Jodie Rimmer tells Naomi Larkin she enjoyed capturing the spark and flamboyancy of her character Siggy in I'll Make You Happy
When Jodie Rimmer first studied the script for I'll Make You Happy she instantly "fell in love" with the character of teenage sex worker Siggy.
"She is strong and feisty. She
discovers more about herself as the plot unfolds. On paper she looked like a fully fleshed character and that was what was so appealing," Rimmer said.
A couple of months later the 25-year-old Aucklander found herself in the lead role of her first feature film, working alongside some of New Zealand's top actors.
I'll Make You Happy is a comedy about Siggy, who lives and works in Auckland's red light district. Her best friends are hookers, who dream of getting off the streets, and an agoraphobic flatmate who longs for Tibet.
To fulfil her dreams she hijacks her pimp's own get-rich-quick drug scam.
"I know myself a lot better than Siggy knows herself. But I can relate to her big sense of dream and spontaneity.
"It was quite easy to get that sense of spark and flamboyancy," Rimmer says
She was also attracted to director/co-writer Athina Tsoulis' approach to portraying prostitution as just another job, without attempting to moralise.
"She had a very, very firm idea that she was not making a film about judgment on prostitution. She had spoken with prostitutes a lot and researched it well. She was very certain about not making Siggy a victim."
Rimmer acknowledges that some of the characters are over the top but says Tsoulis was not trying to capture real life.
"She was playing ... this fantasy world. That's why she used bold colours in the film - the costumes and the lighting. And that's the way some of people played the characters. The film is not trying to be a real drama and it gets away with it because of that."
To get the project off the ground Tsoulis and co-writer, her sister Anne Tsoulis, financed the four-week shoot, completed over the summer of 1997 and 1998, from their own resources. They relied on the dedication and goodwill of cast and crew, who deferred their fees.
Rimmer enjoyed the contact with the "stellar cast" including Jennifer Ward-Lealand (Desperate Remedies), Michael Hurst (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys), Rena Owen (Once Were Warriors) and Lucy Lawless (Xena Warrior Princess), who she described as her mentors.
"It was a real honour to be working with them. Everyone was doing it for deferred payment which meant you had to be doing it for a reason.
"There was a real sense of camaraderie because of that and it really brought us together."
Although Siggy is her first feature-film role, Rimmer is no newcomer to the camera. She began drama lessons at the tender age of 9 and has appeared in a number of television series including Shortland Street, Riding High and The New Adventures of Black Beauty. She has been a presenter on MTV's Havoc, the taxi driver who asked all the questions in Behind the Wheel, and last year she had a part in Young Hercules.
Next week she begins work on a "very exciting" American telefeature - to be made in New Zealand with the executive producer of the cult series Twin Peaks - the details of which remain a secret.
If it goes down well with American audiences a series will be made and she will have something close to a permanent acting job.
"It's a core cast role. It's a big step.
"I have a very quiet life and I really cherish that. I'm not that ambitious. I don't want to be famous - I just want to work."
Who: Jodie Rimmer
What: I'll Make You Happy
Where: Selected cinemas
When: From next Thursday
Jodie Rimmer tells Naomi Larkin she enjoyed capturing the spark and flamboyancy of her character Siggy in I'll Make You Happy
When Jodie Rimmer first studied the script for I'll Make You Happy she instantly "fell in love" with the character of teenage sex worker Siggy.
"She is strong and feisty. She
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