Posted in: Exclusive, Horror, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Audrey Grace Mitchell, Cory Choy, Esme My Love, horror, Stacey Weckstein

Esme, My Love: Stacey Weckstein on Intense Mother-Daughter Thriller

Stacey Wecketsin (The Sound of Your Voice) speaks to Bleeding Cool about Cory Choy's mother-daughter thriller Esme, My Love; Marshall & more.

Stacey Weckstein is always looking for a new challenge as an actress, given her roles in shorts and television, with memorable roles in 2018's The Sound of Your Voice and the comedy series UDrive Me. In the mother-daughter thriller Esme, My Love, she plays Hannah, a mother who notices the symptoms of a terminal and painful illness in her aloof daughter, Esme (Audrey Grace Marshall). She takes her on a trip to their abandoned family farm in a desperate attempt to connect before they have to say goodbye. Weckstein spoke to Bleeding Cool about the opportunity, working with writer and director Cory Choy, Marshall, and the film's intensity.

Weckstein on Hannah's Journey in Esme, My Love

Bleeding Cool: How did you get involved with 'Esme, My Love?'
Weckstein: I got an email request for an audition, and I auditioned. It was a couple of rounds of auditions. The first round was a video audition. The second round was a general in-person one to determine chemistry. There was a final callback, which was in Prospect Park, and it was a couple of scenes, and it was with the full crew like we were filming those scenes for the film.

What intrigued you about it?
I'm an actor, so the opportunity to audition if the script is interesting, you're not doing anything that you feel violates you as a human being, then it's exciting. This project was interesting to me because it's a two-person feature film, which is a challenge. I felt like the character of Hannah has this pretty interesting journey of taking care of her daughter and thinking her daughter's going through something when she's [Hannah] perhaps going through something.

Did you build a rapport on set with Audrey just before filming your scenes or something that just got you guys immediately going into it?
On the first call back in Prospect Park, I felt like we clicked quickly, and she was playful. I was playful. I remember her saying to me, "You're like me. You can chat on the side, and then they say, 'Action!' We go straight into character, have fun, and play." There's no like minute of sitting aside thinking about and marinating on a moment or anything. We both clicked in that realm, but we also had some rehearsals and time in the studio with Cory where we would play different games and things to where we got comfortable with each other physically because there is a lot of touching and stuff in the film.

Can you break down the type of set Cory ran and the script he and Laura [Allen] had?
Working with Cory and other filmmakers I work with was different because he comes from an audio background. We spent a lot of time running the sound, which I knew was different, engaging, and a cool way to rehearse. We would do the entire script in his sound studio a couple of times and rehearse that way. Separately, I would rehearse physically and do things like that to practice being in my body. In that sense, it was different. Cory was great about allowing us to play and take the character well where we needed it. If he needed something specific, he would pull you aside and say, "I need this moment to be intense or something."

Was there any sequence or aspect of the character that you had to tackle that was particularly challenging for you compared to what you've done in the past?
There was digging, a fall on the whole scene, and a fight with a shovel scene. Those scenes were complex because I've done stage combat a little but never crawled up out of a hole, falling into a hole like throwing a shovel at a child. I was worried about hitting her. In that sense, that was hard, but we were lucky to have Crystal Arnette on set. She was the fight choreographer, and she took the time to choreograph, make sure that Audrey was safe, and that I felt like I wasn't going to hurt her so that I could go full out with my acting.

Terror Films Esme, My Love is available on digital.

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