Q and A with Actress/Filmmaker Leah McKendrick

Q&A with Actress/Filmmaker Leah McKendrick

By: Theresa Dillon

On May 15th, bored out of mind and ready for COVID-19 to disappear forever, I discovered the most amazing short film on YouTube - "Pamela & Ivy"

"Pamela & Ivy" is a gritty exploration of the childhood traumatic event that spawned one of Gotham City's most notorious super villains - Poison Ivy.  

Finally, my beloved DC favorite was getting the spotlight she deserved. Then I discovered that the short was written, directed and produced by a woman.

I decided I had to contact this incredible female filmmaker and pick her brain. Luckily, she happily agreed to answer my questions.

Ladies and gentleman, I proudly bring you a fresh new talent to keep on your radar - actress/singer/filmmaker, Leah McKendrick.

Theresa Dillon (TD): Leah, thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. To start us off, can you give us a little background about yourself? It made my day when I discovered your
work. It was all I could think about. 

Leah McKendrick (LM): That's SO nice. THANK you! I'm from San Francisco and grew up singing, dancing and acting. I wanted to be a pop star like my heroes – Madonna, Michael Jackson, Britney. I went to college for Theatre and I was very experimental. I would write and direct and produce my own stuff. Not because I thought it was a career path, but because I was bored and frustrated that my parents made me go to college while I wanted to move straight to L.A. After I graduated, I finally got a record deal. Probably at the worst time in history - during the recession. The label folded and I was DEVASTATED. I started performing live a lot because I didn't know what else to do but stay the course. From there, I began producing my own music videos, then web series, then shorts, then a feature, then studio stuff – where I am now. I realized that the experimental, DIY approach to creating that I lived by during college was actually something I could utilize in the real world. Moral of the story – stay in school, kids!

TD: What film was the spark that had you say, "I'm going to start making movies."

LM: I always wanted to make movies – but only as an actress. My whole life, literally. My mom still has no idea where I learned about Hollywood, but from the moment I was able to speak I would say I was going to go to Hollywood to sing and act. The filmmaking spark was ignited in college. I didn't like the scenes they wanted us to shoot for acting in film class. They were recycled over and over and they felt very dated and stale to me. I complained about it like a brat and luckily I had the best professor ever – John Benitz at Chapman University. He said, "If you don’t want to do these then write your own scene and if it doesn't suck, I'll let you shoot it." That was really the beginning because writing my own work enabled me to play the kinds of roles I wanted to play and tell the kinds of stories I wanted to tell. It was a game changer, I just didn't know it yet.

TD: Do you have a favorite female writer/director/producer? 

LM: I love Reese Witherspoon, obviously as an actress, but I love her in the producer chair. Her career is very dreamy. She has an eye for great work and she gets it DONE at the highest level. I love seeing an actress – or any woman taking her power and OWNING it and expanding her empire.

TD: What is your favorite genre to watch? Favorite genre to work in? 

LM: I'm a horror nerd. I want to make a monster movie very badly! I just saw "Thirst" by Park Chan-wook which was inspiring. You can explore so many challenging topics through the lens of a horror: puberty ("Raw" and "Ginger Snaps" ), racism ( "Get Out" ), grief ( "The Babadook" ). My favorite show during my teens, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was chock-full of metaphors about high school and growing up. My favorite genre to work in is constantly changing. Right now I'm having a great time writing musicals and romcoms. But I think my next one is going to be a heightened horror-comedy like "Ready or Not."

TD: Let's dive into your amazing short "Pamela & Ivy," available on YouTube. What made you decide that the DC favorite, Pamela Isley (Poison Ivy) finally deserved the spotlight? 

LM: I'm very fascinated and enraged by the way we as a society are quick to label women "crazy." I want my work, regardless of genre, to challenge that label.

TD: You also played adult Pamela/Ivy in the short. Have you always wanted to portray her?

LM: Always, always. It's a dream role. If there's a role that I'm desperate to play, I have gotten into the habit of just writing it for myself. I encourage EVERY actor to do the same. It's very empowering!

TD:  Do you have hopes of continuing Pamela's story? I know I would gladly pay $20 at my local theater to see your completed work. 

LM: We so appreciate that! I hope so. When DC makes that call, we will be ready.

