Jori and Elissa Dowling.
She’s spunky. She’s gorgeous. Elissa Dowling is not just a pretty girl hawking her body for some fleeting amount of fame. Somewhat familiar with some of her work, it was easy enough for me to get into the interviewing groove immediately.
First things first – the E in her name is a short e. Pronounced almost like Alyssa. Yeah, I was saying it wrong, putting emphasis on the Lisa part of her name. Luckily we got it sorted out and she wasn’t annoyed.
Dido – the queen of Carthage, she was spelled E-L-I-S-S-A, so that’s where my name is based off of. She stuck a sword in heart – it’s pretty bad ass! It means “the wanderer”. I do wander a lot – I never know where the hell I’m going!
I first saw her in an indie film called Ludlow and I wanted to know how she got involved in it.
Stacie Ponder and I, we did a web series for a while that was just fun. I just think she’s brilliant. She’s really funny, she writes funny, she’s also a painter. We’ve been friends for years and she told me she had this idea for a film. It was just me and Shannon Lark and that’s it. In a motel in Ludlow, in the middle of nowhere. It was difficult because the budget was very small. I was basically supporting Shannon. This was Shannon’s showcasing project. I was really there to be a vehicle for her to open up to. Even I at the end of the script didn’t know what was going on! It’s kind of a mind fuck movie. It was done really well and Shannon’s acting was amazing!
Stacie was such a patient director. We shot it over the course of maybe four days total. (I don’t think it was longer than four days.) We slept in the same location – it was a super low budget! Previously I was in a relationship and we broke up and I ended up getting all this work. It was like the universe just handed me all this work to preoccupy my mind. I did seven films back to back! Stacie’s was the last of the seven. At that point, I was pretty burnt out. But it was good to be around good people and I was very comfortable with everything.
I was actually excited when I saw her in one of my favorite films – Bloody Bloody Bible Camp, so I asked her how she got involved with that project.
One of my best friends on the planet – Jeff Dylan Graham – who is my favorite person to hang out with in Los Angeles (I actually met him by auditioning for him for his film Psychosomatika). I was originally going to play his sister but he ended up writing this whole really cool character for me instead!
I knew he was attached to it (BBBC), and somebody put in a good word for me aside from Jeff. It was all referrals. They called me and I came in the day of pick-ups. They had already pretty much shot the entire film, so I was there for two days. I’m like hell yeah, I get to go to Big Bear! Big Bear is so beautiful! For two days, stay in a cabin with a bunch of fun people and shoot a movie. Hell yeah!
We improvised all of it. My stuff! Like talking about the penis of Jesus and such…. That was my improvising. That was not scripted. (I fangirl a bit because that line makes the movie for me.) I’m glad you liked it! Because after I said it – my mom’s Catholic – oh this is bad! This is really bad! But I told my mom right away and she’s ok with it. Honestly I think it shows Jesus in a good light! It’s very positive religiously. Believe me, I’m sure a lot of people were offended, but do you know how well it did on iTunes? It did really well when it first came out!
I watched it all the way through, I laughed all the way through. For me, I need to keep laughing. I’ve done a lot of movies and it’s one of the few that I’m 100% proud of. (I’ve known Ron Jeremy for a long time because he’s actually the godfather of one of my best friends. It was cool working with him.) I wish I was there the same days as Tim Sullivan, because honestly I was more impressed with him than anyone else in the picture! He was amazing! I mean I knew he was a good director, but I wasn’t sure how good an actor he’d be. He was amazing! I was really impressed by him.
Some of the people in the cast were genuinely that weird! Christopher Raff – he is genuinely that way! That was not acting there. I’ve hung out with him, and it is like…. It is just entertainment. And Jeff’s (Dylan Graham) character – I thought he was so funny! The one line he has is just so important and it was all done physical. Physical comedy is really difficult and he’s trying to get out of that wheelchair and oh man! I laughed so hard! I just think it’s a great all around wonderful film! I’m really proud to have gotten in it. And even if it was last minute, I was so stoked about it!
While doing the interview, the parade of convention creepers was starting to distract me a bit. So I had to ask her how it was for her to have to deal with those guys.
You know, it’s a little weird sometimes. Honestly, I don’t see myself as that. I live in Los Angeles and all these girls have money for boobs and nose jobs and spray tans and crap. I don’t. I’ve got my own exotic cool thing going on. There are those that show up that are definitely…weird. I’m not used to having anybody really care that much about me. I’ve never been in a place where I’ve felt… well, except last night (Days of the Dead convention 2012) actually… this one guy really creeped me out. He grabbed my head and shook it! I said hey! Don’t touch me, I don’t know you! He was totally respectful after. You just gotta keep them in line. I’m from New York – I don’t take any shit from anybody!
If you’ve seen at least one picture of Elissa, you would ask the same question: Are those your real eyes or do you wear contacts?
These are my real eyes! I think that’s why I work! I swear to god, it’s just because of my eyes. I’m Hungarian. We all have really dark hair and really light eyes. My mom has grayish eyes, my dad has more like an aqua color. I think I took after him more, physically. I look more like my dad than my mom. It’s funny – If you’re a theater actor, you want brown eyes. Brown eyes read better from a distance. But if you’re on film or television, blue eyes are better. Any agent will tell you that.
Do you have any upcoming projects you’d like to talk about?
I’ve got a lot of things I’m attached to that I always fear talking about, because until I am there, I don’t count on a damn thing. It’s really sad, but that’s the business. The last three that I’ve done, that I was there, that I know I’m in, were a movie called Cheap Thrills with Pat Healy, Ethan Emery and David Koechner. It’s a dark comedy, a very funny film.
I also did Axeman at Cutter’s Creek with Tiffany Shepis and Brinke Stevens. I love Tiffany and I love Brinke – they’re two of my favorite people on the planet. They rock!
I also did Midlife and I play a character named Aphid. I got to name myself! An aphid is a bug that eats flowers. I play this goth girl and I wanted to be called Aphid because I used to have this boyfriend when I was 13 and his name was Aphid and he was a total jerk and he was goth. That’s perfect! It’s directed by Greg Travis who was in Starship Troopers. Billy Wirth is also in it and it was interesting because I was shooting with him on the night of the 20th anniversary of The Lost Boys. We ended up filming together that night and he was like “I didn’t know it was tonight! I’m missing everything!” He was so cool. He made a commitment and he stuck around. He was totally nice.
I’d like you to keep an eye out on a movie called A Night of Nightmares. I wrote a song for it called Night of Nightmares. They named the movie after the song, which is pretty bad ass! It was originally called Ginger (that’s my character’s name) and it’s directed by Buddy Giovinazzo and it has Marc Senter in it and Jason London. It’s a showcasing piece for me I think, because I get to sing. And singing is my heart. I’m in two bands! I’m in a blues band and I’m in a rock band. The rock band is called Deep.
With some guy with a video camera breathing down our necks and shooting daggers from his eyes at me, I asked one last question. (Because fuck that guy. Don’t be rude!)
What is your favorite breakfast cereal?
Oh that’s a toughie, I like a lot of breakfast cereals! I did a Kix commercial that aired in London when I was five years old, so I should probably say Kix. But it’s not my favorite. I like sugary shit. I’m going to go with Cinnamon Toast Crunch. You know, no one’s ever asked me that before and God bless you for doing it! I should have been more prepared!
