True Passion Overcomes All Limits: Antonia Bogdanovich
Throughout life, challenges are pressed upon us, tough decisions present themselves and constant lingering questions based on doubt or fear are never far away. It is the ups-and-downs of life that make us who we are and teaches us how to grow and to see the bigger picture amongst all the uncertainty. I had an amazing conversation with Antonia – it was real. Nothing about it was candy-coated or censored, it was the true story of her life and all of the good and not so good times in between that depict where she use to be and the success behind where she is now, a life-story about her life. A conversation I feel lucky to have had.
At the beginning of our chat, Antonia mentioned right away, “I checked out your website. It is killer – really cool! I think it is important to have a website that features up and coming talent!” She appreciates the efforts of our online mission as she has been in the position of a new-comer actress, who experienced the trials and tribulations of the industry. She said, “I started acting when I was 12. I didn’t really focus on it because my parents didn’t want me to get into the industry until I was eighteen. In my twenties I worked as an actress. I would with Shirley MacLaine, Bill Paxton and some other really great actors.”
Antonia’s films during this time in her life include, George Miller’s, ‘The Witches of Eastwick,’ James L. Brooks’, ‘I’ll Do Anything,’ and ‘The Lion King.’ As well as, ‘They All Laughed,’ with Audrey Hepburn, John Ritter and Ben Gazzara; ‘Bottle Rocket,’ directed by Wes Anderson, starring Luke and Owen Wilson; ‘The Whole Wide World,’ ‘Sugar Town’ and ‘The Evening Star’ and in TV Movies including, ‘To Sir, With Love,’ with Sidney Poitier, ‘The Rescuers,’ and ‘The Price Of Heaven,’ with Cicely Tyson.
With feelings of uncertainty towards her future career in acting, she said, “I came to a point though, where I decided that acting wasn’t really for me. I really enjoyed it and took a lot of acting classes and so I figured that at some point in my life it would benefit me if I didn’t continue acting. Then I went into journalism. I wrote for a long time as a journalist for the, ‘Beverly Hills Weekly,’ ‘Santa Monica Daily Press,’ and ‘The Charleston Post & Courier,’ and wrote short stories as well as a novel. I wrote a screenplay right about the time I decided I didn’t want to be an actress anymore. I am really shy on-stage, not socially, but in front of people for auditions and everything it was very uncomfortable for me. I felt more comfortable behind the scenes.” She continues, “I got into journalism and since I quit acting I was really upset about it because I tried so hard. I wrote a script at that time, and I wrote it in six weeks and I figured I was never going to do anything with it. So I put it aside and started writing as a journalist. About four or five years ago, I met a friend who is a writer and she wanted to take a look at my script and do something with it. I told her I am not interested in re-entering the film business because I got burned and I am enjoying what I am doing now. Long story short, she planted the seed in my head to get into it again and to put my script out there.”
With her writing partner, Anne Heffron, they wrote several independent feature scripts including, ‘The Rabbit Will Die,’ and ‘Tell Me I’m Pretty,’ as well as a commissioned comedy screenplay, ‘Welcome to Applebarn’s,’ for producers Cristy Coors Beasley and Sean Maurer. As well as a complete solo project, ‘Tangiers By Friday,’ which is an action-adventure on the high seas involving Somali pirates and human trafficking.
Throughout Antonia’s life, she was exposed to the great world of film, “My Mother is Polly Platt, I am not sure if you knew that. She was a great writer and a producer and she had this unwritten story that she always dreamt to write. The story was about a women who couldn’t find her daughter that she gave up for adoption twenty-years ago. That always stuck in my head because my Mother never got around to writing the script and applying her vision to produce a film. I took the idea and ended up writing the script and I have never written the script with anyone else, so it took some time to do. After nine months of writing it, I realized I love writing scripts and I was much better at writing scripts rather than writing short stories, or journalism features. Of course, I didn’t make all the connections of all my experience from my entire life, and my many careers behind the scenes on film sets, even before I started acting. Following this screenplay, I wrote another and another and another, and then a pilot for a TV show.” She explains her writing career, “At the time, before I met my writing partner (Anne Heffron), I was directing quite a bit of theatre, many plays (musicals) that did very well, (‘My Fair Lady,’ and Eugene O’Neill’s, ‘The Long Day’s Journey Into Night,’) with amazing amateur actors. But I never thought I would direct film just because when you are the daughter of a famous director you automatically think, ‘I wont be able to do as good as a job as my parents did.’ I realized I had to find my own way and discover what I wanted. I wrote many scripts and my friend J.J. Abrams, who I have known for many years. Some time ago we worked for the same Production Company at Sony Studios. when he had a writing deal there. We shared close friends and hung out a lot together during the time period when he had a writing deal there.”
