Katarina Zhu, director, writer and lead actor of 'Bunnylovr,' visits the THR Studio at Park City with her co-stars Rachel Sennott, Perry Yung and Austin Amelio. They shine light on the creative process with Katrina's "dream cast" and how their paths have crossed over the years.
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00:00It just happened really naturally.
00:02I said, will you please be in my indie film?
00:04And she said, get in line, honey.
00:07I said, call my team.
00:14We both went to NYU together.
00:16We studied acting at Stella Adler's studio within Tisch.
00:21We met freshman?
00:23Freshman year, 2014.
00:252014.
00:27And then we were roommates junior year,
00:30and we've been best friends ever since.
00:33When you were putting this movie together,
00:36what did you envision for the characters
00:41that we're now seeing here?
00:43What kind of person were you looking for?
00:46Oh, gosh.
00:47If you remember from that.
00:50I feel like I wasn't envisioning exactly anyone.
00:55It was more of a feel.
00:56I was sort of the essence.
00:58I was thinking about the feeling
01:01that I would want to get from these people,
01:05and I feel like they all...
01:06This is my dream cast.
01:08I'm so grateful to my casting directors
01:10because they really put together the cast of my dreams.
01:14I feel like everybody is so perfect in their roles.
01:19No, I mean, seriously.
01:21So talented.
01:24I think it's an amazing mix of people, too.
01:26Was there a role or a project
01:30that you'd seen any of these folks in
01:32that was the thing that made you say,
01:34Oh, this is why they'd be good?
01:36That's such a good question.
01:37I saw Austin in a short film.
01:42I forget who the director was,
01:43but you were playing an ex-convict?
01:47I probably just looked like one.
01:50No, I was playing a guy.
01:54He was in purgatory, right?
01:57Like a laundry?
01:58No, no, no. It wasn't that one.
01:59Oh, no, it was the other one.
02:00You were talking to a parole officer?
02:02What was that one?
02:04Yeah, I was playing a convict.
02:07Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:08I thought he was so brilliant in that.
02:11I feel like there were so many different shades.
02:15There was such a range within that one short,
02:18and that was the thing that I saw Austin in,
02:21where I was like, okay, he has to be in this film,
02:24and I think he would serve the character so well.
02:28Perry, I watched, what was the Eddie Huang film?
02:33Oh, the Boogie.
02:35Boogie, yes, I saw you in Boogie,
02:36and I was like, okay, done.
02:38Well, I saw, honestly, I saw a headshot of you,
02:40and I was immediately like, okay, Catelyn,
02:42you can cast him immediately.
02:44Rachel, I saw in...
02:47Her.
02:48Yeah, yeah, yeah, it came together.
02:50In The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
02:54Oh, my God.
02:55Oh, my God.
02:56We were in the worst play ever.
02:59The worst play ever in college
03:01was called The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire play.
03:03Play was in the title.
03:05I can't remember what it's about.
03:06Yes.
03:07And it's, we die in the first, like, 30 seconds of the play,
03:12but then we have to stand on stage during the play as ghosts,
03:16so you can't pee, you can't drink water,
03:19and you have to be present,
03:20because then you come forward and you go like,
03:23I was, my name is Sarah, or whatever.
03:27It was, yeah, so she saw my work in that.
03:30I feel so lucky that she said yes.
03:33Of course, I feel lucky.
03:34I feel lucky to be, like, a part of this,
03:36and, like, I just think, well,
03:38Katerina and I, like, have been friends for so long,
03:41and we've always, like, sent each other our scripts.
03:44Like, Katerina was one of the first people to read Bottoms.
03:47Like, she's read everything.
03:49She's read things that no one will ever read,
03:52because they're short.
03:54It's, like, so many things,
03:56and then when she sent me Bunny Lover,
03:58I was like, oh, my God, this is so good.
04:01Like, I just feel like it's so,
04:04it's such a specific point of view.
04:06It's so her voice.
04:07It's so her, and, like, that was already there
04:10in all the shorts she was making,
04:12but, like, I just, like, felt like, whoa,
04:16this is, like, really cool,
04:18and then just, like, during the process of, like,
04:22I guess the, what is making an indie film,
04:26which is just, like, sort of, like,
04:28everyone's saying no to you a million times,
04:31and then I was like, I would love to, like,
04:34be a part of it if I can,
04:36and it just happened really naturally.
04:37I said, will you please be in my indie film,
04:40and she said, get in line, honey.
04:43I said, call my team.
04:46No.
04:47It was perfect.
04:48No, I mean, like Rachel said,
04:50I feel like we've been, like,
04:52nothing has changed about the way that we collaborate
04:54and, like, share work with each other,
04:56and, like, I feel so lucky to have, yeah,
05:00such a supportive and, like, creatively
05:03collaborative relationship with one of my best friends.
05:05I read in your, I think it was in your director's statement,
05:08talking about, like, your time on, like, LiveJournal.
05:13Were you a LiveJournal girl?
05:14Oh, my God.
05:15Okay, yes.
05:17The truth comes out.
05:18I was obsessed with Twilight,
05:21and specifically, like, Twilight fan fiction,
05:24and then I also, that, like, got wrapped up
05:27in an obsession with Robert Pattinson,
05:29and there was a LiveJournal that was dedicated
05:31to Robert Pattinson called, like, Our Pats Daily,
05:34and so I was on this LiveJournal every single day,
05:37like, checking for updates.
05:39Were you posting or just you were rehearsing?
05:42I did try to write fan fiction at one point,
05:45and I think that's, like, where my love of creative writing was.
05:49And that's where writing came in.
05:51Exactly.
