Exclusive Horror-on-Sea interview with actress Charlotte Gould about her role in the Brexit inspired horror ‘Exit’

Exit (2020)

Director: Michael Fausti

Writer: Mathew Bayliss

Starring: Tony Denham, Michael Fausti, Charlotte Gould, Billy James Machin, Leonarda Sahani, Christophe Delesques

In a new interview on Blazing Minds I got an opportunity to talk to actress Charlotte Gould and asked her a few questions about her role in the Brexit inspired film ‘Exit’, ahead of the World Premier at Horror-on-Sea,

Oh, so much! Some twists and turns some romance, some trauma, some double crossing. It’s very cool, very interesting to see how the character’s personalities mesh or don’t, and why that is. That was one of my favourite part about reading the script, the miscommunication. misunderstanding and arguments – without giving too much away of the film. How everyone got on, why they didn’t and why they did. It’s very intricate and it goes down to a deeper level, especially between the female characters with myself and Leonarda. She’s incredible and very easy to work with; it’s how they get along and why they do what they do. Within each kind of argument and this and that there’s like a deeper thing going on underneath, it’s quite interesting to like to see that all play out and understand why everything gets the way it does. Why things get so heated and why they can’t understand the other one. It’s very cool to watch, I guess introspectively to watch the outsider, which I am also excited to do.

Can you tell me a little bit about your character in the film?

Adrian, she’s a funny one (laughs). She’s, very strong., very determined, I think level-headed. she knows what she wants, and she usually gets it whether other people like it or not. She’s, very direct, almost to a fault. I think you may see in the film; you might not. I think underlying there’s some kindness to her and some empathy. that’s slowly out the window as soon as she’s decided she wants something else. But I think the nice thing that I really liked about her and I remember speaking with Matt, the writer was it was really nice to play such a strong, okay, she’s not perfect. Yeah, as you’ll see. Such a strong and ballsy woman, especially as I’ve not got to play many of them. It’s so cool to play and to really like sink your teeth into such a strange and unkind character with questionable motives – but you see her relationship with Chris her husband, with Billy, with Leonarda and they’re all different. And all you’re thinking about is this woman and how can she do the things she does? But she’s just a person that wants to do what she wants to do, and she will. so yeah, she’s quite cool but horrible.

What sort of preparation did you do to prepare for the role?

A lot! So, So, my characters French and she’s married to Chris and they speak French a lot to each other, in fact minimal dialogue of mine in the film is English so I speak French. My families from France, but I’ve not really had to talk to them about murder or sex, so a lot of the lines I really had to learn my lines. It wasn’t just like learning my lines for a feature it was about learning my lines for a feature in essentially a different language. Yeah, accent fine. chatty bits, fine. Hey, how you, want some coffee all good rolls off the tongue, but the really deep bits and the bits where it gets really dark are hard to learn. I remember I sat on a bus and a guy leaned over he was like “parlez vous francais?”, they read a few of the lines and they were like “oh my god, what are you reading?” I was like “Nothing, it’s a script” (laughs)

I did the old look, read, cover, write. God, there must be pages and pages of me just writing out, recording on my phone listening to it over and over again, making it into a song. I still remember some of it now because I just hammered it for months. I remember doing the script read with Chris and we sat down, he said something to me in French, looked at me and said, “you’re not properly French are you?” And I was like, “I’m half I grew up here” and he was like “Oh, okay,” so we spoke about that, and he helped me translate some of it. I translated it and then he helped me to do it a bit more colloquially. It’s quite funny, I just remember when we were in the lift, Chris does a lot of like Meisner technique. He’s very theatrically trained, very strict with himself, it’s amazing to work with someone like that, especially playing your husband. But him and I both wrote character BIOS. We just decided we wanted to as a way to help us get into character. And they matched up when we got into set, we read each of us and it’s like they were the same person, so it was wild. We had both gone home and decided that our characters would been from this background and that we’re from this place in France and, and they were really similar, really married each other. That was interesting to see that we both read that from the script and our characters. So that was really cool. This is probably one of the heaviest preparations for a part I’ve ever done. Obviously, you learn the lines and you and you get into character and you think about what they would do and why they’re doing it. But she was difficult, at times. quite scary. I hated the bits that I had to shout, because I’m just so not a confrontational person. I can’t even get to the bank if there’s a problem. Those bits were the most intimidating, but yeah, it was a lot of preparation and I hope it pays off

Are there any elements of the character which reflect some of your own personality? I know there’s a lot of differences there.