TD: If there's one thing you hope viewers take away about Pamela/Ivy's character, what is it and how do you feel you achieved showing that? 

LM: I hope that people feel that she deserves her moment in the sun. We are constantly re-imagining, further developing and rebooting our male-driven stories. Let's give our female characters some love and let's not label anyone "crazy" before knowing the story. I don't know if we achieved that but I hope we did.

TD: As most of our readers know, I'm a big cheerleader for female filmmakers so I'm going to pick your brain just a bit on this topic. Do you think female characters, like Pamela Isley, come off more dynamic on screen if women have been involved in the writing, directing or producing of the film? 

LM: YES, YES and YES. Women have the ability to capture the female experience in a nuanced, compassionate way because we are living it. It’s that simple. We understand judgment, shame, subjection, because we were born into it.

TD: What are some ways we as film lovers can help female filmmakers, like you, get more screen time and more opportunities? 

LM: I think we have to speak up for ourselves and each other - publicly. We have to DEMAND female directors when we are in the producer chair. Demand women of color. Demand, demand, demand. It doesn't happen by asking nicely. As viewers, vote with your dollars. Seek out female-created content and attend, rent, buy and share! It's a business and unfortunately, nothing speaks louder than those numbers. It's the power of the purse.

TD: Do you have any film recommendations that we need to watch now? 

LM: I just watched the new film, "Never Rarely Sometimes Always" by Eliza Hittman. It's about a teenager on a journey with her cousin to get an abortion. It felt so real and achingly human. I deeply admire that kind of filmmaking. I also just saw "Peanut Butter Falcon," which was just beautiful and joyful from beginning to end.

TD: Lastly, I for one look forward to seeing more work from you. I'm sure a lot of our readers do too. Can you tell us about any upcoming projects that we should watch for? 

LM: I'm working on my first TV show at HBO Max, called "WTF, Glenn?" I’m also working on the prequel to "Grease," "Summer Lovin!" Praying there's a light at the end of the tunnel with this pandemic soon, and we can get back to work safely! It's been really nice to see everyone consume all of Netflix and Hulu etc. It reminds me that film comforts us during dark times.

Birds of Prey Review

Birds of Prey

Dir: Cathy Yan

Starring: Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Ella Jay Basco, Chris Messina, and Ewan McGregor

When you think of iconic superhero villains it doesn’t take very long to recognize the clown prince of crime, The Joker. Immortalized throughout cinema by actors like Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Jared Leto, and Joaquin Phoenix, The Joker is chaos, carnage, comedy, and cream cosmetics wrapped into one complicated bad guy. 

Perhaps it’s time to clear some space for another villain, or even better a villainess, painted in the vein of The Joker. Harley Quinn made her first appearance in the DC Comics movie misstep “The Suicide Squad”, but Harley, played by Margot Robbie, was the highlight of the entire film, even overshadowing a new performance from Jared Leto playing The Joker. 

“Birds of Prey” or “Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” lets Margot Robbie loose with a zany, messy, comical, clumsy comic book movie that relishes in its cinematic mayhem. What transpires is less a superhero quality and more a straightforward action film with a group of tough-as-nails ladies standing up to a world dominated by loathsome men. 

Harley (Margot Robbie) has a story to tell, one that only she can tell, and it involves bad breakups, murderers, new friends, and a lost diamond. Harley is moving on from Mr. J (her pet name for Joker), trying to make a new path in Gotham City but not realizing how many bridges she has burned while living freely in love. Now, she’s a wanted woman, specifically by a new bad guy in Gotham named Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor).  Harley, being hunted by every person she wronged while dating the Joker, is forced into finding a young pickpocket named Cass (Ella Jay Basco) who has stolen something very valuable.

“Birds of Prey” is an R-rated romp in overindulgent style and over-the-top comic book antics. It’s cluttered in parts, specifically during the chaotic back-and-forth storytelling style where Harley narrates her version of the events leading towards the finale, but also exceptionally fun, like when Harley unleashes her fighting flair with a baseball bat or chats cute with her pet hyena. 

Margot Robbie seems tailored for the role of Harley, she composes a playful sensibility from the beginning, almost shedding the villain quality completely in favor of a powerful woman who will not be told what to do and how to live. Whether giggling maniacally, screaming obscenities or spouting big intellectual psychology comments, Ms. Robbie completely owns the character. 

