If you fancy watching a film that's a bit different (superheroes and manic pixie dream girls can only go so far sometimes), then you can’t go far wrong with Blood Moon, the new indie film that (bear with us) is half Western, half werewolves and, a lot of fun. Oh yes. And it was filmed in Kent. Obviously.
The film is about a group of travellers who are held up by stagecoach robbers. Things don’t go quite to the outlaws’ plans though when, on the advent of a blood moon (one of them again), mythical beasts become rather a large problem.
One of the things that made us sit up and take notice of the film (other than the werewolves, obvs) is the female characterization. Despite being a Western, the cast is equally weighted in terms of gender and, despite being a horror, the female actresses aren’t spending their time running around screaming. These women can handle themselves.
‘I find a lot of female characters are quite singular in their personality and you’ve got to try and make them more dynamic.’ Says one of the stars of the film Amber Jean Rowan when we asked her about other roles she’s auditioned for in the past. In Blood Moon though, the producer Fiona Graham and producer/director Jeremy Wooding were keen for this not to be the case. Something that’s evident in how much the female actresses in the film loved their characters, ‘I love that she’s completely fearless when comes to men. She puts these big gun toting men put their place!’ Says Anna Skellern who played Marie, a saloon owner.
When the film was first being created, the script featured two more men and two less women, something that was changed to create a more even gender representation. ‘That was something that drew me to the script,’ says Anna. A point that that Amber agrees with, ‘A lot of films these days are 10-2 in terms of men to women and mostly it’s a male character that leads us through.’
Because in terms of audition processes, female actresses often still find that while male roles come with pages of character development, female roles don't. ‘A lot of the time your female character is ‘Girl In Leotard’ or ‘Girl Gets Boobs Out’. So if you see that in the script you’re automatically a little bit wary.' Says Amber. 'If she (your character) is exposing herself for no apparent reason, just for the glorification of showing a bum cheek or showing a breast, me and my agent steer away from anything like that.'
'Yes it's a male dominated industry that's a reflection of society really,' Says Anna. 'It’s something that needs to be worked on from every angle. Films are on average 30% female characters and when they have equal women to men it's often called a chick flick!'
So what can be done to help get better representation of female roles in the film industry? ‘We need more female producers, writers and directors; the people who are orchestrating things need to be women.' Says Anna. 'We write about what we know.’
Amber agrees. ‘I think that would definitely help. A lot of films are targeted to hit one demographic; young men. So obviously that means fast cars and hot women. Back in the days of Marylin Monroe, Audrey Hepburn… because back then writing was as a more feminine thing to do there was loads of strong female roles.'
Here's hoping that films with the ethos of Blood Moon become the norm.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.