Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Briarcliff Entertainment, caleb landry jones, DogMan, exclusive, interview, Jojo T. Gibbs, luc besson

DogMan: Jojo T. Gibbs on Dynamic with Caleb Landry Jones & Luc Besson

Jojo T. Gibbs (Civil War) spoke to Bleeding Cool about the challenges of the psychological thriller DogMan, Caleb Landry Jones & more.

Jojo T. Gibbs is always looking to challenge herself as an actress as a natural in comedy, but perhaps her greatest challenge was playing a more traditional straight role to Caleb Jones Landry's character Douglas in Briarcliff Entertainment's DogMan. The story follows a man who, following a traumatic childhood, finds salvation and justice through his connection with dogs. Gibbs plays Evelyn, the investigator sent to speak with Douglas as he recounts his tragic upbringing, his love for dogs, and discovering his love for performing in the theater and, later, as a drag performer. The actress spoke to Bleeding Cool about Jones, writer-director Luc Besson, and how Jodie Foster helped inspire her performance.

DogMan: Jojo T. Gibbs on Building a Rapport with Caleb Landry Jones & Director Luc Besson

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about about 'Dog Man?'
Gibbs: Oh, man! Probably Luc Besson [laughs]. When I first got the audition, I had another audition due in. My agent called me frantically and said, "Hey, what are you doing?" I was like, "I'm about to tape this audition." He was like, "Well, I got this other one. I'm about to send it to you right now." Send it back to me as soon as possible, and when he sent it to me, and I read it, I was like, "Oh my God. Like what?" When I saw that Caleb was attached to it, I would say that having watched 'Get Out' and seen some other performances that he has done, I also saw him in a military film. I thought he was a phenomenal actor, and based on what I knew from his previous work experience, I was like, "Yeah, I'm going to try to create this character around what I think Caleb may give to this other character." Caleb and Luc were the two names that jumped out at me, and I thought, "I would love to work with both of them."

Can you break down the set Luc ran?
That's an interesting question you ask about how he ran it. I had a director friend ask me the same thing yesterday, and I was like, "It was very militant but in the best way." Everybody felt like they highly regarded and respected him at the time. Everybody was of one accord. It honestly was like ants; everybody had a job, they were moving in their places, and everything felt fluid. I loved it, mostly because we were in Paris, and if they were speaking French, I knew they weren't talking to me. I would zone out [laughs] and come back. Whenever they started speaking English again, it'd be like, "Okay, I guess it's my turn." That was, though, being on a set where I could just be like, "They're not talking to me right now because I don't speak French." Luc was precise, and you could tell that his crew and the people he worked with highly respected and highly regarded him.

Did you do any prep work getting to play Evelyn?
When getting into my role, initially, when I read the scene that I was filming for, I thought, "Jodie Foster in 'Silence of the Lambs.' I thought it would be like 'Silence of the Lambs,' so I thought, "Okay, prison psychiatrist. Let me get into that mind space." I'm also addicted to crime podcasts. I did not know where the story would go other than what I was reading on the sides I sent. I just try, to the best of my ability, to go off what I knew in terms of how Caleb was as an actor from performances I've seen, and also, maybe this is similar to 'The Silence of the Lambs,' where Jodie Foster did such an incredible job playing the straight man and being so stoic in that role. I was like, "You have to be indifferent as much as possible to be able to get as much information out of the person." That's how I got into it.

How would you describe your working rapport with Caleb?
I love Caleb so much. He is so sweet and from that moment… it's so funny. They wouldn't let us meet before our first scene because Luc wanted me to have a visceral reaction to how he looked like a character, and that was so dope because I walked into the scene and we shot the scene. After we finished the scene, it said, "Hi, I'm Caleb." I'm like, "I am Jojo." That's how we met when we finished our first scene together, and he was kind, welcoming, and eager to learn. I enjoyed working with Caleb a lot. He's a chill guy who is really into music. It helps when your castmates have personalities that are comparable to yours. He's a dope dude.

How does a project like Dogman compare to your other work? What was the biggest challenge for you?
I started off doing comedy, including standup. Being the straight man isn't a role I played until then. Until then, I had done high-energy actions and things of that nature. To bring that performance down, I don't think it was a challenge. I enjoyed being able to do that to show versatility and add a different perspective to the resume. I was super excited to get the character of Evelyn because she is so different from any of the other characters I've had in terms of her being stoic, calm, cool, and collected, which is a grounding piece in the film.

DogMan will be in select theaters on March 29th and expands on April 5th.

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