Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Candy Land, Cranked Up Films, Dana Kippel, exclusive, interview, Reflect

Reflect: Dana Kippel on Bridging Her Gaming Passion to Filmmaking

Reflect director, writer and star Dana Kippel on how Candyland and passion for gaming influenced the sci-fi metaphysical thriller.

Dana Kippel's ambition is both a blessing and a curse in a tug-of-war battle between making her vision as a writer, director, and actor come to life and overcoming her knack for being an overly critical perfectionist, remaining true to her convictions in the face of her worst doubts. Since coming onto the scene in 2020, the actress took her biggest bold step in writing and directing her first feature in Cranked Up Films' Reflect. The sci-fi metaphysical thriller follows a group of friends on a spiritual obstacle course, hoping to improve their lives. However, they don't know they are being monitored by mysterious hooded entities eager to take over their bodies. Kippel spoke to Bleeding Cool about the universes she explored that inspired the film, wearing multiple hats on set, staying true to her vision, casting, future, and more.

How Kippel's Passion for Gaming Led to 'Reflect'

Bleeding Cool: What's the inspiration behind 'Reflect?'
Kippel: I would say I have a lot of inspirations, but the main one is that I felt disconnected from myself over the past few years. I wrote a screenplay to understand the meaning of connecting with myself, other people, and nature. Then I threw right up into that movie.

Was there anything you've read or seen that influenced the film?
Some of the books I read before I made 'Reflect' influenced it, as did board games, especially 'Candy Land.' I played that a lot as a kid and always enjoyed the vivid colors and fantasy. I was a big gamer. 'Candyland' inspired the look in the whimsical city of 'Reflect.' I read the book by Carl Jung called 'The Red Book,' which is a lot about shadow work and other esoteric things. That inspired me a lot about being in the desert of your psyche and the deep, dark work you must do on yourself to progress and evolve in life. This book, called 'The Heroine's Journey' by Maureen Murdock, also inspired me for the film; it's about the cycle a woman goes through in life, and it's different than what guys go through, but anyone can go through it. It's a different way of looking at the hero's journey and a different archetype and story structure.

How long did it take to develop the story, and how did it turn out?
It was fast. I was shooting another film in August 2021 in Arizona, and I went to Sedona after I shot the movie for a bit of vacation because we were on night shoots, and I was not feeling mentally sane. That started me wanting to write a script about being in Sedona and connecting with myself and other women. I wrote it from August to September 2021. We got the funding in October, and we shot it in December. This is a fast one.

Was it easy wearing the multiple hats on set?
Directing and writing came easily to me. It was something my life had prepared me for in many ways, as well as the experiences I've had. I was meant to do it, so it felt like I was flowing. I wasn't paying attention to the time passing or what was right and wrong. I followed my heart and instincts and went from there. Afterwards, that's when the self-doubt crept in after making my first film [laughs].

What were your biggest hurdles entering production or developing the story?
The biggest hurdle was trying to tune out other people's opinions. When you create something, everyone throws their opinions at you—learning what to take and what not to take. My philosophy is not to take anything and listen to my vision because it's my project and vision. It was hard at first because I wanted to listen to everyone, and I wanted them to like me. I had to get past all that and do much work on myself. There's also funding. That felt like it would be hard because of what everyone else said. Since I believed in the project and had the confidence and conviction, I was just like, "I'm making a movie." I didn't tell myself or worry about the money too much. The money seemed to flow, which I'm trying to recreate for my next project. Once you know how hard all these things are, it's a little harder to get the money to manifest things [laughs].

How did the casting break down? Was it local actors or something you and your friends got together on? Was there any form of audition process? A combination?
I cast some of the roles off Actors Access in the casting breakdown. I cast the role of my mom from there. This woman, Perri [Sauffer Reavis], did an amazing job. Almost everyone else was someone I randomly met or my friend. I was like, "Hey, can you do this for cheap? It's a free trip to Sedona, where we'll film." They all did it, so mostly, my friends did me a favor.

What was the biggest takeaway from your experience on 'Reflect,' and what would you take into your future work?
The next film I'm making I can't talk too much about it, but it's a dark, grounded, sci-fi, bigger budget, and I'm excited. We're probably going to shoot overseas. What I took into that is number one: Listen to myself first. Number two: I'm constructing a team to think hard about who I'm hiring and hire people who work better than me and inspire me. Also, don't be afraid to fire people if they're not gelling with me or the vision, but maybe in the first place, don't hire them and take a longer hiring process. I am learning to trust my vision. I've won in a weird, roundabout way where I was confident doing my film. In the last two years since then, I've experienced a lot of self-doubt and worry. My biggest thing to bring into this next film is figuring out how to get that away, go back to who I was when I first moved here, started this, the innocence of that, and having fun, not caring what part of a group of Hollywood that I'm in, or who likes me, and doing my own thing. Returning to who I am at my core, I will take that into my next film.

You mentioned Candyland earlier; I was wondering what your wheelhouse of games is and what you grew up with.
My favorite game ever, which I hopefully can make a movie about one day, is 'The Sims' and its sequel, 'The Sims Two.' I love 'Roller Coaster Tycoon' and 'Minecraft.' I played into my twenties. I had to stop because I got addicted to that. 'Fortnite' I like playing recently, but back in the day, 'Cruisin' USA,' 'Super Mario [Bros],' 'Donkey Kong,' and 'Zelda.' I loved fantasy and adventure, and that also influences my filmmaking now.

What are your long-term goals as a filmmaker? Do you hope to remain in the indie scene? Do you wish to get an opportunity with a major studio to run an adaptation of a popular IP?
I don't know if the infrastructure I want is set up in Hollywood, but it would be almost like a mix of independent and [major] studios. I don't even know if the framework works there right now, but no matter who I work with, studio or not a studio, at that core, I want to have control over my projects and have fun with a happy group of people. However, I'm open to that if I have control, even if it is in a studio. If I want to be nice and let me control my project. My vision is to be like Chris Nolan, M Night Shyamalan, Brit Marling, Terry Gilliam…all mixed. There's not one person I can go after, but my vision is to create bigger-budget adventure, fantasy sci-fi films. That's what I'm planning to do.

Reflect, which also stars Grace Patterson, Dash Katz, Jadelyn Breier, and Joe Filippone is available on digital and on-demand January 9th.

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