Speaker 1: Oh it's showtime. People say, good money to see this movie.
Speaker 2: When they go out to a theater, they want cold sodas,
Speaker 2: hot popcorn, and no monsters in the protection booth.
Speaker 1: Everyone pretend podcasting isn't boring.
Speaker 3: Don it off.
Speaker 1: Visualize what happened the day you were arrested.
Speaker 4: The house is being auctioned off next week.
Speaker 3: Why didn't they tell me for.
Speaker 4: What you got fifty ground.
Speaker 2: The other way?
Speaker 1: What sire? Hey? Through this is my plan. You are suspended, Franny?
Speaker 1: Why and the.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately your salary is not at all close to what
Speaker 2: we request for a loan.
Speaker 3: Good d put your hand when I can see, hey, don't.
Speaker 4: Make what I care.
Speaker 3: Let's go.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you're a girl. Who give me five
Speaker 1: grand and I'll plan one. What's in the back?
Speaker 4: Yeah, my god.
Speaker 1: I am so sorry, officer. It's just it's our first
Speaker 1: dry safe in love to Betty so whooping my horse.
Speaker 3: That horse is worth fifty grand.
Speaker 1: Now hiding the money in the saddle, Billy. I'm not
Speaker 1: leaving you until I get my five grand. I have
Speaker 1: a blam se a tiny, tiny detour fifty to fifty.
Speaker 1: After that we're strangers.
Speaker 4: The one I want to see I got them magic.
Speaker 3: To It's the.
Speaker 1: I'm tired, broke, pregnant lady here.
Speaker 5: Hi, how are you today?
Speaker 1: My friend? Who are you? God sent me? Wow? Really here?
Speaker 2: You need to give him a reason.
Speaker 5: Hey, folks, welcome to a special episode of the Projection Booth.
Speaker 5: I'm your host Mike White. On this episode, I am
Speaker 5: joined by Troy Leanne Johnson and Grace Van Deen all
Speaker 5: about their new film Silver Star. It is the story
Speaker 5: of a young African American woman who, after she gets
Speaker 5: out of prison, kidnaps a pregnant teenager during a failed
Speaker 5: bank robbery. So it's kind of a road movie, kind
Speaker 5: of a buddy movie at times. Yeah, there's a lot
Speaker 5: of comedy in this a lot of serious stuff as well.
Speaker 5: Had a great time talking with Grace and Troy, and
Speaker 5: I hope you have a great time listening to it.
Speaker 5: Check your local listings. Silver Star should be playing right now.
Speaker 5: I want to know a little bit more about you
Speaker 5: guys now. Grace, I understand you grew up in like
Speaker 5: an entertainment family.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I did, but like it made me not want
Speaker 1: to go down this path, So I guess it was
Speaker 1: meant to be.
Speaker 5: At the end of the day, what changed your mind.
Speaker 1: I really wanted to be a therapist, and then I
Speaker 1: kind of fell into acting, and then I found out
Speaker 1: I discovered that acting is a bit more therapeutic for me,
Speaker 1: and maybe that's what I was searching for all along
Speaker 1: in my path down psychology.
Speaker 5: So and Troy, how about yourself? Look at you just said.
Speaker 3: I started doing theater as a kid, and I would
Speaker 3: just go to like theater camp. I've just found acting
Speaker 3: fun since I was little, and no one in my
Speaker 3: family has ever done it. So I think they were
Speaker 3: all like, what is this weird thing that you're sure?
Speaker 5: What kind of roles are you? Guys typically attracted to
Speaker 5: when it comes to what you want to be doing
Speaker 5: and acting.
Speaker 3: I think I like getting to play people who, at
Speaker 3: least on the surface, feel very different from me. I
Speaker 3: think I like trying to figure out what I guess
Speaker 3: at our cores is like similar. I think that can
Speaker 3: be fun.
Speaker 1: I feel like the things I get cast in have
Speaker 1: never been like what I ultimately want to play, like.
