Film Name: Her Name Was Christa
Director: James L Edwards
Writer: James L Edwards
Starring: Shianne Daye, James L. Edwards, Drew Fortier, Rick Jermain, Kaylee Williams
Stephen is a socially awkward, middle aged telemarketer and is desperately alone. At the suggestion of Nick, a co-worker, he goes out into the night to find a prostitute for “The Girlfriend Experience”. With this, he meets Christa, a streetwise call girl who’s happy to fulfill his needs. Yet something unexpected happens. What starts as a business agreement blossoms into true love. But what happens when death enters the picture? How far would you go to keep the one person you’ve always wanted?
In a new interview leading up to the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival I got a chance to ask writer-director James L Edwards a few questions about what we can expect from his film Her Name Was Christa.
Q. Your film Her Name Was Christa has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. Her Name Was Christa is a hybrid movie of two genres that typically do not belong together – a romantic drama and a graphic horror film. My goal with Christa was to make the audience disagree and be repulsed with the actions of our protagonist but, through the use of character development, understand why he does the horrific acts featured in the film. It’s a horror film, yes, but the true horror of the film is about getting older and the possibility of dying alone.
Q. What were some of your influences when writing the script for Her Name Was Christa?
A. My main concern with building the screenplay for Christa was to create characters that the audience not only identified with, but also cared for. It’s a tragic love story. The two biggest film influences while writing the screenplay were Michele Soavi’s Dellamorte Dellamore (1994) and Steve De Jarnatt’s Miracle Mile (1988). As far as non-film influences go, the biggest one was turning 40 and the fears that it brought with it.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. I wanted Christa to have a very late 80’s-early 90’s feel to it, almost as if it were lost in time. I credit that to my amazing cinematographer Gordon Cameron who not only understood the tone that I was looking for, but also built onto it with his willingness to be experimental as well as his fearless “Anything is possible” attitude no matter what I said I needed for the film.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. The only real change that was made from screenplay to film for Christa was the character of Christa herself. Originally, I pictured Christa similar in age to Stephen. It wasn’t until the audition process when I met actress Shianne Daye that I knew this was a misstep. Shianne brought a really amazing quality and feel to the character that I wasn’t expecting but I knew as soon as we met with her that she was the only person that could bring this character to life. And to be honest, it took very minimal effort on my end to change the screenplay to make this work.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. Christa was a challenge due to the fact that although I had been an actor and screenwriter since 1985, this was my first time sitting in the director’s chair. That said, I was extremely fortunate to find a cast and crew that were so amazing to work with and truly down for anything. No film is easy, but when you are doing it with a group that you love and trust, it no longer feels like work.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. The biggest issue with making Christa was my own doing. In building the character of Stephen, I wanted to do something I had never done before as an actor. I wanted to lose myself in the role. I ended up very foolishly gaining 45 lbs for the role as well as shaving my head to give the appearance of male pattern baldness. The two problems with this was that Stephen is a very meek character and, as a director, you need to be in charge and ready for everything. That being said, I ended up having to kind of mentally be a Jekyll and Hyde type of switching between these two roles, which was beneficial to the film but extremely stressful. Also, once production had completed, I wanted to lose the weight quickly and, in doing so, ended up being hospitalized with multiple strokes. I’m okay now and I don’t regret it, but it was definitely a wake-up call.
Q. What makes Her Name Was Christa stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. I think what makes Her Name Was Christa stand out as something different is that is more of a character study. It’s about fear of the future. It’s about hidden mental illness. The choices we make to ensure that we will be happy. It’s got an examination of getting older as well as a classic love story. And if that’s not enough, it’s got a really horrific gooey ending.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. What I’d like people to take away from Christa is a story that will stick with them long after the credits roll. I want them to put themselves in our lead characters position and question what they would do in his shoes. I hope the answer scares them.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. Currently, we are in post-production on my third directorial effort – a revenge horror thriller called Trivial. We’re hoping to have that out in mid-2023. As an actor, I recently appeared in Hell Van and Shriekshow both released this past year. I’m also featured in a western comedy called Big Trouble in Jackass Flats, a werewolf thriller called The Beast of Walton Street, an urban thriller called The Beautiful Ones and a horror film called Born of Malice – all due to be released in 2023.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. The best advice I can give someone who is looking to write and direct their own film is to always surround yourself with people more talented than yourself. Be open to suggestions. You don’t have all of the answers. That doesn’t mean lose track of your vision, but it never hurts to listen to the suggestions of others.
Her Name was Christa will be showing at Horror-on-Sea at 10:30 pm on Friday 13th January. You can purchase tickets and merchandise for the festival on the website here
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
