I act too, so I understand if you have a role that’s more vocal or that’s more active and out there, it’s easier to get across. But if you’re internalizing everything, you have to be so subtle with it and Dianna pulled it off. She’s so talented and made that all work. That also goes to the conversations that we had and the trust that we had built with each other. She was sort of letting me guide her through that story and that journey.

AE: As a queer filmmaker, was it important to you to make a film with queer characters? I mean, I think that it deals with universal themes of self discovery and everything, but this story-this story feels fresh, like it’s never been told, and I don’t think it would have the same impact is say, Pepper (Paz del le Huerta) was a man.

NL: That’s true. I mean, I write stories-the next story I’m writing has a male protagonist. I’m not a filmmaker who always wants to tell a story about queer relationships. It really depends on what the story needs, but for this one I felt that it was very important for it to be about a queer relationship because she’s living in a small town, and this world has sort of been established for her, and this path has been cut out for her already. The fact that she falls for another woman, it means something totally different than if it was a man. It was important in that sense. Like it’s definitely not a coming out story. We don’t know where Sarah’s going to go next, and if she winds up wanting to date women or men. We’re not sure, but it’s not important for that. In that moment in time, it was a woman because the Pepper character is so different from that anything that Sarah has ever experienced.

AE: Who are some filmmakers that you admire or inspire you?

NL: There’s a lot. I mean, I love Andrea Arnold, who did Fish Tank. I think she has such an interesting style and such a great sensibility. I love Jane Campion. I get inspired by a lot of female filmmakers. I love David Lynch, I still get very influenced by his work, with the visual and the dual elements. I was thinking like the strip club (in Bare) was this space that doesn’t really exist in real life, so it could be a little psychedelic and surreal.

AE: You have done shorts and web series, but this film was your debut feature, and a hell of a debut it was. What advice would you give to aspiring filmmakers who want to create amazing art?

NL: I think the key is to always be true to yourself and your vision. I did a panel recently and someone was like, “how do you make a successful web show?” and well, if you start off with “How do I make a successful film?” you are already starting off on the wrong foot. Because then you are already limiting yourself with some sort of guideline that someone else has established. Like, this is what makes money or this is what people want to see. I’m a really big believer in just being an artist. You have to understand the business side of things, that’s a separate conversation, but be true to what your vision is and what you are. All art is about self discovery in a way. So for me, it was like, I don’t know if this is a commercially story but I want to tell it and just trust in that and trust that other people needed to hear this story. As the work gets bigger and more people watch it, there’s more pressure to do it like this, or that way or do it another person’s way. I’m constantly wanting to check back in with myself say why do I want to tell this story in the first place? Am I being true to that? For me, that has been a key to success.

Follow “Bare” on Facebook for updates on where it is playing near you.

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