Speaker 1: I really want to play like a love interest like
Speaker 1: the Notebook or Boo Valentine, And but people don't see
Speaker 1: me that way. They often see me either very pregnant,
Speaker 1: or very dead. I don't know what that sounds about me.
Speaker 1: I think I need to do some internal work to
Speaker 1: get people to look at me differently. Any times you
Speaker 1: played pregnant, I think I can say that I'm pregnant
Speaker 1: on this movie as well. This is like my sixth
Speaker 1: time do.
Speaker 5: You just wear a belly? Well? Do you think?
Speaker 1: I guess so they like the extra weight on me
Speaker 1: to be fair. Silver Star is like, even though I'm
Speaker 1: very pregnant, it is the most different I've ever been
Speaker 1: for a role. I talk a lot and I'm very
Speaker 1: I think Franny is very positive outlook on the world,
Speaker 1: which I usually don't get cast in that. So that
Speaker 1: was a nice shift.
Speaker 5: Well, Grace, how did you get cast in Silver Star?
Speaker 1: It was originally another actress and actor cast in the
Speaker 1: roles of Billy and Franny, and then schedule conflicts happened,
Speaker 1: and I think Troy and I just kind of it.
Speaker 1: We fell into its lap. But it was amazing, it
Speaker 1: was perfect. I remember our first chemistry read. I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be good.
Speaker 5: And the same question to you, Troy, what was your
Speaker 5: experience coming into this.
Speaker 3: I just got sent an audition for it and I
Speaker 3: read the script and I was like, I love this
Speaker 3: so much, and I just thought it was so sweet
Speaker 3: and vulnerable their relationship and then saying we did our
Speaker 3: chemistry read and I was like, wait, this is so wonderful.
Speaker 1: I remember reading the script and being like, this is
Speaker 1: so good, so good, No way in hell they cast me.
Speaker 5: Pray when you read the script, was Billy still a boy?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 3: I don't think I actually knew that Billy was supposed
Speaker 3: to be a boy at first until we started filming,
Speaker 3: or like after we had filmed it, and then they
Speaker 3: were like, oh, yeah, originally this was a man, and
Speaker 3: I was like, oh, I had no idea.
Speaker 1: I am so happy that it was like that. It
Speaker 1: ended up being us too, Like if it was anyone
Speaker 1: else I was playing opposite of it, it would have
Speaker 1: been a completely different movie. Like I think our relationship
Speaker 1: speaks so loud.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so too. It's just so sweet and
Speaker 3: it's so fun acting with you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's do it again. Let's put again please.
Speaker 5: That was my question as far as like the chemistry
Speaker 5: that you two have together on screen. I mean, it's
Speaker 5: not an easy relationship that you have through most of this,
Speaker 5: So how do you you know become friends, but yet
Speaker 5: maintain that distance as those characters.
Speaker 1: We lived together when we filmed, and I had just
Speaker 1: gotten a new puppy. So Troy like has the patience
Speaker 1: and the kindness of an angel, because that that dog
Speaker 1: was he was I mean, he's a baby Pluto, but
Speaker 1: he was so loud and so like he was a puppy,
Speaker 1: and she was just like, yeah, I don't mind living
Speaker 1: with a puppy.
Speaker 5: There's always that question that actors get asked, as far
Speaker 5: as I know, can you ride a horse? And any
Speaker 5: actor with their soult will say, yeah, yeah, of course
Speaker 5: I can ride a horse. But Troy, could you ride
Speaker 5: a horse? Before you got this role?
Speaker 3: I couldn't ride a horse? And I was like, I'm
Speaker 3: not gonna lie. I'm not getting thrown off of a horse.
Speaker 3: I was like, no, I can't do this, you guys, and.
Speaker 1: Then really, really you didn't lie.
Speaker 3: I did not lie. I was like, I can't ride
Speaker 3: a horse. I don't want to die. I can't do this.
Speaker 1: I lie about everything. I love that it. Can you
Speaker 1: fly a plane? Yes?
Speaker 3: Why your plane is crazy? No?
