There's a powerful new film that I highly recommend you go watch when it opens in theaters starting October 14 and it stars Bianca Santos, Amber Midthunder, Joel Smallbone, and David Koechner in this story about a man who takes a shady job hauling cargo across the country and suddenly finds out that the cargo contains two trafficked women.
Human trafficking is a real and present problem in our society today, so it's a very sensitive subject issue that this movie was brave enough to tackle. Santos plays one of those two women, Antonia, and her co-star, Amber plays Antonia's sister, Maria. My conversation with Bianca (whom I previously interviewed for "Ouija") goes deeper than just about the production but also about what it means for her to take on meaningful projects that matter.
Rama's Screen: Can you talk a bit about your dynamic with your co-star, Amber because you two play sisters in this film, I wish she was here so I could ask that question to her as well, but what was that like creating that for the screen?
Bianca Santos: "I love that you ask that question because Amber is a huge part of the set, I wish she was here too, she wishes she was here, she’s shooting, which is awesome. But for us, for Antonia, for my character, the relationship that she has with her sister, it’s so important. Family and love are so important to her. So when I met Amber, you’re hoping right, man, it would just make my life easier if this person’s awesome and I can just have that sisterly bond and sure enough I met Amber and she’s like my soul sister. That dynamic came so naturally. And she’s younger than me, and so for me to take on those characteristics, I really was feeling those things of wanting to protect her and it all came so naturally and she’s such a lovely person and so it was really not difficult to have that sisterly love on screen."
Rama's Screen: So how long did you and Amber spend time together to bond prior to filming?
Bianca Santos: "That’s a good question. I’m even trying to remember, this was like a year ago. I think really we didn’t get a lot of time to meet before, it was sort of like let’s just start doing.. the first scene that we shot were the truck scenes in the car and what was so amazing, I think we spent the first three days of shooting just in a car on the road and it gave the three of us, me, Amber, and Joel the opportunity to naturally build this chemistry that is also kind of simultaneously happening in the shooting, so it worked out really really well."
Rama's Screen: Your other co-star, Joel Smallbone, this is his first big screen acting debut, so as an actress who's been in this business for a while now, did you give Joel an input or two on the set along the way?
Bianca Santos: "Is it embarrassing to say yes? I did a little bit. But ya know, what I respected so much about Joel is his commitment and his brother was the director, so they have their own relationship going on, I mean his brother was just the strictest on him. Family expectations. And so I was just the one that would be next to him and I would say Joel, you’ve got this, you’re awesome. He should be super proud of his work in the film. Because he was constantly saying, ‘O, ya know, I’ve got all these great actors surrounding me, and like who am I?’ And when we first saw the film I go look at your work, it’s incredible. I think he rose to the circumstances that were around him, working alongside Jim Parrack and David Koechner, I think when you surround yourself with excellence, you gotta just rise up to it."
Rama's Screen: Research is very important for an actor. So did you research human trafficking and perhaps base your character off an actual true story or true character out there that has gone through this ordeal?
Bianca Santos: "I didn’t base my character on anyone, I just honestly.. I just became Antonia and I don’t know how to fully explain the process, but the stuff that she loved and stood for, I just kind of grabbed on to that and then she became whoever she became. As far as human trafficking goes, Ben the director has spent countless hours, documentary on human trafficking, his wealth of knowledge about the subject was really the primary influence. The truth and the facts the he has put into the movie were really from all of his preparation. I think before we started shooting, we would sit down, we’d have dinners or lunches and he would just tell me facts and we would just talk and we would just have conversations. And what was crazy, we’re shooting this movie and my eyes being open.. we shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and my eyes being open to all of the facts and it was like I could see for the first time because New Mexico has a hub of human trafficking and as we’re shooting I’m literally for the first time noticing hey that looks shady over there, that’s actually human trafficking going on. So the facts that I learned, I can’t shake that off anymore. My eyes are opens. So that’s my hope for people is that they learn the facts that this really is happening everywhere you look if you just open your eyes."
Rama's Screen: It's fascinating to me that the violation scene in this film is powerful without it being too graphic. Like you kinda sense the tragedy just by looking at Amber's character, Maria, crying for you outside the door.
Bianca Santos: "First of all, I would say thank you for that because the line could so easily be crossed. I know that to deal with a scene so delicately, to get the point across without perversing it in a way.. ya know, there’s a lot more footage, the first cut of that scene went on for about a minute longer, and every time I tell people that, they go ‘I’m glad it stopped where it did,’ because your mind builds, your mind fills in the gaps, but it’s enough that you feel those emotions and you put yourself for a brief second in the position of Antonia and the empathy that you feel is enough for you to care about human trafficking. The fact that we even accomplished that, yes, so thank you, I take that as a very high compliment."
Rama's Screen: You mentioned at the press conference earlier that you'd like to do more projects that matter, so do you see yourself continuing on acting in deep dramatic roles like this or would you occasionally go back to doing something like "Ouija" again or perhaps comedy?
Bianca Santos: "Sure. I don’t know what my path has ahead of me. Honestly, I feel like actresses wait decades into their career to get roles like this so the fact that I got the opportunity to do something like this that’s real and raw that I can give voice to the voiceless, in and of itself is like a miracle. And if it happens again and it continues to happen, I will say yes. But the reality is we have to continue to create content like this. So if there isn’t content like this being brought up, then unfortunately I won’t be auditioning for roles like this if there aren’t movies like this or TV shows like this being made. So my charge would be let’s make more like this as an industry."