The supporting cast helps the sloppy narrative. Rosie Perez, tough and showing wonderful attitude, plays an underappreciated cop who is chasing all the loose ends perpetrated by Harley. Jurnee Smollett-Bell is a welcome addition playing a lounge singer with a powerful voice and Mary Elizabeth Winstead does a great job of being nervously awkward as a crossbow-wielding assassin. Ewan McGregor plays the big bad with a confident quirkiness, while it doesn’t always work it seems Mr. McGregor is having lots of fun with the role.

The film, at times, feels too deliberately wacky and purposefully cartoonish, but the madcap quality does have its benefits in keeping the tone very lighthearted and focused on creating something of a crazed carnival of scenes. This movie feels like an appropriate transition, or side story, for the DC Films brand that has composed a more serious atmosphere for their superhero stories. 

“Birds of Prey” thrives best when Harley has a team to work around and with. Margot Robbie holds the film together even when it becomes too frenzied for its own good. Still, the charm of the eccentric characters, the amusement park of hectic action, and the playfulness found in almost every scene make this a must-see for comic book fans.

Monte’s Rating

3.00 out of 5.00

Aquaman Review

Aquaman

Dir: James Wan

Starring: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Temuera Morrison

The Aquaman had some time to shine in the DC Universe mash-up “Justice League”, but now the comic book character gets an opportunity to swim on his own. Director James Wan, who has helmed some really good films like “Insidious” and “The Conjuring”, takes control of the character but also suggestion from the comic book movie fans who have griped about the seriousness of the DC Universe. What develops is a film filled with flaws, masked under the guidance of something trying to have “fun”. 

Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) has abandoned a life in an underwater kingdom, one that would call him king if he accepted the call. Arthur was born into two worlds, his father Thomas (Temuera Morrison) is a light keeper in the human world and his mother Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) is a princess from the underwater nation of Atlantis. As the world begins to learn more about The Aquaman, so does the underwater world that has shunned Arthur and his family. King Orm (Patrick Wilson), Arthur’s half-brother, wants to start a war with the human world. It is up to Aquaman to defeat Orm and reclaim the underwater kingdom.

James Wan is one of the more interesting directors working in Hollywood right now; the work he has done in horror has already earned him the accolade of being called a “master” of the genre. And this title is absolutely earned. The director has also displayed his skill for big action vehicles with the competent and over-indulgent fast car franchise “Furious 7” which starred Dwayne Johnson. This makes Mr. Wan’s association with the DC Universe fitting considering the want for a direction change for their superhero movies. 

The director tries for a bit of everything in “Aquaman”. There are big special effects on land and underwater, two villains to occupy every second of Aquaman’s quest, and an easy-going appeal for the narrative that adds levity and zero consequences to a majority of the journey. For the films featuring DC characters, “Aquaman” feels the exact opposite of Christopher Nolan’s fantastic “Batman” films, though it does feel like it could have existed just fine in the Joel Schumacher universe of “Batman Forever” with its larger-than-life characters, bizarre narrative functions, and neon-colored designs. 

“Aquaman” suffers from a poorly written script that stumbles for nearly 60 minutes to establish a simple origin story and then completely falls everywhere but the ocean trying to connect the dots for an adventure that leads from the Sahara to Sicily. The family drama, pushed with sincerity from Nicole Kidman and Temuera Morrison, briefly adds an emotional connection for Arthur but they are placed awkwardly as flashbacks in the story. James Wan’s presence comes through in some parts of the film, specifically when Aquaman and the Disney mermaid princess lookalike Mera (Amber Heard) travel to the Kingdom of the Trench with monstrous mermen in close chase. It’s the one scene that has the scope and excitement fans of Mr. Wan’s movies have come to expect. 

“Aquaman” is trying to change the tone established by previous films in the recent DC Universe, though “Wonder Woman” has done the best job so far. Unfortunately, the need to make something less bad and more fun sinks this film quicker than Aquaman can inflict a bad one-liner. 

