“The Haunting of Hill House” star Victoria Pedretti hyped fellow actor – and co-creator of Netflix’s “Anne+” – Hanna van Vliet at International Film Festival Rotterdam Sunday evening.
“You are a leader,” she told her.
“True. I’m a leader,” responded van Vliet, admitting the change in the industry starts with “diversifying the teams.”
“We made ‘Anne+’ without any money, so we had all this freedom and could cast and hire whoever we wanted. People get better at their jobs and later, they will be the ones in power. We have to start small and grow everyone into ‘the big guy.’ Girl. Person.”
While the system is “corrupt,” you have to “know it in order to infiltrate it,” added Pedretti.
“The Non-Actor”
Courtesy of IFFR
“I remember the first dinner with the cast of ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ and everyone was talking about Harvey Weinstein. I was like: ‘Is this what I’m getting myself into?’”
“I’ve heard people say, ‘I want you to be a collaborator in this’ and they don’t. Auditioning for things made on a huge scale that say absolutely nothing? I don’t even try. I would rather make a short about something.”
Just like “The Non-Actor,” which saw her act alongside Maya Hawke.
“People are complex. I hope none of my characters come across as stereotypes. I would hate to make something that’s destructive, because representation is meaningful,” she added.
Apart from “The Haunting of Hill House,” Pedretti worked on “The Haunting of Bly Manor.”
“I preferred working on ‘Hill House’. [Creator] Mike Flanagan directed every episode, it was cohesive and just a better time. On ‘Manor’ we were in Vancouver, it was cold and I was dressed for spring,” she said, admitting “Hill House” was “how she learnt to work on set.”
“I was out-of-my-mind excited I was working as an actor two months out of college. And so scared every day, thinking: ‘This might be my only job, ever.’ I wasn’t sure there’ll be anything else after this.”
“Hill House” was just the beginning: parts in Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Ava DuVernay’s “Origin” and Sundance premiere “Ponyboi” followed. For Van Vliet, it was all about “Anne+,” about a twentysomething lesbian in Amsterdam, exploring relationships. She’ll be next seen in “The Muffler.”
“I never knew art could make such an impact. Before, I recognized myself in ‘Love Actually’ and other straight films, but never anything like ‘Anne+.’ It would have helped me too, seeing a range of girls liking girls and it not being their entire identity.”
The show, and later the film, was important to her as creator, but also as a person.
“It was a big step in my own self-acceptance. In every interview we talked about being queer, which is weird, because we made it to normalize queer identity. Still, it gave me a big community of lesbians around me, which is very fun,” she added, recalling: “I’m from a small town near Rotterdam and we used to have one cinema. No arthouse at all. Then I moved to Amsterdam and saw things like ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color.’ It gave me the feels.”
But it’s not just about cinema, with Pedretti fresh off her Broadway debut in “An Enemy of the People,” which earned Jeremy Strong a Tony award.
“There’s the freedom to do whatever the fuck you want for an hour and a half, exploring, being able to really steer the ship. If you see a bad show, that doesn’t mean all theater is bad. Go again,” she advised the audience.
And as for her own life-changing films?
“Lilo & Stitch.’ I felt very seen in that movie,” she deadpanned.