Throughout all of the challenges, Antonia’s destiny was set, it just took some work to get there. She said, “I sent my scripts out to different development people around town and was definitely struggling. Just because my parents are who they are that didn’t help me, I had to start from scratch. I didn’t have a manger. I didn’t have an agent. I was using my personal contacts from my previous work in production to get people to read my scripts. My personal contacts are really from working behind the camera, not really that much from my acting career. Lindsey Weber, who works in development at Bad Robot, mentioned that she felt as though a director wrote my script, not just a writer. I became curious with this and ask why she felt that way and she said it is because, when she is reading, she can visually see the shots by the way I had written it. I told her, well that is just how I write! I write by the shot and she said that is what a director does! I have read hundred of scripts, but I have never compared my writing to other screen-writers, so it took me some time to understand how Lindsey interrupted my script. I had read many scripts, but had never really compared my style of writing to those scripts, so it took time to realize that the way I was writing was very visual – seeing every shot as I write, which is often the way director’s write.” She continues, “ This was a realization for me and I decided I wanted to try directing. It took me a long time to conceive my short because I had never done a short before or seen very many and so I came up with an idea. I wrote it and six months later I shot it. I got the cast together of some amazing actors. We just finished, ‘My Left Hand Man,’ and it got into the ‘New Jersey Film Festival,’ which will be screened on January 28th. Now, I am waiting to hear from other festivals. The film consists of male characters, and is very action-criminal oriented. I like to focus on crime because I was a rebellious teenager! So with that said, I am really looking forward to directing a feature! I really enjoyed directing. Something amazing happened when I was on the set for the short. I went outside and looked up at the stars and thought to myself that I knew this is what I was meant to do in my life. It felt great to realize that. It came so naturally.”
On growing up, Antonia explained, “With my parents, we would sit around and talk about movies at the dinner table. That was a normal conversation for us to have. I had seen all of the ‘Hitchcock’ films before I was ten. I watched so many films all the time. I wasn’t really allowed to watch regular TV. All of my childhood and growing up, being surrounded by films, spoke to my future as a director, because on the movie set I felt like I knew what I was doing, like I didn’t have to ask questions, it came naturally. I have been a P.A., an editor, have worked in development and have read a ton of scripts. On top of all that, I watched my parents make movies all the time. Everything I learned was amazing, I am able to apply it when I am directing – without thinking.”
The true love that Antonia shared with her Mother is something that words cannot describe, “‘My Left Hand Man,’ is dedicated to my Mother, Polly Platt. I shot it four weeks after she passed away. I read the script to her in early June last year when she was falling ill, but I wanted to read it to her and so I did. I acted out all the parts and read all the dialogue to her and she smiled, she really loved it. Things were coming together and I knew I was going to shoot it soon but she passed away before I began shooting. Her spirit was everywhere on the set. The way I was directing and moving props around reminded me so much of my Mother. I caught myself while doing it because I realized these are all the things my Mother use to do when she was on set and making films! And I was naturally doing it on my very own set. Her spirit was in me. I am sad she didn’t get to see it. I knew she wasn’t going to last very long so I tried hard to get it done but it didn’t work out the way I had hoped it too. It all happened for a reason though and I gained a lot of strength.”
With her schedule becoming more and more busy, she is embracing every moment of it. About her future projects she said, “I am planning another project based on a script that I found in a drawer, in a pile, where all my fathers scripts were kept. It is an amazing script that my parents had written together but never produced. It is very special but I cannot say very much about it just yet. It is an amazing story and I plan to direct this feature.”
Near the end of our call, Antonia mentioned, “I am dedicating 100% of my time to writing so I can step up that ladder. The momentum is picking up since I have finished my short, so things are getting really busy! Through this journey I have realized that even if you work really hard the timing has to be there.” An inspirational woman: Antonia Bogdanovich, Thank-you.
The New Jersey Film Festival where Antonia’s superb short ‘My Left Hand Man,’ will be screened on January 28th, 2012. Start time: 7:00pm – 10:oopm at the Voorhees Hall Incl Zimmerli Art Museum at 71 Hamilton Street, College Avenue, Room 105, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Written By: Michelle Coveny
