Jobless and searching for purpose, a group of 20-somethings from Los Angeles head up the coast to make quick cash trimming marijuana on a secluded farm in Northern California. Cut off from the rest of the world, they soon realize that the estate is harboring darker secrets than any of them could imagine, as they race against time to escape the dense woods with their lives.
That’s the chilling premise of Trim Season, which recently premiered at the Overlook Film Festival. We recently caught up with the film’s director, Ariel Vida, and star, Jane Badler, who also produced the project. Folks might remember Badler for her portrayal of Diana, the sexually charged villain of cult classic TV series V. In Trim Season, she plays a terrifying landowner named Mona, a character that will give you nightmares — even if cannabis isn’t your thing.
Badler and Vida opened up about past works that inspired their new horror film, as well as other projects they’re currently working on. Read our exclusive interview below.
Trim Season Draws on Guillermo del Toro’s Style
MW: Ariel, how’d you come to sign on as director of this unique project?
Ariel Vida: One of my friends, very generously, sent a link to the rough cut of my first feature to Jane [Adler] and Sean E. [DeMott]. And when I got the script from them, I didn’t actually know much at all about the true-crime element, the actual history of that area, let alone this fun, supernatural take they were doing.
Vida: So right away, it was extremely up my alley in terms of, I don’t really like to shoot just indoors in like a mansion or basement. I want to be out in the mountains. I want to be in the forest. For these young trimmers going up into the woods and everything hitting the fan, to keep it short, I just can see unlimited potential of how to make that a weird, almost Guillermo del Toro-fantastical horror film. So I was excited to join.
Jane Badler: We just thought she’s the absolute perfect director, because we didn’t want it like straight storytelling. We wanted it to have a fantastical atmosphere. And I could see the way that she shoots […] We fought really hard to keep her on. We had a few obstacles along the way, as you do. But for us, the most important thing was to keep Ariel happy, and on this project.
Badler: I think that having Ariel drew us to the cast. We had an extraordinary cast, and they all came on knowing that we were going to do something different, not your typical horror film, and a lot of great people. And with it, she brought her amazing production designer, and we had an amazing costume designer. So I think, overall, we were really lucky to have her at the helm.
MW: Jane, you play Mona, who is quite the character. Was it a unique sort of preparation process, getting ready to play her?
Badler: I put a lot into this role, and I had a lot of time to prepare, for like a year, because Ariel and I were talking through the script. And so I was very lucky in that way that I had a lot of months beforehand to ponder and think about every one of our motivations and her relationship with her sons, and her relationship to the land, her relationship to the marijuana. So I was lucky to have that.
Badler: But then on top of that, I did a lot of reading about the kind of mythology and goddesses and witches. And then I also worked with an acting coach […] who was pretty ruthless. She put me through the paces. And I just kind of showed up and came up with the way she’d move her body, the way she’d speak, which was very different than me, because I’m a very hyper person. I feel like Mona was very kind of slow and deliberate. And yeah, it was just a really cathartic, weirdly cathartic thing for me to do to play that character.
MW: Did you find yourself channeling any past characters you’ve played into Mona?
Badler: Diana in V was like my definitive baddie, and in some ways, maybe there was a little element of her, because she was also a very deliberate character. The difference was that Diana in V had no human emotions, so her life was not about her human emotions, whereas Mona is filled with human emotion and passion. So that was a huge difference.
Badler: I probably channeled my own life a lot more than I channeled other characters in what I was going through. Personally, I used a lot of that in Moana […] We talked a lot about the role. And I think once the costume designer put those clothes on me, oh my god — because that’s a really important part of a character, when they put those clothes on you. And that gave me other dimensions. As soon as I saw the way she dressed, it was like, “OK, this is not a normal person.”
MW: Ariel, you mentioned Guillermo del Toro earlier. Did any other filmmakers or past projects inspire how you wanted Trim Season to look or feel?
Vida: I mean, just as a viewer, I’ve got wall-to-wall posters. In production design, I make these 100-page look books […] There’s that Pan’s Labyrinth, feeling that there’s something in the woods. You’ve got Lord of the Rings […] I think a lot of times, individual scenes and moments will spark you […] When you’re looking into the woods, it reminds me of Frodo sensing these small disturbances […] For the dinner scenes, there’s Midsommar, Suspiria, Spring Breakers [as influences].
Ariel Vida and Jane Badler on Possible Trim Season Sequel
MW: You guys set up a very cool universe with Trim Season. Would you be interested in continuing with another movie, whether it’s a spinoff or sequel?
Vida: Honestly, when I first read the script, and I don’t think you prefaced what it was about exactly. So when I started reading the opening scene […] I was like, “Oh, it’s a period piece.” And then it goes to the present […] There’s definitely a part of me that likes dealing with Mona’s original tremors, that kind of thing […] Also, after this movie, what happens to the mountain next, without giving too much away, is also kind of rife with possibility. I like ambiguity with endings and not needing to tie up everything perfectly.
Badler: I agree with the way that it ends. I don’t wanna go into it, but that it definitely keeps the film open for another sequel or a prequel. You know, “what happened before this moment?” So yeah, we think there’s opportunity for that.
MW: The cannabis industry in real life seems to be booming. Do you think the scary nature of this movie will potentially scare off marijuana users?
Badler: I didn’t want to do Reefer Madness. Let’s make it clear that Mona is evil [but No one’s gonna watch this movie and say that “All marijuana does this to you.” There’s just something particularly wrong about Mona’s field [of cannabis].
MW: Are there other projects you guys are working on, that you’d like to share about?
Vida: I actually have my first published short story in an anthology called Haunted Reels, with a lot of other filmmakers… I have a story in that, coming out this summer… I got a smaller feature that takes place on a boat that I’m hoping to shoot this year.
Badler: I just finished shooting a comedy in Melbourne. But the biggest thing I’m doing right now is my memoir, and that’s very fulfilling for me. To stop time and to analyze aspects of your life, it’s very fulfilling. I’m working with an extraordinary memoir teacher in New York. So that’s kind of what I’m doing at the moment, but who knows what the future brings?
From Paper Street Pictures, Trim Season debuted at the Overlook Film Festival, and we’ll update this space when it’s nationally released.
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