My True Fairytale is an emotionally charged movie about a girl named Angie who survives a horrible wreck. This incident helps her decide what she wants to do with her life. Writer-director D. Mitry lost his own daughter in a car accident which drove him to write this story. AIPT spoke with D. Mitry and star Emma Kennedy about the film.
AIPT: I know there’s a very personal aspect to the story, but before we get into the this of it, how would you describe My True Fairytale?
Mitry: You know, every time I get asked this question, something different comes to mind, but I think at this point it’s a magical realism story. It’s a magical story.
Emma Kennedy: I would say the same magical. It’s a story about love. I would say it’s a love story with everyone. I mean, not your typical romantic love story that we think of, but a love story.
AIPT: D. Mitry, how difficult was it to write and film the movie?
Mitry: It was quite difficult. And at the same time it was very liberating. It was therapeutic and healing on some level. But, it was quite difficult.
AIPT: I imagine it was cathartic also.
Mitry: Absolutely, no question about it. In fact, when I finished writing the script itself, I had a hard time letting it go. Just starting to think about the production because I was so attached to the script.
AIPT: Emma, you talked about how it’s a love story. How difficult was it to prepare for this role?
Kennedy: It was difficult, but also I just focused on the love aspect of it. I didn’t want to get too caught up in how upsetting and tragic it is because Angie wasn’t thinking that way. It was all a beautiful story in a way to help her friends and family. So, I just focused on connecting with my scene partners and the characters, and then hoping for the best and trusting that D. Mitry would tweak and pull back whatever he saw fit.
AIPT: Why did you decide to focus on so many relationships, D. Mitry?
Mitry: The film was writing itself and the inspiration for all those relationships for Alyssa’s friends. And I had to almost become part of the gang, which almost became the actual, I became part of that gang that she hang out with and all those friends I used as an inspiration to create these fictional characters. And in fact, they all came up, all her friends came up with the names for the teens.
AIPT: Emma, how would you describe Angie?
Kennedy: So loving, so kind, wants the best for her friends. I actually never knew that her friends helped name the characters, that’s wild. But yes, a do-gooder, someone who is really invested and cares about all of the relationships that she has.
AIPT: How important was it for you to convey so many reactions, D. Mitry?
Mitry: Very important. For me, everything was very important and you know, reactions are no different. There was just, for me, it was very important to stay truthful to every situation.
AIPT: What do you both want audiences to get out of the movie?
Kennedy: To love other people as much as you can. I think that’s a huge theme and message of this is making sure that the people that you’re surrounded by, and even people that you’re not, are happy and doing their best, and doing whatever you can do to help that come to life.
AIPT: There’s a lot of going on in this movie. It’s inspirational, there’s tragedy. And there’s the love story aspect of it. Was it difficult for you to, Was it difficult for you to convey all those emotions?
Kennedy: It was tough. It was tough to balance all of it, but I just focused on how Angie was feeling. How she wanted to make others feel. And then I felt like the rest just came naturally and I didn’t have to think too much about like, cry here, get angry here. I just of let it, I prepped for a month and then just let myself do what I thought the character would do.
AIPT: Did you allow personal aspects of your life to seep into Angie’s character?
Kennedy: Of course. Yeah. I think so much of my personal life, especially at the time we were talking about this earlier, just friendships, and the grandparents, and my father, all of that, I think, finds its way into a performance, whether or not you mean to.
AIPT: This is on the production side of it. I noticed in the movie, it opens with the music and it’s very upbeat, but then there’s moments that are really silent and you take in the characters almost like you’re listening to their thoughts. So, why did you decide to go in that direction?
Mitry: As a director, I like to think of the vibrational pacing of the film. And it really boils down to the feeling and where it would hit the audience. And when you have a rough cut that is a final rough cut, it’s a final cut before you go into the sound, you want to make sure that that could be done. And for me really the music and editing work did it. That’s how we designed it in order for the audience to hit those spots.
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