MARIANE: Ok, well first of all, thank you for sitting with us this morning, we really appreciate it.
AVA: Thank you for having me!
MARIANE: And congratulations on your movie. It’s such a good movie, we really loved it!
AVA: Thank you so much! I really appreciate hearing that! It’s my honor to make it for the world to see it.
MARIANE: So first of all, you mentioned last night [at the premiere] that some parts of the movie were inspired by your own teenage years, so I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about it and how it felt to revisit that time in your life.
AVA: For sure. So, um, I’m first gen. So, I was born and raised in North Van, and my parents are from Iran. So, at home I was speaking one language, and eating one type of food, and then I would go to school, and if I brought that food, for example, to school, everyone was like, “Ah.” But then on the days when I brought McDonald’s, it was like the cool thing to do. So, like, a lot of Foreigner was actually ripped from like, I’d say, my elementary school years, like even when I was between the ages of 10 to 12. And that’s why I decided that the target audience for this movie should be tweens and like younger teens that are new to horror because I think when you're in an environment where you're dealing with a lot of like personal grief and trauma, lost a lot of people in my life during that age, but like still having to go to school and also deal with this dual life like can bring a lot of depression to like young people. So, I wanted to make a film that would help me kind of heal that part of myself, but I didn't know it when I was like writing the film. That just happened by accident.
MARIANE: Oh, that's nice! And also, I was wondering why the 2000s?
AVA: Yeah. Again, like that's when I grew up. That's when I was a kid and when I was a teen, like I was just about to go into high school, I think in like 2010. So, um, yeah, it was like a very vibrant and nostalgic part of my life that like I wish now in my 20s that like I could live then cause there was like physical media and like cute butterfly clips. And it's funny because now all of that stuff is coming back, but as a trend. Um, so yeah, I just kind of wanted to go back to that time in my life and like relive the childhood years that I didn't like fully get to enjoy. So yeah.
MARIANE: Cause it's such like a fun era. Like I like it a lot.
AVA: Yes!
MARIANE: And also speaking of the 2000s, like the way the bubble-gum pop aesthetic blends with the horror setting is just, like, it works so well.
AVA: Thank you. Thank you so much.
MARIANE: We were wondering, like, how did you approach balancing those two contrasting tones?
AVA: I think a lot of it was honestly my cinematographer, cause he naturally has like a much darker style than me, and I'm very like pop colors and like fun. So, like when you smash the two together, it's like even with the makeup, like there's some kind of fallout happening with like the hot pink eyes shadow, and it looks kind of gritty and messed up, but it's still pink. So, I feel like my team's desire to go dark and my desire to be kind of fun clashed in a really fun way that I think makes it almost scarier. Like, if you have three girls who all look the same. I also think on that note of the three girls that all look the same, I feel like our society is like that right now because there's so much like Botox and Juvéderm and like all these like posts on Tik Tok of like women telling each other like how we should look, like what is what is the standard of beauty. So, almost everyone looks the same. And I saw a video of a girl who like got so much plastic surgery done she could not move her face, but she was doing she was like angry in the video. So, like I think that alone, the fact that everybody is conforming to look one way and think one way is really scary, and I see that all the time with like beauty standards. So fun combo.
MARIANE: Yeah, no that that was great. I really like the atmosphere of the movie and like how it blends together. That was just like perfect.
AVA: Thank you so much. Thank you.
MARIANE: And like there's also the music in the movie that adds like such a great energy.
AVA: Thank you.
MARIANE: And I was wondering what was the process like when it came to envisioning and creating the music, and if you had like some uh specific songs or artists that inspired you?
AVA: For sure. So, um I grew up watching a lot of Requiem for a Dream. And I really like, I think I learned a bit about editing just through watching that movie, and like how fast the cuts are and montagey and like we tried to integrate that into the hair dye scene. So, I presented my composer with like some of the tracks from Requiem for a Dream and then also some tracks from IT, specifically Georgie Meet Pennywise, and I was like "listen to these strings". They're going down, and like I love music. I'm a musician. So, I was able to convey to them, like, I like this part of this, and I like the beat here. And then they were like, cool, this is all great, but like what if we gave you this? And then they showed me this like weird synthy beat - it was very like Halloween almost. And I was like, "Yeah, okay. Whatever you guys want to do, like run with it." And then, like it just fit really well and eventually became kind of the theme for Yasmin's anxiety through the movie, like every time she gets stressed or nervous, like music gets louder and all that. So yeah.
MARIANE: Yeah, that's great. And also, speaking of influences, are there any films that inspired you? Cause I felt like this movie was kind of Mean Girls (2004) meets like Smile (2022) and Carrie (1976) in a way.
