Jessica Castello – The Anno 2020 Movie Discussion

1. Can you tell us about your experience portraying Emma in “Anno 2020”? How did you prepare for such an emotionally demanding role? 

Playing Emma was extremely rewarding. There is nothing better than playing a role with thought out character development. As human beings, we all grow and change in ways. It’s fun to get to take a character through their own growth as well. 

You know, there really wasn’t much emotional preparing for this film. The story of Covid wasn’t a fictional crazy sort of concept (although it does sound like one), everyone in the world was experiencing it in real time. Including me. I didn’t have to dive deep into the what ifs or the if this were me sort of thing. I read the pages of the script and said, this is exactly how I feel!

2. Given the personal challenges you faced during the filming of “Anno 2020,” how did you manage to channel those emotions into your performance? 

There are challenging roles, and there are easy roles. In the upmost respectful way, this was an easy role. It was set in present time, with realistic people, and realistic scenarios that we were hearing about on the news every day. During Covid, all anyone in the world would talk about is Covid, and since we were shooting a film about Covid during Covid, it was like you pressed record on the camera and real life to scene meshed into one seamless transition.

3. What was the most challenging aspect of filming “Anno 2020” for you, both professionally and personally? 

Acting, for a lot of people, is a way to escape. It’s a way to go into a different world and forget about yours. It was tough that while I so badly wanted to escape real life, I actually had to face it, and dig deeper into the real feelings I felt. 

Of course the filming itself was challenging. More so in the beginning, because I didn’t know what to expect. Film a full length feature film over zoom? While our director, James Morcan, was across the world in Australia? It was absurd. But it worked. And after a few days of filming, it was like, yeah okay, I get it now.

4. How did your background in musical theater and songwriting influence your portrayal of Emma, especially during the scene where you sing “Chances Are (Emma’s Lullaby)”?

Emma was not written as a singer/songwriter. It was just something that happened to fit in as we were further developing Emma’s story. James  learned that I’m a singer, and that I had written a song for a previous film I did in 2018. He thought it would be a great addition to the movie and to Emma. Writing this song for Anno 2020 is a memory I cherish. This song means a lot more to me than most know. 

5. Could you share your experience working with Sheila Ball and how you cultivated the onscreen chemistry between your characters, Emma and Heather? 

It was awesome!!! She is so lovely to work with and I admire her so much as a person. Sheila is so kind and hardworking and you can tell she simply loves to act. It comes through on set and on screen. We made sure to do some calls together to go over things and to build somewhat of a relationship before jumping into it. We also had a lot of discussion with James about the scenes and the relationship between our characters. We made it work. Especially so when James had us do some improv during our scenes. It really allowed us to explore and play around outside of the lines on the pages. Love her. 

6. In what ways do you believe your multifaceted talents, such as figure skating and your editorial work, contribute to your approach to acting?

I’m going to be so honest with you! Those are all different lives to me. I feel like a completely different person when placed into each of those categories. But I don’t think I’d have it any other way. It’s so important to me to have a life outside of my acting. It’s refreshing and humbling and I’d much prefer it if all the things I do don’t affect the others. That being said, it’s nice to know ice skating when an ice skating role comes in!

7. How did your collaboration with director James Morcan shape your understanding of Emma’s character and influence your performance?

James puts a lot of thought and care into everything he does. He gave me and Emma the time and dedication to unpack her story and to develop her personality and beliefs. While he definitely knew Emma’s character, he always wanted my opinion and thoughts. How do I explain it? He had a whole outline of Emma, and wanted to completely mold her to me. It was certainly a great and fulfilling collaboration.

8. “Anno 2020” has received recognition at various film festivals. How does it feel to be part of a project that has garnered such acclaim?

Amazing. I’ve been very lucky to be in films that mean so much to people and that resonate so much with people. While I’d love to play a super villain, or maybe even a mermaid, playing real, authentic people is something that excites me. Don’t mistake this for biographic films. Emma is not an actual person, I just mean that I love to portray a scene and character as authentically as possible as it were to happen in real life. Emma is that real and authentic of a character.

9. Can you elaborate on your audition process for “Anno 2020” and how you approached portraying Emma’s journey from adolescence to womanhood? 

I am so grateful James chose me to be Emma. I didn’t audition. The only thing that was submitted was my picture and some footage of my past work. He saw something in me and I am so glad he did.

Emma is a complex person like any of us. And she’s young. She’s young and she’s opinionated and she wants to call out what she sees. It’s not as simple as that. And throughout the film she realizes it’s not so black and white. She’s not always going to be right, and even when she is, sometimes it’s best to take a step back. You definitely see this transition in her. She goes from emotionally reacting to stopping to think before she speaks. It’s something I went through growing up, too. And honestly it’s something I can still work on sometimes!

10. What insights did you gain from your experience filming “Anno 2020” that you think will inform your future acting projects?

I think I gain something for each filming experience I do. The characters I play, the people I meet, and the time I spent dedicated to it will always be carried with me. Emma and the cast and crew of Anno 2020 is no exception. It will always be a part of my history from here on out.

11. How do you see your role in “Anno 2020” fitting into your overall career trajectory, and what kind of roles are you hoping to explore next?

Anno 2020 fits so well. As I said before, I have had the privilege to be a part of some incredible story telling. I would love to do more of that. It would also be fun to do something with action or romance, as those are the types of movies I love to watch and nerd out about with my friends. Book to film or book to TV is always something I’ve wanted to be more a part of too (like Anno 2020!!) There are so many badass books with incredible stories, I’d love to be in one. I know I just gushed about how I love playing real life people, but it might be surprising to reveal that my favorite genre is fantasy. Something in that realm would be a dream!

12. As the film prepares for its world premiere, what are your hopes and expectations for its reception by audiences worldwide?

I hope it’s received well. I hope it resonates with the people that went through similar experiences, and I hope it impacts people who didn’t know that these experiences were happening. I think Anno 2020 does a good job at showing complexities of Covid all around the globe, and I hope everyone else thinks so too. 

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