Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: Bashir Salahuddin, Christine adams, Dagmara Dominczyk, gideon adlon, interview, Jade Halley Bartlett, Jenna Ortega, lionsgate, martin freeman, Miller's Girl

Miller's Girl Director on Freeman-Ortega Thriller, Inspirations & More

Director Jade Halley Bartlett spoke to Bleeding Cool about the Lionsgate thriller Miller's Girl starring Martin Freeman & Jenna Ortega.

Jade Halley Bartlett is a Jill-of-All-Trades as a creative tour-de-force as a triple threat as an actor, writer, and director. She quickly discovered how much a talent and knack behind the camera in her directorial feature debut in Lionsgate's psychological thriller Miller's Girl. The film follows a talented young writer (Jenna Ortega) who embarks on a creative journey when her teacher (Martin Freeman) assigns a project that entangles them both in an increasingly complex web. As lines blur and their lives intertwine, professor and protégé must confront their darkest selves while striving to preserve their sense of purpose and the things they hold dear. Bartlett spoke to Bleeding Cool about how she developed the script, recruiting Freeman and Ortega, breaking down their chemistry, the works that inspired the film, and her long-term plans.

How Jade Halley Bartlett Made the Most of Her Leads and Cast in 'Miller's Girl'

Bleeding Cool: What's the inspiration behind 'Miller's Girl?'
Bartlett: It was initially written as a play. I was living in New York City bartending and an actress at the time. This was right after the recession. It was hard to get work. I asked myself, "What will I do with my certificate of participation from an acting school?" I decided I wanted to build something around an actor I knew. I called one of my best friends, Julianne, an exceptional actress, and I asked her what character she'd want to play if she could play any character. She said Rhoda Penmark from 'The Bad Seed' (1956), which, if you've seen the movie, is about a psychotic killer child. I had set out to write a villain, and the first iteration of the story, Cairo (Ortega), was about the birth of a villain—someone whose heartbreak makes them turn. When #MeToo happened in 2016, at this point, I had developed it into a screenplay. I was stunned to find that I had not one villain but two. I use the word "villain" lightly. Of all the characters in this film, no one is entirely on one end of the spectrum of good and evil. There is no perfect victim or villain. That brings it closer to real life.

How did Martin and Jenna get involved in casting, and how well did they work together?
They worked incredibly well together. Their chemistry is insane. I wrote Martin a letter, and I begged him. I said, "Please meet with me," and he did. We spoke for about two hours, and he understood the character. He understood the context, and he's so thoughtful and intelligent. Martin signed on, and we got the movie greenlit. We had a robust search for Cairo, and then I met Jenna, and she disarmed me. She said things about the character that I had never vocalized aloud, which sort of felt like kismet, in a way. Getting both was major in getting those pieces to fall into place. The pieces fell into place with Gideon [Adlon] and Jenna, who have such extraordinary chemistry. Dagmara [Dominczyk] and Martin have such extraordinary chemistry, and Bashir [Salahuddin] has chemistry with everybody. Christine [Adams] has chemistry with everybody. It ended up being a lot of alchemical magic.

How do you contrast Martin, Bashir, and Dagmara's characters' relationships as the older characters to what Jenna and Gideon's characters' relationships are in the film?
Winnie (Adlon) and Cairo are so young and idealistic. They're still much in an exploration phase of their lives. Beatrice (Dominczyk) is a successful writer. John (Freeman) is a failed writer and a successful teacher. Boris (Salahuddin) is mostly living his dream and doing exactly what he wants to do, which is to be a teacher. John still clings to idealism. He wants to be a successful writer but is not strong enough. His wife works hard. I don't think rejection means anything to Beatrice, but it means quite a bit to Jonathan. The adults sitting in the space growth may become a little bit cynical. Where you're a bit dry but know who you are. The girls don't all the way know who they are yet.

Were there other figures in your life that you've modeled, any of the characters or fictional works that helped inspire the story?
I would say this is probably true of any writer. The characters are all some iteration of me, like the scariest. The things that scare me about myself are in all these characters. Regarding visual influences, the 1993 film 'Secret Garden' with Maggie Smith is a huge influence on this. Park Chan-Wook's 'The Handmaiden' (2016) was a massive influence, 'Stoker' (2013), [Edward Albee's] 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' (1966) is a considerable influence. I wanted to shoot it as a play since it started as one. I wanted it to feel like you were watching a play, like a dark fairy tale version. The intimacy was imperative because this is all from Cairo's perspective. When you want something or are so deeply invested in something, that's the only thing that matters. How tight and intimate it is without a huge ensemble of characters was essential to the gaze of that character.

How long did it take you to develop this into a feature? What hurdles did you encounter in your on-screen directorial debut?
Adapting it to screen was…it was the first screenplay I'd ever done. My draft was 168 pages long. The current draft is 103. There were no challenges with directing. I don't know, but I hate to say that I'm thrilled to say that. I was an actor and a writer, then I became a director. Directing feels the most natural of all those things, and it's so fun. It is way more fun than writing. Writing is hard. Acting is also hard, and both require so much emotion. Directing requires a certain level of objectivity that feels slightly safer than writing. Acting, no real challenges. It was fun, no, it was amazing. It was the most fun I've ever had in anything I've ever done.

What are some of the other things you're working on? Is there any genre work you have goals set?
I can't speak to the other projects I'm working on right now, but my original canon of work, the following script I have, is mentioned in 'Miller's Girl.' All my original scripts exist in the same universe. If you listen closely, you can find it. Beatrice says, "My next original film is the book that Beatrice is writing." She says the title of it somewhere in the movie.

Miller's Girl is currently in theaters.

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