An Interview With Kitty Mammas Director Dennis Alexander Nicholson
We recently had the chance to sit down and talk to Dennis Alexander Nicholson about his debut feature film Kitty Mammas. We had a great time talking about comedy, filming in clinics and of course kittens.
Hi Dennis, thanks for chatting to us.
What inspired you to make a movie about 4 women who give birth to cats?
The initial idea popped into my head during a conversation with a fellow filmmaker friend of mine, I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if there was a movie about women giving birth to cats?’ and he laughed. The next day I started writing the outline that would become Kitty Mammas. My girlfriend Haille and I always talk about our two cats as though they’re our children, and I think that manifested in a light-bulb moment of inspiration. Why I made it 4 women, was because of Sex & The City. I loved the show growing up, watching re-runs on TBS. The idea of 4 women with totally different personalities and life circumstances was something I knew would work perfectly for the clinic trial setting. While we didn’t actually model ‘Sylvia,’ ‘Rose,’ ‘Joan’ and ‘Maria’ after ‘Carrie’ and the gang, we wanted to give each of our actors room to create a distinct role and for that to be part of what makes them so fun to watch as a group.
Why did you choose the mockumentary format?
With the basic story-arc in place, Katrina and I both agreed that a mockumentary format would give us the best chance to deep-dive into these characters’ stories. The inherently absurd nature of the movie is enhanced by the ‘realness’ of a mockumentary, and allows us to ‘buy’ the story’s scenario very quickly. It also made sense from a production standpoint. I knew that even if I didn’t have the production resources to make it look like a Hollywood movie I could lean into that rough aesthetic and make it work as a faux-documentary. That said we ended up being able to pull off a really beautiful look for the film that balances the best of both mockumentary and more traditional cinema.
That mockumentary style certainly works well for the this.
This film is drawing a lot of comparisons to ‘Best in Show’, but I heard you’ve never seen the film. Is that true?
This is true. Originally, when I knew we were going to camera for Kitty Mammas I had made a list of mockumentaries to re-watch (or watch for the first time) as inspiration. ‘Best in Show’ was top of that list for obvious reasons, but after watching the trailer to many of the movies I realized the format is so open that I could really do whatever my heart desires. I had my path mapped out, and didn’t want to research the genre before production. I think that was a good decision, all of my film influences are baked into my inherent choices and preferences, and I believe Kitty Mammas can sit comfortably alongside other great mockumentaries like ‘Best in Show’.
And we do too!
How did Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, star of Kim’s Convenience, join the cast?
Paul and I met day one of Kim’s Convenience during Season 1 in 2016 where I was the Boom Operator. I wore a Star Wars shirt that first day and he really liked it, (he’s the biggest Star Wars fan in existence). We hit it off instantly and also realized a common connection through actor André Sills who was in the original stage play of Kim’s with Paul and was also in two of my short films. During that season, I came up with the concept that would eventually become Kitty Mammas and I knew that Paul was the perfect person to play the doctor in that story. On camera audiences were getting to see ‘Appa,’ but off camera I got to know Paul as an incredible kind, funny, dedicated and talented artist. From outline to final script it was also a role I wanted for Paul. I showed him the outline over lunch after we wrapped Season 1 and he really enjoyed it, telling me to let him know when I was making it. 3 years later, I sent him the script and he jumped onboard.
Come to think of it, a lot of the cast have been involved in Kim’s Convenience, is that where you met a lot of the cast?
In addition to Paul, the other KM cast I met during my time on Kim’s were Morgan Kohan, Ben Beauchemin, Christina Song, Sugith Varughese, and Ellora Patnaik. Janet Porter was also on the show but I knew her going back to 2012 making my first short films in the filmmaker’s co-operative ‘The Blue Flame Collective’. Kim’s Convenience has so many talented and wonderful people, as I went through the script for KM and imagined who would work for what roles, many of the people from Kim’s popped into my head.
It good to be surrounded with so many talented people.
Kitty Mammas is really an ensemble film; how difficult was the casting process?
Casting was a lot of fun. Katrina’s script gave every single character a unique voice, personality, and purpose, so it was easy to both imagine many different actors in the roles and easy to attract an actor to embody that character. Together with my producers we assembled all the best actors we personally knew and had worked with. Though we had a few last minute shuffles close to production, most notably Janet Porter was originally going to play ‘Theresa’; but when our original ‘Sylvia’ dropped out, Janet called and left me a voicemail saying she wanted to play ‘Sylvia’ all along and (lovingly) demanded the part. She crushed that role and I couldn’t imagine the movie with anyone else. I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of talented actors and a great script made it easy for people to say yes.
So Janet got her part after all!
We’ve heard that the clinic was not the biggest location to shoot in, any funny stories?
Paul will be the first one to say, the clinic we got was so tiny you couldn’t even move. Everywhere that wasn’t on camera for that particular shot was full of people or equipment, or both. I personally loved it, we filmed there for 6 days and it started to feel like working at a very tiny movie studio. The owners were really lovely people and the real feeling to the clinic was perfect for the film. In the building we had both bad neighbours (those complaining about a few chairs in the hallway just outside our clinic’s door) and great neighbours (another clinic loaned a reflex hammer when we were in a pinch). The colour of the walls was a big influence on the overall colour palate of the film, and probably its small size made the kooky cast of characters, maybe a little kookier from the lack of oxygen.
Morgan Kohan plays Rose in the film and is a self-professed crazy cat lady. How much do you share with her character?
I think everyone who loves cats can relate to Rose. Rose is basically the cat lover side of Katrina and myself turned up to 11. My cats are my children, and my whole family is full of cats. In addition to her being cat crazy, she is also a strong believer in the rights of women and a passionate and supportive friend, both of which I strongly related to. Katrina wrote a multifaceted character in addition to her Cat-Craziness and Morgan was born to play that character.
You have a cat in this film, right?
I do, my older cat Lyra played Helen’s cat Jinxy in the film. The scene only called for a cat to be picked up, snuggled, and then released (á la Tiny Toon’s Elmyra) and I knew Lyra would be co-operative enough to do that. Her face is so insanely cute I knew that she could make a big impact on the audience with only a few seconds of screen time. Later during post production I opened a can of tuna and recorded all of her cute little tiny meows that she does, and edited them to support the emotions of her performance. I’m a proud stage-dad.
Well you should be proud of Lyra, we think she has a bright future ahead of her in front of the camera!
What draws you to comedy films?
I’m a very happy and enthusiastic person and I think that is the natural nature of the stories I want to tell and bring into the world. I don’t love that movies and TV shows get sorted into ‘drama’ and ‘comedy’ categories, sometimes dramas have incredible comedy and comedies have some gut wrenching drama. To that, I always set out to tell the best story, and focus on a scene or moment feeling true. Sometimes that’s hilarious, sometimes it’s heartwarming. I’m not thinking about the laugh per-se, I’m just thinking about what’s right for the film.
And were those kittens as adorable on-set as they were in the movie?
They were probably cuter, you can’t feel how fluffy and soft they are when you’re watching the movie. We had the kittens for 6 hours and knew that we had a crap-load of scenes to film during that time. The ending with all the cast and kittens together was done in a very, very short time after we had filmed all the birthing scenes in a single afternoon, I thank my team for accomplishing that.
That’s great! Well thank you for taking the time to sit down and talk to us Dennis and good luck with Kitty Mammas.
