Interview by: Michael Lohr (SoSF Regular Contributor)
Jennifer Rouse is an actor, musician, model, graphic designer, and an associate producer.
Her film credits include such flicks as “The Death of Poe,” “Chainsaw Sally,” and “The Last Ride of The Raven.” She also played the lead female role in director Dan Poole’s Wolverine fan film “Last Call.” And to further affirm her horror credentials, she was certified “Scream Queen of the Month†by screamqueen.com.
But she’s a more diverse thespian than just playing a serial killer’s next victim. She played a dancer in the Touchstone Pictures production “Step Up,” and a “sex addict†in the John Waters New Line Cinema erotic comedy, “A Dirty Shame.” Her television credits are nothing to sneeze at either. They include several episodes of the Canadian television series “Creepy Canada” as well as appearances in the HBO series “The Wire” and television heavy weights “The West Wing” and “The District.”
Jennifer happens to be a talented musician as well. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Towson University and studied music, voice, as well as music theory. She earned scholarships to both Towson University and American University in Washington, DC. She wrote the music score for the Redfield Arts film, The Death of Poe.
Jennifer has several film projects in production including the western, “One-Eyed Horse,” and the horror/thriller “The Tell-Tale Heart,” as well as films that are in pre-production like the suspense drama, “The Crimes of Sherlock Holmes,” the western film “Lady Gunfighter,” and the horror flicks, “The Madness of Frankenstein and Harker” and “The Shadow of Dracula.”
Michael Lohr (ML): So tell me about the western, One-Eyed Horse, that you recently worked on?
Jennifer Rouse (JR): The bulk of ONE-EYED HORSE is being filmed in October, 2007 so as of right now they’ve only shot one of my scenes. It’s basically a revenge story set in Missouri in 1887. A man named Justin Gatewood gets out of prison and sets out to find the man who put him there in the first place and let his younger brother die on the battlefield in the Civil War. I play Gatewood’s daughter, Helen, who has been running her father’s freight company while he was away and just wants him back and to lead a normal life with her.
I’ve been training for this film off and on for about a year learning how to ride a horse. Wayne Shipley, the director, has been calling it ‘Cowboy Bootcamp’. The cast gets together once a week with instructors to learn proper riding and gun shooting techniques. Wayne has really put a lot of work into the film making sure things are historically correct and that his riders really know how to look like they’ve been riding a horse since they were born.
ML: I hear that you’ve been working on a documentary about Charlie Chaplin. Would you care to elaborate on this project?
JR: That project has actually been put on the back burner for a little while but if it happens, it’s about his years at Mutual Studios. The script was written by Sean Paul Murphy, the editor of THE DEATH OF POE. I’ll be doing the music for it.
ML: When did you first know that you wanted to be a professional actress?
JR: Hmmm…well, I had been a model and I wanted to expand a bit, so I started taking a few acting classes. I found that I loved it. To be able to transform into a whole other character was fascinating to me. So, I guess it was when I started the acting classes.
ML: You are a very talented musical score composer. Would this be a career that you would pursue on a full time basis if the opportunity presented itself? You could someday challenge John Williams for the crown of Movie Music King, or Queen in case.
JR: Well, It may be a while before I’m compared to John Williams, if ever! I’m really enjoying scoring films. It totally brings the movie to life. You can manipulate the feeling of a scene just by the music you use. I’ve been playing music for most of my life but this has been a new challenge for me.
ML: One of the issues that I have with the current crop of horror movies that has been released over the last few years is that they are totally void of the supernatural or ghost story element, comprising mostly of psycho/serial killer shenanigans. Other than Rob Zombie, M. Night Shyamalan or the makers of Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days (both of which are simply genius), most people have forgotten what actual horror is really about. The art of a good ghost story has seemingly been lost. Do you agree?
JR: Nowadays, it seems like it’s all about how much a movie can shock and gross out an audience. It’s to the point where gallons of blood and body parts don’t even really phase anyone. It’s too common. I’d rather the filmmakers NOT show the result of the violence and just leave it to the viewer’s imagination.
A lot of filmmakers have forgotten that the audience has to see themselves in the characters on the screen and really feel what they are going through in order to be scared for and with them. The filmmakers you mentioned put a lot of effort into the characters and that’s what drives the films. They DO use quite a bit of graphic violence, with really the only exception being Shyamalan, but they have good stories and characters to balance it.
You’re right. There hasn’t really been many ghost stories out in the past few years. The Ring series brought the genre back and 1408 recently came out. We’ll have to see what happens.
ML: Your movie The Death of Poe is about Edgar Allan Poe’s last week on earth. The truth of this story is a fascinating tale. What is the focus of this film regarding Poe’s tragic last days?
JR: There is such a small amount of information and facts about what happened to Edgar Allan Poe in the last week or so of his life. What IS known is that he took a trip from Richmond, Virginia to New York and he stopped off in Baltimore, Maryland along the way. Three days after arriving in Baltimore he was found in a gutter and taken to the hospital. I assume he stopped in Baltimore to visit family or friends since he lived there for a while.
