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For these reasons, as Sandoval puts it,Lingua Francafeels like my first film.
Knowing that I was trans, and these men were not aware that I was trans.
It definitely achieves that.
Can you talk a bit more about how the script shifted after Trump was elected?
Then it became more political after the election.
So it became more of an intersectional drama and narrative, so to speak.
Were you always writing it with yourself in mind as the lead?I believe so.
You know, yeah.
And my first to be set and produced in the U.S.
So I really wanted to ensure that the movie was told exactly how I wanted it to be told.
I didnt really think of those multiple roles that I took on as separate roles, necessarily.
So it just felt right to me, to inhabit the role.
Because I felt I was really channeling my headspace and my mood into the character of Olivia.
There are a lot of obvious parallels between the two of you.
Some of whom are caregivers, and transgender women.
And people that they know.
Especially developing the film.
It was supposed to be $1.5 million; I pushed to get it to under $500,000.
On set, it was a little tense.
So when things become tense Im not the bang out to yell or throw my weight around.
I do internalize everything.
So at the end of the day, I feel really drained and wiped out.
But having made the film, and now that its coming out, I feel vindicated.
Kind of just to prove a point.
I felt the pressure of proving to people that I was capable.
I was like, Lets shoot the sex scene the first day!
But I still felt, I dont know, violated somewhat.
But I kind of just used that feeling to fuel my performance for the rest of the shoot.
After the fourth or fifth day, I felt closer and back to normal again.
How exactly did you feel violated?I felt like I was exposing myself.
But you dont go there.
That kind of violence is in fact more insidious because its not obvious; its invisible to the eye.
Hes leveraging the fact that hes a citizen, and that hes a man, to emotionally terrorize Olivia.
Hes gaslighting her about looking after her.
And bring her back.
But its too late.
I know Eamon played a villain in that role.
But I think he has a really fascinating face, as a character actor.
I didnt want to just cast some, you know, regular, bland, pretty boy.
I wanted an actor who could convey both vulnerability and a sense of erotic danger.
I think theres an element of volatility with Eamon where you dont know what hes gonna do next.
But then theres actually more shading and layer to his character, and also to Olivia.
The film has been described asmysterious.There is a certain degree of remove, things left to the imagination.
Did you cultivate that sense of mystery on purpose?Yeah!
In the climactic scene, Olivia makes a decision, turning down Alex, that seems counterintuitive and impractical.
Although her future as an immigrant remains uncertain.
I mean, Im a Filipinia transgender immigrant, but those things do not encapsulate my experience.
Just like a movie by Ari Aster or Robert Eggers is not marketed as a cisgender white male movie.
What does that term mean for you?Yeah!
]I feel like its kind of become controversial or provocative for me to say that.
Its all right with me if not everyone likes it, or if they hate it.
Youve talked about how you didnt go to film school and were self-taught.
I think hes justtheclassical filmmaker working in contemporary American cinema.
Also, Wong Kar-wai,In the Mood for Love.
And Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the prolific queer German auteur from the 70s.
EspeciallyAli: Fear Eats The Soul,an interracial love story between a German woman and an Algerian immigrant.
But Lynn was actually the very first cast member that we attached to the project.
We made the offer; she read the script and loved it.
We became friends, for sure.
I think she added gravitas to the film.
Youre already working on your fourth film, which you have described as your most ambitious.
What can you tell me about it?Its calledTropical Gothic.Its a colonial drama, with surreal elements.
Its about the haunting of a Spanish conquistador by a native priestess in the Philippines around 1570.
I like to call it a vampire film without vampires.
And its kind of my own riff on HitchcocksVertigo,which I thought was very male-gaze-y.
I really wanted to turn that male gaze on its head.
