As part of the 25 Days of Sine Fine Films extravaganza leading up the 25th Anniversary I have decided to write a series of posts celebrating the 25 actors who have been the most dedicated by participating in the most productions.
Actor of the Day: Rachel Zoralee
Rachel joined the company in the winter of 1996 when she agreed to participate in Destiny II as an extra. She has participated in 8 productions as cast and/or crew.
I met Rachel in high school when we were both in the theater programs. She was and still is hilarious, kind, talented, and just all around amazing and I instantly wanted to be friends with her. We were cast in the same shows and even got to be double cast as the same part in one of them.
When I began to film Destiny II I need some extras to play people in the royal court of Traldon, mostly as dancers for the big ballroom scene. A few people agreed and thankfully Rachel was one of them. She ended up getting a few lines as Girl 1 and even with just two or three lines it's clear how talented she is, and just by watching one or two bloopers from that scene it's clear how hilarious she is.
In Destiny III, filmed in the summer of 1997, I wrote the part just for Rachel. The Great El Banyo is the conceited and absurd pirate captain of an all female crew. She turned in a fantastic performance, and more importantly had a lot of hilarious bloopers we still quote to this day (early morling). She was also willing to be an extra in the royal court and ballroom scenes.
Although Frumpy Gets It was filmed before most of Destiny III (in May of 1997) I still count it as coming after because I didn't finish editing it until later. Frump Gets It was an experiment that failed. I wanted to try making a movie with no script and just having the actors inhabit the characters the whole night with some vague directions and a lot of ab libbing. It didn't work. You can learn more about this utter failure in the Production Diary.
The one good thing about it was the delightful performances of two of the biggest camera hams ever to step on set - Rachel Zoralee and Tanino Minneci who played siblings with their Annamarie MacLeod as their cranky elderly mother, Mrs. Frumpy. As Ioan Aldat, the rich daughter who thinks she's a psychic, is a bit of airhead, and has a gambler husband who's put them in debt, Rachel played up the misty eyed pseudo-psychic very well.
I wanted her to have a bigger part in the next movie I made, The Dragon & The Unicorn which is about a pair of cursed twins who are found and raised by a kind shepherdess who unknowingly gets dragged into their eternal battle of good and evil. The shepherdess who's also became immortal and is now named Dottalia, or Dottie for shot. She owns a book store and her job is to find the reincarnation of Leona (Nina Samii), train her to fight her evil sister Asarai (Annamarie MacLeod), and eventually bring an end to their cursed cycle of reincarnation and war.
Rachel had a very mature/motherly air about her (or maybe I just thought she did because we often got cast in the same parts and a lot of them were older ladies/mother figures) so she worked really well as the mentor Dottie. This was the first time I got to see her do serious acting in my films and she was able to pull off the silly side of Dottie but always keep a serious undertone to the character. Great performance all around and her on screen chemistry with both Nina and Annamarie was perfect.
Life became busy for her and she no longer had time to film. In the summer of 1999 I was able to convince her to play Thebe Rackon in Pandora's Box. The character is only in two episodes, Episode 13 (Evil Transformed) and Episode 14 (Warrior's Heart), so there wasn't a lot of filming she had to do. I think there were only three film shoots for her.
As the motherly mentor who helps Zarina (Nina Samii), Thebe is basically a stronger, better written version of Dottie. I even reused some of the training footage from The Dragon & The Unicorn for the training scenes in Pandora's Box. The character is written to have some depth with her mysterious background, but Rachel was really able to bring out the best in the script.
She was able to walk the fine line between Thebe's motherly side and the hidden bad ass general Thebe used to be. There's the subtle tension of constantly keeping a secret layered under her performance which of course erupts in the very dramatic scene where that secret is revealed. After that scene Thebe promises to train Zarina to be a soldier.
That's when the motherly, nurturing Thebe brings out her inner bad ass and reveals herself to be one of the most skilled fighters and brilliant strategists in the Imperial Army. I really enjoyed watching Rachel be the rough, tough, bad ass mentor that had been a part of Thebe's real character all along. Rachel did great with integrating two opposite sides of that personality and never let the audience forget that Thebe truly cared for Zarina. Whether it was teaching her how to fold laundry or beating an opponent who was bigger than you, Thebe shined as a mentor and Rachel made her sparkle brilliantly.
When Thebe is tragically murdered and dies in Zarina's arms Rachel did a great job of delivering the sappy dialogue in a very serious and moving way that made the scene heart wrenching. The chemistry and connection between Rachel and Nina who had played similar parts with each other twice now was excellent and elevated both of their performances to a whole new level.
Unfortunately for me - but very good for her - Rachel graduated from high school and went off to college so I wasn't able to film with her again for a very long time. She returned to CU once in a while for winter vacation and I did get to see her once or twice at the annual SFF Holiday parties I hosted.
Just when I thought I would never be able to film with her again I was able to reconnect with her on Facebook and she was actually available to film something short in the summer of 2010. I was SO excited at the thought of filming with her again! I decided to do a movie I had been thinking about for a while but one that I couldn't find the right cast for. I was currently working on Twisted Tales, a collection of short films that takes a twist on a traditional fairy tale, and so I finally wrote and filmed The Devil & Kitta Gray.
Kitta Gray is a very unusual heroine who has tricked the Devil multiple times. In the folklore she is a cunning old woman that people turn to when they have trouble with the Devil because they know she can get them out of it. I needed an actress who was not your typical gorgeous blonde barbie doll, someone who could bring the unique character to life with the combination of strength and charm that the part required. Rachel was perfect! Rachel is perfect in general, but specifically she was perfect to play Kitta.
Needless to say she was amazing. I also got to film with the fantastic Tanino Minneci playing the Devil, and I was so excited about the shoot that I made an Easter Egg for the DVD about how amazing Rachel and Tanino are and what it was like to film The Devil & Kitta Gray with them.
I was originally planning to film Twisted Tales: Charming in the winter of 2009 on the same day I filmed Hulde, but there was a blizzard and it wasn't possible. In the summer of 2010 I decided to try filming it again when some actors who lived out of town were coming to CU for another film shoot. I am SO glad I waited to film it until the summer because I was able to get Rachel to return to the set one last time.
Charming is about four fairytale princesses who get together for a picnic and through casual conversation eventually realize three of them are married to the same man - Prince Charming. Rachel agreed to play Briar Rose, the princess from Sleeping Beauty, and she was hysterical! It's like she mind-melds with the character and then ad libs the best stuff making everyone crack up.
Despite filming on a very hot day in the sun while wearing a long costume of non-breathable fabric and wearing a wig, she didn't complain at all - not even when she had to have a chocolate donut that was sticky and melting fast shoved into her face three times. Thanks for being such a trouper Rachel! Filming Charming with four amazing actress was one of my best memories and being able to film with Rachel again was the highlight of the day.
I just love Rachel, she amazing. Like I said she's sweet and kind, silly and funny, bright and brilliant, lovely and talented. Rachel is quite simply the best and any production she takes part in will definately be full of laughter and good memories. Yes, I am actually the president of the Rachel Zoralee Fan Club. The woman needs a fan club! She's so awesome!
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