Stephen Dunn and Connor Jessup are eating Cheerios and chatting from Toronto via speakerphone about labels, a pivotal hate crime and convincing Isabella Rossellini to play a talking hamster.
Dunn鈥檚 debut feature Closet Monster is the gut-wrenching, occasionally surrealist journey of Oscar Madly (Jessup) as he finds his place in the world and acknowledges his sexuality, burdened with the extra weight of having witnessed a terrible hate crime as a child.
The genesis of the story came from very dark place: a true hate crime committed against a gay teen in St. John鈥檚, N.L. 鈥淚t really just grew from one image 鈥� a young man removing a hate-crime weapon from his stomach, as a moment of overcoming fear and the oppression in his life,鈥� says the director. 鈥淚 worked backwards from that image to establish the story of how we get here.鈥�
Jessup, known for the sci-fi series Falling Skies as well as his pivotal role in the most recent American Crime season, came on board after finally getting around to reading the script. 鈥淚 was out of the country at the time, and I was very bad, I didn鈥檛 read it right away,鈥� he admits. 鈥淚 was taken with it mainly because I knew who Stephen was, and then when I read it, it didn鈥檛 take a lot of convincing.鈥�
In fact, Dunn may always have had Jessup in mind 鈥� subconsciously or not 鈥� for the role of Connor. 鈥淚 wrote the entire script in Hart House at the University of Toronto, where a bunch of nerds and total geeks would go in every week over the summer to play this board game, and one of those nerds was Connor. When I was writing the role, I guess I was writing with him in mind.鈥� Then Dunn saw Jessup鈥檚 performance in Blackbird, about a teen accused of plotting a mass school shooting. 鈥淚 knew we鈥檇 found him.鈥�
(The nerdy pursuit that caught Dunn鈥檚 attention was the ancient game Go, Jessup says. 鈥淪o that鈥檚 my advice to aspiring actors, take up Go.鈥�)
Dunn shot in his hometown of St. John鈥檚. Was it too close to home, literally? 鈥淪t. John鈥檚 is not jaded in the way that Toronto is. In Newfoundland people are so friendly and warm and excited to work, so there are a lot of benefits to shooting there,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut emotionally revisiting some of these spaces and stories鈥� it was probably the most stressful period of my life. I had to overcome my personal struggles, my nervousness of telling the story.鈥�
Oscar deals with a mother who abandons him and a manic, latently homophobic father. He finds asylum in the treehouse they built together, where he works with his friend Gemma (Sofia Banzhaf) on elaborate horror-genre creations and dreams of life as a makeup artist in New York City. Dunn employs these macabre touches and magic realism as a manifestation of Oscar鈥檚 tormented state: 鈥淏ecause the content of the film is from a darker and more tortured space, it lent itself to the horror genre.鈥�
聽Is it any wonder that Oscar finds solace and wisdom in the company of his hamster, Buffy? 鈥淭he voice of Buffy was robotic originally,鈥� says Dunn. 鈥淲e were almost completely done. The humour was there but the maternal nature was not.鈥�
Dunn was re-watching Isabella Rossellini鈥檚 Green Porno series for Sundance, and in one episode she plays a hamster. 鈥淚 thought that would be amazing. I pitched to it my producers, who had worked with her before. We had no money, but they loved the idea, sent her the script and she agreed right away.鈥� What followed was a dream day of recording at Rossellini鈥檚 home in upstate New York, an 鈥渋ncredible experience鈥� for Dunn.
Closet Monster has generated quite a bit of buzz as a queer film, though Oscar has to come to terms with more than just his sexuality. Dunn says he 鈥渆mbraces鈥� the label, although he never set about making specifically a LGBTQ film. 鈥淵eah, he鈥檚 queer and coming to terms with it, but it鈥檚 just one man鈥檚 personal coming-of-age narrative.鈥� What鈥檚 really exciting, says Dunn, is the great variety of queer-centric films made for wider audiences. 鈥淔or a long time queer film has been ghettoized鈥� but it鈥檚 no longer categorized solely based on its queerness.鈥�
Jessup has some dark, graphic moments in the film, not unlike his characters in American Crime (where he played a rape victim) and Blackbird. The actor says that while some of these issues are the result of playing teenagers dealing with coming-of-age tropes, the rest is 鈥渢his chicken/egg thing. Like most people I鈥檓 attracted to interesting filmmakers and actors, and that comes about rarely enough that you jump at it.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 not attracted to edgy stuff specifically,鈥� he adds. 鈥淚 like to think that I鈥檓 a fairly happy guy.鈥�
聽Jessup has been acting since he was 11. By age 15 he 鈥渨anted to be involved in something other than acting鈥� and so he used his earnings from TV鈥檚 Saddle Club series to executive produce a film, Amy George. Wouldn鈥檛 most teens have spent their earnings on a jet-ski? 鈥淚t coincided with my falling in love with movies鈥� The only thing I鈥檝e spent any real money on is film,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd food at restaurants because I鈥檓 too lazy to cook for myself.鈥�
The 22-year-old has also directed a short film, Boy, and hopes to 鈥渂eat Stephen鈥� by directing his first feature before the end of next year.
Any plans to collaborate again? 鈥淣ever, never again,鈥� jokes Dunn, while Jessup says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not up to the actor. Ask Stephen... I can only hope.鈥�
Closet Monster opens Friday at Fifth Avenue.
