Blending dark comedy with serious themes, Audrey is a unique film that showcases an unforgettable ensemble cast, with Josephine Blazier delivering a standout performance as the intense and unpredictable Audrey. The character, known for her obnoxious confidence, was a challenge and a gift for Josephine, pushing her to explore new boundaries and discover unexpected parts of herself as an actor. We chat to Josephine on what drew her to the role, the dynamics of working with a talented cast, and how she tackled the challenge of bringing Audrey’s outrageous confidence to life. Plus, she shares her thoughts on what audiences can take away from this extraordinary, complex film.
Can you tell us about your character, Audrey, and what drew you to this role?
Audrey is an extremely intense and overall dramatic person, and if I’m not giving anything away by saying this, so is the whole film and I was attracted to Audrey but also the whole project for this reason. I really enjoy exploring what my boundaries are as a performer and surprising myself with where things end up and I felt at the time that Audrey was going to give me an incredible opportunity to do this. That statement when the student is ready the teacher arrives was the case with Audrey very much. I learned a lot through embodying her obnoxious confidence! For Better or worse!
What was it like working alongside Jackie van Beek and the rest of the cast? Did any particular moments stand out to you during filming?
The cast of this film are all extremely singular, but also extremely experienced. I felt incredibly held at all times by their expertise and supportive attitude. Jackie was a consummate professional and one of the funniest people I have ever met in my whole life, and I adore Hannah and Jeremy very much. We were a real life, slightly dysfunctional but more functional than the film, family during the shoot; it was a lot of fun! Highlights were probably shooting the end sequences in the theatre or the day I spent on second unit at a hobby farm!
This film blends dark comedy with serious themes. How did you approach balancing these elements in your performance?
It was a real pleasure to be honest to work on a project with such a complex tone, nonetheless, most of the comedy comes at my expense in the film so I am very much the straight man so I had little to worry about when it came to trying to balance the dark and the light of the film thankfully. My strategy was kinda just to pitch everything to the most extreme!
What do you hope audiences will take away from Audrey after watching it?
Honestly I am really not sure, it’s so hard to be objective about things that you have work on, however, I would describe the whole film as “extraordinary”, it’s impactful and naughty and also somehow manages to be wholesome at the same time, so having just said that I’m hoping some of those things are are your takeaways! And… also life is short, don’t wait for it to happen to you!
Can you share any challenges you faced while bringing Audrey to life on screen? How did you overcome them?
The biggest one was probably just her insane confidence, people who know me will laugh at this but truly it was something I had to very intentionally and consistently work at throughout the shoot. I found the dramatic scenes come naturally but in order to imbue Audrey with this brazen attitude I really wanted her to have when I envisioned doing the shoot I had to really tap into the part of me that doesn’t care what people think on a whole new level but that was certainly also apart of the fun of it all!!
Also working with Jackie and some of the things she said to me while shooting the very dramatic scenes helped me a lot, she was just always so totally relaxed and had such a healthy perspective on the film and the film industry, always encouraging risk taking in performance but also had an extremely grounded attitude about everything, ironically nothing like Ronnie at all
The script is razor sharp. What is your favourite aspect of it, and how do you think it resonates with contemporary audiences?
My favourite aspect of the script is definitely the line about the “dark mahogany” I will say no more… And I believe anybody who’s either been a teenager or raised one will be able to empathise with the film, the themes are extremely universal though presented a little bit unconventionally!
As an emerging talent in the Australian film scene, what advice would you give to aspiring actors?
As an actor it’s so essential to believe in yourself more than anything and whatever opinion you have of yourself is always going to be the most important so I would always start there! Then I would say assess and analyse as deeply as you can why and where your desire to be an actor is coming from and make sure it‘s truly your own desire not the motive of anyone else influential in your life, and then if you still want to do it after that give it absolutely everything you have! Invest in yourself, in your mind, in your body, travel, do acting classes, always keep an open mind and keep exceeding your own perceived potential. You are capable of things you don’t yet know you are capable of.
