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FEARnet sat down recently with 1990’s bombshell and prolific actress Sherilyn Fenn on the set of director Hank Braxtan’s creature feature Unnatural to chat about the film, as well as the legacy of ‘Twin Peaks’, the David Lynch-created series and film that rocketed her to stardom, 1998’s erotic feature Two Moon Junction in which she starred, and much more. Read on.
Helmed by Braxtan (who’s upcoming psychological horror feature Chemical Peel is due out via Lionsgate this coming October), Unnatural was produced by Ron Carlson with cinematography by Marc Carter and editing by filmmaker Mike Mendez (Big-Ass Spider), and was shot this past January and February on location in Fairbanks, Alaska. In addition to Fenn, the cast includes James Remar (‘Dexter’), Ray Wise (Jeepers Creepers 2, ‘Twin Peaks’), Graham Greene (The Green Mile), Q’orianka Kilcher (‘Sons of Anarchy’) and Ivana Korab.
“They had sent me the script, and I thought it was interesting, and I think it’s (about the) stuff that’s going on in the world right now,” Fenn told us of her attachment to Unnatural, a flick with narrative shades reminiscent of 1979’s Prophecy (the official synopsis is as follows: ‘With many species on the verge of extinction,’ reads the official synopsis of Unnatural, ‘a notorious environmental corporation seeks to genetically modify several animals to survive climate change. When a fashion photographer and his small crew arrive on location in Alaska, they as well as their local guides find themselves thrust into a nightmare when they become prey for one of the escaped creatures. Isolated in the wild, the clock is ticking as they attempt to hold out.’)
“I liked the filmmakers when I met them,” Fenn continued affably, “and I got a really good vibe, and I love James Remar, so I shipped off to Alaska. It’s beautiful, (and) I didn’t have to experience the forty below weather. It was just like two below, but that was enough. You know, we made it work. Everybody was very much ‘on board’ and worked so hard. Hank (Braxtan) was also open to kinda’ as a director changing things in the moment if something didn’t seem to gel or match, and Ron (Carlson) was such a huge supportive system, and I had a really good time.”
With the production eschewing a CGI realization of the film’s creature, we asked the actress of her approach in working with the practical creation (courtesy of Amalgamated Dynamics) at the center of Unnatural.
“That was cool,” she stated, “and I looked at the creature as kind of my own demons that I had to fight and deal with and work out. That’s kind of how I plugged into it as an actress, as just having to fight those things in myself that are destructive.”
Given the resurgence of interest in ‘Twin Peaks’ following Netflix streaming the entirety of the ground-breaking 1990-1991 series, which features Fenn’s iconic character of ‘Audrey Horne’, we asked the actress how its effected her, if at all.
“Younger generations approach me now, and people want to talk about it. It’s a gift,” she stated.
“I wasn’t (initially) written in the script (but) David wrote it for me, which was kind of amazing, because a lot of girls came in to be seen for either (the characters) of ‘Donna’ or ‘Shelly’ and then they called me to say, ‘They wrote you a role.’ I was like, ‘Seriously?’”
Delving further back into her career, we chatted about the Zalman King-directed 1998 film Two Moon Junction, in which Fenn starred opposite actor Richard Tyson as a young Southern debutante who engages in an erotic fling with a carnival worker, and in the process we related a previous conversation in regards to the film we’d had with Tyson. In 2006, while on the set of the creature feature Big Bad Wolf, we’d asked the actor his thoughts on appearing in his first horror film (and in his first creature role), to which he’d responded, “Have you ever seen Two Moon Junction?”
“Wow, how rude,” remarked Fenn regarding Tyson’s statement (writer’s note: the actor I believe has intended his quip to be harmless, and had nothing by love for Fenn during the remainder of that interview).
“That’s such a shitty comment to make,” continued Fenn.
“I had left (that film) feeling pretty exploited for the most part, because I was naïve and the movie that we were making in my head wasn’t the movie that was made, but there’s much worse movies than Two Moon Junction. In my mind it was a love story, but in the director’s mind it was a sex story, so there’s a fundamental difference.”
Given her prolific career (which includes such noteworthy films as 1992’s Of Mice and Men and 1993’s edgy, Jennifer Lynch-directed Boxing Helena, among others) we asked Fenn if there were as of now any passion projects she hasn’t yet had a chance to tackle.
“Some version of the Marilyn Monroe story, one in particular that I really love,” Fenn replied.
“I would be happy to just work with David Lynch and Jennifer Lynch for the rest of my career. And I loved doing the (Showtime) show ‘Rude Awakening’ that I did for three years. It was kind of a dark comedy multi-camera with no audience, and that was a lot of fun. But I think my only ‘passion’ thing is this Truman Capote story that I’ve always wanted to adapt. It’s like when I did (the TV movie) Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story and approached the role as the woman, and not the legend. You know, ‘Who’s that woman?’ In flying out to Los Angeles when I was seventeen, I got my first Marilyn book, and was kind of captivated with her. I’m just open. Life has a weird way of bringing you what you are supposed to do. That’s what I find. It just does. And it’s usually not according to my plan.”
“The best role for me is that I have two kids. I have a twenty-year old and a six-year old, and they are the most important things in my life. I recently wrote a children’s book, and that’s in the process of being published, so I’m open to what the future holds, it doesn’t only have to be acting entirely.”
Of her current project, the Liv Schreiber-starring Showtime series ‘Ray Donovan’ in which she’s been cast, Fenn concluded, “It’s an amazing show. The people are so professional. I hadn’t seen the show when I got the audition, and it was the first time I’d taped myself an audition, because I was going to be in Alaska on Unnatural. So I did it, and I got the part, and then I watched all of the (previous) episodes and thought, ‘Oh, I’m so lucky and so grateful.’ The show is wonderful. There’s not one miscast person. The show-runner (Ann Biderman) is so meticulous about everything. I’m really happy to be in that environment again. It made me rediscover my respect for the business, and the people who work really hard and get it right, and it does feel like art, and the tone that it sets, that everyone is respected and treated well, is just infectious. I’m just so happy.”