Tanna Frederick

Honey, This Is Just Like Vietnam

The Mondo Film & Video Guide Interview With Tanna Frederick

Conducted By: Mondo Justin
Mondo Film & Video Guide Editor

After spending almost two hours interviewing Henry Jaglom leading lady, Tanna Frederick, I’m immediately reminded of the 1942 classic film, CASABLANCA.  I really can’t figure out exactly why the film has popped into my head.

Suddenly and without warning, it occurs to me.   But it makes no sense to me, nor will it to you either probably.  There’s a great line in the film spoken by Claude Rains. When explaining to the desperate young couple attempting to leave CASABLANCA, Rains whole-heartedly explains to the young raven haired new bride, ” Well Mademoiselle, Rick is the kind of man that, if I were a women, I should be in love with Rick.”

So how does this apply to Tanna Frederick?   Well Mademoiselle, Tanna Frederick is the kind of women that, being the pure cinephile I am, I should be in love with her.

Tanna Frederick is an amazing actress.  She’s got a rich “old Hollywood” feel and depth to her work.  It’s almost like the dear departed spirits of Hollywood’s golden age have now come home, joined forces in unison and created her.  Yeah, Tanna Frederick is THAT good.

Remember that great line in, FIELD OF DREAMS? Ray Liotta looks up at Kevin Costner and says, “Is this Heaven?” Costner responds quickly, “It’s Iowa.”    Tanna is Iowa. Talking to her you get that sense quickly. She’s proud to be from the mid-west. The heart of America.  Mason City, Iowa to be exact, the setting of the classic play, THE MUSIC MAN.   You can’t get any more American than Iowa. And one thing’s for certain, Tanna Frederick was clearly meant to be an actress.

Frederick was a struggling actress climbing the Hollywood sign for years, prior to being discovered by legendary auteur, Henry Jaglom.  Frederick and Jaglom teamed up in 2006 and since, have created some staggering work, that has only enhanced a long-standing cinematic love affair for fans of Jaglom, like myself.  Films like, HOLLYWOOD DREAM, IRENE IN TIME and the new QUEEN OF THE LOT have enchanted Jaglom devotee’s and earned the pair many new fans to date.

Frederick famously met Jaglom in self desperation when she decided to send him a fan letter, attempting to get a role in his next film.  Jaglom called her the day he received the letter, the two met,  and it’s been storybook ever since. Frederick gives Jaglom’s work something that it’s never had before.  A sense of innocence perhaps, you don’t really know.  It’s difficult to peg, but it feels right.

When you’re watching Frederick on screen in the latest Jaglom film, you can’t help but get the sense that you’re seeing something extra special. These two, Jaglom and Frederick were clearly meant to discover each other.

Talking with Frederick is an amazing experience.  Probably the most fun I ever had conducting an interview, and I’ve done about 100 to date.  She’s down to earth, smart, humble, insightful, fun and flirty, everything a guy could fall in love with.  She’s super beautiful, on all levels.  Sadly, I wasn’t able to sit down with Tanna this time around, so I had to settle for a phone conversation with her.  But to be honest, I was content, it reminded me of a very long time ago. When one is in high school.   You meet that ONE girl you really like, and she likes you back, and you stay up all night quietly talking on the phone together for hours and hours getting to know each other, trying NOT to wake up your parents… Frederick has this quality, and it’s only a matter of time before she’s the biggest thing in Hollywood.   It’s very EASY to see what Henry Jaglom see’s in her.  What follows now is our very candid conversation…

Does acting come natural to you, or did you have to work at it some over the years?

The whole natural thing has a lot to do with just kinda of letting go.  You can’t judge yourself.  You have to be at a certain point where you just don’t care.  I started doing theater when I was very young, nine years old. I did four-five shows a year growing up, where I was acting with the grown-ups. If I could get into more I was doing that. I was very hungry to be on stage every second I could be.  When I went to college I was on a full theater scholarship, and when I got there I started to really get into the technique.  It’s great to have four years of training, but you quickly find that working out here you have to just let everything go and be a human being just trying to react to the moment you’re in when you’re playing a character.