There is a lot of differences. I think there’s parts of her where there is quite a caring maternal nature that’s quite like me. I like to look after people, and you see glimpses of that, and I think there is deep down. I mean, the whole part of why she does what she does is to kind of keep her husband happy and not in a kind of domestic housework. We’re in a kind of, she’s open, she’s liberal, and she wants him to enjoy all the things he wants to enjoy. I think she does that because she loves him, although its maybe not the things you would normally do if you love someone. she’s open and she wants people to be as free as herself and I think I’m quite like that. I want everyone to be enjoying themselves and having fun. Not to the extent she does really but I think that we are similar in that respect. And hardworking, she is hard working and I am hardworking.

And what were some of your favourite moments during filming?

Oh gosh, pretty much all of it, bar the shouting stuff. Coming to set every morning and seeing everyone, I mean Lou would be there making a bacon sandwich, Leonarda would be laying down on the bed having a coffee having just woken up. A couple of people stayed in the apartment we were filming, because it’s just one apartment, so there was the risk of us going stir crazy. It was long days and a lot of its beautifully lit, but that that makes up heat and it was very hot – we had filmed in summer. There was so many opportunities to move to get off the wall, get ratty and we didn’t, we’re all friends we all hang out after, everyone just really supports each other. That was definitely the best part of it, having such a family like crew. There are parts of it that were quite uncomfortable to film, we did it and Lou was unbelievably professional. She made everyone feel safe and happy, so you enjoyed it, even the parts that you know, probably weren’t going to be enjoyable. It was great.  a really amazing experience, I’m really happy to have worked with them.

Did you experience any issues whilst filming?

A couple I mean, like logistical problems, sort of we had so much to film in such a short space of time and I think towards the end we still hadn’t got a specific scene we needed to film, there was a bit of a problem with the so we ended up second uniting that. A couple of the stunts with the props, I don’t want to ruin it but quite vicious scene for me and Leonarda. I remember we just we just had a little pep talk beforehand and we’re like on this take we’re just going to go for it, and I think we actually knocked out of camera equipment; but apparently it looked good. But logistical things like lighting and setups and who was going to be where and when? That was it really nothing harrowing or too distressing I don’t remember, but if I have it’s through rose tinted glasses now.

It might come back to you when you watch the film

I am going to be like, oh I dreaded that

And do you have any projects which you’re working on at the moment?

Yes, I’ve got a couple. I did a short film A while back with a guy called Martin Daniels and I’m filming another short with him end of January. It has got an amazing guy that’s playing my dad who’s in Star Wars and Indiana Jones. So that’s really cool. Then I’ve got another feature coming up in the end of summer, so it seems like a while away at the moment, but I know that kind of in the pipeline, which is really exciting. I have a film coming out in May, which I shot a couple of years ago in Norway, and I’ve again not seen anything for it. And, you know, that was like, again, an incredible opportunity. I’m very, very fortunate to have got it., so excited to see that. It’s like all the things I am scared about seeing are coming through this year. But yeah, so those ones are happening.

And if someone wants to get into it to themselves, what advice would you give them?

Just go for it! I mean, I did I remember like sitting on my friend’s sofa in Brighton. I haven’t told my parents yet. I told my friends mom and he said, “I think that’s really brave”. Brave was a word that really stuck with me. There were times where I have loads of work, there are times when you will have no work. There are times I get offered two things on the same day and I stress about it, but I always pick the right one. Just trust yourself that you’ll pick the right thing and don’t say no to anything at the beginning. I didn’t, and some people say that you’re so silly for doing that, but it’s got me here. So, just say yes, anything that comes your way big, small, it’s who you meet and who you work with that’s more important. I always hate that phrase ‘It’s not what you know, but who you know’, because I felt that’s only a select few people they’ll ever be successful. But I think if you say it in a way that you’ll only know people if you go out, just throw yourself out there. And be kind, I’ve got so many jobs because I’ve been nice and stayed late and helped Hoover Yeah, you know, just be nice, stayed late and helped hoover. Be nice, be the person you want to work with in an office not just on set, that’s really important I think, because people really respect when your actually alright to work with and it makes it a hell of lot easier I’ll tell you that.

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