After teaming up with twin sisters Ani and Alesandra Mesa on her short film Superior in 2015, Erin Vassilopoulos returns to the Sundance Film Festival with her feature directorial debut with an expansion of that same narrative world. Superior (2021) brings the trio of collaborators back together in a refreshingly nostalgic form of filmmaking, that leans on its 1980s time period, while also injecting a modern flare of stylistic choices. Vassilopoulos spoke with Film Inquiry about the film during its premiere at the 2021 edition of the Sundance Film Festival.
Wilson Kwong for Film Inquiry: Superior is essentially a sequel to your short film from 2015. I see a lot of people adapting their shorts into feature films, but not necessarily expanding on them on a continuing narrative level. Why did you decide to make that creative choice?
Erin Vassilopoulos: I think part of it was logistical. A few years had passed since we made the short together, and when I say we, I mean Ani and Alessandra Mesa, who play the leads in the short film and the feature. During that process, we became close and we had such a good experience making the short together. But I didn’t immediately think of expanding the short into a feature or creating some sort of sequel, partially because I was in school at the time and I made a couple of other shorts after Superior (the short film version), and was also working on another feature script.
But over time, we all kept in touch and we loved that world of the short. Alessandra and I got together and started talking about the possibility of making something longer, inspired by the short. And also because they were older at that point, Ani and Alessandra, we naturally started talking about a jump in time. And so the feature is more like a continuation of that world, and the story of those characters. It evolved organically just through our relationships and the passage of time.
The casting of Ani and Alessandra, and collaborating with them must’ve been such a unique experience. How was the character development process for them, given that they already had such a strong personal relationship with each other beforehand?
Erin Vassilopoulos: I think because the characters were partially inspired by the short film and that already had this heightened other-worldly parallel universe feeling. We knew we were going to be working in a world that was not quite real and not quite true to their relationship. But at the same time, because they are twins and have this unique relationship, a lot of that did end up in the script. In terms of an actual story, there is one story in the movie that comes directly from them. The ‘bump on the head’ story that they talk about and not remembering who was hurt when they were a kid, that came directly from them.
And in terms of getting a performance out of them, did you find it was in some ways harder because they were sisters and had known each other for so long? Or do you think that made it easier to bring out the type of relationship and performance you wanted out of them?
Erin Vassilopoulos: I think definitely easier. Because they are sisters and on some level, I think they’ve experienced a lot of similar emotions and questions that are inherent to the story; questions of identity and family, and wanting to be independent, but also close at the same time. When you look identical to someone, that just adds a layer of complexity to it. So I think all of that helped the performances, and actually having written and developed a story together, and also having worked together on the short, we really had a lot of backstory together.
The mix of genres in Superior is also very interesting, and I wondered if this was always part of the plan, or something that came about as you started developing the film.
Erin Vassilopoulos: I mean the short had that a little bit already, and early on, I knew the feature would be a jumping-off point for the sisters and their story, and knowing that the one true line of the movie would be the drama of them mending their relationship. The other jumping-off point is that I knew I wanted the movie to feel like a hybrid between a drama and a thriller. I love the thriller genre and I was really excited about the idea of this woman on the run coming home to hideout, and the mystery and suspense of that. So we knew when we started writing that we were going to have these two narrative threads and we’re going to weave them together and see where we end up.
One of my favourite things about Superior is its cinematography, and correct me if I’m wrong, but it looks like you shot on film?
Erin Vassilopoulos: Yes, it was shot on a 16-millimeter film.
I think shooting on film really made Superior feel like it was made in the 1980s. What was the inspiration or thinking behind doing that?
Erin Vassilopoulos: Thank you, I’m glad you feel that way. We had shot the short on 16-millimeter film as well, and so a big part of the decision was knowing that we wanted to continue that aesthetic and the feel of that world that we had created. I was also really lucky to have worked with film a lot in film school (NYU), and I love the process. I love the look and feel of film. It’s got so much texture, and I really like colour. Colour is such a big part of the feature as well, and I just knew that the colours would pop more on film. And we were trying to create an 80s period piece on a relatively low budget, so I also knew that (film) would really help give the movie a timeless, dated feel.
And were there any specific influences from the 1980s, especially film influences, that you drew from in making Superior?
Erin Vassilopoulos: Yeah, I had a ton of references and a lot of visual references. Early on, I started pulling images, and some of that was photography, but also some films. And then I was sharing a lot of that with Ani and Alessandra when we were writing, and eventually with our director of photography (Mia Cioffi Henry) as well. I remember we were looking at a lot of William Eggleston photos, this French photographer, as well as Nan Goldin, and then tons of film references too. There was a lot of thrillers and some horror too. In terms of colour and style, we talked about Douglas Sirk, and there’s a Finnish director I really like, Aki Kaurismäki, and I was always looking at his work for colours and lighting references.
Because Superior is such a unique film, I’m curious about what audience you had in mind during the development and filming process.
Erin Vassilopoulos: I don’t know. When we were writing, I guess I was trying to write for a broad audience. And I know the movie is really specific in a lot of ways, but hopefully, it also has a blend of genres and tones with some universal scenes. So I guess my hope would be that it appeals to a broad audience and everybody can find something specific within the movie that they connect to.
Film Inquiry would like to thank Erin Vassilopoulos for taking the time to speak with us!
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