But didn’t you study something else while you were in college as well?

Yes…I was a double major.  I graduated with honors. I studied poly sci and international relations.  I thought international relations was more useful that any of the theater work I did actually.  In terms of studying behavior and the behavior of nation states and how they react for example, when their country has been attacked, there is a pattern there through history.  Their behavior actually mimic’s individuals.  The study of conflict to me has always been interesting. I’ve always been fascinated by the whole thing.

On that note….What is it like to kiss Noah Wyle?

LAUGHING…..I was really nervous.   Our main kiss is in that kitchen scene in QUEEN OF THE LOT when I’m spitting food out of my mouth.    I guess it was like your first kiss when you’re really kissing a guy, and you let your nether regions do the talking.   I guess I was on auto-pilot, cause I trying to figure out how I was gonna seduce him while I was spitting food out of my mouth.  So in my head I was trying to break the scene down in terms of how I was gonna do it.   That scene was really pure improvisational. I knew sentences that I needed to get out though.   So when Noah, came in, he asked me “what scene are we doing?”  And I just looked at him, and said “hold on to the ride baby…’  He didn’t know that I was gonna be spitting the food out.   I grew up watching Noah Wyle on E.R, so of course it was fantastic.

When you moved out to Los Angeles from Iowa, did you experience any sort of culture shock?

Totally.  When I first moved out here, I hated it.  Then all of a sudden I loved it.  My parents would come out to visit me, in my little dirty apartments in North Hollywood under the free-way.  My dad told me once, “Honey, this is just like Vietnam.”   He was right.  My dad thought that the people, the interactions, the under-handed subtext going on was just like his two years in Vietnam.  That’s the way I felt about it too.

So when you first got out to Los Angeles, did you do any of the cliche things like get a job as an waitress?

Oh yeah…There isn’t really anything else to do.   I did some other things as well.  I got a job taking care of this women who was dying of cancer.  I worked at a mall kiosk selling re-fills for computer printers.  I worked at like twelve restaurants, but I always quit.  Cause I always wanted to go home for Christmas.   It was really interesting.   It was great preparation.  It was funny, for example, trying to get a job as an waitress at a Marie Callender’s, and I’d just got out of college with a four point…laughing.

Then, you run into other cliche’s out here as well.  You meet these people that tell you, ‘you need a boob job, you need a nose job, you need to lose thirty pounds, you’ll only ever be a character actress, you’ll never be a leading lady, you need to take your clothes off, then  maybe I’ll represent you…”

So hearing that stuff, how did it make you feel?

It doesn’t really stop.  I’ve got reviews where people have said that I have a ’5th Avenue Schnoz’, and she has a horse mouth and curly hair.  I try not to pay attention to it.  I’ve got nice reviews too where they say I’m really beautiful.  For me I always listen to the really shitty ones, which probably isn’t helpful for my self-esteem…laughing   But, now I’m getting better. I mean, it’s not gonna change. I’ve broken my nose twice surfing now. I’m not gonna go get my nose fixed go I can go around and tell people,” I have a deviated septum, and now I can breath so much better.”  I mean, who cares, right?

Well, instead of doing anything, I think you should just go and get your septum pierced, you know get one of those big rings… What do you think?

laughing…..right!  I think Katherine Hepburn said once, ‘take the thing you hate the most, and call the most attention to it, and from there you’ll find success,” or something like that. That’s true you know.  My cousin has two tribal discs in, to stretch your ears out. I’ll just get one of those in my nostril…laughing   I think Henry would LOVE it…laughing

Growing up, what actors or actresses do you think influenced you?

I’d say more actors.  Brando, of course.  Bogart is my favorite. I like Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart.  I don’t know what that says about me, the fact that I like more of the men, the male actors.  I like Betty Davis too.  To me, she is fantastic in her unapologetic work.  She was so big, so bold and board.  She never apologized for her choices either.   I like that.  I enjoy making those choices.  Barbara Stanwyck too.  She was such a bold comedian.  I love the studio system of the ’40s as well.

