Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Joy Rovaris, quiver distribution, Saint Clare

Saint Clare: Rovaris on Action Thriller, Family-Type Bonding & More

Joy Rovaris (Beauty in Black) spoke to Bleeding Cool about her latest action-thriller in Quiver's Saint Claire, Bella Thorne & more.

Joy Rovaris is always about bringing authenticity and intensity to her roles, whether it's bringing the tragic life of Bobbi Kristina, the daughter of singer Whitney Houston, to the screen, or her current Netflix drama Beauty in Black as she works her way up in Hollywood. Her latest is the Quiver Distribution action thriller Saint Clare, based on the Don Roff novel Clare at Sixteen, which 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. Rovaris spoke with Bleeding Cool about working with writer-director Mitzi Peirone, bonding with Thorne and Rebecca De Mornay, and working through the cathartic nature of film, including the climactic final scene. The following contains spoilers.

Saint Clare Star Joy Rovaris on Bonding with Bella Thorne and Rebecca De Mornay On and Off Screen, Film's Dark Themes & More

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about 'Saint Clare?'
I like the whole "fight for justice vigilante," and it's a girl doing it. It's right up my alley. I love it when characters are smart and they're getting away with things no one knows, so that drew me in.

What's it like working with Mitzi as a creative?

Oh my gosh! Mitzi is so fiery. She gets the job done. What inspired me about Mitzi was that I was watching this gorgeous woman who was a model, you don't typically see this type of person as a director, and you often don't see people listening to them. Mitzi took charge and made everyone fearless, "Nope, nope, nope." She would come in with her vest and her yoga pants, looking stunning as ever, then open her mouth, and it was like beauty, brains, and brawn all in one. I was so inspired by her and in awe. I had been on many sets but never seen anything like Mitzi. She's great.

How do you break down your dynamic with Bella and Rebecca on set?

Initially, Bella was very quiet, and we didn't see her much, but the more scenes we got to do, the more I realized this girl is hilarious. She just seemed so quiet and reserved, but when it came to our moments, I was laughing all the time. She's so funny, down-to-earth, and warm.

Regarding Rebecca, I ended up doing a test read with her months later. Since we hit it off, we would talk about the politics happening at the time. She's a super activist, women's rights type of things, and she has much wisdom, knowledge, and creativity when she turned on as Gigi, Oh my gosh! I would watch her in the scene repeatedly, because she was so good. Yeah, that's pretty much the dynamic. She was almost like our real grandmother on set, sometimes our aunt more so. She would shoot the shit. She and Bella were both fun. Bella's a lot shyer and more reserved than people know. When she's comfortable, she is hilarious.

Can you talk about the intense climactic scene at the kidnapper's home where you had that sequence there, working with Bella, Ryan, and everyone else?

Everyone was so professional and so good. It was easy to slip into that fear and believe what was happening. The set design looked authentic and amazing. Everyone's doing their job and taking it so seriously. A lot of things can go wrong in that type of situation, so everyone was being super professional and made me feel very safe. It made me feel safe enough to fully go there mentally and physically with the role. Bella was also going there with a role [as Clare], and because we had already had some bonding time before that scene, we had a rapport already. It allowed us to trust each other in that moment creatively, and then feed off each other when [Clare] comes in and saves [Juliana], and they had this whole emotional breakdown. It was almost like a cathartic release for both of us, then Ryan's top tier. He's so professional and good. Doesn't hurt; he looks even better in real life, too.

Was playing Juliana typically within your wheelhouse, or is it something you don't normally do in your other projects?

I usually get the girl-next-door type of role, but like Bobbi Kristina or Juliana, I was able to have this whole range of emotions. [Juliana] has a whole full arc where she starts welcoming and open, but naïve to a point. She's also fiercely defensive of her friend and protective, and then when the unthinkable happens to her, she survives it by the skin of her teeth. She's someone completely different, now. It was fun to play her through all different motions from naïve to trauma to surviving trauma to now a little bit grown, more experienced, and multifaceted. I loved it.

Saint Clare, which also stars Frank Whaley, Dylan Flashner, Bart Johnson, and Jan Luis Castellanos, will be released in select theaters and available digitally on July 18th.

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