spotlight saturday church
I feel like in some ways I’ve become a whole different
person because of the experi- ence and Ulysses helped me
discover myself. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.” — luka kain
On Men, Women and The Rest of Us. It was really interesting because she really identifies with more of a non-binary identity, she still uses she pronouns, but it was a great show and she’s a wonderful person. I also took some lessons and learned some vogue-
ing; I learned three moves that I needed to do in that dancing montage. I got really close with Indya [Moore] and Alexia [Garcia] and MJ [Rodriguez] and like I said before, I knew Marquis [Rodriguez] from before. Actually, MJ too, from a production ofRunaways from City Center like a month or two before filming. I was actually planning to talk with her about my role and get advice, because I really wanted to give an accurate representation. Anyway, then she ended up being there during a preproduc- tion meeting! (Laughs) I have been so impressed by this film and your work in it. After speaking with Damon about how he chose to address the topic of LGBTQ homeless- ness and how easily it could have gone dark. It was a wonderful way to address the topic and convey hope and the possibility of joy. Had you done any musical theatre before working onSaturday Church? Music has been a part of my life for a long time.
My mom has a degree in music and I did South Pacific at Lincoln Center when I was really little. It was a three-year experience, because the director said that he never wanted to audition kids again. (Laughs) Usually kids have like a six-month lease in theatre because they grow out of the role pretty quickly. But he stuck with us and it became sort of a theatre family after three years. It’s one of the reasons that I learn to love acting. When you read the part for Ulysses, was there any one particular thing that stood out for you and has stayed with you?
I really admired how Damon wrote the part, because though he is quiet, he is still a very strong person. Throughout the film he goes through all of these terrible things and you never really see him have a breakdown and I think that’s amazing. You get to see this quiet shy kid transform into a powerhouse. One review I read said, “Ulysses is a quiet, shy kid
with a fierce underlying goddess.” I think you can really see that transformation in the end during the ball scene and the outfit he is wearing…He sort of looks like an Egyptian goddess. That’s one of the qualities of the film that also impressed me, it’s a quiet, subtle film. It’s not a hit you over the head with a message kind of story. How have audience responses been so far? I actually have had the opportunity to go across
the country and represent the film, which is kind of fun…We’ve been to Seattle, L.A., San Francisco, Little Rock, Atlanta and Boston—it’s been an amazing experience. And, relating to your question before about LGBT youth and homelessness, in At- lanta they really appreciated how the film showed that world, because there’s a huge community there. Not only kids on the street but in particular kids of color on the street, so having that representation in the film was important to them. That’s cool to hear. It’s another aspect of why I think this film is significant, is the fact that it portrays the trans community in such a unique way.
What I think it does really well is that it doesn’t
kind of exploit it, in the way it can sometimes be done in Hollywood. Damon really took on the chal- lenge as producer, director and writer and I think he handled it so well. He did his research, worked with the community to make sure it came off well and
30 RAGE monthly | JANUARY 2018
didn’t exploit them in any way. I commend him so much for that. Another of the moments in the film that stunned me was the “You’re gonna see me/You’re gonna know me/You’re gonna love me,” scene in the locker room. Yes. We actually choreographed the scene in another place and it was a much larger space, so we had to improvise a bit on the day of, because it was smaller. We were also running out of time, it was very fluid motions and we only had one camera, so the fact that you thought it was beautiful means a lot to me, especially considering how difficult it was to capture. It definitely wasn’t a slow day that day. (Laughs) One more question: Is there anything that really surprised you about playing Ulysses and around doing the film? Yes, yes. There was definitely a sort of ignorance
that I had to the ball scene, because I’m not part of that world. Going through the journey with Ulysses and meeting Indya [Moore] and Alexia [Garcia] and MJ [Rodriguez] was really amazing and the film humanizes him and their characters so well. I loved it and even though I’m a liberal person, it was good to lose the stereotypes that I had about all of it. It was a great life lesson in general about fighting your fears and to quote Ulysses, “Finding your goddess.” I feel like in some ways I’ve become a whole different person because of the experience and Ulysses helped me discover myself. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
Saturday Churchopens onFriday, January 12 in theaters, on demand and digitally, check your local listings for details. For more information about the film itself, go to
samuelgoldwynfilms.com/saturday-church.
| JANUARY 2018
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