(Courtesy of High Octane Pictures, Boiling Point Media, Uncork’d Entertainment)
Not only do we have a must-see clip from her upcoming movie, Villain Media has an exclusive interview with actress Katie Burgess as she discusses The Jurassic Games, the sci-fi/action thriller from High Octane Pictures, Boiling Point Media, and Uncork’d Entertainment. In the near future, can these lethal death row inmates survive past the dinosaurs without killing each other?
10 Death Row convicts are chosen to compete in The Jurassic Games. The ultimate virtual reality game show pits players against dinosaurs and each other. There is a catch though…if you die in the virtual game, you also die in reality.
Before The Jurassic Games arrives on Video On Demand on June 12th, 2018, Katie Burgess talks about her character, the criminal known as Joy, and reveals how the odds are stacked against her in the game. Will she become the victor that will emerge as the winner? Will Joy reclaim her freedom at the end of the Jurassic Games?
Villain Media: Joy is such a tough character and no-nonsense personality. Is that what interested you in playing the character?
Katie Burgess: What really interested me about Joy is that she’s so different from all the other teenage roles. She offers more of what you said, a strength to her. She’s very badass! But she’s also very dark. You don’t know what’s going on with her. I thought that was an interesting challenge. It was something that I could take and work with throughout the film. That was probably my favorite part! Getting to discover who she is and implement more of a teenager perspective, but with a tough and ruthless character.
VM: Your character does a lot of running and fighting. Did you do any training or research for the role?
KB: I did do a brief run through of some kicks and punches beforehand. But honestly, I wish I had more training! [Laughs[ It was very difficult! You don’t really realize until you get out there. Okay we need you to sprint! You’re like, “Okay I can try that!?!” I felt very in shape after the shoot! I could’ve done more to get more fit!
VM: I loved how Joy is first introduced in a fight sequence! Tell me about that first fight sequence between Joy and Anthony Tucker (Adam Hampton).
KB: Working with Adam was amazing! We got really close on set! We would work together a lot on our scenes! There are multiple combat scenes with Adam. We also had to do a lot of the stunts, with the running and fighting! [Laughs]
Working with him was really awesome because we would kind of collaborate and talk about what we could improve; make the scene more exciting and interesting. We talked about what would work best with our characters. I don’t think they could’ve chosen a better person to play Tucker’s role.
VM: In some of the scenes, you’re running away from a dinosaur chasing after you. Tell me about reacting to something that’s not there.
KB: Right! I got a piece of that when I did Gremlin with Ryan Bellgardt, the previous film that he did. It’s definitely a challenge at first. Once you’re able to use your imagination, it’s easy to picture what would make you most scared. I was able to imagine in my head these dinosaurs running after me and how I would react to that. Once I got into that mindset, imagining the dinosaurs or whatever, it’s a lot easier to do. There were cues where we needed to look, or what we needed to be reacting to. For the most part, that was great to use less of our imagination.
VM: Because there’s special effects and fight scenes, what role would you say director Ryan Bellgardt served?
KB: So Ryan has a really amazing vision! He was able to know specifically how the special effects were going to done in post-production. He would properly instruct us on what needed to happen, what position we needed to be in. Or what special effects were going to be added later on, what needed ample room. He was very helpful with his vision. Of course, he had people with him. He couldn’t do it all by himself. He did an amazing job! He knew exactly what he wanted and how to get there. He got all of the actors on board with what he was visualizing. I think his vision, his imagination helped us all out in the end. I think that’s how Jurassic Games was able to turn out as great!
VM: What’s more of a challenge? Pretending to be scared by the dinosaurs or being tough in an action sequence?
KB: Probably being tough! [Laughs] I think mostly growing up, I was scared. I could draw upon that. My character in Gremlin was scared a lot. I knew how to use that. Being tough on the other hand was difficult. Joy is an unfeeling character. It was hard to get rid of all feelings and really portray how tough she is. She is incredibly strong, both physically and mentally. That was the most challenging part; getting in her head and becoming ruthless as she could be.
VM: Tell me how The Jurassic Games changed you as an artist.
KB: I think it made me stronger. There were a lot of difficult times on set; just physically demanding and emotionally exhausting. That’s all it’s all about being an actor. Being willing to put yourself out there. To work hard to make the project as best as it could be. I feel like I became a stronger worker.
I think that’s what is so interesting; the big Hollywood films that you see. There’s a lot of accommodation for actors and everyone on set. But when you have this community creating a smaller film, you get a lot closer with the people you’re working with. And you also face things that you wouldn’t have to face on a million dollar budget; if that makes sense! [Laughs]
VM: What are you working on now?
KB: I was recently cast in a spy/action thriller. I will be filming that this summer. I’m not sure how much I can say about it! But I’m really excited about that! Be on the lookout for that! I’m taking it one step at a time, seeing what comes up, and hoping for the best!
The Jurassic Games will be available on VOD June 12th, 2018 and DVD on July 3rd, 2018.