Do you have a favorite movie?

QUEEN OF THE LOT in theaters NOW from Rainbow Films….laughing….I really like THE MALTESE FALCON I guess.  What’s your favorite?

It’s been well documented how you got Henry Jaglom’s attention.  I was just curious to see if you can remember exactly what was going through your mind, when you decided to do that?

I can’t pay rent this month…laughing…you get to a point when you live out here where you just have to say “SCREW IT” I have to try everything.  The odds are so against you in getting a break out here.  On days that I wasn’t working at my day job, I would be out driving around delivering head shots to studio lots and casting directors, I was just pounding the pavement.

It was very frustrating after a couple years of doing that.  So I am very lucky I met Henry when I did. I actually sent out like eight letters to Steven Soderbergh.  Then I got tired of switching the letter up, so I just sent him the same exact letter for a year straight!  I did that for a couple other directors as well.  But the letter I sent to Henry, I actually hand delivered to his office, and the same day, he actually called me, and started asking me all these questions, which was a little un-nerving.  But I got through them.

So is your character in the Henry Jaglom film, HOLLYWOOD DREAMS you?

There are similarities of course.  But I had a friend in high school that we based the character around, cause she has just a great and funny personality.  Then I took all these horror stories that I was going through with roommates about this audition and this casting director and incorporated them into the character.  I don’t really think it’s me. There is probably some of that inside me though, I don’t know.  I really wanted the character to be like “Eve Harrington.” That sort of character.  More of a representation of that girl.   I don’t think I’m that girl though, even though I think there is a little bit of her in all us actresses.

With IRENE IN TIME did you have any issues relating to the character since you in fact have such a great relationship with your own father?

That was very different for me.  I didn’t really know what to hang onto there.  I’ve never really dealt with that type of loss, and I’ve never had any sort of parent issues.  So it was really interesting and kinda painful to see all these girls as we showed and talked about the movie, and hear all these stories form all these different women about their experiences with their own fathers.  A lot of them were negative, sadly. But it started a wonderful dialogue.  It’s so painful to hear about all these really tragic relationships that these women had with their own fathers.  So, that was kinda difficult, cause I really didn’t have anything to pull from for that character, so it was all I could do to just think about my own father, and think about just how much I love my own father, and how much I would miss him if he was gone from my life.

Also, another thing that happened was that we were writing the script around an actor named Tony Franciosa. He was gonna play my dad in the film, but he passed away right before we started to film.  So that was another thing I used for the character, cause before that,  we had started to get to know each other.  I was a big fan of his, and he’s right up there for me in terms of influential actors.

The first time you worked with Henry Jaglom are you scared shitless, cause more than likely you’d seen  the documentary about him, WHO IS HENRY JAGLOM?

I remember when I talked to him the first time on the phone, I thought he was an asshole…laughing   I think I made him mad cause he hung up on me!   I think I said something too “New Agey” or something that pissed him off.   I remember calling my mom right after, and telling her what an asshole he was, and I told her “well there goes that connection!”   We of course ended up being great friends.  And by the time, we got around to doing HOLLYWOOD DREAMS, I had actually run about eight months doing the play of Henry’s first film, A SAFE PLACE. Henry’s film, A SAFE PLACE was just made available through Criterion in the BBS Collection, which is exciting.

I was used to his rants and personality by the time we got to HOLLYWOOD DREAMS.  His screaming fits, and his whims. I had already really saw his complete color wheel, and I wasn’t afraid.  I think we kinda found our match in each other.  A lot of people freak out on his sets. I’ve lost a lot of actor friends who have worked on Henry’s movies. They always take it so seriously when he yells at them.  I’ve told them, “look, listen you guys we don’t have a huge budget, so we’ve gotta make this good, and you only have so much time to prove yourself and make your part bigger.”  When they don’t do that,  they blame me, and their part get’s smaller in the film.