05:52But, yes, so I was on LiveJournal in that capacity,
05:55but I was never, like, posting anything.
05:59Well, I was curious whether anyone else here
06:01has, like, an Internet history, PG-13 rated, of course,
06:05but, like, what was your, what, did you guys ever find yourselves
06:08in any corners of that, like, chat rooms,
06:10AIM, LiveJournal, Tumblr?
06:13No, no, I mean, I think that's kind of what drew me
06:16to the script was that I was just, like,
06:20sort of fascinated by the relationship
06:24that me and her have in the film,
06:26and it was, like, something I'm not familiar with
06:29and I don't know anything about,
06:31like, sort of an old man in that regard.
06:34Very offline.
06:35Yeah, and so, yeah, no real experience with that stuff.
06:40I sort of missed the boat.
06:42Maybe it's a good thing.
06:43Yeah, whatever.
06:44Yeah, I'm, like, I missed the boat on that one, too.
06:47I mean, I'm actually the older character in the film,
06:50so it's just, like, what's the Internet, you know?
06:53How do I update my contacts?
06:54I'm one of those fathers in the film, so.
06:57But it was a fascinating story.
06:59Like Rachel said, when I first saw the script,
07:01I went, oh, my God,
07:02there's something about the script
07:04that is not like other scripts that just want to be made.
07:06There's something about the script
07:08that's screaming to be made in a smoldering way.
07:12Yeah.
07:13You know, and I went, this is on my desk,
07:15and I get to actually have a say
07:17and want to be in this?
07:18I'm like, hell yeah.
07:20So it was amazing.
07:21Are you a dad in real life?
07:23I am a dad in real life.
07:24I assume you're nothing like...
07:28You know, there's a little yin and yang to everyone, right?
07:32So I get to play the dad that I'm not in real life
07:36in this film, which is an amazing thing, you know?
07:39And I see the opportunity in this film
07:42because, you know, this film is about love, right?
07:45And there's a lot of love in the world.
07:47There's different kinds of love.
07:49And this film covers romantic love, family love,
07:51friendship love, and this character navigates
07:54all the different facets of love
07:56in very different ways, and it's complex
07:58in all those different ways.
08:00And especially with our storyline
08:03of father and child love is very complicated
08:06in a traumatic way when there's a kind of addiction
08:09in the parent.
08:11And so this character finds a way to go,
08:13you know what, that's trauma.
08:15How do I turn the poison of trauma into medicine?
08:18And that was the beauty that I saw in her story.
08:21God, I'm asking everybody the same couple questions,
08:24and I'm going to ask you guys if you remember
08:26the first time you were starstruck.
08:28I was walking down the street.
08:30Oh, should I?
08:31No, you go ahead.
08:32Lafayette and Houston Street and Broadway.
08:35I was walking down the street and Parker Posey
08:37just walked this way.
08:38The 1994.
08:40Whoa.
08:42That's incredible.
08:43Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:45I remember outside of our dorm,
08:47or my dorm freshman year,
08:49seeing Alex Troposki from Girls,
08:52and I was like, I love Girls.
08:54And he was like, word.
08:56And that was it.
08:57But it was, I remember I watched,
08:59I was like touring colleges,
09:01like seeing if I was going to go to NYU,
09:04and I watched some of Girls with my dad,
09:06and he was sort of like,
09:07I think this is a show for you to watch without me.
09:10But I was like, that's going to be me next year
09:14at NYU.
09:15And it was.
09:16And then it was.
09:17Wow.
09:18So, yeah.
09:19Okay, for me, we were just talking about this.
09:21So I briefly lived in L.A. in 2021
09:23for like six months.
09:25The first time there, Rachel's like showing,
09:27she's like showing me the town.
09:29Showing me the town takes me to Erewhon.
09:32Yeah, yeah, Erewhon.
09:33And Miley Cyrus walks up to me
09:37and is like, I love your tattoo.
09:39I have like a little tattoo on my arm.
09:41And I mean, I fucking grew up watching Hannah Montana.
09:44I love Miley Cyrus.
09:45She's the best.
09:46Also, I was like, of course, Miley comes up to you.
09:49Miley's like, hey, babe, how are you?
09:51But no, but that was really cool.
09:54I wasn't even like starstruck.
09:55I guess I was starstruck.
09:57I was like, oh my God.
09:58Like, yeah, it's, thank you.
10:01You know, that was my.
10:03We love Miley.
10:04Yeah, I don't think I've ever, ever been starstruck.
10:07Yeah, no one.
10:08Oh, like I haven't seen like all the people that I like
10:11or passed away or something.
10:13So.
10:14Wow.
10:15Everyone who you've worked with is like, um, hello.
10:18No.
10:19No, I mean, there's, there's people that I admire
10:22and things like that, but I've never been like.
10:24Who, okay.
10:25So who of the people who are no longer with us, like.
10:28Would it be?
10:29Yeah.
10:30Who would be your person that like, if you saw them, you would.
10:31I don't even know if I'd want to see them.
10:33Never meet your heroes.
10:34Yeah, I don't think so.
10:38Yeah.
10:39Yeah.
10:40Yeah.
10:41Yeah.
10:42Yeah.
10:43Yeah.
10:44Yeah.
10:45Yeah.
10:46Yeah.
10:47Yeah.
10:48Yeah.
10:49Yeah.
10:50Yeah.
10:51Yeah.
10:52Yeah.
10:53Yeah.
10:54Yeah.
10:55Yeah.
10:56Yeah.
10:57Yeah.
10:58Yeah.
10:59Yeah.
11:00Yeah.
11:01Yeah.
11:02Yeah.
11:03Yeah.
11:04Yeah.
11:05Yeah.
11:06Yeah.