The Death of Poe is a portrait of Edgar Allan Poe, based on the facts that are known about the last week he was alive, but really a fictional account of what may have been happening in his head and in his reality as he dealt with addiction, loss, and frustration with his career. It was shot in black and white film noir style with harsh shadows. Tight and medium shots are prominent to purposefully give it a claustrophobic feeling. There are some color sequences when Poe is thinking or remembering scattered throughout the film. At times it’s difficult for the audience to tell fantasy from reality, or the whole film could be fantasy. It’s really up to the viewer to decide.
ML: How is the development of the movie The Tale-Tale Heart progressing?
JR: THE TELL-TALE HEART is progressing very nicely. We have Ingrid Pitt and Robert Quarry playing Mr. And Mrs. Clarion, the owners of a boarding house just after the American Civil War. Bob Quarry will essentially be Poe’s character of “the old man†but there is a whole other plot built around the original story. It’s about an Army Officer, Captain Winter, who will be played by Mark Redfield, obsessed with hunting down and capturing a mad killer who tortured and murdered his comrades during the conflict. It leads him to this boarding house just outside of Richmond, Virginia. The killer masquerades as the Clarion’s son and turns the boarding house into a house of horror.
I’ll be playing “Noraâ€, the Clarion’s daughter-in-law, who lost her husband in the war and has been living there helping out. We also have Kevin G. Shinnick, (who played Dr. Moran in THE DEATH OF POE) and Debbie Rochon as brother and sister who come to stay at the boarding house while all of this is going on. It’s scheduled to start shooting in September. Some of the interior scenes will be shot in California and the rest of it will be shot on locations in Maryland.
ML: What’s this rumor I hear about Martin Sheen saving your life on the set of The West Wing?
JR: Well, I don’t think he saved my life but he probably prevented some bruising. It’s no big deal really. I’m sure he doesn’t even remember it.
As most people know, Martin Sheen played The President on the show. I was playing one of his secret service agents. We were filming in the street outside of a building in Washington DC and they were using a motorcade of limousines. I was talking to him with my back turned to the limos and the driver wasn’t paying attention and started pulling out of the space that he was parked in. Mr. Sheen was kind enough to pull me out of the way before the guy hit me. Close call!
ML: Have you acted in any theatre productions?
JR: My past experience with theatre has been mostly in music, in the orchestra. I’ve been thinking about trying my hand at theatre. Film acting and theatre acting are quite different. On the stage, everything you do is much bigger than what you do in front of a camera. On the stage, you have to make sure that the guy in the back row of the auditorium is able to see and hear your every move. With film it’s the opposite. It’s much subtler. It’s true that the camera can see you think. That’s pretty much how I’ve been trained so far.
ML: Tell me about your involvement in the British Channel 4 broadcast of Armed Robbery Orgasm? That is a very provocative and quirky title.
JR: That is a long crazy story of how I got involved with that. The filmmakers were from London and had bought the rights to a book by Dr. John Money, which was a true story about a Baltimore robbery crime spree that a guy named Ronald Keyes and his girlfriend Debbie went on in the 1980’s. Debbie, who had been involved with drugs and prostitution, claimed that the only way she could “get off†was by committing these armed robberies. So they did, and eventually she ended up turning him in for it. But the interesting part of it is how messed up in the head this guy Ron Keyes was. A lot of the book was excerpts from his diary in which he had extremely grandiose and twisted thoughts about himself, women, and the world. The filmmakers wanted to do a documentary that would include interviews with Ron Keyes, Debbie, investigators and people who knew them. They also wanted the piece to be wrapped around reenactments of the crimes and Ron and Debbie’s relationship.
The director, Norman Hull, and a cameraman had come to Baltimore from London before the shoot to meet the real Ron Keyes and they shot some interview footage with him while they were in town.
A month later Norman and his crew came back to film the documentary. They thought that everything had been set up for them by a liaison that they were using for casting and locations in Baltimore. They got here a few days before they were scheduled to start and found out that this person had done NOTHING! Well, I think the liaison had cast someone to play Ron Keyes in the reenactments but the actor’s wife or girlfriend had problems with him playing the role because of the graphic sexuality. They had to scramble in 3 days to find actors and locations. On top of all of that, Ron Keyes had died during that month in between! So here they were with no actors, no locations, and NO RON KEYES.
The filmmakers hired Mark Redfield to play Keyes, and Redfield introduced them to me, as they needed additional production support. I was involved working on the production end, helping with props, sets and still photography, but I also played a robbery victim in one of the reenactments because they were short on actors. I have to admit, they really pulled this thing together and even incorporated the fact that Keyes had died into the piece. It turned out really great. I’ve heard that the filmmakers are considering turning the doc into a feature film.
ML: In your opinion, which recent innovative horror movie was the best, The Blair Witch Project, The Ring or Saw? Why?
JR: That’s a tough question to answer. They’re all innovative in their own ways. “The Blair Witch Project†was marketing genius. I will admit that going in to see that film I wasn’t quite sure if it was real footage or not. The truth hadn’t been busted out to me yet. But it was amazing how popular that film was, and with such a small budget.
