That sentiment sits at the heart of “Pretty Babies,” Tyler-Marie Evans‘ feature debut, which world premieres Friday in competition at the Edinburgh Intl. The project attracted Jordan Wagner from Wagner Entertainment and also independent film icon Christine Vachon‘s Killer Films, who alongside star Ashley Benson took on producer roles. It follows Marie and Luna, played by Emily Alyn Lind and Sadie Stanley as best friends who set off to chase a dream and escape their trauma only to take paths into sex work and oblivion.
Are you bad?'” For the director, those questions arrive long before women are able to answer them themselves. Sexuality and identity become intertwined, while the complexity of a person is reduced to categories that culture, including cinema, repeats. Marie and Luna’s world expands with the arrival of Sapphire (Ashley Benson) and Gemma (Madelaine Petsch), whose relationship mirrors many of the same tensions.
Before writing the film, Evans interviewed women involved in sex work and found herself drawn to relationships that swerve simple moral definitions. Luna repeatedly hurts Marie, yet remains someone she loves and often needs. There is a mirroring in the relationship of Sapphire and Gemma whereby Sapphire seems to have a hold over Gemma while also having a strong bond.
I wanted to show the darkness and the complexity.” Luna herself was partly inspired by Edie Sedgwick. Evans became fascinated by Andy Warhol’s descriptions of Sedgwick refusing to wash, choosing instead to repeatedly apply makeup. Evans grew up in a deeply religious household where films produced after the sixties were forbidden.
Instead, she spent her teenage years discovering Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock and the women of Hollywood’s studio era. For the director, Scarlett O’Hara’s determination became an early model of female strength. They are forces to be reckoned with.” Growing up without what she felt was a strong cultural inheritance, classic Hollywood became one.
This is my American mythos.” That fascination runs throughout the story. Classical cinema is a dream world for Marie and Luna to imagine themselves into. She describes herself as “deeply impressionistic” rather than realist.“Cinema has to be hope,” she said.
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