Girl meets boy, girl and boy fall in love, girl and boy are then harassed by the corpse of boy’s ex-girlfriend who died in a tragic accident. If the premise of Nina Forever, sounds like a one-gag plot that might be extended far too long, then the Blaine Brothers have achieved a true miracle by making a film that not only goes beyond this strange premises, but reveals itself to be one of the sexiest, most thoughtful romances of the decade. In the film Cian Barry plays Rob, a zombie-like supermarket employee who is approached by his co-worker Holly (Abigail Hardingham) a wide eyed EMT trainee who is attracted to him despite, or perhaps because of, his odd behavior. The two begin a romance and soon we learn the cause of Rob’s affliction is the recent death of his girlfriend Nina (Fiona O’Shaughnessy) who refuses to let go of her beau by literally manifesting when he has physical contact with Holly.
The horror of the first encounter turns into a humorous, heartwarming tradition, as the three must learn to co-exist together. This is not a film about vanquishing evil spirits, gory visuals or a sex comedy, instead it’s like Blithe Spirit if Coward had decided to make it more about melancholy and grief, and less about revenge. I had the opportunity to talk to Barry about playing Rob, being covered in fake blood, the film’s smart use of genre, and working in the West End.
At what point reading the screenplay did you realize you wanted to be in this?
The first read straight through, it was one of those things I couldn’t put down, sometimes screenplays feel like a struggle, there’s something off. This one wasn’t like that, then I met the Blaine brothers and everything was so heartfelt, they let you work with the script and the character. It was instant, I didn’t want to let it go.
Most of the film is set in small spaces, was it a big crew or a very intimate shoot?
It wasn’t a huge crew, it was a decent size, like you said it was intimate, a lot of big things happen but a lot of the time is just three people in the room, and we tried not to lose sight of that when we were making it. Any given day there might have been a lot of crazy stuff going on, especially in independent filmmaking, but the Blaine brothers always made sure we had that space in the eye of the storm where we could concentrate on the characters and the relationships between them. That’s all credit to them, they created that little space of calm.
You spend a lot of time naked, drenched in blood with the two actresses. I’m assuming you didn’t have a lot of rehearsal time, so was it easy to become comfortable with them?
(Laughs) Firstly, it’s a real luxury, because we had a week before the shoot to work on movement and we tried things like being led through the streets blindfolded by each other, the Blaines had this great little idea to help us put our faith on somebody else that would lead us through, which I think paid off great. Once you’re on set, you’re physically vulnerable and then the blood turned out its own surprises as well (laughs) it turned out, one of the things I didn’t think about at least, was that after a few minutes the blood turned to glue. So we were stuck to the sheets, the sheets would be coming off the bed every time we moved, and then somebody’s ingenious solution was to buy a load of KY Jelly, and so it was all mixed with that. We were lubed up in blood, which then made us really slippy, it was chaos.
Something I love about the film is how it shows that eventually relationships become all about repetition. What other insights that we might not see at first due to the corpse situation did you find in the film?
There’s a fair amount of things like that throughout, at first glance the film might seem far-fetched but it’s about how most relationships are, you have habits you don’t wanna break and things that form who you are and your relations to each other. The film’s situations might seem strange but they’re about real feelings like grief, things you can relate to. You might have a normal household and job, or you might be covered in blood with a corpse (laughs) but it’s all the same. We try keeping hold of our ways, things that make you feel like you. To let go of those things can be scary.
What would you say you have in common, if anything, with Rob?
I guess. Obviously you try to work with your common grounds when you play a character, but I empathized a lot with his fear and struggle of letting go of things. You need to go to dark places and see you can be frightened and dark sometimes. We all have moments where we think we can’t cope anymore, but then someone comes and helps you and you realize everything will be alright.
When you first meet Nina and everyone else in the film they seem like they’re insane. You played Billy in the UK Tour of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and I wondered if having played someone with actual mental problems helped you empathize more with what’s going on in Nina Forever?
Maybe? I wasn’t consciously thinking of any parallels between the two, but I think everyone has their own reality and you accept things as normal a lot of the time, and other people look at you and point out you’re insane, or just run for the hills. As crazy as it might be to somebody else, your own situation comes normal to you.
You were in the revival of Our Boys, were you played the characters originated by Sean Gilder. You also appeared in one episode of Shameless also starring Sean, had you had an opportunity to see him play Keith or did you go back to ask him for any advice?
I didn’t get to see the original production, and when we did it in the West End later we just took it back from the start, we went to the characters and the story and we researched the real people, we got to meet and interview people who’d been in the forces. We tried to build the characters ourselves. It was interesting that many people noted there were similar choices we’d made. I loved being in that production as well, my oldest friend was in it as well, there are similarities with that as well, they are both set in one room pretty much, and they’re about relationships between people that seem very strange.
When Nina first appears in our film it’s shocking all around, but when something like that happens you don’t necessarily run away. If it’s a loved one you probably wouldn’t want to leave them, it’s like you’re being pulled into two different directions and that’s when interesting things happen.
The film premiered in the UK at FrightFest and in the US at SXSW. How was the reaction different in each festival, since one was for horror movies, and the other for general audiences?
It was strange, because when we were making it we didn’t even consider genre, and then of course we had this amazing feedback at SXSW, I was unable to make it there but I kept getting these great messages, which was a big relief of course. When other people like what you put so much effort into is such a relief. I was a little surprised to be honest that it was being entered into horror festivals, and as much as horror fans like gore, they really embraced it. It made me see the horror genre in a different way, there are rules in horror films, but then people can be delighted when you break them and you bring something different to them. It was delightful to see their reaction.
The film is opening Valentine’s Day weekend in the US. Do you have any favorite V-Day movies, maybe something to fit in a double bill with Nina Forever?
Ooh, that’s tricky! Now I’m just seeing about what I’m seeing tomorrow which is The Room, with a live appearance by Tommy Wiseau...but I need to mull on this one. Maybe Man with the Screaming Brain, it’s just shut into my head, maybe there’s some unconscious link. Maybe I can go to a therapist and figure out why it’s there (laughs).
This is even more random than your selection, but what’s the story on that cat shirt you wore at FrightFest?
(Laughs) One of the beauties of it is it was from a little pop up shop in Sheffield, that was only there for two weeks. We were doing The Crucible, and someone saw it and told me it was perfect for me, so I went there, saw it and couldn’t leave without it. It had to be mine. There are similar ones online, but I’m going with mine being the best.
It’s pretty great, I hope you don’t damage it with fake blood or KY Jelly.
(Laughs) I’ll try not to.
Nina Forever is now in select theaters.
