FUNNY GIRL INDIE STAR CAMILLE SOLARI
Photographs and Digital Imaging by Isabelle Ruen
Make-up and Hair by Yana Sklyar and Leah Herzberg
Camille Solari has been called the taboo “Multi-Hyphenate.” As “The Ultimate Indie-Star,” she’s a writer of edgy movies and she manages her own production company. But, best of all, when you meet her, you realize she’s a really funny girl! This rising star has written, starred in, and produced several features during the last few years. Between 2009 and 2010, five of Solari’s movies have been released internationally (both theatrically and on DVD). The sexy thriller, True True Lie, was written by Solari and released by The Weinstein Company. She was also a co-star alongside that film’s star, Jaime King. In addition, Solari wrote and starred in the movie Rocker, as well as wrote, starred in, and produced one of David Carradine’s last movies, Money To Burn, amongst many others.
In Camille’s latest vengeful thriller, Boston Girls, she plays Carmela, an Italian girl from Boston who teams up with her Irish friend Lynne as they seek revenge on all the ex-boyfriends who have wronged them. The film, directed by Gabriel Bologna, also stars Shay Astar, Academy Award Nominee Renee Taylor, and indie fave Danny Trejo. Boston Girls garnered three awards at the 2010 New York International Film Festival, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Actress (Camille) in a Feature Film. Boston Girls itself will be a part of the 2010 Marche du Film, courtesy of ITN Distribution’s line-up. The film will be released by ITN Distribution and Cinema Epoch on June 15, 2010.
After the world premiere of Boston Girls, Independent Film Quarterly’s Nicole Holland sat down with Camille at a private residence in Beverly Hills, CA, to learn about Solari’s quirky and edgy roles, growing up in Massachusetts, her foray into television, and her latest film success, Boston Girls.
IFQ: Congratulations on your latest film Boston Girls! Can you tell us about this film that you wrote and starred in?
Camille Solari: Boston Girls is about two girls from Boston who seek revenge on all the ex-boyfriends that have wronged them by going on an all-night killing spree. It’s sort of like The Piano. Just kidding! As dark as it sounds, it’s actually a comedy.
IFQ: The story sounds so vengeful. Was it difficult growing up in Boston?
CS: In this industry, people tend to think you’re “not cool”, boring, or can’t create interesting stories if you had a good childhood. This actually happened to me when I was auditioning to get into the Shakespeare Conservatory at Emerson College. The heads of the program felt my childhood might be too benign to really be able to do Shakespeare, so I suddenly dove into an improvised speech about how miserable and depraved my childhood was and was quickly was accepted into the program. But, in reality, I loved growing up in Brookline, Massachusetts with my parents. My mom was, and is, a true mother, and my father is like Atticus Finch.
IFQ: How did the concept of Boston Girls evolve?
CS: Well, it’s a dark comedy thriller about two girls, an Italian girl and an Irish girl, who kill off all their ex-boyfriends in one night. It’s autobiographical, obviously. I should probably say I’m kidding, but seriously, the original script I wrote was a broad comedy, based on a true story about my girlfriend in college (on the East Coast ‘girlfriend’ means a girl who’s a friend). She was dating this guy and was certain that he was faithful to her, but I suspected otherwise, that he was a big player (a.k.a cheater). So, one night I convinced her that we should go to his brownstone apartment in Beacon Hill to spy on him and see if he was at home doing homework. She gave me ten fingers and I haphazardly climbed up the trellis. Lo and behold, my theory was, in fact, true!
I actually performed this scene as a sketch comedy piece all over theaters in Los Angeles. It garnered enough interest to inspire me to expand it into a feature film and/or TV show. (I still think it would make a pretty rad TV show.) When the film finally got financed, Gabriel Bologna, the director, suggested we push the genre into a thriller, where the girls really seek revenge. I loved the idea, especially after coming off the success of my other dark comedy, True True Lie, which was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, and one of my favorite movies Heathers. I thought it was a great direction to take the movie and gave it a page one re-write.
