A conversation with Christin Muuli about her role in “Color Blues”.
Ever since Christin Muuli’s one-liner-role a decade ago playing an old-fashioned town girl in a local play, the Estonian raised Los
Angeles based actress has enjoyed challenging both herself and the audience. But it’s her role in David Hebrero’s film “Color Blues” that brought her the recognition as a successful actress and opened up the doors for opportunities.
The film was greeted with cheers when it first premiered at the red carpet IndieNight Film Festival as it hit a sensitive cultural spot – racism. The director David Hebrero has said the reasoning for wanting to make this film came from his burning need to speak out. “This film was made to draw a comparing parallel between the 50s and now, ridiculing the very idea of racism. Everything in this story is cute and subtle yet deeply moving and scything”, says Christin.
As we know the film twirls around the idea of racism. What stance did you take on when you took on the role of (white) Karen?
“I fell in love with the idea that I’m now responsible for representing a part of the history (not the best kind but) – a naïve Caucasian white person who had all the privileges when it came to skin color.” As she shakes her head, “The very thought of it makes me clench my fists. It’s so stupid.”
“Color Blues” has been nominated and or won over 15 awards worldwide including Cannes Film Festival. What do you think of that?
“It’s always a thrill to hear and see that people identified themselves with the story. When you hear them talking about it and spreading the message, that’s when you know that your job was well done. And I’m not talking about the acting itself. Because filmmaking is a team job. In other words, I’m beyond proud of the cast and crew. David managed to poetically bring to life something that is so aggressive underneath.”
How important is it for you to challenge yourself even further with every film that you do?
“Truth be told, immensely important. Luckily what I do is what I love, but at the end of the day, what I do will end up on the screen. So anything and everything I put into a role can potentially make or break the success of delivering the story. It has to be compelling and moving to watch. I try to find material which is a story never been shown. It’s tough, because everyone’s on it, so my job on daily basis is keep working on my craft, like a runner exercising for marathons. It takes some serious work and dedication, networking goes without saying, not to mention patience to build a thick skin in order to push through the vast amount of people competing for the same prize. For me it’s been a row of years without stopping, doing all of the above and beyond. But a challenge is what I’m after. Always.”
