Jessica Jessica Interview: Jasper Savage
“I feel so odd to have to justify the idea that women deserve to be treated equally with equal opportunity. To not have to continuously feel like you are only on this planet for the enjoyment of the straight male.”
JESSICA JESSICA is a film about relationships.
We watch an awkward encounter between recent exes, the morning after a one night stand and most importantly the bond between two friends.
These two very different approaches to dating and relationships are amplified by incredible performances by Jessica Hinkson and Jessica Greco. I could have spent a whole day watching them navigate their lives.
Though their time onscreen together is short, it is also intimate. Culminating in a beautiful scene showing just their faces as they hide from the world under the covers like we did as children. This short is a stunning pocket in time in the lives of these two women. You are thrown in with little information and by the end, you are longing for a bit more time with these complex characters.
Director Jasper Savage is a Toronto native who graduated from Sheridan College with a photography degree. In 2014 she became an IATSE stills member before shifting focus to film. JESSICA JESSICA is her debut short film and her first feature is currently in development.
You can see JESSICA JESSICA and other shorts from emerging women directors at Breakthroughs Film Festival, happening June 15 and 16 at the Royal Cinema.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got involved with filmmaking.
Jasper Savage: For the past 10 years I have been a photographer, primarily working in the industry as an on-set photographer on film and television. I also, like every artist, have my personal work. Since graduating Sheridan College from Photography I have been shooting, trying to gain momentum with my work by applying to call for submissions, portfolio reviews, etc. I was constantly getting feedback that all of my non-fictional narratives seemed incomplete.
Trying to take constructive criticism, I started to think of the fictional stories I wanted to tell and how I was going to shoot them. This would take all sorts of planning, equipment and people. I thought, if I’m going to essentially shoot a storyboard, I might as well make it a film and shoot video. Plus my dad is a DOP and kept dropping the hints that I should direct… by saying, “be a director.” It’s definitely taken me a while to say out loud that this is what I want, but now I feel able to and it feels liberating and scary (in a good way).
Tell us about Jessica Jessica. How did you get involved in the film?
JS: Jessica Jessica is an intimate story between two platonic female friends in their mid-30s. The messiness and hilariousness of life at an age where societally we feel like we’re “supposed” to have our shit together (pun intended) but it’s 2018. Women have a lot of dreams and desires that realistically are difficult to accomplish before the age of 30, 40 or 50. Jessica Jessica is an unapologetic realistic sliver of a view into being a human with a vagina.
I got involved with the film because my boyfriend and I had written a short (that I’m working on making into a feature) we were attaching to Babe Nation Creations for an application to BravoFact (in its final year)… spoiler alert: we didn’t get it.
But when Jessica Hinkson and Jessica Greco, creators of (I’m sure you can guess it!) Jessica Jessica, were looking for a female director, Katie Nolan (of Babe Nation) said my name. I had previously met Greco at a TIFF women in film fancy party and I suppose the two of them looked through my website and liked my work so they sent me the script and I loved it! I loved the women — I felt like they were my friends and I wanted to know more about them. I loved how honest the women were and they felt so real, after speaking on the phone with G&H I knew that we were all on the same page. I felt so honoured that they trusted me with their story, especially since this was my first real shot at directing a film — I totally could have fucked it all up and spent all their cash money. I am forever thankful for their support and encouragement.
The male bodies are the ones ‘sexualized’ in the film instead of the women’s, was this done intentionally?
JS: Yes. haha
It wasn’t done with any political intent. But the story is told with a point of view and one of a straight female—who will check out a naked guys butt as it lays on her bed.
This film has very intimate shots, why did you choose to film it like this?
JS: I wanted the audience to feel like they were there with them on this journey like you were their friend they were talking to. In the last scene, I needed the room to feel bigger, so it didn’t get visually boring. I had them go under the sheets and I think that really anchored the audiences’ friendship with both Jessicas — as well as adding some comic relief at times. One of my favourite moments is when Greco has the sheet over her head with the vibrator beside her and she says her line, “I think the older you get, the more you have to compromise to be happy.”
The film starts with a very young girl riding a bike, why did you decide to start it this way?