I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite out of the three, but it definitely showed that a film doesn’t need to cost $20 million or $100 million to be a success.
ML: You’re from Baltimore, did you ever go to Hammerjacks? Hammerjacks for those of the uninitiated was at one time one of the top three rock performance nightclubs on the East Coast. It was leveled a few years ago so the Baltimore Orioles baseball team could increase the size of their parking facilities.
JR: Hammerjack’s is such a legendary nightclub. I was a too young to get in before they tore it down but I had gone to some of the “all ages admitted†shows. I can’t remember right now who I saw there but it was a few of the remaining “hair bands†from the 80’s that lingered on into the early 90’s.
Hammerjack’s was like the Baltimore version of CBGB’s. Even though it was in an old building, hidden under the ramps to the highway in the heart of the city, it had a lot of character to it. I believe it had seven bars and the back wall on the way to the bathrooms was covered in graffiti from the bands that played there. But, sad to say they tore it down to make a parking lot. It’s funny, 98 Rock, which is a local radio station, used to do songs called “twisted tunes†were they’d change the lyrics to a popular song. So they did a version of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi†about it. The refrain was: “They paved Hammerjack’s and put up a parking lot.â€
They actually built a new Hammerjack’s just a few miles away in Baltimore, but from what I’ve heard it’s nothing like the old one. I’ve never been there but from what I understand it’s just a regular nightclub with DJ’s.
ML: What actor or actress do you find as your biggest inspiration? Why?
JR: I go through phases of favorites. There are tons of great actors and actresses out there. I could make a whole list of who inspires me ranging throughout film history, but it would be a long one. I tend to like actors and actresses who aren’t afraid to stretch themselves creatively and vary the types of characters they play. Johnny Depp is a good example of this among the more recent stars. He’s played such a wide variety of characters. He’s not afraid to take risks on films that aren’t very commercial. It seems that he takes roles because he likes the story and the character, not because of the paycheck. That’s what I think it’s all about to be a true artist, to take risks and to try something new or different.
ML: Here’s a psychology question for you to chew on, have you ever had a role that was so disturbing that you had a hard time letting the character or a scene from the movie go?
JR: No, that hasn’t really happened to me…yet. The only thing that I have experienced is taking on the mannerisms and speech patterns of a character a little bit outside of filming. That’s more because you have to live with and practice for a character from the time you get a script to however long it takes to shoot the film. I try to research the type of person my character is as much as I can. I think about their world a lot before and while the project is going on. So it’s bound to carry over into regular behavior.
It’s all so mechanical when you’re filming. Even if it’s a terrifying horrible scene you’re doing, you’re aware that it’s not real and you’re stopping and starting so much to get different angles and takes. As an actor, you just have to maintain the emotion and intention your character is conveying for the camera.
ML: Are you permitted to discuss your forthcoming movie projects The Madness of Frankenstein or Harker and the Shadow of Dracula, which are in pre-production/formative stages?
JR: Both of those films are going to be sequels to their respective novels. “Madness†starts out where “Frankenstein†left off, on the ship in the ice with the monster after Dr. Frankenstein. I’ll be playing Margaret Saville, the sister of Captain Walton.
In “Harker†I’ll be playing Mina Harker. It takes place about seven years after the events of the novel “Draculaâ€. I’ve seen preliminary production designs for both films, and they’re certainly in the “high gothic†mode. Beautiful, lush period films, like the Hammer Horror films.
They are both still in the scripting stage. I think “Madness†will go into production in early 2008. Right after that I’m doing another western, the lead in LADY GUNFIGHTER. I should be able to use everything I’ve been learning about riding and shooting in that, and can’t wait!
ML: I also heard that you are working on a Victorian era crime drama, The Crimes of Sherlock Holmes. Can you discuss any details yet?
JR: That’s another project that is still being put together. I can say that there will be a few surprise cast members who have agreed to roles in it. The story is about Holmes being framed for crimes he didn’t commit.
ML: Are there any political or nonprofit causes that you support?
JR: I support cancer research and efforts to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. I just lost a friend to liver and breast cancer who was only 38 years old. She had tried every option that she could, including chemotherapy and surgery. Nothing helped in the end.
It’s also tragic how many people, especially in Africa, have contacted HIV. In Sub Saharan Africa there is something like 25 million people who have HIV/AIDS. That is insane and out of control. There are a lot of great charities out there. I’ve made donations to the Elton John Aids Foundation (www.ejaf.org). They do a tremendous amount of work to help the people that are suffering.
I would sincerely like to thank Jennifer for taking the time to answer my barrage of questions. Jennifer is a very beautiful and talented person, so when she offered to send me a CD of her various modeling and movie images to accompany this interview, I had to defer the honor to our senior editor. I figured I would just end up using them for private, illicit purposes anyway.
To learn more about Jennifer and her plethora of projects, go to her official website: http://www.jenniferrouse.com. To learn more about her many movies and musical score projects go to http://www.redfieldarts.com. To learn more about her exquisite independent film, “The Death of Poe,” go to the movie’s official website http://www.thedeathofpoe.com.
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