IFQ: What was your on set experience like shooting Boston Girls?
CS: Well, I have a few words of wisdom to filmmakers who plan on shooting a low budget feature. Our movie was shot in about 16 days. We basically broke all low-budget filmmaking rules. There were too, too many locations. The scenes took place only at night, and 75% were outside, in the middle of the winter during two blizzards. The circumstances made it nearly impossible to succeed. We had 40 people in the crew, and I have to say, surprisingly, no one quit, even under these extreme conditions. Luckily, the character I played had a very warm winter jacket. Shay, unfortunately being a Cali girl, chose a much lighter jacket, so the cold definitely took a toll on her. The Boston crew was really amazing and had great attitudes. Danny Trejo, luckily flew into New York, and took a train to Boston. It was one of the biggest snowstorms Boston had seen in a long time, and if Danny hadn’t arrived the day before in New York, and instead flew into Boston, we would have had to cut the scene. It was lovely working with Danny. He was such a good sport and great to act with. Everyone in the film did a phenomenal job.
IFQ: Why did you choose to create and produce this film independently?
CS: Well, all the studios were pounding at my door wanting to make it, but I thought it would be more fun to produce it for chump change and have to pull a ton of favors. Okay, joke. You know, it’s like that’s how it goes. You can’t wait for someone to think you’re great. I love acting, and I knew I could write roles that would fall within my sensibility. I was tired of auditioning and dealing with the politics of booking a role. I still love reading for great parts in movies, and booking jobs, and being in other peoples movies and television, but I feel like you have to be willing to do it all in order to succeed. I don’t think it was like this 10 years ago. I think things have changed in Hollywood. Now you need more skills to succeed. Having lots of products out there is important, so I’ve written a lot of scripts, some for studios, some smaller, some Canadian productions (I have dual citizenship).
IFQ: Your film recently secured U.S. distribution, so when will Boston Girls be released in North America?
CS: It comes out theatrically on the East Coast this summer.
IFQ: Switching topics, I noticed that several of your films’ elements have a certain consistency. What is the common denominator in all of your movies?
CS: Well, they all have some kind of comedic tone, whether it’s the dialogue or certain characters, but usually the overall stories are pretty dark.
IFQ: Would you say that’s the same with your acting roles?
CS: Well, considering I have starred in most of the features I have written, yeah. I would say so. But also the roles I have been cast in usually have either quirkiness or an edge, like when I played a retro damsel in distress in Super Capers. It’s fun to play wicked characters or super silly characters when in real life you spend most of your days returning monotonous emails, shopping at Trader Joes, and sending trite text messages on your Blackberry.
IFQ: Earlier, you mentioned that you wrote and starred in True True Lie, which pretty much launched your film career. Several of your films have been released both theatrically and on DVD. So whenever you walk through a video store, you must see your titles on the shelves?
CS: Yes. Sometimes I just stand in Blockbuster in the new release section and point at True True Lie when people peruse the area and say, “Did you see this? Amazing.” People look at you like you’re crazy. Okay, I only did that once, but it felt really good!
IFQ: Where do you see yourself five years from now?
CS: Alive and kicking ass.
IFQ: Wrapping up the interview, what project are you most excited about?
CS: I was just hired to write and star in a true story about an ordinary, conservative girl who’s a secretary that gets into a lot of trouble with a gang. It’s a difficult thing to wrap my wits around, but I am really up for the challenge. I’m also writing a TV show. I just can’t believe how good TV has gotten over the years. I never thought television would be as exciting as making movies. I also still audition for movies, produce movies I can star in, and perform on stage. I love stand-up comedy! I’m also writing a book that I plan to make into a TV series. It’s all about create, create, create, and there is no possible way you can’t succeed as long as you have drive, intention and industriousness. It’s virtually impossible.