Speaker 1: Yes? Actually ten years expence No.
Speaker 3: I was so so scared, but they actually they got
Speaker 3: me like horseback writing lessons before we started, which was
Speaker 3: very fun, but I was very I was very scared,
Speaker 3: so I would be lying about flying a plane away.
Speaker 5: It's too anxious comparing how you've looked in other things
Speaker 5: versus how you look in Silver Star Troy, you have
Speaker 5: this dramatic shift. I mean, what all things did you
Speaker 5: have to go through other than the eyepatch to get
Speaker 5: to this role of Billy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was definitely like a chain in hair. I
Speaker 3: don't think I've ever worn my hair like that before.
Speaker 3: It was really fun getting to try that style. The
Speaker 3: clothes were just a lot baggier. I think the way
Speaker 3: that Billy moves is just a lot different from me.
Speaker 3: I think like where she leads in her body is
Speaker 3: very different. But I really enjoyed it. I think usually,
Speaker 3: and I don't know if you can relate to this grace,
Speaker 3: but I just feel like when you're a young woman,
Speaker 3: you're usually getting so like dulled up for roles, which
Speaker 3: can be very fun. But I think getting to play
Speaker 3: someone who like wasn't getting their makeup done, wasn't wearing
Speaker 3: tailored clothes like that was really cool to get to do.
Speaker 1: I feel like our characters are so opposite in my way,
Speaker 1: where yeah, you usually do get onto a project and
Speaker 1: they want to make you look like that'turally pretty, but
Speaker 1: for you they were like no makeup, and then for
Speaker 1: me they were like rainbows on her face.
Speaker 5: Did you have to wear the pregnancy belly all the
Speaker 5: time or was it just a shots where you showed.
Speaker 1: It was all the time? I yeah, it was all the.
Speaker 5: Well in both of these roles are so physical, and
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, Troy, you get to engage in
Speaker 5: some stage combat and everything, and you guys are just
Speaker 5: running all the time. It feels like, I mean, it
Speaker 5: must have been an exhausting shoot for you.
Speaker 3: Fun to get to do that. I think at first
Speaker 3: I was like, I don't even go to the gym,
Speaker 3: Like I can't. I don't think I can do this.
Speaker 3: But it was really enjoyable. And I think when you
Speaker 3: really get into the character and like the circumstances of
Speaker 3: the scene, it just I think adrenaline just kind of
Speaker 3: takes over.
Speaker 1: I think because I knew it with like almost everything
Speaker 1: I film, I'm quite used to it. And then I
Speaker 1: couldn't really complain because our director, the female counterpart of
Speaker 1: the directing due we worked with. She was like eight
Speaker 1: months brightant, so if I complained, I'd feel like a
Speaker 1: dick because she wasn't gonna take her belly off at
Speaker 1: the end.
Speaker 6: Of the amount that you have to speak in the movie, Grace,
Speaker 6: I mean, it feels like there are times where I'm like,
Speaker 6: please take breath because you're just going at it all
Speaker 6: written down, or did you get to ad lib anything?
Speaker 1: Both? There were moments where I ad libbed a lot
Speaker 1: of it was the script, Thille. It was just a
Speaker 1: really good script. I was scared because I couldn't stop
Speaker 1: thinking about how annoying people were going to find me.
Speaker 1: But I think that's another nod Detroit because you kind
Speaker 1: of take how you feel about Franny from Billy. You're like, Okay, well,
Speaker 1: how is she reacting to this? And as Billy starts
Speaker 1: to warm up to Franny, I feel like I've seen
Speaker 1: the audience start to warm up in the same time
Speaker 1: code as her. So I'm like, oh, thank you, Troy,
Speaker 1: thank you.
Speaker 5: And you mentioned that there's a directing duo on this
Speaker 5: between Rubin and Lola, and I was curious how that was.
Speaker 5: I mean, they were writer and director duo, which is
Speaker 5: pretty great. How is it working with them just on set.