JS: I love films that take you out of the world you think you’re about to be apart of or are a part of. We have 7 billion people all co-existing on this planet: each one having their own emotions, thoughts, relationships. I feel like we get lost in our little life bubble. I find it so fascinating looking around literally anywhere imagining peoples individual path, thinking that it is walking along with someone else’s and they may never know each other but for a brief moment their paths touched.
In saying this, I wanted the film to start in another world that would bring you into the actual world we were about to go in. That story of the little girl on a bike is gone, we will never come back to it but at one point we were a part of it and I just find something so magical about that. As for it being a little girl riding her bike: to me, it embodies a sense of innocence and the freedom that comes with that. Juxtaposed with the realities of womanhood: depressed, confused, sexual.
Can you tell us about some/all of the other amazing women who worked on this film?
JS: Oh lady, we had such a rocking female crew! It was never intentional, just happened those were the people we knew and wanted to work with. So I will only give you a few of these badass ladies:
Jessica Shannon is an amazing hairstylist—also my best friend (she has been doing my hair for years and I love her for it) and I have never seen or heard anyone talk about hair the way she does. We would get together during pre-production and she helped me work out a lot of key elements that I would never have thought about and would have cost me so much time out of my shooting day. I was so grateful to have her there with me too, just as my friend.
Kat Webber, our editor and her assistant Jess Graore. These two were so awesome to have sessions with; we had so much fun cutting I never wanted them to end but of course Kat is so fast and awesome at her job that they would end sooner than I wanted. She is such a talented woman; I feel so cool to now call her my friend.
Mel Garros is a great Production Designer; she asks all of the right questions to understand what you, as the director, want in terms of colour palette but also questions about who the characters were so she can properly make the set as authentic as possible. All while keeping within a ridiculously low budget. She is also so prepared onset and is great to play with for ideas.
Andrea Wrobel was my script supervisor and she was so calm and diligent on set. I am forever grateful for her work ethic and friendship.
Chris Ross was my 1st AD and she is also a director! She definitely kept us all in line, kept us moving forward and we got our days and every shot on the list.
Tell us about why you are a feminist and why it’s important to your filmmaking.
JS: I am a feminist because I am a woman. I feel so odd to have to justify the idea that women deserve to be treated equally with equal opportunity. To not have to continuously feel like you are only on this planet for the enjoyment of the straight male. I was raised by a single mom with the help of my single grandmother; I want to tell the female story, I want to watch the feminine point of view. That being said, I don’t want women to just be cast in movies that are male stories (because I feel this trend coming). Women deserve to tell their own stories, with their own sense of humour, relationships, sexuality, and experiences.
Who are your favourite women working in the film industry?
JS: I really love what Reese Witherspoon is doing; I think Big Little Lies is such a great series and I love that she created a place for women to play such multi-layered characters.
Obviously, Patty Jenkins is a god among us for directing such a killer action movie, Wonder Woman was actually so fucking awesome.
Jane Campion, I love everything she does and I love how her female protagonists are always flawed but strong.
What’s the best advice about filmmaking you’ve ever received?
JS: Best idea wins.
The great thing about filmmaking is that you have access to a crew of creative people who potentially have been working on set longer than you and could have a better idea of how to do a shot. You’re also working with people who are way more experienced in their trade and know a hell of a lot more than you. So be open to ideas, don’t think you know all BUT also stick to your vision and don’t let people dissuade you.
What are you working on now/next?
JS: Jessica Jessica is currently looking at becoming a web series that I would hopefully be attached to when they begin production.
As for me, I am writing my first feature; a story I have been wanting to tell for 15 years. It is a story of a single mother and her daughter in an abusive house, told from the whimsical POV of the little girl.
If you could live in any sitcom, which one would it be?
JS: THE OFFICE!!!! I can (and do) watch that show all the time. It never gets old to me, I laugh at all the same moments and sometimes find new jokes I never noticed before… I also cry every time I watch Jim propose to Pam. Although, I think living in that overhead fluorescent lighting would kill me.
What are your three favourite smells?
JS: Lilacs
My cat Pebbles’ fur
My grandmother
Finally, recommend one #MUFFApproved film for our blog readers!
JS: Pattie Cake$
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