Interview by Christine Thompson
Isabel Lucas stars as “Gyp,” a Mad Max type of female outlaw in Australian Auteur Shane Abbot’s film THE OSIRIS CHILD. A wildly ambitious indie film, it’s receiving wide critical acclaim.
Synopsis: Set in the future in a time of interplanetary colonization, an unlikely pair race against an impending global crisis and are confronted by the monsters that live inside us all. Starring Kellan Lutz (Expendables 3, The Twilight Saga, HBO’s “The Comeback” Rachel Griffiths (Hacksaw Ridge, ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters,” HBO’s “Six Feet Under” Isabel Lucas (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Immortals, NBC’s “Emerald City”) and Teagan Croft (Seven Network’s “Home and Away”) THE OSIRIS CHILD: SCIENCE FICTION VOLUME ONE is streaming on Amazon and other VOD platforms now.
AMFM: Are you a fan of Scifi, Isabel? What are some of your favorites?
I love so many different genres of film, and I love SciFi. Star Wars, we talked about Star Wars a lot when we were shooting just because Shane is obsessed in a really good, contagious way.
I came to SciFi late, in my twenties. I didn’t grow up watching them. I love the principles behind Star Wars, the jedi ninja, and The Force and The Resistance metaphors underneath it. It has many deep layers, that’s part of why I was drawn to Shane’s script, OSIRIS CHILD.
Initially, I found it to be very violent. I’d been reading a lot of Hollywood scripts that were very vacuous, aggressive and violent but with no substance or no reason to it.
So I actually passed after reading some of the script. But my agent said, “Isabel you need to read it all the way throught.” I know that it was very immature, and just juding a book by it’s cover. By the time I finished reading it, I realized there was a genius behind all the density and the darkness.
It needed the violence and polarity of the darkness in the monster in the shadow to parallel, cause at the end of the story, the release of the whole moral of the story, it was her love and her belief in him, as well as her need for protection that called it out of him, that could transform the beast.
That’s why I loved it, it had a deep, heartfelt message underneath it all, and that’s very much Shane’s style.
AMFM: What’s It like to work with Shane?
He’s Incredible. One of my top two experiences on any film set. I absolutely love working with him, I wish I could always work with people like him. He’s so passionate, fun, and humble. At his core, he’s really committed to storytelling and the truth. He’s got a really great barometer for truth, and a really good bullshit radar, so he really pushes everyone to follow the truth in themselves. You can’t emulate something, or give an illustration of something unless you inhabit it. It’s really liberating when someone believes in you enough to go the full distance.
So everyone adores him, anyone and everybody I’ve met speaks the same way about him, highly, and he’s really one of a kind.
AMFM: How much fun was it to play Gyp, a Mad Max-like female outlaw?
It was liberating and really fun. I loved what I learned from her and where I could go. I learned a lot about how to say no through playing her. I learned a lot about myself. It was liberating to play someone so reckless, but playful and volatile. I really had to follow every impulse and instint, because she’s so alive. She’s kind of explosive.
I literally had two scenes with a t-shirt over my head The most random, erratic kind of thing, but it would make sense to her. I think the way Shane edited everything gave a full picture of who she is. We went to some extreme crazy places, we do so much improvisation. There were a lot of other crazy takes that never went in there. Seeing the film, I feel she does come across the way I felt her, and want to express her.
AMFM: If you don’t mind me asking, what kinds of things did you learn about yourself through that character?
One of the things was being able to say no. Exactly that. Maybe this is more of a female topic, in that the feminine want to to take care of people, is naturally very empathic, we don’t want to displease people. Which can be a beautiful quality, it can really be a strength, to be so empathic. But the shadow side of that is pleasing people and to play the opposite side of that burnt down a lot of conventions that I had adhered to. There’s something in that – the not giving a fuck, and allowing that wild self (which doesn’t need to be labeled as negative in anyway). Playing a wild and primal character was really fun and really good for me. It was more archetypal, the animal that you can’t tame. It could defend you and protect you and love you or it could rip your head off.
AMFM: What did you draw on as a source of inspiration for the character? Are there people that you’ve known like that?
Of course, many people. I wasn’t used to being so volatile and impulsive and reactive. But not from an angry place, but an impulsive, instinctive place. She was very passionate and it was fun to be able to let that express through me, and I think it freed up a lot too.
She was not someone who would be limited by men, but she’s living on a planet full of them and one of the only women. It empowers her.
AMFM: So did you take a little bit of Gyp with you, something that would be helpful to yourself?
Yeah, every now and then if I feel like it’s necessary to bring in that sort of energy. But I also let characters go. I consciously have my own little ritual where I make a completion with that character. I read this beautiful interview with Marianne Cotillard about her incredible performance in La Vie en Rose, and for a long time after filming she felt this character around her and she couldn’t let it go. She actually went through a ceremony, a ritual to make that completion, and that really resonated with me.
That’s great, good for you. What have you got coming next that we can talk about?
I’m about to wrap on a project next week in Atlanta, I’m doing half a season of MaGuyver, which is a remake of the original which is super fun. It’s been like bootcamp, working on network television. It’s a challenge, but an incredible opportunity to hone your skills. Working 15 hour days, sometimes 6 days a week. I’ve been really fortunate because I’ve learned so much.
Then I go to LA. There’s two Australian films coming out, In Like Flynn, a biopic on Errol Flynn’s life, then and independent Australian film called Chasing Comets. We shot both of those earlier this year in Australia. So then, home to Australia for Christmas!
We really enjoyed OSIRIS CHILD and are looking forward to more from Shane Abbess in the future. THE OSIRIS CHILD: SCIENCE FICTION VOLUME ONE is streaming now on Amazon, Youtube and other VOD platforms.
