Striking visuals and a bold performance style couple with HD cinematography and top-notch CG effects in Prescott Place, a short that’s part ‘40s noir homage and part postmodern fantasy. Recently, I had a chance to sit down with the digital short’s writer/director, Peilin Kuo, and producer, Michelle Mensah, as they gear up for Prescott Place’s premiere at the 7the Annual Big Apple Film Festival.
Prescott Place centers on Jane Prescott (Alexis Iacono), a heady hybrid of Sunset Boulevard’s Norma Desmond, and the twisted sisters of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Prescott is a long-forgotten child star, exiled from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood after a disfiguring on-set accident. Locked away in a prison of her own making, her only friend is a self-styled Baby Doll, who in turn coddles and bullies the fragile has-been, who pines endlessly for her lost Romeo.
This fantasy-noir mirrors much of the style of Hollywood’s Golden Age from the stirring score, to the almost theatrical performances, to the highly stylized art direction. Kuo, who was born and raised in Taiwan, moved to the U.S. to pursue her filmmaking ambitions. Once here, she found a new source of inspiration on American television, “I watched TCM all the time.” She told me how Turner Classics Movies has become such a mainstay in her home that her three-year-old son recognizes ever-present TCM host, Robert Osborne, on sight, and calls out his name when the genteel host presents the next feature film. Kuo says she was drawn to the grand drama of the Golden Age’s films and how all the actors played larger than life figures, but were still relatable. She found herself especially attracted to film noir and its damaged heroines.
Mensah explained how the creative team was inspired by the Hollywood tragedies of Sunset Boulevard and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, and aimed to take the idea of the self-tormented star “to another level.” Prescott Place manages this feat with the haunting antagonist, Baby Doll, who is also played by Iacono. No dummy, puppet or marionette was manipulated to bring the pint-sized doppelganger to life. Instead, green screen and composite work seamlessly sewed Iacono’s head and neck onto the figure’s frame and breathed life into the malicious Baby Doll.
In an eerie example of life imitating art, the real baby doll, an antique toy from the 1920’s, proved to be an unexpected liability. Mensah told me, “Baby doll was the biggest diva on set!” She and Kuo said the doll would shift, fall over, or literally fall apart throughout the two-week shoot. “It’s a very delicate baby doll,” Mensah explained, “[But] it’s very heavy!” The pair laughed when recounting the times wood glue and duct tape were brought in to mend or constrain their surprisingly willful ingénue. When all else failed, Kuo admitted, she began begging the problematic prop to keep it together. “I had to talk to her all the time…When you’re shooting you really feel it. She has her emotions, because somehow she’d just collapse! When you’re [shooting] she’d just collapse and you’d just have to go back to her and say, ‘Okay we’ll just finish this one [take] and we’ll take a break!” Theirs is a complicated relationship. While writing the script, Kuo had the doll nearby, a constant source of inspiration. She told me she began talking to Baby Doll as she wrote, much to the dismay of her husband. When I asked where the doll-faced diva was now, Kuo replied, “My husband put her in the attic.” “But I still can feel her,” she smiled.
Prescott Place will premiere at the Big Apple Film Festival as part of Program 8 on Wednesday November 3, at 8:40 pm at Tribeca Cinemas.
Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in NYC will host a special free screening of Prescott Place on Friday, November 12, at 1 East 42nd Street at 6pm. The event will feature a Q&A, wine, beer and tasty delights. To attend, RSVP to [email protected] by November 8.