Mickey Sumner and Lucy Owen attended the SXSW premiere of their new film, The Mend, and gave an exclusive interview with Uinterview on their experience shooting the film and why actresses shouldn’t be afraid to play “the bitch.”
Owen plays Andrea and Sumner plays Farrah in this dramedy about two brothers, Alan (Stephen Plunkett), Farrah’s boyfriend, and Mat (Josh Lucas), Andrea’s boyfriend. Though the film centers on the relationship between the two men, Owen and Sumner said that what attracted them to The Mend was how multi-dimensional the female characters were.
“I loved the script so much, immediately. And Andrea, who I play, she is just a pretty complicated, strange, wonderful, loving, kind, embarrassing, weird woman. She was so many things, like I am so many things, like you’re so many things,” said Owen.
Owen, who has appeared in guest spots on Law & Order: SVU and The Americans, and Sumner, best known for her role as Sophie in the surprise hit Frances Ha and for being the eldest of Sting’s daughters, agreed that it is rare to find fully developed female characters.
Sumner admitted to Uinterview that she used to worry about accepting roles that could be described as ‘the bitch,’ but that in the end her goal is to give an honest performance, not just to be liked by the audience.
“I think someone once said to me that, because I was always worried, I think I worried in the past about being the bitch, playing the bitchh… and I think someone said to me, ‘Don’t even worry about, like don’t, it’s not your job to be likable and I think it’s your job to be human and to be honest.’ And that was all I could really ask for myself, to be honest and human,” Sumner said.
Owen agreed and praised writer-director John Magary for his ability to create characters that weren’t easy to pin down.
“One of the greatest triumphs, I think, of this script and this movie is that John has written people who are lovable and not always likable, like humans are really. And I loved and hated all these characters to an equal measure,” Owen added.
The Mend premiered to good reviews at SXSW, but has yet to be picked up for theatrical release.
– Olivia Truffaut-Wong
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