Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with A Place Among the Dead’s Juliet Landau

Throughout her three-decade career, Juliet Landau has done it all. With over fifty credits to her name, including her breakout role as Drusilla in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, Juliet continues to reach new milestones. In 2020, she stepped into the director’s chair with A Place Among the Dead.

The film centers around the repercussions of growing up under the sway of narcissism and evil. It’s a project that Juliet not only directed, but also starred in, produced, and wrote.

Pop Culturalist had the pleasure of speaking with Juliet about all she’s accomplished, A Place Among the Dead, and the advice she would give first-time filmmakers.

Career

PC: How did you discover your passion for the arts?
Juliet: I began as a professional ballerina. I started fairly late in terms of dance; I was thirteen and I became a member of a company at sixteen. Dancing was really my first love.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Juliet: My friend, mentor, and teacher, who passed away, Susan Peretz. She was a true gift in my life. I learned so much from Susan about being a wonderful human being, the craft of acting, and being an artist.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success throughout the years. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out?
Juliet: I would say it’s this moment; it’s the release of my directorial feature. That would be the moment that’s been the most exciting.

PC: In addition to acting, you’re also a director, writer, and producer. How has your work behind the scenes made you a stronger actress and vice versa?
Juliet: Being an actress and on set, I’ve gotten to work with visionary directors like Tim Burton, Joss Whedon, and Stephen Frears. You absorb and learn what you respond to and what you see other people respond to. It was our goal to create an environment that was collaborative, creative, fun, and focused. What’s interesting is now, when I go back onto sets as an actress having directed, it feels almost like I’m on vacation. [laughs] The workload is so much less, even if you’re shooting sixteen, seventeen hours a day. You’re one component of the whole, rather than making every creative choice.

As the director, producer, writer, you’re working twenty-four-seven. You’re the first person to set. You’re the last one to leave. When you leave, you’re looking at the footage, you’re making decisions about the next day’s shoot. It’s an endless and incredible cycle, but it’s definitely more than when you’re acting on somebody else’s set.

A Place Among the Dead

PC: Tell us about A Place Among the Dead and what inspired it.
Juliet: The movie explores the repercussions of growing up under the sway of narcissism and evil. My husband, Deverill Weekes, co-produced and co-wrote the film with me. We both come from this background. We wanted to make a film that we haven’t seen before, covering a subject that hasn’t been talked about in film, and really, in society as a whole. But there’s a yearning for it. If you type in the word “narcissism,” the numbers are staggering. There are nine million YouTube videos on the subject. Google has seventy million results. Psychological abuse has a hundred and eighty-eight million Google results. Of course, we’re approaching this through art and entertainment. Sadly, society is having an escalation in narcissism, cruelty, evil actions. So the movie has been giving people a forum to really look at and process that. We don’t want this kind of behavior to be condoned.

PC: The film’s been incredibly well received. What has that response meant to you?
Juliet: It’s meant the world. We’ve gotten to do interactive, virtual worldwide events and gatherings at this time with people from every region of the world. Each interactive Zoom has lasted nearly four hours. It’s been so profound and beautiful. The response has been extraordinary. We made the movie to provoke a conversation, and that’s exactly what’s been happening.

PC: You star in, co-wrote, co-produced, and directed the film. How early on in the process did you realize you wanted to wear all these different hats? How challenging was that?
Juliet: Pretty early on, we knew that I would be directing and acting in it. I chose to make the movie searingly personal. As they say, the more personal, the more universal. I wanted to make an entertaining movie, give a voice to what has affected many, and open up the dialogue that we’ve been talking about. I thought the best way of doing that was by bringing those personal elements in and being involved on so many levels to help facilitate that conversation that we wanted to have.

PC: With this being your full-length directorial debut, did anything surprise you about the experience? What was the biggest takeaway for you?
Juliet: I’ve learned so much. I’ve grown so much in the creative and business standpoints. I’ve been involved in every aspect. The biggest takeaway is that your passion for the story that you’re telling is the thing that sustains you and inspires your brilliant team of collaborators to go on the journey. For any young or first-time filmmaker, I would say, “Pick a subject and story that you’re burning to tell.”

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Juliet: Boston Legal.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Juliet: Dirty Dancing.

PC: Favorite book?
Juliet: M. Scott Peck’s People of the Lie. He’s a psychologist, and the book really delves into malignant narcissism and the nature of evil. There’s a number of case studies in there. I would say that that’s my favorite book.

We actually based a lot of the concepts in the movie on this book. We use the genre of the movie for a number of reasons. First of all, we wanted to make it an entertaining movie. If you type in “vampires”, there are two hundred and seventy-eight million Google results.

Also, I wanted to lull the audience into a sense of safety, to explore unsafe and radical ideas. I could bring in my history with Buffy and Angel as well as all of our other talents’ histories. Plus, I thought that the vampire was the perfect metaphor for the ultimate narcissist.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Juliet: I have two! Danny and the Deep Blue Sea written by John Patrick Shanley. I got to play Roberta and absolutely loved it. My second favorite play would be Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Another role that I loved playing was Blanche.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Juliet: Right now, I’ve actually been listening to a lot of Mozart. We use Mozart’s “Requiem” in A Place Among the Dead. I’ve also been listening to a lot our composer Monica Richards. She made an incredible score for our film.

To keep up with Juliet, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about A Place Among the Dead here.

Photo Credit: Deverill Weekes // Make Up & Hair: Rachel Kooyman