Monte’s Rating

1.50 out of 5.00

Suicide Squad Review

Suicide Squad
Dir: David Ayers
Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, Jay Hernandez, Cara Delevingne, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Karen Fukuhara, Adam Beach, and Jared Leto
Warner Bros. Pictures

123 Minutes

It’s fun to cheer for the bad guy. Don’t get me wrong watching Spider-Man swing into action to fight Doc Ock or reading about The Green Lantern meeting archenemy Sinestro always makes it fun to have a hero to cheer behind. But I couldn’t help but wonder what the comic book universe would look like if Doctor Doom or Kingpin got the best of the hero. In comic books it’s inevitable that these super villains would eventually have their day to shine in some incarnation of a long running print story but in film the superhero/comic book movie villain rarely finds the finish line first.

DC Comics looks to amend this by bringing their anti-hero covert-ops “Suicide Squad” into the mix. Directed by David Ayers, who helmed the 2014 war tank film “Fury” and the gritty 2012 cop drama “End of Watch”, “Suicide Squad” is unlike the typical comic book movie fair audiences are becoming wholly accustomed with throughout the year. No, it’s not a dark and solemn affair like DC’s last outing “Batman v. Superman” or is it a composition of responsibility and morals like “Captain America: Civil War”. This is a film that is trying very hard to have fun and be playful, it’s a film that is trying to make the viewer forget about the constraints levied upon heroes in these types of films. 

Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) is a conniving, unmerciful leader of a secret government agency tasked with protecting the world from new, powerful threats that have come in the wake of the emergence of people like Superman and Batman. This super villain task force, composed of the worst of the worst incarcerated criminals, is sent into action when the odds are the most insurmountable. Lead by a super soldier named Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) the group is composed of a deadly marksman named Deadshot (Will Smith), the Joker’s girlfriend Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), a fire wielding gangster named Diablo (Jay Hernandez), an wise-cracking Australian named Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), a sewer dwelling monster known as Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), a samurai sword swinging woman named Katana (Karen Fukuhara), and an ancient witch known as Enchantress (Cara Delevingne). How will these villains fill the shoes of the heroes?

Mr. Ayer doesn’t waste much time making his impact known, the style of “Suicide Squad” is frantic from the opening moments and the design has an energetic neon grittiness. The villainous group is quickly introduced via a montage of capers gone wrong that result in their capture. Mr. Ayers does not pull any punches during these moments, providing a few surprises for the DC fan. 

While all of this spectacle and flair provides the film with an early, much needed breath of fresh air it unfortunately doesn’t last very long. Aside from some ingenious character introductions and the promise of a few good action sequences to come, the story lacks in any kind of structure or substance to make it interesting from scene to scene. Just as everything starts to get comfortable the pace changes, or simply restarts. Yes, everything remains quick and somewhat exciting but the fluidity is missing between the story and characters. For instance, Deadshot and Harley Quinn are introduced and then needlessly introduced again later in the film and at another point an action packed scene is basically redone with different characters, it all serves no other purpose than lazily leading the narrative from plot point to plot point. It’s hard to even distinguish a memorable action sequence, most of the memorable scenes happen in humorous or quiet moments between the characters.

The cast is a large group of recognizable faces. Some are really good, some are present, and some are completely overlooked. Will Smith is given a majority of the screen time, unfortunately he never completely sheds the heroic persona his characters are known for and this is no fault to Mr. Smith but rather the script that consistently portrays Deadshot, an assassin, with a significant amount of redeeming qualities. Margot Robbie is next in line for screen time and she provides a bubbly, demented character. Mrs. Robbie completely owns many of the scenes that she is in. Much talk was made of Jared Leto’s portrayal of the Joker, interesting would be a great description of the performance. Mr. Leto works his way into something unique with the character. Viola Davis is perfectly cast as the operator of this task force, stoically poised and on the verge of a killing spree she is the perfect complement to these characters.

It’s unfortunate that Mr. Ayers doesn’t allow the bad guys to simply be bad. There is a constant reminder that the viewer should see these characters differently, take for instance the hero music themes that play in the background during group shots. Why can’t bad guys just be bad guys?

“Suicide Squad” struggles to find a balance for its villains. While it has some very fun moments and some good performances, there is unfortunately few times where it succeeds in accomplishing the lofty mission of letting villains lead the charge. It can be fun to cheer for the bad guy, if you can find one.

Monte’s Rating
2.75 out of 5.00