AVA: Thank you! Okay, huge compliment because those are like my favorite movies. Like when I was thinking of who to cast for Rachel, I like thought a lot about the smile poster. Like I wanted a girl that looked like, I think her name is Caitlyn Stacy, like the actress on the poster, and then like Chloe [Macleod] submitted her tape, and it worked really well. Um, but yeah, like Mean Girls meets The Exorcist (1973) was what I had pitched like to my crew. Not to say like we are those films, but like just the blending of the aesthetics together more than anything. Carrie's one of my favorite horror movies. So, yeah, all of those had an influence. And then also Coraline (2009). Coraline was like my favorite movie also growing up as a kid, and like I think it was the first time I was exposed to horror per se. Like I watched a lot of TV horror like with my mom, but that was the one that I went like to sleep with nightmares of the spider mom crawling up and like she that's a fun movie because she dresses up in like really cute clothes and has blue hair but like lives in this very dark world and like but she's still very animated. So that's something I tried to bring in.
MARIANE: Oh well, that's nice. And also, I was wondering how was it like to be writer, director, editor, and producer because that seems like a lot, but that's also very cool that you got to do all this.
AVA: Thank you!
MARIANE: So, how was it like to have all those roles?
AVA: Yes, so I feel like with a lot of indie films, just because of how tight the budgets are, I hear this like more and more every day, and the tools are so accessible that so many directors are like editing their own projects. I think on the substance like Coralie Fargeat also was a co-editor or something and it was like a blessing and a curse in a way because like so much work so much to do, but I got to like really control every stage of like the story first because I got to write it and then I got to do the shots, and I knew exactly how they were going to be in the edit, so the edit was like fairly straightforward. I just had to find the takes that I like and kind of shape the performances. Sometimes I would have Rose look down and then look up because I knew that I wanted like the three girls to be saying something to her in the classroom, and then I was going to cut to like a reaction of her doing that. And so, those were like technical things that I was able to achieve. But at the same time, it's like a curse in the sense of the workload and in the sense of like an extreme responsibility. And like I've seen already reviews where it's like “Ava Maria Safai is great” and then “Ava Maria Safai doesn't know what she's doing”. So, it's very like a lot kind of falls on me, which is interesting, but also great because I had so much control over the story. So live or die, it goes down with me. Yeah.
MARIANE: Like, was it kind of overwhelming at some point? Cause like when you're a director and you're working with an editor, you have like another point of view, but this time you're both. So how was it like did you like were there any other people like helping you, giving you insights and all that stuff?
AVA: Oh, for sure! I test-screened the movie multiple times through my family, my friends, my partner, saw it like I think a thousand times or something like that, and originally the ending was very different, and then I would show it to people, and we were all kind of like oh it's not strong. Um I showed it to some of my editor friends as well for some perspective, and they helped me kind of reshape some parts. I ended up cutting out some scenes that were disrupting the flow. But I think what worked for me as an editor is like similarly to how I direct, like I'm not afraid to cut things. Like I figure that if we just got a great shot, I can give that to the team for their portfolio, but it doesn't necessarily need to be in the movie because it's like a disservice to the to the work that people put in. So yeah, just being like really straightforward and like editing in passes starting first with like overall story. Let's like see if we can have a clear beginning, middle, end, then going on Yasamin and making sure like her journey is fulfilled, the tone, like checking ones for horror or checking once for comedy, and like being really objective that way and just making sure all the beats are met.
MARIANE: Oh, that's great. And also, to finish, not to be too cliche, but do you have any advice for like people who would like to do a film?
AVA: Oh, yeah.
MARIANE: A first film.
Ava: Oh yeah, that's a great question. I'm like, I even have advice for myself on just like things that now, now that I've done a feature and like received feedback and learned so much. I think like my advice to myself even had I done this again is like go even crazier like be bolder and make really big decisions and stick to your gut because I feel like the moments of the film that worked best for me and like got the best reactions out of the audience were the scenes that like I really had a clear vision on from the beginning. And I think that's something that like I will shape over time as I make more films and more projects. But I started initially with shorts, so like practicing on a short, making sure that your short is a succinct, clear idea on its own, that it's not like necessarily a proof of concept for a feature, but it has its own legs. And yeah, I learned more just making movies, even if they were garbage, like than I did in film and theater school. So yeah, make the movies and like stick to your gut, and make sure people watch the movie and give you feedback.
MARIANE: Yeah! Well, thank you for uh taking the time to talk with us. We really appreciate it.
AVA: Thank you so much for having me.
MARIANE: Hopefully, we'll get to see another project of yours.
AVA: I would love that. I started writing the next one, so…
MARIANE: Oh, really?
AVA: Yes.
MARIANE: That's interesting. Yes. Can't wait.
AVA: Thank you.
Mariane: Thank you so much.
Read our Foreigner review here
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