Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: quiver distribution, Saint Claire

Saint Clare Director on Joan of Arc Inspiration, Bella Thorne & More

Writer-director Mitzi Peirone (Braid) spoke to Bleeding Cool about her action thriller in Quiver's Saint Claire, Bella Thorne & more.

Writer-director Mitzi Peirone is emerging as an up-and-coming filmmaker, not only demonstrating her intuition in getting her debut feature Braid (2018) financed by cryptocurrency, but also her prowess in storytelling, blending cathartic and religious themes in her latest thriller in Quiver's Saint Clare. The film follows Clare Bleecker (Bella Thorne), a 16-year-old Catholic school student, animal lover, and devout vegan living with her grandparents. Little beknown to her loved ones, she harbors a dark secret, living a life with dissociative identity disorder as a serial killer. Her victims are typical sexual predators who don't know they are prey. Peirone spoke to Bleeding Cool about adapting Don Roff's Clare At Sixteen to the screen with the assistance of Guinevere Turner before penning the final draft of the script herself, how the film's themes were rooted in her own Catholic upbringing, and why Thorne was perfect for the lead.

Saint Clare: Writer-Director Mitzi Perone on Crafting a Serial Killer's Journey

Aside from Don's book, was there any additional inspiration that sparked your interest in making Saint Claire?'

Yes, so I brought in my personal experiences attending Catholic school and how religious imagery impacted my storytelling and psyche. A lot of the gory and violent elements of the film, along with my first film, have this Catholic religious undertone, and a baroque art breath to it. Besides the religious and spiritual element, I feel it brought some philosophical questions into the picture in terms of ethical dilemmas and moral ambiguity that the character is plagued by.

In a sense, from her earliest age and memory of the first time she had to deal with a violent situation, she could have walked away, and her life would have been just that of a bystander who turned her back in the face of injustice, violence, and something wrong, or she could've taken matter into her own hands. That's what she did, but in this Greek tragedy sense. Once you draw blood, blood will follow you for the rest of your life.

[Saint Clare is] the vein of "Your character is your destiny. Your character is your fate, and it follows Claire throughout, which then opens questions of our stance on social justice and whether that's being served. A vigilante isn't born out of their own will; they're born out of a feeling of loss of trust towards institutions. That's when Claire, at some point, halfway through the film, says, "I am the result of a fallen world."

[The themes of] Catholicism, Joan of Arc, and the dilemma of somebody who was called specifically, "Joan of Arc" first, "Oh, you're just a girl," and then, "You're insane. Oh no, well, you're just the girl, then somehow this girl is leading armies and winning battles." This illiterate peasant girl with no training, then you're insane, we're going to execute you, you're a martyr, and then you're a saint. I think Clare is aware she will not be understood. She's mentally preparing for the fact that she will probably also have to pay a very high price for the way that she's led her life. All these elements, from ethical, moral, philosophical questions to religious, spiritual, and social aspects, all went into shaping Clare.

How'd you go about developing the script with Gwenevere?

I didn't work with Guinevere. She penned the second draft of the script, and then I penned a third, which was the shooting script. Hopefully, the final result is a good mix of the two and the best of both worlds. Guinevere brought some exciting elements to the development of the story, such as the gender reversal of the play's subplot. I don't want to give too much away, but Clare is in college, and she partakes in the production of 'Death Trap,' which reflects exactly what's going on in her life. This alludes to what the theater director talks about, the theme of where victims, in reality, are masterminds.

The fact is, this is a Chinese box of whodunit mystery where you don't know who to trust, and I wanted to make sure all that wasn't just a subplot, but woven with the A plot. It also serves as the plot twist in the end. I penned the shooting script at the beginning of 2022 in about a month and a half, and then in spring 2022, Bella was attached, and then we were able to shoot that summer.

What made Bella perfect to play Claire?

I've known Bella for several years now, and I was able to learn that her range was a lot more nuanced and complex than the characters she may have been known for. The character we crafted with Clare dives into a much more cerebral, dark and ethically challenging side of her human exploration as an actor – when oftentimes, I find that young actresses that are considered traditionally beautiful are portrayed through a repetitive and objectifying gaze because of their very beauty, limiting them – but I felt like Clare was also an opportunity for her to broaden the scope of her craft and her talent and she does so magnificently. In a subconscious way, we showed that through the wardrobe in the film: she wears mini skirts as a way of deceit, when she's putting on an act, but day to day, Clare is in pants and big blouses; and lastly, the stark difference between the opening and closing frame to me, represented that undoing.

Saint Clare, which also stars Ryan Phillippe, Frank Whaley, Rebecca De Mornay, Joy Rovaris, Dylan Flashner, Bart Johnson, and Jan Luis Castellanos, is in select theaters and available digitally.

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