In Liz Manashil‘s second feature film, Speed Of Life, the death of David Bowie cracks open space and time, and the aftermath leaves a woman waiting for her long lost love to return. It’s an intriguing concept that doesn’t dwell on death – quite the opposite, actually. Manashil takes us on a journey of acceptance and living for the now.
As the director and screenwriter, she was nice enough to take some time to discuss her secret cameo, how the sensational Ann Dowd got involved, and, of course, David Bowie.
BV: David Bowie’s passing is the center of this story – how did his life and career personally influence you? And how did that guide you to this project?
LM: I’ve always been a fan of David Bowie, but never obsessed. A casual fan, really. Then, when he died, I was hit hard because I didn’t realize that he could. He seemed like a magical force who couldn’t undergo human things, like death. For some reason, his death impacted me for days and I had friends who felt the same way. Dance nights were organized, tattoos were done in tribute to him. We all posted our favorite songs on social media, or how we all felt/where we were when he passed. At the time, I was writing a script and I couldn’t write anymore. I got blocked. As soon as I wrote his death into the script, I was unblocked and started to have a lot of fun opening the doors to involving Bowie in our story.
BV: Ann Dowd shines in each role she plays, no matter how big or small. How and when did she get involved with the film?
LM: A friend of mine, when I asked him for casting ideas, suggested Ann Dowd. I looked up her credits and realized I had been a fan for years and saw that she had some strong indie content on her resume, which made me feel like there was hope that she might say yes to us. Particularly there’s this one scene in the movie Wildlike that blew me away. In just a few minutes, she catapulted that film even further into quality. We reached out, she loved the script, and then we needed to push our dates back because Handmaid’s Tale got renewed for season 2. We happily did so with a commitment from her to be in our film.
BV: I noticed in the end credits that you’re actually in the movie, voicing a Siri-like robot. How did that role come to you?
LM: My partner, Sean (who plays Philip in the film) likes to put in Easter eggs in everything we do. I had a small “Hitchcock” like cameo in our first film (which I fought for a while because I didn’t want anyone to think I was comparing myself to Hitchcock!!!) and he suggested me being the Siri/Alexa voice as my cameo because we forgot to throw me into principal photography. I knew I always wanted a female voice for that role, though. During the mix, however, I was pretty critical of how I sounded…
BV: If there’s one thing you’d like for the audience to take away from your film, what would it be?
LM: For me, it’s not a science fiction film. It’s a film about a woman getting over the trauma of lost love and learning self acceptance. If anyone gets anything out of the film, I’m ecstatic.
BV: Lastly, what’s your all-time favorite David Bowie song?
LM: I love Station To Station. The chorus is maaaaagic.
For more more information on Speed Of Life and where you can watch it, visit their socials: Facebook, Twitter: @SpeedOfLifeMV and Instagram .
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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