by Anthony Frajman
Western Australian born actor turned filmmaker Trilby Glover returned home to premiere her directorial debut, the comedy All That Glisters, at CinefestOZ.
After focusing primarily on her career in front of the camera (Scream Queens) and directing shorts, LA-based Glover has made her feature debut with the ensemble comedy All That Glisters.
Drawn from Glover’s own experiences in LA, All That Glisters follows Cheryl (played by Glover), an Australian actor who invites a group of friends over for a dinner party. As the event goes on, things take a chaotic turn for several members of the group. On top of the pandemonium of the dinner party, there’s also the mystery of a missing friend.
“It was inspired by a particular dinner party I went to in LA,” says Glover whilst she was in Australia for the film’s premiere at CinefestOZ. “Someone did actually storm out of the middle of a dinner party after I mentioned something about Magritte the artist. It was a very dramatic moment, and everyone was like, ‘what just happened?’ Everyone was confused. And it was very similar to the movie story where there was someone who came with someone else in secret and there was a previous relationship.
“That was one of the trigger points that got me interested in a story about the things that you don’t realise, the secrets behind your guests. Even though you know your guests, you don’t always know all of their little storylines. And that intrigued me.
“And then I started thinking about another dinner party I had gone to where a couple were on the brink, and they were telling me all about it. I didn’t know that person at all. And I was like, ‘why am I suddenly getting drawn into their whole relationship?’ And then all the Hollywood people and the Hollywood games and tricks that are going on when those people are friends but also dealing with their own ambitions and egos and struggling to find the balance between their heart, friendship connections, their goals, dreams and ambition, and how that is a tricky balance.”
How much did you draw from people you know?
“All of the characters are based on someone I’ve met or people I know. Some of them are friends and some are just people that I’ve met and had a brief interaction with. I really did meet a guy who constantly talked about kitchen appliances, and I kept being like, ‘maybe it’s a code for something else that I’m not getting. Why are we talking about kitchen appliances?’ (laughs) But I think he genuinely just really liked kitchen appliances, which is very funny.
“I am intrigued by people and what makes them tick. I find people very funny and I love unpicking the humour and putting characters into weird situations. I love the satire of examining what people think they want and what they really want, which can be quite different.
“Relationships are also really interesting, why people stay together, and why people don’t stay together. Obviously (in the film), some people break up and some people stay together. Cheryl, the hostess who I play, and Pete (Ben Geurens), they seem like a solid unit at the end, but there are definitely things that are going on in their relationship. Why doesn’t he put her in his movie? But then you sort of see at the end that they’re always going to come back to each other.
“That is really interesting to me, why people stay together and why people break up. And you never really know what goes on in people’s private relationships, even if you are quite good friends with them. You still don’t always know why their marriage works or what is the thing that they’re each giving to each other that they require beyond other things. And, it’s interesting with the Sloane (Corbett Tuck) and Gabe (Ryan Cartwright) storyline, she’s finished being an actress, but then suddenly she’s like, ‘wait, hold on a second. Maybe I do wanna be in this movie’.”
What was it like to make the leap from being an actor and making shorts to shooting your first feature?
“It was difficult. Each time I did a short film, I thought, ‘I won’t do that again’, and then proceeded to do it again. So, I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I think it was helpful for me to be in the film, even though it was difficult because we had so many cast members and such a crazy schedule to organise with all those different people coming in and out, it was helpful logistically for me to be in the film because I’m already there. So, I felt in some ways that worked, but it was quite complicated. Maybe next time I’ll just direct.” (laughs).
Obviously, the film had a small budget. How did this impact things?
“It’s a lot of begging and borrowing and a lot of favours and a lot of people using their relationships to get things. Because our incredible cinematographer Joaquin Sedillo has worked on such great things (Glee, 9-1-1), he had great relationships for equipment that we were able to get. Everybody put in something. The actors were incredible to work with me on this because it was ultra-low budget. Every character really has a moment. Everyone has something to sink their teeth into, and I think that really drew actors to the project and they wanted to do it because it was fun.
“I was asking friends to borrow cars, all those things that you don’t even realise. Every character needs a different car to arrive in…
“The visual artist element, which is a strong component of the film because it’s also a little bit about the art world; all of those artists, because we shot at my house, I had already bought their art, but I had to get the clearance from them for the work to be featured in the film.
“There’s a whole chunk of the crew that knew each other. A lot of the actors all knew each other, so it was really nice. It really was a cool atmosphere.
“I would’ve loved to have some more equipment for the camera department. The goal of the film was really to create something funny and to explore the neurosis of these characters. So, it’s really a character-led comedy, but it is fun. I would’ve liked to explore cinematic elements more.”
Were there any particular films that were references for you on All That Glisters?
“In general, I’ve always loved like the Mike Leigh films. I love Robert Altman films. Those are all men that I’ve mentioned, but they’ve always had great female roles in those films. What was an inspiration a little for me was David Rabe’s Hurlyburly, which was originally a play and then they made a movie of it. That’s about Hollywood, there is a whole Hollywood world element to that. And that definitely inspired me. I also love any of those films like Before Sunset, where you just follow linearly the storyline, just stay with people for one night.
“There were a number of people telling me, watch this dinner party movie, or this dinner party movie. I did watch The Anniversary Party, which was a really cool Hollywood party movie made about 20 years ago. I found there were a lot of parallels, which I was really surprised by. Even some of the actors, two characters I thought looked like my actors, which was quite funny.”