As a women, why do you think some women assume that Henry Jaglom hates women?

laughing….I don’t know.  I’ve found it so interesting that some think that. That’s just not there in the work.  The most interesting part is that you either hate Henry Jaglom movies, or you completely and utterly love them.  I don’t understand it at all. I’ve been working with Henry for almost 10 years now, and I don’t understand why!   It’s really hard to say.  I’ve seen a lot written about this.  Maybe some think that Henry makes fun of women, I don’t know.  Henry makes movies about women he knows. He grew up around his mother and her friends, and that’s what they did.  They sat around and talked. He lived in that world growing up.  It’s what he knows. I think he’s really making films about that world.

It’s the reason why we make art, isn’t it?  We create things about what we love, or topics that intrigue or fascinate us.   When he was really young like seen or eight years old, he grew up around a group of women.  Certain women shouldn’t fault him for that.  He loves women. He’s a great listener, a great problem solver, a great shoulder to cry on.   So for some women who are more independent, maybe their pissed, maybe they think Henry should be out making a movie about women soldiers in the war in the middle east or something.   Clint Eastwood makes movies with women in them that are very emotionally closed off.  Why doesn’t he receive such attention for that?

Back to QUEEN OF THE LOT.  How much fun was it for you to do your B movie action sequences for the film?

laughing…I had to fight to get those in!   I’m actually a black belt in Taekwondo. My dream is to be in an all out action film.  I wanna just train for like 10 hours a day for an all out action movie.  I hired a camera guy who shoots music videos to go in and film my instructor and I doing some fight sequences that we made up.  They are so funny.  Most of the stuff got cut out.  I showed Henry the footage about three quarters of the way through filming.  And he loved it.  I knew I had to shoot it first on my own cause if I had just approached him with the idea I knew he wouldn’t have gone for it.   That was so much fun, are you kidding me?  I loved the gold lame and fish net stockings…laughing

I love it too. I really think Henry should destroy the world, and make his next film, an urban action  martial arts movie. People’s minds would be blown away!  Don’t you think Roger Ebert would just keel over and die?

laughing….oh my god YES!!!… l love it….laughing  You’ve gotta approach Henry about this…laughing….It would be so cool…laughing…awesome

You’re under contract with Henry Jaglom.  As an actress do you think this could possible slow your progression?

No not at all. I think I am very very lucky.  It’s gotta be the only contract like it in Hollywood. It’s more for show and stability.   First of all, I’m under contract, so that means that I don’t have to worry about work, which is great.   Secondly, Henry works very hard to get me into other films. He wants me to do quality work.  He tries to get me good worthwhile work. He’s my acting manager. He oversees everything for me.  I am so thankful for that, cause I think if it wasn’t for Henry I could’ve made some dumb decisions already.  Henry doesn’t allow me to devalue myself.    It’s very easy to revert back to a certain way of thinking out here. Like the way I felt and thought years ago before I met Henry.  He is my guardian angel.  It’s great.  It’s nice. It’s kinda of weird too, but I like that about it too..

Do you think you can give me a Henry Jaglom impression?

Sure. [In Henry Jaglom voice] Ok, now in this next scene I want you to go in there and talk about how she rejected you. Jesus Fucking Christ, how come that…what is that light doing  over there Rosemary? For fucks sake, it’s almost dark!  Ok..Now, I want you to go in there and talk about how happy you are that she rejected you…But Henry, you just told me….What the fuck are you taking about, that’s not what I told you…what the fuck are you talking about?  I can’t work with this…Ok, just go in there…just go…Ready…Roll!..Action…Go ahead….YOU CAN’T JUST SIT THERE WHEN I CALL ACTION…you have to say something you can’t just sit there….I’m really upset…FUCKING GREAT. That was FUCKING GREAT…CUT…That was fucking genius, that was great, you’re fucking brilliant…I’m using you tomorrow!

To read more about Henry Jaglom please visit his official site – here.   To find out where you can see QUEEN OF THE LOT please visit the film’s official website – here.