No, it's definitely not about Wendy's best friend Giselle, (Miss high and mighty and who cannot do any wrong). Or bacchanalist Sylvia who is not afraid to say what's on her mind or does what comes naturally (which is anything). Or even the passers-by that intermingle between them. Actually it's all about Wendy and a distraught time in her life, the choices that she makes and the consequences that follow. It all started when Sean Hodgkinson, the boy from the West Trinidad 'past the lighthouse' as he would put it, decided to take up an offer from his colleague to write a short film. Little did Sean, the bike rider and tadpole catcher know, that this would spiral into the main goal he had since he was a kid. "I use to write fake movies and posters and give it the final touch with the words 'directed by me'", Sean laughingly explains. "I would also do sequels to the movies; now that I look back on it, I think how weird I was." Even though he took part in plays during his school years, he never envied the star role. Sean shone away from the spotlight and preferred the 'behind the scene' mode, coordinating was his thing. However, even though film was his dream he could not find the correct avenue back then to fuel his vision, inevitably leading him to study Geography (his second love) and then Law (which he found boring) abroad.
After his seven-year stint in Canada he returned to Trinidad where he finally found himself consumed by his long lost dream. Sean entered a Film and Video Production programme in which Lisa Wickam, Media Producer-Director-TV Personality headed. She invited him to work for her, making that moment the stepping and changing stone of his film career. From then to now Sean has not looked back. Having the short film Soucouyant and being the mastermind behind advertisements like bmobile, Bollywood and RBC Jump for Joy, he pressed ahead to make his first screen play 'Wendy'. Wendy is a typical Trini girl in her twenties whose fiancé dumps her weeks before their wedding. She is lost. Her identity is compromised and in having her reality shattered she spirals out of control and reaches rock bottom. She meets up with Sylvia (a person Trinbagonians would call a 'baddist') and the drama begins to unfold. Heidi Walcott, the eccentric individual who studied Fashion Design at UTT in 2011, plays the role of Wendy. She wasn't always designing; actually Heidi was a typical prankster. So prankish was she that she faked her own accident once, with the help of her unwilling mom. "I was born to entertain," she playfully says.
Being petrified of auditions/test/exams, Heidi ducked out of the auditions held. However, as time passed she was cast in a music video by the English band Hard-F as a voodoo priestess. Exhausted, she passed out in the transport panel van, where Sean (who was also working on the shoot), snuck up to her and snapped a "blackmail photo" just as she groggily looked up. Sean was sold after that. Even though sewing and designing were her hobbies (and still are), Heidi always had a deep passion for acting. She believes it is brilliant therapy for her. "Socially, we have learned the dos and don'ts to survive. We mind our manners even when we want to scream and carry on. I usually hold back rather than hurt someone. When I act, I'm allowed to release those emotions and vent safely," she explains. Believe it or not, even though Heidi speaks uncontrollably, this was a trait she learned, since she is quite the opposite. "I enjoy solitude, going to movies alone, reading and meditating. Few people, if any at all truly know the important things good and bad going on in my life," she states. As she sees acting as part of her two-three-four full time venture, she explains how she captured Wendy's character. "Wendy is extreme in her emotions, as I am. I pick myself up faster though, pop that bubble I put myself in and move on, Wendy has that freedom of time. I do not. We are too alike though and it scares me sometimes."
Karrise Montano portrays Giselle who is the best friend of Wendy. Giselle is high strung, high-powered and very bourgeois. In the film she expresses her concerns on the path Wendy takes. Wendy, who does not listen, retaliates and lashes out at her. Despite all the good advice, Giselle herself is not much of the angel people think she is, and things gets heated from there. Karrise was at home minding her own business (as she puts it) when she got the call. Never once on a stage to even performing in a small play, she was totally taken aback when the call explained the interest they had in her to act in a screenplay. "A very small insignificant role, they told me. No lines, they said. But when I got there shaky and sweaty it was quite the opposite," Karrise jokingly owned up. "It wasn't an 'insignificant non-speaking role', it was actually a pretty major role. In my mind I kept saying, 'OMG, I have lines!'" she says, reliving the experience. As luck would have it, (and even with the sweat and fear), the casting crew loved Karrise's audition and she was hired right away (and at 5.30 pm, the eve of the start of production). Karrise (a qualified attorney awaiting admittance to the Trinidad and Tobago Bar), explained that acting was never on the charts for her. She loves Law; it's her passion. But now that she has dipped her toes into the acting pool, she sees herself being a bonafide actress. "The role of Giselle somewhat depicts me. The way Giselle carries herself is the way I would carry myself to an extent. I can be a bit high strung because I am very particular at times. The funny part is that people call me 'Prim and Proper'... I know (to myself) I am not."
Now Sylvia, portrayed by Ayanna Cezanne, is a completely different character. She is a bacchanalist and a carefree spirit not afraid to live her life. She doesn't give two hoots about what people think. The way she walks, talks, dresses and acts is all about her and how she feels at that point in time. She is the character Wendy meets up when she is going through a very delicate time in her life and Sylvia is there to save the day... or so she thinks. Ayanna knew acting was always what she wanted to do and she did everything that was necessary to be there. She did a lot of school plays and even worked in an Advertising Agency as a writer. Every minute of the day from as far back as she can remember her life was like a stage; she was always acting. She even has videos to prove it. "If you know the Osbournes then my eccentric family makes them look timid in comparison to how we are; they actually call me a nut," Ayanna says. "I am always trying to make people laugh. My daughter gives me the most inspirational moments in my life and in the same way; comedy is something I want to seriously get into." Getting the role of Sylvia was a task for her because when she heard about the casting she made several calls to the producer. Hearing over and over that she was not right for the part, Ayanna knew she had to prove him wrong. She insisted that he give her an audition.
This is when the producer realised that he had to swallow his words one by one because Ayanna took the character, transformed it and made it hers. She was given the part. "The transformation was easy for me since there are elements of Sylvia that I can relate to; I knew that I could bring her to life."
