Maria Olsen: The Actress/Producer Talks About "Folklore" & Shares Her Horror Influences

Maria Olsen is an actress you may have seen over the last couple of years if you're a fan of the horror genre. She's appeared in quite the handful of films over a relatively short period of time ranging from little indie films to some big budget studio pictures.

One of Olsen's newer films is Folklore, which you may recall as a film we've talked about quite a bit here at DotM. In the last few weeks we've had interviews with that film's writer/director Justin Calen Chenn and one of the film's stars Sherill Turner. Folklore can seen at the upcoming Phoenix Film Festival.

I was fortunate enough to catch up with Olsen to ask her about acting, producing, and some of her influences...


Christopher Coffel: How did you get involved with Folklore?

Maria Olsen: Before Folklore, I had worked with Justin on two previous short films, The Reve and A Song for Swan, which were later combined with the short film Since to become the scifi feature anthology Embers of the Sky.  Given Justin's talent and professionalism, he's the kind of filmmaker actors want to work with again and again, so, when he told me he was developing Folklore and he wanted me for a role in it, I offered to do anything I could to help get the project off the ground.  Before I knew it, I was Associate Producer on Folklore, and the rest is history =)

CC: What can you tell us about your character from Folklore?

Maria Olsen in Folklore

MO: I play Eatha Haemm, a unicorn from Whinney, Texas.  Everyone who knows anything about unicorns knows that us were-corns take our animal forms once a month when the sun's at its hottest and highest.  We also eat random plants; especially ones in nice pots inside office buildings (although they are a little tough sometimes...)

CC: Aside from acting, you also produce some, including with Folklore, is there a different mindset between acting and producing? Do you plan to do more producing in the future?

MO: Yes, there is a major difference in mindset between acting and producing as, where acting is creative, producing is administrative.  I can do both - although, overall, I do prefer the creative - but I can't do both at the same time.  I was primary producer on my recent feature shoot for Brandon Scullion's LIVE IN FEAR, and I had a major supporting role in the movie, and I kept on having to swap my producer's hat for my actor's hat.  I most definitely intend to do more producing in the future, and my upcoming projects, where I will be both acting and producing, include Randal Kamradt's FARAWAY, Mike McLarty's SOUTHBOUND and Eric Kochmer's WAY DOWN IN CHINATOWN.

CC: You've got a lot of work under your belt, both with independet projects like Folklore, as well as with some bigger budget films. Do you have a preferance?

MO: Actually, both indie and studio films have their plus sides.  With indie films, there is a greater sense of teamwork and "family" as you can actually get to know everyone on set, and making the film then becomes a team effort.  With studio films, the projects are so big there's never an opportunity for a person to get to know everyone else, but it sure is wonderful to be able to spare no expense in making exactly the film the writer and director visualized.

CC: You've worked a lot in the horror and sci-fi genre. Who are some of your biggest influences within those genres?

Frank Langella as Dracula

MO: In the horror world, the earliest influences that I can remember include both feature films and books.  As far as feature films go, the most influential include THE HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORROR, THE EXORCIST and DRACULA (the version with Frank Langella).  For books, I love all things Bram Stoker, especially Dracula, as well as all things Stephen King.  My scifi influences include ALIEN, SPACE 1999 (Martin Landau and Barbara Bain - yay!!!!!) and the original CLASH OF THE TITANS (or is that considered more fantasy? Whatever, it's an AWESOME movie!).

CC: Any new projects you're currently working on that you'd like to share with us?

MO: I've just finished shooting both Brandon Scullion's LIVE IN FEAR and The Asylum's THE HAUNTING OF WHALEY HOUSE.  Both films should be out later this year, as should Carl Lindbergh's BUNNYMAN 2, Claudia Damasceno's FEED ME and Jason Bognacki's ANOTHER.  Presently, I'm prepping to shoot Eric Kochmer's WAY DOWN IN CHINATOWN as well as Bert Havird's REUNION.  All of these are horror movies, by the way, which shows that FOLKLORE - a comedy where I've been told I'm funny lol - was a definite step out of the ordinary for me.  I'm also working on another project with Justin, which should be totally awesome, and I'm also developing many other projects through my production liaison company, MOnsterworks66.  All in all, I think I'm in for a busy time =)

You can catch Maria Olsen in Folklore at this year's Phoenix Film Festival. For tickets and showtimes please visit the official Phoenix Film Festival website. For more information on Folklore please visit Folklore-film.com