Recently at TIFF 2021, we talked with Alanna Bale about her career, including her role in the new vampire film Kicking Blood.
RELATED: TIFF 2021 Review: ‘Kicking Blood’ Takes on Vampires and Addiction
Horror Geek Life: How did you get into acting? Was this something you always wanted to do, or more of a happy accident?
Alanna Bale: It was definitely a happy accident, and a strange story. My family moves countries every three years because of my dad’s job, he works for the Canadian embassy, and we were in Warsaw, Poland, going to American or International schools. While we were there, there was a production company filming in Poland and they needed an American-speaking young actor, so they sent out a casting call to the American school I was going to. I have three siblings, and my mom signed us all up for the audition and I ended up booking that role. The same production company came back to Poland the following year and asked me to be a part of that film. I said because I enjoyed the first one, and when this second one came around, I was about 13 and I got paid for it, which is a big deal for a 13-year-old, and then I got it in my head that hey, this could be a profession, my profession.
HGL: You’ve done a lot of work in television. Is that your favorite medium to work in?
AB: Honestly, it just sort of happened that way. I live in Toronto, so just the nature of the industry in Toronto, there’s more television to be shot here. I went to the University of Toronto and stayed to do film and television, first primarily theater, but because of the years I was entering into the industry, it was just more so television. I feel like my preference is these indie Canadian movies, done with low budget and skeleton crew, because the people that are on the project are doing it out of passion. It really is a different vibe and beast than being on network television, or even a commercially successful film. I just like the energy of it a lot more, which Kicking Blood totally was.
HGL: Some of the television shows you were on, it wasn’t just a one-off guest spot, you were on for multiple episodes. Did that help you in terms of your acting chops, getting to explore characters?
AB: Definitely, yes. As I said before, I was primarily doing theater, so the lead-up to theater productions, you have a month of rehearsals, so you’re with that character for a very long time. Filming TV is different, it’s fast and dirty, there’s no rehearsal, so I guess the two long-standing characters I had were on two television shows, one Canadian show, Cardinal, and one joint production with SYFY, Killjoys. Cardinal went for four seasons, so to be able to grow with that character, the same with Killjoys. To be able to do an entire season of that series, it was kind of similar to theater in that you get to grow with the character, and it’s not as fast and dirty as a guest star role, where you are in for maybe a day or a week.
HGL: Do any of these roles have a special place in your heart; do they all mean something different to you?
AB: They really all mean something different. The first thing that pops to mind is the role in Killjoys because it was the first time I wasn’t playing a daughter or girlfriend of, or friend to. It was this sentient alien being that wanted to destroy the world. That was really special because it’s totally outside of the norm. In sci-fi, anything goes, so I think that in terms of roles that was definitely one of my favorites.
HGL: With Kicking Blood, the different take on the vampire genre was a refreshing change. How did you get involved with this film?
AB: Thanks, and I wish I had an exciting story for you! (laughs) I got the audition from my agent, I auditioned, and then the pandemic happened, and then there was silence for about six months. So then I re-auditioned, was very excited the project was coming to life again, and then I did a chemistry read, over Zoom, with Luke (Bilyk), who plays Robbie, then had conversations with Leonard (Farlinger) and Blaine (Thurier), the co-writers. I was interested right from the get-go, from reading the first pages in the audition, so I was excited to get the callbacks and then land the role.
HGL: Your character Anna is very interesting. She’s bored, tired, compassionate, and yet still a killer. As an actor, it must have been a lot of fun to play a character like that.
AB: It absolutely was. Again, a deviation from the roles I normally go out for. For my age range, a lot of the roles you get are attached to other characters but she was in her own place, there’s a lot of solitude around her. One of the coolest things about film and playing a character over the span of an hour-and-a-half is that you can really sit into the character, whereas if you’re doing a half-hour or hour program, you have to search for what that character is and cross your fingers and hope that you nail it. But with this character, there was so much time to explore who she is. I just kind of took a back seat and let it unfold, which is pretty similar to Anna; she sort of recessed in the back, she’s an observer. I’ve never really played a character like that, an observer of humans, sort of alien in a way.
HGL: I really enjoyed the relationship between Anna and Robbie, again, it was something you don’t see that often in this genre. Did you two have a chance to rehearse, or were you both thrown into it right away?
AB: Yeah, I’m going to have to blame COVID for that. We met very briefly for our first COVID test in passing. It was like hey, can’t wait to do this, see you in Sudbury! There was no rehearsal, no getting to know each other, but honestly, I think it sort of worked in our favor because we shot the scenes for the most part in chronological order, so as I was getting to know Luke as a person, our characters were discovering each other. In the beginning of the film and shooting, we were still sort of strangers so I actually think it worked to our advantage.
HGL: Was it hard getting into the character of Anna with all the different things she brought to the table, or was that a fun challenge for you to take on?
AB: I don’t want to say it was hard. As an actor, I prepare as much as I can, if anything I’m over-prepared, so when I get on set I can just react to whatever the actors are giving me, or take notes from the director. What allowed me to do that is just to know the script really well and I thought a lot about the character. When I got on set, it wasn’t hard, I just slipped into it in a pretty easy manner.
HGL: It is always great to see a strong female lead in a film. Do you think women are getting better roles these days, in front of and behind the camera, or do we still have a long way to go?
AB: I think the answer is both yes and no. I think that we still have a long way to go, but the first step is being aware of straight-up data. How many women are in leading roles, behind the camera and on set as crew? That data is available to us and because we have that data, we are able to grow and learn from that, hire more female leads or crew members. In the past three years, I have absolutely seen a shift, especially on the side of the crew and production, there are a lot more females. In terms of female leads, yes, there are a lot more, and I think that writers are more aware of making their female leads more independent, real women, and that really helps when you have women as writers, which I think we’re seeing more of. It is getting better, but I still think we have a long way to go but hopefully, in ten years this won’t be a conversation, it will just be the norm, a fifty-fifty split, those are my hopes.
HGL: What other projects do you have coming up?
AB: There is a TV series that I’m a part of that was shot last fall, in Canada, it’s a co-production with CBC and HBO Max, it’s called Sort Of. It takes place in Toronto, and Toronto is actually Toronto in it, which I love. That’s coming out in Canada in October and in the States in mid-November. Other than that, I have a few projects being submitted to festivals, one short in particular that we’re hoping to be part of as a feature film, but it has to make the festival circuit and we have to get money.
HGL: Lastly, how have you enjoyed TIFF this year?
AB: It’s my first TIFF, so it was interesting because I had two projects in it which was so wonderful. I have nothing to compare TIFF to because I wasn’t a part of it before the pandemic. I’ve heard it’s a lot more wild, so this has been a pared-down version, which I welcome because I don’t do too well in chaos, but it’s been a great TIFF. There have been some long nights, but it’s been really nice to be in the theaters again and watch content with people around you. That might be the best thing that has come out of this experience.
I want to thank Alanna for taking the time to speak with us.
Check out all of our TIFF coverage here!
