Exclusive interview with Florence Hartigan Star in Ridley Scott produced Phoenix Forgotten

I was born in the US but did most of my growing up in New Zealand, where I started acting in film and TV stuff as a child. I’ve always loved movies- so I eventually decided to study Film and Theater/Media at The University of Otago in NZ and UC Berkeley here in California. I studied film and theatre because I love all facets of it – acting, writing, directing, the whole deal.

I moved out to LA a couple years after college and studied improv and writing at Upright Citizen’s Brigade and The Groundlings, and acted in Comedy Central Studios‘ web project Bro Dependent, and some independent Features including IFC’s Entrance – and then got to be part of this cool Ridley Scott project!

indieactivity: How did you get on to the Phoenix Forgotten project?
Florence: I had worked with our director, Justin Barber, and one of our producers, Wes Ball (who directed The Maze Runner franchise) on some commercials and music videos, so Justin asked me to be part of the initial test shoot for the film. I initially didn’t know if I was going to get to be a part of the feature length project, so I was super excited to get to audition, and even more excited to get to play Sophie in the film.

indieactivity: Would you describe Phoenix Forgotten as a big movie, in terms of what you have done before?
Florence: We made the movie on a pretty small budget, so the actual process of making the film felt like most of the filmmaking experiences I’ve had before – I’ve worked on some larger budget stuff too of course, but I’m also pretty familiar by now with the indie film scene! There was that sense of teamwork and coming together to make the most of everything you can to get the best possible result with what you have – that indie spirit was really present on set.

But obviously once the film was completed we also had the benefit of working with Cinelou and Scott Free – with Ridley Scott’s name on a project it opens some doors which is nice. So it was pretty amazing to see a film I worked on on so many billboards – that was new for me and pretty exciting!

indieactivity: How much work; creative, energy or focus did you put into your scenes on Phoenix Forgotten?
Florence: I love acting, so when I get a juicy role I don’t hold back. I did a ton of work to make sure my character, Sophie, felt like a real person, like a real person who has lost someone (my character loses her brother at a young age, and in a sense loses her family as well, as they fall apart trying to deal with her brother’s disappearance ).

The premise of the film is that Sophie is making a documentary trying to unravel the mystery of her brother’s disappearance, so to play her I wanted to make sure I not only was prepared for the emotional gravity of this role, but also prepared to make a doc like she would.

Florence Hartigan as Sophie in the indie film Phoenix Forgotten by Justin Barber

I did a lot of the research she would do – I researched the facts of our “case”, I looked into real missing persons cases, and protocols in missing persons cases in Arizona. I listened to hours of Terry Gross and Chana Joffe-Walt for interviewer inspiration! I watched Werner Herzog docs. In the film I actually interview real Phoenix residents about their opinions and experiences, so I got to stand in the director’s shoes at certain moments, so I wanted to make sure I was prepared and comfortable with that.

indieactivity: How did it feel to walk in the shoes of a real character?…or is she real?
Florence: Sophie is a fictional creation based on a “what if” scenario around a real event. The Phoenix Lights was a real UFO sighting – the largest recorded sighting in history. It got a lot of press for a long time afterwards, and it’s an event that still has a lot of people convinced it was something otherworldly, even though the military has since claimed it was a training exercise. Obviously there’s always delicacy to be exercised around real circumstances, but in this case the character I’m playing was created by me with our writer, T.S. Nowlin, and Justin Barber our director.

indieactivity: How’d you prepare for the role; cast, physicality, terrain, weather, climate & project demands?
Florence: Well we were shooting in the desert quite a bit – the kids more than me – so that comes with certain challenges. One thing you don’t think about looking at the film is how cold it was! We were shooting in winter initially, in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and it was freezing! So on top of that you have to keep looking out for snakes and scorpions, and of course making sure you’re hydrated – the desert isn’t something you can ever turn your back on.

indieactivity: How do you create that character from a script into a person?
Florence: I think with me my starting off point is always what is the most fun about this character, and then I follow that thread where it leads me. It was fun to me to play someone as tenacious and self-assured as Sophie, and fun to step into her life and unravel the psychology behind the tragedy of her brother’s disappearance. My aim in preparation is always to try and make sure I completely understand where my character is coming from so it feels like second nature to me, and I think that what makes a believable character to an audience. I think if you’re unsure that’s where things can fall down.

indieactivity: How did you stay fresh on the set? What keeps you energized?
Florence: I get where you’re coming from with this question, sometimes when you’re on set and doing the same thing take after take it’s easy to fall into a rut – this was NOT that shoot! As I may have mentioned earlier, the whole aim for this film is to feel like a documentary my character has made, so it’s shot that way, we interview real people and interweave that with our fictional narrative – so there was a lot of improv as a result. We shot scripted scenes, for sure, but for every scripted scene we shot we also improvised five other versions of it. so liek a documentary, this came together a lot in the edit.

Fan art: Lights in Phoenix Forgoten

indieactivity: Explain one creative choice you made on set?
Florence: Well because there was so much improv, we actors were always making choices. But Iguess one that sticks out for me is that I naturally speak with a New Zealand accent, but Sophie is of course from Phoenix AZ, so I made sure that even when we weren’t technically rolling or getting specific shots of me, I spoke in my US dialect, so anything I said off the cuff that worked for Sophie and the scene could be used – and some of these moments that made it into the film are my favorites!

indieactivity: What did you enjoy most working with your Justine Barber ?
Florence: Justin is incredibly open and collaborative to ideas that any of us actors wanted to bring in. He was really excited by anything extra we brought to the process. Another thing I love about Justin is he has a documentary background so he’s excellent at setting up moments that get surprising reactions from people – whether it was us actors or the real people we were interviewing. That spontaneity and openness was really nice.