For filmmaker Katie Tallo, that old saw about writing what you know has proven crucial to her first feature, Posers, a film about a tightly knit group of young female clubgoers who end up murdering another woman.
That should come with a qualification, of course:The writer and director of Posers has not been involved in a murder -- that much comes from her imagination -- but says she knows virtually everything about the night-club scene. "I was a poser, too, in my 20s. And my husband's still a bartender. The people in this movie are drawn from people I knew and my own experiences."
Posers'plot has a posse of rebellious women, led by Stephanie van Pfetten ( 40 Days and 40 Nights, Cabin Pressure), involved in a horrid incident of violence against another woman in a disco's toilet that inadvertently leads to the victim's death. Instead of being horrified by the crime, Pfetten leads her girl gang -- composed of Jessica Paré ( Stardom, Lost and Delirious), Sarain Boylan ( Bleacher Bums, Fairy Feller)and Emily Hampshire ( Scorn, The Ride)-- back to the club the next night to revel in the limelight. Upset by the lack of attention, Pfetten flees the club, while the other three remain, partying until last call. They return to their apartment only to find blood everywhere -- but no Pfetten. Much of the movie then involves the search for her: Has she become a murder victim herself? Mistrust and paranoia grow among the women, as a police officer (Adam Beach) begins to scrutinize in his investigation and the body count rises.
Tallo is aware that having sultry young things involved with murder on the big screen isn't exactly a new concept, but she says she wasn't too concerned about falling into I Know What You Did Last Summer clichés. "I wasn't thinking of other movies when I wrote this. The worst thing I think you can do as a writer is to simply come up with variations on film characters who've already existed."
Tallo, who directed the documentary Juiced -- about a day in the life of a frazzled waitress -- for City-TV last year, says Posers began as a horror movie but soon twisted itself into a thriller. "I'm far too convoluted in my plotting, but I love to surprise people. I wanted to set up the mystery, drop a few clues throughout and then have a kicker ending."
Though the characters were composites of various party-hungry personalities she met through the years, the idea for the murder itself came from a news headline. Although it was not related in any way to her story, Tallo says she was struck by the brutal murder of teenager Reena Virk, who was beaten and drowned in Victoria in 1997. "I know girl-on-girl violence is rare. There's something about the power dynamic there: What is running through their minds? I wanted to explore it in a feature form."
Produced by Montreal-based Seville Pictures, Posers has a relatively low budget of $1-million.
But as has become the rule for independent features, star power counts, and Tallo has landed an impressive cast, notably rising luminaries Paré (who's already worked with auteurs such as Denys Arcand and Léa Pool) and Beach, who arrived on the Posers set after completing a starring role in Windtalkers, directed by none other than John Woo and starring Oscar winner Nicolas Cage.
"I was surprised when they asked me to play a cop," Beach says of the Posers role. "I had to really think about playing an authority figure, something I'm usually not asked to do. I've been extremely impressed with the script, and the work of the DP [director of photography Claudine Sauvé] Especially considering the budget, the film looks really great.
"Of course, in some respects, my role has been easy," he adds. "I get to jump into bed with Jessica Paré."
As for Paré, she says she was relieved because "I get to play the nice girl, not the secret-slasher psychopath. In a sense, my part is more straightforward because she's easier to sympathize with. The other girls have to play cows, for lack of a better word. They beat someone to the point of death." In a sense, playing a poser isn't that hard, Paré says.
"Really, don't we all have real-life poser experience? All of us, at some point, pretend to be something we're not. I think that experience is pretty much universal. As for the dynamics between women, I went to an all-girls school. There was a wealth of possibilities for me to draw on."
Tallo says the script for Posers calls for a delicate balancing act. On the one hand, the film has dark comedic undertones; on the other, Tallo didn't want to appear glib or cavalier about brutal murder. "Some of the girls' behaviour is simply superficial. At times, they say the stupidest things. Indeed, it's suspenseful; sometimes, you need the release of laughter when the characters are in the thick of things.
"But, ultimately, this is a story about some people who don't really realize the severity of what it is they've done. They're not looking at the bigger picture. Unfortunately, I've known a lot of people like that.
"At the same time that this film will look at the cool, hip stuff, I want to include the humanity of the story. You're going to need to care about these women, after all. If they're just trashy broads and nothing else, it's not going to work."
Posers, which wrapped up shooting earlier this month in Ottawa, is slated for release next year.