Inside the Brilliant Mind of Director Simone Kisiel

Sometimes you meet someone and you just instantly connect. That was how I felt when I met Director Simone Kisiel at the 2018 Women in Horror Film Festival. We had chatted a few times before on social media, but meeting her in person was one of the highlights of my year. She has one of those personalities that just lights up a room.

Recently, we had a chance to catch up after a crazy month of events and talk about her career, her experience at the Women In Horror Film Festival, her newest feature, BUGS: A Trilogy, and more!

PopHorror – It’s so great to catch up with you, Simone! Who and what inspired you to work in the film industry?

Simone Kisiel – My original love was acting. I knew I had a creative streak that needed to be satisfied, but I wasn’t very good with my hands, and I kind of sucked at painting and drawing. I was not musically inclined, and while I very much enjoy singing, I do not have a very good singing voice. I serendipitously fell into acting, although I didn’t know that’s what I was doing when I was writing short, silly plays and performing them for my family as a child. I think as a result, I was a bit of an underdog with acting. When I was applying for schools and I had my heart set on NYU, I had never played a human woman onstage. I’d played a pirate, a football player, Si Crowell, Joe Crowell, Constable Warren – yes, I did three separate versions of Our Town – and a chimpanzee. Somehow, despite next to no acting experience, I was accepted into NYU Tisch’s acting program.

PopHorror – They probably couldn’t resist your charm. Where did you get your start?

Simone Kisiel – I had a teacher, Dr. Costa, at the school I attended for my entire childhood who took an interest in me. He noticed that I had never been given an opportunity to perform – you know, as a female person – in a role that would suit me, excite me and inspire me. Dr. Costa stayed after school with me for months on end to practice the monologues that I would use to apply for drama schools. This one person took hours and hours out of his life just to support me, to give me the opportunity I so badly wanted. It’s as a direct result of Dr. Costa that I am working in the film industry today. Thank you, Dr. Costa!

PopHorror – What a wonderful story! I know you always had the desire to act, but have you always wanted to direct?

Simone Kisiel – I’ve always been good at and interested in leading a team, but I didn’t start directing until I had graduated from college. I learned to direct under Gary Bennett at Stonestreet Studios, while I simultaneously learned to produce and edit!

PopHorror – A one woman show! So, tell us more about your acting.

Simone Kisiel – I was an actor first. In fact, the only thing I’m qualified to do on paper is to act and write, as I have a minor in creative writing. And while I do neither of those things anymore, my education in acting and writing has been instrumental in my ability to give meaningful direction to actors. In the three months after graduation, I auditioned like a mad woman and landed four short films and three web series.

After the excitement wound down, I realized that the roles that I’d accepted were… not that great. Once I noticed, I couldn’t un-notice that everything I was going out for was marked ‘FEMALE’ but in a not-positive way. The female characters breakdowns often read like “beautiful but doesn’t know it” or “looks innocent but isn’t” while the male characters were described as “knowledgeable, clever, witty and wise.” It occurred to me that I could be all of those things much more easily than a “beautiful but doesn’t know it” character, and it was frustrating to realize that there were very few opportunities to play someone that was more like the kind of portrayal I would like to do for women.

PopHorror – Yeah, I can’t see you playing those type of roles, either. What was the first film you were ever a part of?

Simone Kisiel – The first film I participated in was a stop motion experimental short shot during freshman year of NYU. A classmate of mine approached me and said that I “looked like a star” which was more than enough, at that time, to convince me to participate in her film. It was a spooky, haunting story of a woman who has lost herself in New York City. It was bizarre, fun and one of my fondest memories of being an actor.

PopHorror – Sounds fun! What was the inspiration behind your new feature, BUGS: A Trilogy?

Simone Kisiel – BUGS: A Trilogy is, I hope, an inspiration for what horror can be. It confronts social issues head on, all within the world of horror, but not in a way that can be missed or misinterpreted. I have always loved horror because I feel like the genre gives filmmakers a way to present social issues that may otherwise make some audience members feel alienated within a framework that is more palatable or acceptable, while still getting its point across. But I think it’s time for women/POC/LGBT filmmakers to just present the stories they want to present in a way that is unashamedly us, without trying to cater to a white cis-male audience. We deserve an opportunity to tell our stories, and we deserve to expect that people will listen.

PopHorror – Couldn’t agree more! How did you go about the casting process?

Simone Kisiel – The writer/star of BUGS, Alexandra Grunberg, is also a talented casting director! Between my extensive network of talented actors from my time spent both as a student and a teacher at NYU and Alexandra’s backstage prowess, we were able to hand pick people that we wanted to see in addition rather than putting out a general casting call. Representation is very important to us, so a great emphasis was placed on getting women and minorities into our audition rooms. Outside of actually shooting the film, I find auditions to be the most fun aspect. You really never know who is going to walk into your room and what they may be capable of.

PopHorror – You’re truly a inspiration, Simone! There’s three different shorts within the trilogy. Were any of them harder to shoot than the others?

Simone Kisiel – I had the most fantastic team while shooting all three parts, so from a technical standpoint, I’m so thrilled and grateful to my team for making the shooting process run so smoothly. The same goes for the actors who appear in BUGS. I was just absolutely surrounded by talent! I suppose the biggest challenge was in “Hatchling” because it was the first time I had worked so closely with such a young actor. Kobi Frumer was 11 years old when we shot that piece, and he was a total rock star.

I think the only real challenge for me was to keep everything light, fun and moving forward, while still drawing out the terror from our child star during takes. Kobi is a consummate professional, however, and made my job easy.

PopHorror – That one is my favorite, too, for the same reasons. We both attended the 2018 Women in Horror Film Festival this October. What was your favorite part about the festival? Any special moments?

Simone Kisiel – The Women in Horror Film Festival was a magical three days for me. Before then, I’d never been in a room with so many talented, generous, giving, supportive, intelligent, knowledgeable and fun people all at once. It’s as if WIHFF drew together a mass of people that I want to know forever!

My favorite moments were seeing other filmmakers enjoying their successes. From viewing their films for the first time to watching their Q&A’s to seeing them receive awards acknowledging the greatness of their art to telling them to their faces how amazing I think they are… There just isn’t anything as beautiful to me as watching someone who’s worked so hard and so long, receive the accolades they so deserve. That and meeting several filmmakers I hope to collaborate with in the near future!

PopHorror – Same here – the experience truly inspired me! As a successful woman director, what advice would you give to other women who are wanting to make films?

Simone Kisiel – Don’t get in your own way. Don’t self reject. Don’t talk yourself out of an opportunity. You’ll have enough push back from industry professionals and even your friends and family. You have to be your biggest fan. You have to be your own enthusiastic promoter. And just do it. Commit to your project. Begin writing it/casting it/filming it, because, as Stephen King says, “The scariest moment is always just before you start.”

PopHorror – Great advice, Simone! Do you have any upcoming projects you’d like to talk about?

Simone Kisiel – Magic Dog Productions is currently working on a new short film called Heavy the Heart. It is inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s classic The Tell-Tale Heart with a twist of moral ambiguity in a “What would you have done?” type of scenario. It’s written by Alexandra Grunberg, the screenwriter of BUGS: A Trilogy, and features some of the same actors, such as Julia Beach and Marissa Carpio. It’s currently in post-production and will hit the festival circuit in early 2019.

I want to thank Simone for taking time out of her busy schedule to talk to me. As soon as we get more news on the upcoming short, Heavy the Heart, you can be sure that we’ll let you all know!