00:00I remember early on just seeing Guillermo sitting behind the monitors and drawing the
00:05storyboards as we were going.
00:07The fact that he was quilting the film as we were filming it, so cutting the film, you
00:12know, sometimes we would do a take and it would be cut right into the flow of the edit
00:16and to see that in the moment, in real time, was a very unique experience.
00:21If you guys were a mad scientist, if you were in your own lab, what would you create?
00:31Oh my lord, understanding.
00:33I sound like a calendar wisdom.
00:36That's a good one.
00:38A time machine.
00:39Yeah, I'll buy one.
00:41I want one.
00:42I would create a little pill and you take it and it gives you 12 hours of sleep every night.
00:49It's called Zalek.
00:51It's called Zalek.
00:52And her kid's going to ban it.
00:54They've already made that.
00:56They've already made that one.
00:58But it would be a better one.
01:01I would mate my dog over and over so she could always just be there.
01:06Oh, I'd create a completely new approach to interviewing.
01:10Hit me, what would you do?
01:12Let's try it right now.
01:13No, no, I'll create that later.
01:14Okay, okay.
01:15What surprised everybody most about the making of this movie?
01:20Everything that was new for me was to be open to listening.
01:24You know?
01:25I think the younger you are, the more you want to say how things should be.
01:29And the older you get, you go, maybe this is great to try.
01:33You know?
01:34So every one of them was very beautiful and new for me.
01:38I guess what surprised me the most was just how much we laughed.
01:41How much joy we had.
01:42How he was going to direct me with dirty jokes, mostly.
01:47And how inclusive everything was, you know?
01:51There's no secret whisperings behind monitors, you know?
01:54Everything was an open book.
01:55So if something was wrong, everybody knew it.
01:57If something was great, everybody knew it.
01:59You know, I remember early on just seeing Guillermo sitting behind the monitors and drawing the storyboards as we were going.
02:07The fact that he was quilting the film as we were filming it.
02:10So cutting the film.
02:12You know, sometimes we would do a take and it would be cut right into the flow of the edit.
02:16And to see that in the moment in real time was a very unique experience.
02:21I wasn't surprised, but I was really moved the first time I drove to the studio.
02:27And the ship was in the parking lot.
02:33This giant full ship on hydraulics was in the parking lot.
02:38And then there was these three sound stages.
02:41And each door that you opened was like this dream gate into this like magical world.
02:48Like with castles and snow and moss in the walls and water running through the sets.
02:55Everything was practical and right in front of me.
02:57Which is not a surprise because you're working with Guillermo.
03:00But when you actually, you know, you get in your SUV out of the hotel and then you arrive and there's an ice scape in a car park in Toronto.
03:09It takes your breath away.
03:11It's called December in Toronto.
03:13That's true.
03:14But yeah, yeah, exactly.
03:16I want to ask about like the movement that you created for the creature.
03:20I'm a decently gangly fellow.
03:22So I think my body informed a lot of it.
03:25And Guillermo had a great idea of working with a Butoh coach in the time leading up.
03:30Which is this sort of Japanese dance of death.
03:34Which kind of means reanimating a corpse.
03:38But it's kind of all there in the script when you think about a character like this.
03:43Mia, were you always going to play the two parts or did that kind of come in that was from the beginning?
03:49Yeah.
03:50Originally I was going to play three parts.
03:52And Guillermo shared that with me on our very first meeting.
03:56But ultimately he had to, the film was just getting too long and he had to cut her out of it.
04:02But I'll never forget it, you know, I remember sitting there with Guillermo and him sharing the script with me.
04:07And being so blown away by the fact that I was sitting there with Guillermo reading his script.
04:11And then he revealed that he wanted me to play these two roles.
04:14And I was just very, you know, flattered and honored and very excited to be a part of it.
04:21Does anyone get squeamish?
04:23Does working behind the scenes take away that element because you see kind of how the sausage is being made?
04:28Or do you still have those moments?
04:29I like blood.
04:30Yeah.
04:31Very much.
04:32Those were some of the most fun times where I just, I couldn't believe where he was like,
04:36More blood!
04:37And people would run up with buckets of blood and just douse everything.
04:40And then you would grab blood and just throw it, pools of it everywhere.
04:45Because every time you see a Frankenstein creation scene, the creature is just made.
04:52You never see, I mean, you never see the quilting and what's left behind.
04:57If you're quilting 55 bodies, there are parts he's not using that need to be strewn around.
05:03And it's like we follow in detail little inserts and close ups and beauty shots.
05:09And then at the end, oh, I have all this left over.
05:13What was the blood made of?
05:14Oh, it's always carrot syrup.
05:16Always.
05:17Yeah.
05:18Okay.
05:19Goes very well with pancakes.
05:21What is a creature comfort that you guys need when you're traveling for work or on a production
05:27to like make you feel comfortable, settle in?
05:29What can you not leave home without?
05:31Ketamine.
05:32Films.
05:33Movies.
05:34To watch.
05:35Yeah, I have 7,000 movies that travel with me.
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