25 August 2011 (released)
15 November 2011
Actress (or should that be actor?) Lucy Clements is a kick-ass babe! Quite literally!
For she plays a female version of Kurt Russell’s cult character Snake Plissken in Escape From London – a wonderfully funny and funnily violent short film homage to John Carpenter’s 1981 Escape From New York.
Film-News caught up with the lovely Lucy during FrightFest to discuss thrills and kicks.
Film-News:
Lucy, Escape From London is your acting debut so to speak. Despite it being a short, it's an impressive debut… for it opened FilmFour FrightFest 2011…
Lucy Clements:
It was the perfect start to the 5 days of annual FrightFest madness.
Yes, EFL is my film debut and I feel very privileged to have worked with such a fantastic professional crew. Jake (the director) had such a focused vision and knew exactly what he wanted but was also incredibly warm and relaxed to work with. It was a brilliant first experience as I have predominately been a stage actor. But now I definitely want to do more film work, it was so much fun to shoot.
FN:
It was written and directed by Jake West and obviously is a little homage to Carpenter's Escape From New York. Was it Jake's idea all along that he wanted a female version of Snake Plissken in this?
LC:
Yes. He wanted a simple twist and having Snake’s sister kick ass was an excellent idea.
FN:
Your fight scenes are very impressive and you certainly also look the part of a tough-as-nails kickass babe. How did you prepare for the role?
LC:
Haha, thank you! I was extremely lucky to be trained by one of the best stuntmen in the business, Pete Pedrero. He is an amazing teacher and had so much confidence in me that our fight consisted of 52 moves, which is the length of a feature film fight. Pretty impressive for a short!
I used to dance, so picking up the fight choreography was fairly simple. I then had to have a lot of attitude, aggression, force and passion.
Pete played Brain, so it was brilliant to fight opposite him too and kick his ass. It was only when we began to shoot that I wore my eye-patch, it’s pretty tricky fighting with one eye as it totally affects your peripheral vision.
FN:
As already mentioned, Escape From London is a nod to Escape From New York in particular and action flicks from that time in general. It also pays homage to all the feisty screen babes of 70's exploitation and action flicks. Any particular actress you modelled yourself on?
LC:
Whilst I love the feisty 70’s action babes like Pam Grier, I was not influenced by any previous female heroines but primarily by what Kurt Russell established with Snake Plissken, who is such an iconic character. So my aim was to do justice to that! I studied Kurt Russell in ‘Escape From New York’ and ‘Escape From Los Angeles’. The voice in particular was something I knew I had to get right, along with the ultra cool attitude Kurt oozes as Snake. Kurt, I hope I got it right!
It was such a treat to play Miss Plissken, kickin’ ass is so much fun, I loved it! I think fans of John Carpenter liked Jake’s interpretation too, as he is obsessed with Carpenter flicks and wanted to get all the details right from the retro graphics to the amount my leather jacket was distressed. It’s these kind of details the fans at FrightFest really noticed and appreciated.
FN:
Your screen debut made an impact with a bang, for sure. Are you worried that future film offers will be in a similar vein (by that I mean action movies), or are you open towards any kind of roles?
LC:
Fighting felt so natural to me and I seriously enjoyed it, so I definitely want to pursue some more action roles. I hope to have the opportunity to play a variety of characters, so yes I am open and willing to play diverse, different and challenging roles. Bring it on!
FN:
What's next for you?
LC:
Hopefully I’ll get another job soon and staying positively cheeky, of course. So come on Mr. Carpenter, give me a call!
