Interviews

Interview: Damsel’s Chris Ohlson & Mia Wasikowska | 2018 Sundance Film Festival

Published on June 21, 2018

A creative collaboration that was cemented on the Zellner Bros.’ previous film, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (check out our trading card profile) which premiered at Sundance and became a critical darling on the fest circuit, Chris Ohlson embarked on their most ambitious project to date (in terms of size, scope) with Damsel. Under the guise of a comedy western mashup, attracting the likes of Robert Pattinson, Robert Forster and Mia Wasikowska who takes on the role of tough-as-nails, not so wallflower like Penelope with aplomb and grit. Since embarking on Park Chan-wook and Jim Jarmusch signed films, Wasikowska (who was in Park City with Nicolas Pesce’s Piercing) has ben making some radical film role choices and so we got to speak to her and chat with Chris Ohlson on how his partnership has evolved. Just prior to the world premiere screening at the Eccles, we spoke to the producer and the star of the film:

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).