At Sundance’s World of Hyatt Variety Culture & Storytelling event, a panel of film industry creatives sat down with Variety’s senior entertainment and media writer Matt Donnelly to discuss the role of cultural experiences in shaping creative work. The group included Molly Ringwald (“Run Amok”), Danielle Brooks (“If I Go Will They Miss Me”), Ari Ann (“Take Me Home”), Layne Spencer (“Big Girls Don’t Cry”), and Dawn Porter (“When a Witness Recited”).
The panel discussion explored how being immersed in different locations and cultures on set influenced the direction of the project and who they were as people.
Brooks, who shot “If I Go Will They Miss Me” at the Nickerson Project in Los Angeles, said the filming process was intense. “It’s so beautiful to see kids playing outside who don’t have much, but they’re so connected to the world,” Brooks said. “They’re just being open in a different way than we’re used to because we might have more leeway.”
Director Ahn, who filmed “Take Me Home” in Orlando, said from a different perspective, “We don’t live in a country where a system has been built where outside the family can step in to take on that burden, but you can feel the sense of confinement in that place.”
Porter said that while filming at an abortion clinic in Alabama, she found herself challenging stereotypes in her own mind and that seeing people being cared for “felt really fulfilling.” Ringwald reflected on her first film, shot in Europe, having never been outside of California before, and how it expanded her world and shaped her life. The only American on the New Zealand set, Spencer has also traveled abroad and was captivated by the country’s natural beauty, which he called “healing.”
The group also discussed the various media that inspired the trip. Ringwald said she wanted to learn about history after watching “The Reds,” and Porter said she was inspired by Gallipoli in Turkey. Ann was drawn to “Kevin Costner and the Mountains” from “Dances with Wolves,” while Spencer mentioned “Brokeback Mountain” and “Napoleon Dynamite.” A self-proclaimed theater girl, Brooks found Brandi Carlyle’s “Cinderella” to inspire her to go to theater instead of country.
Anne has also had some tough experiences while traveling the world, as she revealed that she was injured in a fall in Scotland.
“Scotland has a tradition of jumping into lochs and I’m not the kind of girl who jumps in when it’s cold, but since I’m here, let me do it like the locals do. I took a hard fall as I was trying to get back to the pile of clothes on the rocks. I went back to my room to take a hot shower and looked in the bathtub and there was pink everywhere,” the actress said of the bleeding.
Spencer went rock climbing in high winds in Iceland, Ringwald had his fruit stolen by a monkey in Africa, and Porter suffered from food poisoning while making the film.
“I’m going to take them all down, shoot them on the plantation,” Brooks said jokingly. “You weren’t ready for that yet, were you?”
The panel discussion also revealed how they stay in touch with their culture and traditions while filming.
Brooks, who comes from a family of “big cooks,” likes to bake and bring banana pudding for the crew. Spencer brought candles to make sure she was cozy. Ringwald often takes her cat with her.
“I’m the child of Korean immigrants, so what I bring to the set is work ethic, discipline, and a really strong ability to take criticism,” joked director Ahn. Porter said it was important for the Baltimore film crew to be “majority black” when filming in majority black schools so the kids knew they were represented.
To conclude the panel discussion, the group discussed their dream locations they would like to photograph someday. Brooks wanted to revisit a church-turned-unusual Airbnb in Atlanta, while Ann, Porter and Spencer chose tropical locations in Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Kauai, respectively. Ringwald chose the Galapagos Islands because “I really wanted to see those giant turtles.”
