Exclusive Interview: Kathleen Monteleone Discusses the Creative Process of Bringing Her Film American Reject to Life

Kathleen Monteleone once competed for the role of Sandy on NBC’s Grease: You’re the One That I Want. While she may not have landed that coveted role, she’s proving that sometimes losing is the only way to win.

Inspired by her own personal experience, Kathleen created the laugh-out-loud comedy American Reject. The award-winning film is about a finalist who gets the boot from America’s hottest singing competition and is forced to move back in with her mother as reality cameras follow her every move. It’s an uplifting story of resilience and finding one’s self.

Pop Culturalist spoke with Kathleen about the creative process of bringing American Reject to life and more!

PC: Tell us about American Reject and the inspiration behind the film.
Kathleen: American Reject is a musical comedy based on my experience being a singing hopeful on a reality show turned reject. It’s a look at what happens to one of those rejects once they get the boot.

PC: When we are introduced to your character, she’s probably at the lowest point in her life. But we see this beautiful journey that she goes through in the film. As an actress, how did you create the space for yourself to dive into that journey?
Kathleen: It’s interesting. Because I wrote it, it was a lot easier to step into this. All the writing allowed me to do the work of creating what needed to be accomplished for the story as a whole. By the time that I stepped into a scene, the director Marlo Hunter and I had really fleshed out what needs to happen, what is happening for my character, and how that pertains to the whole film.

I was able to step in and go, boom, boom, boom, and do it. We shot the whole thing in fifteen days, so we didn’t have a lot of time. I probably had a couple of takes per scene. Writing it helped a lot.

PC: There’s so much authenticity that comes off the screen. You cast actors who have gone through and competed on reality television shows in the past. As you were writing these characters, did you have these particular actors in mind? What was that casting process like?
Kathleen: I did have some actors in mind because they’re friends of mine. They’re of course inspirations to me as well. I thought, “I’ve got to get Mary Birdsong in this film.” Or Connie Ray, who plays my mother. She’s a good friend and she can do anything. But yes, I wanted to have rejects. I wanted to have people that have been on these shows and have gotten the boot (or at least know that experience) to be in the cast.

Originally, I thought maybe I’d try to cast the whole thing with rejects, but that doesn’t work. So we have four of us: Rebecca Black, Michael Lynch, Angelica Hale, and myself. We’ve all had this experience. I do think that brings a different heart to the film. We had a lot of comradery. We knew that this was a very important story to tell. Not everyone has been on a reality show, but we’ve all had that experience of loss or that thing we were hoping for that didn’t happen.

PC: Like you were saying earlier, you wrote, starred, and produced the film. How challenging was it for you to wear all those different hats and also to film within fifteen days?
Kathleen: It was pretty challenging. I could say I’m still doing it as we’re launching the film. It was a lot. I co-produced with my husband, so we were knocking on doors with the script and doing everything up til now.

It was a lot, but because it’s my story, I really felt passionate about telling it and felt like it was for me to write. Everything aligned. We also had an incredible team in New Orleans that read the script and came on board. We filmed at a sound stage because we needed to recreate a reality show stage. I had a lot of people say, “You can’t make this with a small budget” or “As a first-time writer, this isn’t going to happen.” But the folks of New Orleans, the film industry here, came around us and we were able to make the film. That helped a lot too.

PC: The film does such a beautiful job balancing comedy with these really grounded moments. For you, as a creator, is one more challenging to write for? Is one more difficult to act in?
Kathleen: That’s such a good question. It’s easier for me to perform and write comedy. Because I brought truth and pain from my own life, I was able to step into those moments of conflict more easily than I thought. I’d be curious if this was someone else’s story that I was stepping into, how hard it would be to do that. But I would definitely say comedy would be easier for me. Getting into the dirt takes a little more time.

PC: Speaking of getting into the dirt, there’s this really vulnerable moment about halfway through the film where your character is speaking with her father. How did you prepare for that scene in particular?
Kathleen: There’s a bit of a funny story about this scene. I had written a scene where Kay speaks to her dead father, which you realize is a hardship that she hasn’t faced. It’s a symbol of loss in her life and why she can’t be a normal human and get on with her life. We filmed it. It was nice. It was beautifully shot. It was great. I was a Debbie Downer while doing all of the things. We watched the film and I was like, “This isn’t really going anywhere.” Again, we shot the film in fifteen days. When we watched it, we were like, “We need to redo a few things.”

That was one thing that was really important to me. We didn’t have this moment with Kay where you really saw the word “rejection.” The movie is called American Reject and I was like, “Wow, we don’t have a moment where we see what it has done to her or what it means to her or anything like that.”

I had just watched A Star Is Born. It was just coming out. When it was over, I was bawling. I said to my husband, “Our movie is so bad. This is so good.” I even said to him, “Here I am trying to write a movie and put it out, and I still feel like I’m fourth best at what I’m doing. I’m never going to arrive.” There was something that went off at that moment. As I was crying, I was like, “That’s the moment that the movie needs. We need a moment where she’s always the runner-up.”

We went and we reshot that scene. I was very pregnant in that scene, so maybe that helped a little too. But I worked with Marlo. I said, “We need to put this in here.” I wrote the scene, but she asked me questions that inspired the answers I thought we needed for the character.

We really partnered on that one. It was a tricky scene because at times I thought, “She’s just complaining and she’s sad.” Then other people and viewers when we did a test screening were like, “We really needed to see that from her.” It was one of those things where I had to stick to my guns and be like, “We’ve got to see that.” I went back to that A Star Is Born moment.

PC: That scene is absolutely fantastic. The film has made its way around the festival circuit and it’s been incredibly well received. What do you think is resonating most with audiences? What do you hope they take away?
Kathleen: It’s been really fun to show it to an audience because, of course, the things that I think will pop, they forget. I’m like, “That’s how it really works.” There are two things that I’ve noticed that have really stuck with people. The music. Even people that worked on the film are like, “Oh, the music.” So I hope that people enjoy that.

The second thing I would say that really sat with people is the mother-daughter relationship in this film. As we were showing it around festivals, I would have women that were of parenting age come up to me and be like, “When she says, you go…” They were reciting lines back to me. I was like, “Wow, that really hit people.” That scene in particular is about being worried about becoming someone you don’t want to be. They spend all their time being distracted by the problem as opposed to letting it go and stepping into their life.

That scene really hit. Not everyone has been on a reality TV show where America has to vote for them, but I really do think audiences can relate to that moment in your life that you maybe never got over or the idea that rejection can be a real beast in people’s lives. We have to deal with it and “get over it,” but it can fester and narrate your whole story. I hope people are inspired by this story and like the song says, “It’s chapter one.”

PC: With this being such a personal story to you, is there a particular scene that you’re really excited for audiences to see when it drops?
Kathleen: Great question. The ending of the film is a nice surprise. I’ve been a little cautious about sharing what happens, but it’s a nice surprise. It’s been in the script since day one, and I’ve pretty much written the movie up to that ending. It’s really special. People will like it.

To keep up with Kathleen, follow her on Instagram. Watch American Reject wherever you stream movies today!