Guiding our fluid conversation was the subject of their newly released film, Queen of the Lot, and the film’s themes of romance, the complex nature of actors, and their insatiable appetites for fame, affirmation, attention, and power.
Tanna Frederick plays Maggie Chase, action heroine. After her second DUI, Maggie dodges the paparazzi by fleeing to her manager’s house (Zack Norman). There she invites her bad-boy movie star boyfriend, Dov (Christopher Rydell), to join her and the entourage (Ron Vignone, Diane Salinger) before getting involved with his attentive and caring brother, writer Aaron Lambert (Noah Wyle), and the whole Lambert Hollywood power family (patriarch, Jack Heller).
Queen of the Lot is a laugh-out-loud Hollywood satire, and a sequel to Hollywood Dreams. Like Henry’s other films (Last Summer in the Hamptons, Festival in Cannes, and Venice/Venice), all explore the precarious relationship between the inner and outer life of performers, and the dubious intersection between “real life” and “the movies.”
The subjects of creativity and show biz are certainly matters about which Henry Jaglom can claim expertise, as he has worked as an actor, writer, editor, and director. And after decades in the business, the pioneering indie filmmaker has known and worked with legends—including Orson Wells, Jack Nicholson, Greta Scacchi, Dennis Hopper, and Vanessa Redgrave.
I met Tanna and Henry at their usual haunt in Santa Monica, joined by Ron Vignone, the film’s award-winning editor, who also plays Gio in Queen of the Lot.
We discussed the genesis of expression, Talmud intonation, and the paradoxical nature of some actors who feel most themselves or authentic when playing another character, and whether this is, therefore, their true authentic nature (very Talmudic).
Tanna, revealing a tender vulnerability, explained that she identified with her character Maggie, who says, “It’s not the Hollywood hype that scares me, it’s being in the kitchen and eating dinner that scares me. It’s the little things.”
The moments of her life that she recalls most vividly are the ones in which she is performing, reflects Tanna. The times she spent by herself she describes as feeling naked.
