Following her enchanting success, Tell the winter sea Director Jacqueline Bethany returns with another captivating story that leaves an indelible impression. Ruby, Bethany weaves a heartwarming story that explores the transformative power of friendship in the face of societal resistance. Set in a traditional Catholic school, the film primarily focuses on the bond between an eccentric nun named Sister Natalie (Fallon Goodson) and a spirited female student (Sarah Schueller). Things aren’t going as smoothly as Sister Natalie hoped, but things only get worse with the arrival of the female student’s mother, Marie (Skye Hardison). A conversation with Marie reignites something within her, and she tries to suppress her feelings due to societal norms.
The film doesn’t just talk about stereotypes; it also shows how people suppress their feelings to avoid getting hurt. In addition to Bethany’s great direction and writing, the film also features great performances from Fallon Goodson and Sky Hardison. Both stars currently live in Louisiana and are working hard to build an industry in the state. I sat down (virtually) with them to talk about their short film, “Ruby,” and how they’re building a film/TV industry ecosystem in Louisiana.
Official poster for “RUBY” (Photo: @jaclyn_bethany/Instagram)
Aayush Sharma: Congratulations on the release of your short film Ruby. But before we talk about the film, I want to ask you about your journey in Hollywood.
Fallon Goodson: We’ve both been in LA for a while. I started in LA. I’ve been in LA for 12 years, but I’m originally from Louisiana. I moved back to Louisiana during the pandemic, and then I moved to New Orleans. But while I was in LA, I did the same things I did in New Orleans, producing and acting. I love it here. It’s a small community here, and everyone is really supportive. That’s it in a nutshell.
Sky Hardison: I’m originally from San Diego, I was born and raised there. Then I moved to Los Angeles to study acting. I started out as an actor and then I got into writing, which is another passion of mine. I started writing as well. And then during the pandemic, I had some opportunities here in Louisiana. So I decided to move here before I met Fallon, we met here and we started starting a film production company. In Ceremony ProductionsOur mission is to build industry here in New Orleans, in southeast Louisiana, so that it becomes its own thing, just like Atlanta built industry, and we want to do the same thing in Louisiana.
Aayush Sharma: How did you portray the complex and evolving relationship between your characters – a spunky Catholic schoolgirl and an eccentric nun?
Fallon Goodson: I think a lot of that comes from going to Catholic school and growing up in that system and feeling like there were so many rules and a certain way to act and talk, and it felt very restrictive at times. So I totally related to that restrictiveness, and then I moved to Los Angeles and found myself in a totally different culture and it was a lot more free. So I came back with both worlds and I could see how suffocating it can be when someone has a more open mind but can’t speak it, and how that can be a catalyst for wanting to change things.
Aayush Sharma: What challenges did you face in conveying themes of life and sexuality within the framework of a Catholic school?
Sky Hardison: You know, in developing the character and in rehearsing with Fallon and I, we found a really good synergy in terms of how to create this dynamic between the two of them and how to embrace the situation. Because in this day and age, sexuality is so open and fluid, it shouldn’t be so restricted. So I think my character, Marie, brought a kind of free-spirited energy to it. You can love whoever you want. Love is love, right? So when you love someone, it doesn’t matter what gender they identify as or what sexual preference they have. As long as there’s that connection between the two of you, nothing else matters. So I think that was kind of refreshing. The Marie character was the refreshing thing that you can love whoever you want. You can be both. You can love a woman or you can love a man. You can love what you identify as and be open to that possibility. So. Yeah.
Fallon Goodson: So, following on from what Skye said, I think Natalie fainted because she was so overwhelmed by Marie’s presence. She was so overwhelmed to meet someone like that and not know what to do with the energy, you know? So it symbolizes being overwhelmed, like there was a whole other world outside.
Aayush Sharma: Fallon, how did you prepare for the emotional and personal journey that your character goes through in the film?
Fallon Goodson: I think it was one thing to talk to my classmates from school. It was also another way to meet people I haven’t seen in a long time and see how their perspective has changed. There’s a lot of Catholics around here, and they’re a little bit removed from the church. So it was interesting to talk to them and hear that side of it. I’m not against faith, so I empathize with the whole situation. I’m religious, so I go to church. I’m not against any of it, but I feel like you have to walk a very fine line. I think as a human being, it’s not hard to empathize with the whole situation when you see a young girl going through something like that. I think it’s been a while since she graduated from high school, and they’re still moving to a new city. I’m not from New Orleans, so I think Skye can empathize with that. Like, there’s this weird, innate instinct to want to blend in, and that’s what you want to do. I think that probably helped the character development a lot as well.
Aayush Sharma: What has been the most challenging part about playing such an unconventional yet deeply connective character in such a unique environment?
Sky Hardison: The most rewarding part was seeing the whole film on the big screen. It premiered at the Holy Sports Film Festival and just seeing the audience’s reaction was really rewarding. My role was fun to play. Marie is not that different from me as a person. The writer-director knows my character and personality really well and cast me with that in mind. Marie and I have a lot of similarities and personality traits. But seeing it and getting feedback and having people come up to us after the screening and tell us how the film affected them was really rewarding for me.
Fallon Goodson: Just doing what we set out to do, which is to film something here, hire local crew and cast, and stay true to our mission of trying to build a film market here.
Aayush Sharma: How was it working with director Jacqueline Bethany and the rest of the cast to bring this story to life?
Sky Hardison: It was great. Everybody was great. Sometimes you don’t get the privilege of working with so many great people on set, but everyone that was cast, from the cast to the crew to the director, it was so smooth and wonderful. Everybody communicated well with each other. There were no issues at all. Everything was so smooth, and that’s the kind of thing we want to make, where everything just works. Jacqueline was also great. She’s a great director, she’s really talented, and I’m excited to see how her career continues to soar from here.
Fallon Goodson: Yes, it was refreshing to be on set and things just kept moving along. There was no shenanigans. Everyone was just there to do their job. That’s how it went.
Sky Hardison: It was about two and a half days.
Fallon Goodson: I think it was two and a half days in total. Yeah, we had very limited time, but it worked really well. Everybody worked as a team. Everybody was a leader. I think that’s why it worked so well.
Aayush Sharma: What was it like working on a project that deals with themes of societal norms and resistance to change? How did you make those themes ring true?
Sky Hardison: That’s a great question. I say what I’ve been saying all along about acceptance. Because the way we made it authentic is that human nature, no matter who we are, what race we are, what sexual orientation we are, where we come from, what ever, we all want to feel accepted. We all want to feel accepted for who we are. I think the core message of the film is acceptance and allowing people to be proud of themselves without any judgement about who they are, who they love, how they love. So once you know those core elements, you can bring that into the character, you can bring that into the message, and I think it’s something that everyone can relate to, even if they’re not in the LGBTQ community.
Fallon Goodson: I think being aware of the film is a way that people can process their issues without having to say anything. Knowing that there is a film that you can relate to and that you can release your emotions into can even be therapeutic sometimes. And just knowing that this film could potentially provide some comfort to people who are suffering in the same situation, even young women, I think it was very rewarding and wonderful to know that and to do so in a very non-confrontational way, in my opinion, a sweet, coming-of-age kind of way.
“Ruby” It premiered at this year’s HollyShorts Film Festival.
Interview (HollyShorts) | The post Fallon Goodson and Sky Hardison Talk Filming “RUBY”: Embracing Inclusion and Diversity appeared first on Coastal House Media.