Speaker 5: I mean do they kind of split up their duties
Speaker 5: or just how is that to work with a pair
Speaker 5: of directors.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they split it up pretty equally. Indie filmmaking is
Speaker 1: always going to be so special to me. Like big productions,
Speaker 1: there's definitely that thought behind everyone's mind of like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we really need this to succeed, and with indie filmmaking
Speaker 1: there's just such a different art form towards it where
Speaker 1: we're like that the main objective is I really want
Speaker 1: audience to feel something, and Lola and Rubin are really
Speaker 1: adamant about like that being their goal, which is beautiful. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think I felt really similarly to that. I think
Speaker 3: when you're doing an indie project, there's so much more
Speaker 3: room to, I think, just explore and find different ways
Speaker 3: to express yourself. And I think that Lola and Rubin
Speaker 3: were very open to that, which was really nice and refreshing.
Speaker 3: And I mean, just going back to Lola, like being
Speaker 3: pregnant during the entire thing, It's like she's like running
Speaker 3: right alongside us in the rain and in the freezing
Speaker 3: cold while pregnant. It's just like I was like, this
Speaker 3: woman is such a badass. That's crazy. She cares so much.
Speaker 1: Cares, she cares. Yeah, it's really beautiful to see people care.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Where did you guys actually shoot this at?
Speaker 3: We were in Kentucky for I think like or three
Speaker 3: or four days, and then New Jersey in the New Jersey. Yeah,
Speaker 3: those Civil.
Speaker 5: War reenactors were those mostly real people.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they were all real reenactors. Like we went to
Speaker 3: an actual reenactment that was happening and they were like
Speaker 3: helping me ride the horse and like one of the
Speaker 3: women like gave me her uniform that she wears, Like
Speaker 3: that's a real reenactor's uniform, and it was really cool.
Speaker 3: I'd never been to anything like that before.
Speaker 1: It was different.
Speaker 3: It was very different.
Speaker 1: This is crazy, And I think what we learned about
Speaker 1: it is like they pay to be included in that,
Speaker 1: Like it's like it's like a paid experience to go
Speaker 1: live in a tent and experience that time period authentically.
Speaker 1: I don't know that I would sign myself up for
Speaker 1: that personally, but it was interesting to observe for sure.
Speaker 1: Like the two days, I think I was like, that
Speaker 1: was cool to get to experience. But I think, really,
Speaker 1: like if these are just people who are so interested
Speaker 1: in history, and I think, like living out there like
Speaker 1: that is wild. I was like I couldn't do it, but.
Speaker 3: They killed it. They were so into it. I was like,
Speaker 3: this feels very realistic.
Speaker 1: It did feel very realistic.
Speaker 5: This came out originally was it twenty twenty four?
Speaker 1: So it went to a festival in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: and then it came out in France in November last year,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, and now it's coming to theaters in
Speaker 1: the US March thirteenth.
Speaker 5: Have you guys seen it with an audience?
Speaker 1: I have? I saw in France at that festival with
Speaker 1: like hundreds of people in the audience, and Troy, I
Speaker 1: wish you were there so badly.
Speaker 3: I know, I wish I could have been there.
Speaker 1: Because but like the moments were like you're funnier or
Speaker 1: Franny has her moments. Like the audience was like laughing.
Speaker 1: It was like hundreds of people laughing or clapping. It was.
Speaker 1: It was the most surreal feeling.
Speaker 5: Which festival was that, do you remember?
Speaker 3: Uh? Doauville?
Speaker 1: And then Troy, I think you saw it in a
Speaker 1: theater in La right, And then I was out of
Speaker 1: town for that one. I did.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there was there was like a small screening, so
Speaker 3: I did get to see it on like a bigger screen,
Speaker 3: but it was a very small group of people and
Speaker 3: it was like some of the other actors, some managers.
Speaker 3: So I haven't seen it with like just like a
Speaker 3: normal audience of people who hadn't seen it before. But
Speaker 3: I would like to are you gonna go on the thirteenth?
