There’s a lot to like in the indie pic Portrait Of A Serial Monogamist, including its cheeky portrait of T.O.’s queer community and some very convincing dialogue. But one of its main pleasures is Vanessa Dunn’s DJ Lolly, who’s on a mission to snag breakup artist Elsie, played by Diane Flacks.
Dunn, a queer activist, stage actor and member of local band Vag Halen (a kick-ass all-women’s band that specializes in covers of male-centric rock) among other things, makes her feature film debut here, and she’s a natural. Dunn spoke to NOW the week before the movie’s opening at the Carlton.
You’re starring opposite Diane Flacks, a veteran performer. What was that like?
The best thing about Diane is that she’s such a good listener. Many actors go in knowing how they’re going to play it – they’re like robots. But she responded to my kind of acting and she’d go wherever any of our changes took us.
What was the hardest part about making your first feature? The best?
We just didn’t have a lot of time to make the film. That’s what happens with an indie movie. We had time for, maybe, three or four takes, which isn’t very much. I think I was on the shoot for only about four weeks.
I run so much on instinct when I’m onstage. On film, you’re usually being directed for the creator’s vision, but in this case, John [Mitchell] and Christina [Zeidler] allowed us freedom. If lines weren’t working, we could rework them. I don’t think they ever said, “Lolly would never say that.” They kind of got out of the way.
T.O.’s queer community has a starring role in Portrait. Tell me about those mass shoots.
We did one shoot at the Beaver, and it felt like everybody we knew was involved. When we didn’t finish in a day, they came the next day and the next – they were really committed. Christina has done so much for people, she could pull in a lot of favours.
The Inside Out screening must have been memorable.
We realized that this was a rare thing – a movie written by queer people, directed by queer people and starring queer people in our own city. It was like a snapshot of the queer community. So many scripts and images come to me that aren’t written by queer people, and I think, “Are you serious? What is this?”
But I assume you still like performing live.
Well, if I’m playing in Vag Halen to an audience who’s resistant, I get fiercer and louder, whereas in life women tend to get smaller and quieter. But I have this great avenue where I can get in people’s faces and say whatever I want because it’s my own fucking stage.
Read our review of Portrait of a Serial Monogamist here.
