Heather Graham, Mimi Rogers, & What Happened to Doris? Director Talk True Story | Interview
What Happened to Doris? director Nick Simon and stars Heather Graham and Mimi Rogers spoke with ComingSoon about its Fantastic Fest world premiere over the weekend. The trio discussed the film’s true story, their characters, and more. It will screen again on Wednesday, September 23 p.m. CT at Theaters 1, 2, 3, and 5.
“In 1974, single mother Doris Bither reported being violently assaulted by an unseen force inside her Culver City home. As the attacks escalated, investigators from UCLA documented a series of terrifying events that would become one of the most infamous paranormal cases in American history. Based on the true story that inspired The Entity, What Happened to Doris? tells the story through the eyes of the family who lived it. Starring Heather Graham, What Happened to Doris? is a harrowing supernatural horror film about an unimaginable haunting—and the devastating cost of refusing to believe its victim,” says the official synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Nick, I wanted to ask you what it means for you to have the world premiere be at Fantastic Fest. That’s such a real celebration of genre and horror, so you’re really reaching your exact audience here.
Nick Simon: It’s the best place to premiere this movie, honestly. I was telling Heather and Mimi, it’s also terrifying because it’s such a great audience, but it’s also an audience that loves these movies, so you’re also like, “God, I hope they like it.” It’s nerve-wracking, but to be able to world premiere here is a dream come true, again, because it’s such a well-curated festival, and it feels like you have something special that they even picked you to be in it.
Heather, there’s so much documentation on the original case, and a lot of theories abound. Are you the type to dive into all the details for a role like this that is inspired by true events, or do you like to just focus on the script, since obviously there’s going to be lots of differences?
Heather Graham: Well, I like to do both. I mean, when you have a real-life story, of course I want to research everything that I can research. Nick recommended this Morbid podcast.
I tried to talk to Brian and got a lot of details from the writer, Thomas, who’s really good friends with Brian, who is Doris’ son. I tried to get every juicy detail about her that I could. Of course, I went online and looked at all the photos, the photo of her with the light over her head in that semicircle, and I just look for anything I can find online.
Mimi, the first time we see your character, you have this very key scene where you come to the defense of Doris when her claims are kind of dismissed by the male researchers. In the real-life case, a lot of elements were underexplored, especially with regard to the sexual assault she experienced because of that. So can you speak to that key scene in putting the spotlight on how women are often not believed, even by the people that are supposed to be helping them?
Mimi Rogers: Yeah, it’s an interesting moment because in 1974, as Nick’s pointed out, it was kind of rare for a woman to be the head of a department at a university. In terms of the scientific approach, if you’re a doctor of science, everything is specific, everything is details. So the fact that these two guys who worked for me neglected to even mention or put into the report sexual assault, I think you can pretty much tell in the scene that I’m incredibly annoyed about that.
And it’s sort of like, yeah, of course you don’t mention that, the misogyny that goes into that statement. So I think for Doris, it was an incredibly key and important element that there was a woman who was going to come in and help her, and a woman who understood her point of view from being a woman.
It’s interesting in that the real doctor did publish about this incident, and it created a huge controversy, and it ultimately led to the dismantling of the parapsychology department. So this concept of women not being believed sort of runs through the entire story.
Nick Simon: And there’s one line also that you have in that scene that you’re talking about, and I know exactly what you’re talking about. The line is, “Oh, that’s the part you don’t believe.” And you nailed that with precision. Because they talk about all this rubbish, and you’re like, “Oh, you didn’t write that.” I’m just playing that.
Mimi Rogers: Sexual assault? Oh, that you don’t believe.
Nick, I was looking into this case. It was so interesting that some of the real documented moments are recreated in this film, like the frying pan flying across the kitchen. How was it finding that right balance of adding in your own scares while also depicting these reported events?
Nick Simon: You know, it was interesting because adding my own scares, I didn’t add a lot of my own scares to it because there were so many well-documented, you know, with talking to her son and what you can find out just doing research on it, you can use so much that was actually there.
And the other fascinating thing about that is so much of this real case was used, because it’s so well-documented, in all these other films. From the UCLA department to Ghostbusters to Poltergeist and Insidious and any of these ghost movies have taken things from this real story.
So I do feel like we hopefully—there’s a couple things we added—but most of the time we would just live in the horror that she was going through. Sounds like reality. Yeah, we try to make it as, you know, PTSD, and those are the real moments that I feel like really resonate.
Heather, one aspect that really impressed me about the film was you have three kids in the movie, and you managed to have very different relationships with each of the kids. Ricky, the oldest, is obviously a bit more tricky to navigate. How was it working with them and making sure the family relationships felt lived in?
