Interviews

Interview: Sean Baker & Dree Hemingway – Starlet

Published on November 5, 2012

Sean Baker’s third feature film, Starlet, finds him exploring the world of sun soaked California through the eyes of porn star Jane, played by model come actress Dree Hemingway. Coming off his last film, Prince of Broadway and her successful modeling career, Baker and Hemingway came together to tell the story of the unlikely relationship that emerges between Jane and Sadie (85 year-old newcomer Besedka Johnson) when Jane stumbles upon a stash of money in an old relic bought at Sadie’s yard sale.

In his new film, Baker uses a more contained, locked down camera style then his previous works yet also incorporated more improvisation into his storytelling. Hemingway, for her part, engulfed herself in the role, spending time with adult film stars in an attempt to learn the lingo and embody the lifestyle. Below, Baker and Hemingway discuss their work methods, individually and together, what it was like to work with real porn stars, and how two separate stories became one film.

Jesse Klein

Jesse Klein (MFA in Film and Video Production from The University of Texas at Austin) is a Montreal-born filmmaker and writer. His first feature film, Shadowboxing, (RVCQ '10, Lone Star Film Festival '10) . As well as contributing to IONCINEMA, he is the senior contributor to This Recording and writes for ION Magazine and Hammer to Nail. Top Films From Contemporary Film Auteurs: Almodóvar (All About My Mother), Coen Bros. (Fargo), Dardenne Bros. (Rosetta), Haneke (The White Ribbon), Hsiao-Hsien (Flowers of Shanghai), Kar-wai (In The Mood For Love), Kiarostami (Close-Up), Lynch (Blue Velvet), Tarantino (Jackie Brown), Van Sant (To Die For), von Trier (Breaking The Waves)