Music was kind of my gateway drug, I think. My parents always had music playing in the house, and I grew up singing along to all kinds of genres. I remember being in the school choir in maybe first or second grade, and this one kid who had a solo line was absent. In the middle of the song the choir director motioned for me to step forward and I sang the little solo.
In my memory we didn’t talk about it in advance, and I felt a small rush of being in the spotlight. But it wasn’t until my mom signed me up for a theater summer camp in seventh grade that I really got into it, and realized that what I really loved was acting. That was it for me – something just clicked.
indieactivity: What acting technique do you use?
Anastasia Olowin (AO): I studied at the Experimental Theater Wing at NYU, which focused mostly on Grotowski (physically-based acting), Meisner technique, and Viewpoints. I also spent a semester at the Moscow Art Theater learning how Stanislavski’s technique has evolved, and Meyerhold’s method. I remember one of our NYU teachers would always repeat “put it in the computer” when we learned something new – as in, file this away in your brain.
So I like to think of all of my training as a whole collection of things that I can pull from and combine however I need to for each project. And each project is different, requires different things. But I mostly work from instinct – I’m not someone who needs to know what my character had for breakfast this morning. I just need to know where we are in the story we are trying to tell.
How did you get involved with “Ben and Suzanne”?
Anastasia Olowin (AO): I auditioned for a short film called “Tourists” in 2014, which was always meant to be the prelude to a feature. I immediately connected with Shaun Seneviratne, our writer/director, and my co-star Sathya Sridharan – in the years between “Tourists” and what would eventually become “Ben and Suzanne, A Reunion in 4 Parts” (our feature), we made two other short films centered on these two characters, in what has now become the Tourists Cycle. I feel incredibly lucky to have stumbled into this long-term creative collaboration.
Let’s take this project you did; how did you prepare for such a role: the cast, the physicality the terrain, the climate, weather and the demands of the project?
Anastasia Olowin (AO): In terms of preparing for the role… I’ve spent ten years with Suzanne, so it was just a matter of figuring out where I met the material once we finally got to make the film. Shaun is an incredibly generous artist and really let the roles evolve along with us over the years.
He and I had also gone to Sri Lanka in February of 2023 to shoot a Suzanne-centric short on Super-8, as well as location scout for the feature, so I got a chance to meet his family and see a lot of the countryside. When we went back last summer to shoot “Ben and Suzanne,” it was Sathya’s first time visiting the country, so we had kind of accidentally built in a sense of realism as Suzanne is sharing her experience of Sri Lanka with Ben.
I tried to prepare for the heat – I brought a little portable fan that was a lifesaver and constantly two inches from my face between takes. And our days were long. It’s a road trip movie, and we shot in 40 locations over 17 days. But Sri Lanka is gorgeous, and it was amazing to be able to see so much of the country in such a unique way.
I tried to just take it day-by-day – where are we in their story, what scene is happening now. Shaun, Sathya and I would talk through each scene as we were shooting, work through the blocking. We had a great session with our intimacy consultant, Nicole Orabona, before we left for the shoot, so we were able to develop a vocabulary and specificity around the physicality and we talked through that before every scene as well.
What part of the story challenged you when you read it? What drove you to get on the project?
Anastasia Olowin (AO): Shaun’s storytelling and these characters have always felt so authentic to me. And something I’ve always thought was interesting is this baked-in dynamic of being an outsider.
Suzanne knows the country, is learning the language and making a life there, but can never truly belong; Ben looks like he could belong but he’s an American, a fish out of water. And they’re outsiders in their own relationship as well – two people who care deeply about each other but are so often out of sync.
How did you collaborate with your cast members from scene to scene?
Anastasia Olowin (AO): After being scene partners and friends for so many years, Sathya and I have a lot of trust between us. We’d check in with each other at the start and end of each shoot day. The real wildcard was everyone else in the film – besides the two of us, the film is filled with Shaun’s family members and local Sri Lankan folks, none of whom were professional actors.
We weren’t sure what to expect, but they all were incredible! Our driver in the film, Mohammad, was also our driver off-screen. He was so natural on camera and also so kind and hilarious – he absolutely upstaged us.
What do you like most about the director, and his/her collaboration with his/her team?
Anastasia Olowin (AO): Shaun is a director who has a strong vision but also really values collaboration. He is always open to ideas and suggestions, trying out different things in service of the story, and he genuinely values the opinions of the people around him without letting them override what he is trying to make. I think that’s such a lovely and valuable quality to have.
What is next for you?
Anastasia Olowin (AO): I’m currently in post-production on a short film that I wrote and star in, called “Emmanuelle”. It’s about an in-ear prompter for a venerable theater actress, and as we start Act Two the prompter’s personal life begins to haunt the script.
I’m very proud of it, and got to collaborate with a lot of people I really love including our incredible DP Molly Scotti, who also shot “Ben and Suzanne” and has become a dear friend.
What advice do you give actors regarding what you learnt on the project?
Anastasia Olowin (AO): There is a great deal of faith required for this career, since most of us don’t get the opportunity to work as much as we would like to. And then once we do get a chance to work, it sometimes feels stressful or we psych ourselves out in some way.
I always try to remember the simplest advice from my on-camera coach, which is just to have fun. When you do get to do the work, try to stay present and enjoy it.
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