Interviews

2015 Sundance Trading Card Series: #26. Andrea Roa (Unexpected)

Published on January 26, 2015

Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2014 discoveries” …
Andrea Roa: Tranparent, The Babadook, Fun Home.

Lavallee: With regards to the casting choice of Cobie Smulders, what were some of the personality traits that you were looking for in the casting process of the anti-domesticated, career-oriented future mother to be Samantha.
Roa: Pregnant!

Lavallee: This is your second “Swanberg” feature, I was wondering at what point did you come on board, and how long of a gestation period was there since Unexpected was shot late in the game (early Fall).
Roa: I came on board last year at Sundance when Kris and I met to discuss the script. So it came together quickly.

Lavallee: Between features Drinking Buddies, Sunlight Jr. and now Unexpected, you’ve maintained strong ties (in the producing capacity) to short filmmaking/filmmakers. Could you describe your attraction to the form?
Roa: The attraction is the filmmaker. And they were also projects that I thought would be fun to be a part of.

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).