Speaker 3: I think I am. I'm kind of like nervous, like
Speaker 3: I feel very shy about it, but I do kind
Speaker 3: of want to experience that.
Speaker 5: It's gonna be kind of surreal to see yourself projected
Speaker 5: so big on the screen, Like how has that been?
Speaker 5: And have you gotten used to that feeling?
Speaker 3: I've not gotten used to it. No, It's it's so
Speaker 3: strange because it's like I'll be watching like this film,
Speaker 3: for example, and I'm seeing like Grace act and I'm like,
Speaker 3: oh my gosh, she's so talented. I'm so into this.
Speaker 3: I'm like suspending disbelief, and then suddenly I see my
Speaker 3: face and I'm like, oh my god, what is going on?
Speaker 1: I get that that's relatable, you know, especially with how
Speaker 1: the world is right now. Seeing my face that big
Speaker 1: and how expressive I was as Franny, I'm like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, do I need to make a botox apployment?
Speaker 5: Torey, what do you have coming up? What are you
Speaker 5: working on these days?
Speaker 3: I actually got to be in this other indie film
Speaker 3: a bit ago, and that's supposed to be coming out
Speaker 3: soon too, so that's like doing the fact I know.
Speaker 3: I'm excited that I'm it's doing like the festival circuit
Speaker 3: right now too, So it's been cool to have these
Speaker 3: two very different projects kind of coming out at the
Speaker 3: same time. So I'm just excited for that. What's it called, Troy,
Speaker 3: It's called Sugar Beach, and it's it's kind of similar
Speaker 3: in that it's like a coming of age story, but
Speaker 3: I think the experiences of those characters are just very different.
Speaker 3: Like they're growing up in California, their families have like
Speaker 3: a little more money where I think with Billy and Franny,
Speaker 3: it's very much like they're on their own.
Speaker 5: And Grace, I know you're over in India shooting something.
Speaker 5: What else do you have coming up?
Speaker 1: I keep getting thrown into horror movies, so I've got
Speaker 1: a lot of the scary genre stuff coming out. I
Speaker 1: told you they want me dead.
Speaker 5: I definitely remember Troy, you were in what Totally Killer?
Speaker 3: I wasn't Totally Killer? Yeah, that was it was super fun. Love.
Speaker 3: I love horror movies, so I'm very excited to watch
Speaker 3: everything that Grace is making right now and acting in
Speaker 3: them is just the craziest, most fun experience.
Speaker 5: Definitely feels like we're in a really golden time for
Speaker 5: horror films. I mean, seeing trailers just this weekend for
Speaker 5: they Will Kill You or Ready or not too. I mean, nice,
Speaker 5: strong female protagonists leading these horror films is pretty great.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 5: And then having two strong leads and Silver Star is
Speaker 5: fantastic as well. So that was so nice to have
Speaker 5: both of you up there. And yeah, that chemistry between
Speaker 5: you is so great and I just could really tell
Speaker 5: that behind the scenes. You definitely had a lot of
Speaker 5: good friendship going.
Speaker 1: On Silver Star. The sequel is just us running away
Speaker 1: from a serial killer.
Speaker 3: I'll do it, honestly, that's sounds great.
Speaker 5: Who's going to be pregnant this time? We both are,
Speaker 5: right and Grace, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 5: This was so great, and Grace, thank you so much
Speaker 5: for setting this up.
Speaker 3: No, thank you so.
Speaker 4: Much, and thank you for the pop up questions, thank you.
Speaker 2: Dream about make much new lead of jams sitting by the.
Speaker 1: Sun. You so.
Speaker 7: You gave me a n F.
Speaker 2: On them. Ain't even shock so.
Speaker 1: You can't read the sun A man in alone the
Speaker 1: min hone a ready go by.
Speaker 2: This time back the time around that.
Speaker 7: Swell goda again read somewhere so where.
Speaker 2: You got a drinking and wadkinda think about the sun,
Speaker 2: the song beating mad and motion to see on that
Speaker 2: maas the sun see the Sun.