Once upon a time, there was a Canadian web series called Carmilla. An update of Sheridan Le Fanu’s gothic chiller, the show ran on YouTube for three seasons and followed college student Laura Hollis (Elise Bauman) as she investigated her mysterious new roommate Carmilla (Natasha Negovanlis), ultimately unlocking a complex supernatural conspiracy – and the love of their lives.
Nice, right? The series was low-key and charming, sweetly romantic while also being off-handedly queer. It was embraced by a fan base that called themselves Creampuffs, and their enthusiasm led to Negovanlis winning the Fan Choice Award at the 2017 Canadian Screen Awards – where she gave a passionate speech about diversity and representation.
And that love led to The Carmilla Movie, a feature film that picks up five years after the end of the series, where Laura and the now-mortal Carmilla find their domestic bliss threatened by new occult complications.
The film is screening across Canada at selected Cineplex theatres tonight (October 26) before launching on the Fullscreen streaming platform on October 27.
NOW talked to Bauman and Negovanlis about making the transition from the web to the big screen.
So, after three years of watching these characters in five-minute segments, here’s The Carmilla Movie, which opens up the concept and sends them off in all sorts of new directions. It feels like a different animal. How do you approach that while still giving the hardcore fans the experience they expect?
Elise Bauman: Exactly! We’re reaching a broader audience now, which is fantastic. We’ve had such a niche audience throughout the run of the series and they’ve been so supportive and dedicated we really made this film for them. But it’s also so great to invite new people into the story, and invite new people into the world that maybe wouldn’t have willingly become a part of that world otherwise. And that’s what I’m really looking forward to: expanding past the previous borders and going out into a bigger world. It’s really exciting.
Natasha Negovanlis: And being part of Carmilla the show has been such an incredible gift. So to be able to explore these characters in a more in-depth way, and to see them on a big screen in a fully realized universe is just such a crazy trip.
Did the movie present any new challenges?
NN: On this particular project we’re just actors. So we didn’t have to deal with the logistics so much, and for us I think it was just very natural. This is the second feature film that Elise and I have done together [after Almost Adults] and then on top of that we have been working together [on the show] for three years now. We just have a wonderful working relationship and a wonderful friendship, and there’s so much trust and respect there that. It was just very natural it wasn’t complicated for us at all. We were nothing but excited to be able to take our chemistry even further.
The show only gave us glimpses of the characters through a webcam, but the movie literally opens up the world. You don’t have the restrictions of the web series, but you also don’t have whatever comfort levels you built up there.
EB: Yeah, there were definitely limitations within the web series, with it being a locked camera angle, but the series was really successful because of that homemade charm. We didn’t have the magic of editing at all, so what we filmed was what you saw. There was no trickery, there was no illusion. I think that’s why people really connected to it right off the bat. That being said, there were challenges in telling the story within that frame, – literally, the single frame. [laughter] And so being able to see the characters in action, in real time, as opposed to them retelling the scenario afterwards after they’ve had time to digest it and figure out what they’re going to say… I feel like we really elevated this story.
NN: It was definitely really nice to get the more private, intimate moments between these characters.
EB: The series was [filmed from the point of view of] Laura’s public vlog, so everything that was happening had an element of performance. Behaviour is very different in public than it is in private. So being able to see these characters in private, and see what’s really going on at the moment, was really fantastic.
And of course you had an army of fans watching. I have to admit, I wasn’t aware of the creampuff movement until Natasha’s speech at the Canadian Screen Awards.
EB: I love that you described it as the creampuff movement! [laughter]
I honestly don’t know what else to call it.
NN: I love it.
But the fandom can make demands. When you have a show that people connect with so passionately, there’s always a temptation to start catering to that audience at the expense of the characters. Giving people what they want rather than what they need. The show ended with Laura and Carmilla living happily ever after, but happily ever after is… boring.
EB: It does people a disservice to keep [their favourite characters] on a silver platter, in terms of having no conflict or things of that nature. So we need to present these people as real people who struggle with things, who make mistakes, who have to own up to their actions, who have to take responsibility for the things that they’ve done – which is actually a huge theme of the movie. And I think that really is what people want it’s just sometimes harder to digest. But I think we walked the line really well in this film.
NN: Yeah! To add to that, I think it’s great that the conflict and the angst doesn’t come from Laura and Carmilla’s relationship. There is drama, and there is conflict, and our characters are struggling with their own issues. But I love that the drama doesn’t come from relationship issues as a couple, they’re very strong together. And I think that’s refreshing because so often in media – especially when you have a lesbian relationship – it is [depicted as] very tumultuous and it’s great to see this couple who actually did get a happy ending, and you do have a healthy relationship. But at the same time they still make their own mistakes as individuals.
EB: A healthy relationship where they’re still working through those things together.
NN: And accept their flaws and forgive each other as well.
EB: Yeah, exactly.
I was thinking a lot about Natasha’s speech at the CSAs, where she laid out the importance of diverse representation in terms of sexuality and gender in popular entertainment. I’ve noticed that it seems so much easier for genre shows like Carmilla or Wynonna Earp or Killjoys or Orphan Black to have queer characters around than other, more quote-unquote “normal” narratives.
NN: I think that we still have a lot of work to do, but at the same time it is a very exciting time for diversity on screen. It’s really cool to have our screens reflect reality a little bit more. And I think the reason why it’s easy to do it through genre is that there is this [inherent] sense of otherness sometimes with the occult, or when you have a supernatural being. There’s almost a parallel between being in a marginalized group in the real world and feeling like the Other, which then translates to, you know, being a vampire in a world of humans. [laughter]
It’s nice to see people doing it with intent, though, instead of just letting the metaphor hang out there like certain shows did in the 90s.
NN: Some things were happy accidents as well. Like, when I first started working on Carmilla I didn’t intend to become an activist, and I didn’t intend for this to be as political as it became. I grew up in liberal Toronto in a liberal household, where I went to an arts high school where it was safe for me to be sexually fluid and to identify however I wanted to identify. It was really the Creampuff fandom that made me so aware of how desperate they were for positive representation on screen. And I think when you’re presented with the opportunity to take responsibility, you can either step away from it or you can use your platform as a way to create positive social change. And there it was, and it’s become so important to me.
And it’s clearly important to the fans as well, both in terms of them loving the characters and seeing themselves reflected back.
EB: I think one of the greatest things about the web series is that while we do celebrate the fact that it is about a relationship between two women – and we don’t shy away from that fact – I think it really normalizes it as well. Natasha was talking about otherness, but we don’t point the lens on it as a separate thing.
NN: Yeah.
EB: Like, there was never an episode that went into detail on their backstories of coming out it’s not even discussed. It’s just accepted as fact, like any other story point. We need to head in the direction of stories that from a perspective of sexuality not being the defining quality of a character. It’s so important, because it teaches people that they are more than their sexuality. It’s a big part of them, and it’s part of their lives, but it’s no more or less important than anything else. It doesn’t need to be separated or defined or plotted out. I think people can relate to that more and just go: “Oh, great. These are people, they happen to be in love with people of the same gender and they’re just doing things like I do every day.”
Sure. Fighting ghosts and battling evil.
NN: Yeah! [laughter]
EB: Right! You know, normal things like that.
