WOLVES OF SAVIN HILL: Tonya Cornelisse Interview

23rd September 2014

Childhood friends from the streets of Boston drift apart following a shocking discovery in John Beaton Hilll’s The Wolves of Savin Hill.

Actress Tonya Cornelisse waxes lyrical with BRWC about the film, which has it’s premiere this week at the Sam Diego Film Festival.

The film is howlingly good. Did you immediately recognize its terrificness when you got the script?

It was visceral. To me that is everything. I had a very long conversation with John (the director) that felt like 2 minutes. I was in hook, line & sinker. Very proud to be apart of this sort of filmmaking.

Who contacted who about the movie – did the director seek you out or did you approach the production?

John Hill, the director, approached me directly. We have a very similar aesthetic and he spoke my language.

You’ve done a lot of film and television work. Do you still get nervous auditioning, though?

I try* to approach auditioning by just concentrating on doing the work and telling the story instead of trying to get a job. It makes for a much more creative and satisfying process.

*try! 🙂

The film has a Michael Mann-type vibe to it. Is this genre – the crime thriller – one you normally enjoy?

I absolutely love the way this film was shot. These are the movies I seek out to watch in my spare time. Regardless of the genre, the world that a film creates sets the course for the entire journey – I am big fan of David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, Kubrick and the likes… So to answer your question: hell yes!

Tell me about working with first-time director John Beaton Hill.

He is a pro. Not to sound cheesey, but this is what he was born to do – make films. This is not the case of lot of “directors” – working with John is a pure pleasure and we hope to do it again very soon.

Are you headed down to the San Diego Film Festival for the premiere? And what will it entail – is there a Q+A?

In spirit! I would love to be there to support the film, alas, duty calls. I am deep in the middle of a run of Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Buried Child and have a curtain call!

What are your hopes for The Wolves of Savin Hill?

That people get to see it and it makes them feel things. haha.

Seriously, making things your proud of, getting to share them is a great joy.

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