Heather Graham: Well, luckily Nick did a great job casting it. I also, as an actor, I prepare. I create a whole backstory. I worked with this acting coach, her name is Warner Loughlin, so I created all these seminal memories with each kid and imagined all of our little childhood—every moment, like not every moment, but just the most important moments of their lives growing up.
And then luckily, just the actors are so good. You create, you start to have a relationship with that actual actor as well that contributes to it.
Mimi, your character is brought in since she can see the supernatural. You have this great line, you’re like, “Doris, I’m the ass-kicker.” What do you like most about getting to show this kind of badass side of yourself in a film like this? It’s pretty fun.
Mimi Rogers: Oh, yeah, it was a lot of fun. And look, I’m fortunate to be in a position where I can be cast and play a strong, intelligent character. And particularly in something—I really like horror films that are based in an emotional and psychological and philosophical story. So that element of what Dr. Ross could bring into it really, really appealed to me. And honestly, we had a great time making the film.
Heather Graham: Actually, making horror, we did have a lot of fun. And I feel like horror fans sometimes are the nicest fans.
Mimi Rogers: Right. Oh, they’re the best. They’re the best.
Nick, I always hear about spooky things happening during supernatural movie shoots. Did anything weird happen while shooting Doris?
Nick Simon: No. I agree. I was waiting for something to happen, and nothing really ever happened. But, thank God, we only had 16 days to shoot the movie. So if we had any more obstacles than we already had, I would have really hated it. And the whole thing would have collapsed.
Heather, in addition to what happened with Doris, you’ve done some really cool work in horror recently with Suitable Flesh and They Will Kill You. You’ve got The Young People and Carrie coming up. What are you finding most fulfilling about really working within this genre, especially when it can be so wildly different project to project?
Heather Graham: Yeah, I mean, I think that the horror genre tends to write for women sometimes more than some of the other genres. And so I really appreciate that. And just, it’s really great storytelling. And I don’t know, I just got lucky to work with some really good people recently.
Nick Simon: I’ve seen The Young People, and Heather is f—ing great in The Young People.
Heather Graham: Well, I say he got me that job because he’s friends with Osgood Perkins. So he recommended me and basically got me the job.
Nick Simon: Well, Osgood asked for you. He asked for you. I showed him my trailer. He’s like, “She’s going to do this part.” I go, “I can call her for you.” He’s like, “Would you?” I’m like, “Yeah.” No, it’s all us.
Mimi, I hear a lot about the idea of a succubus in a lot of films and stuff. This film has an incubus, which is like the male counterpart. I actually had no clue that was a thing. I knew the rock band, but I didn’t really know the folklore aspect of that. You get to give a lot of lore in this film. And looking into it, there’s thousands of years and all this art and stories about incubi. What did you find most intriguing about that creature and its incorporation into the movie?
Mimi Rogers: Well, it’s interesting that you bring that up because Tom, the screenwriter, and Nick were very collaborative and sort of let me work within the scenes. And I had done a lot of research, and I had actually pitched to them that in that scene in the kitchen, I wanted to explain to Doris the incubus and what it was and historically what it meant. And I think that was just sort of a really fun element to bring in.
And to me, it was also a way of demonstrating her knowledge and her understanding of the history. It is what the movie is all about because the history of it is an incubus. You can’t explain it.
So it explains to Doris, but it also explains to the audience, like, this is an actual historical concept. And the whole idea of him, the incubus, trying to find a way to exist on a physical plane, which makes the very end of the film really sort of sad and chilling.
When Doris suddenly lets [unclear] in then. But you don’t want to give away the ending. But yeah, that was a great moment of collaboration, right?
Nick Simon: Yeah, no, absolutely. Because you asked me, “Do you care if I change some things?” All I want as a director is to have an honest performance.
So I always say the script is a map. And if you’re coming up with things that are better than what we have, I’m 100% backing it. Because again, it’s a collaboration.
And in order for a film like this to work, everybody has to really give 100% of themselves into it. From the art department to the performances to the music to the editing. Everything came together, I think, so well.
And so, yeah, if you have better ideas, then absolutely bring it every time.
Heather, you mentioned The Young People. A lot of that film is a mystery, but what really stood out about working with Osgood for you?
Heather Graham: You know, his visual style is pretty gorgeous. A lot of his shots, they just look like paintings or beautiful photographs. The script is really unusual.
And I actually haven’t seen it, but Nick’s seen it. Nick says it’s his best movie.
Nick Simon: I loved it. I think it’s his best movie.
Thanks to Nick Simon, Heather Graham, and Mimi Rogers for taking the time to talk about What Happened to Doris?
Source: Comingsoon.net