Pop-Culturalist.com

Actor-writer Analesa Fisher has emerged as one of Hollywood’s most exciting new voices. They’ve starred in projects including Total Eclipse, Crazy Fast, and Chad.

Currently, they’re shining in Netflix’s Metal Lords. The coming-of-age film follows two teenage misfits, Kevin (Jaeden Martell) and Hunter (Adrian Greensmith), who decide to start a metal band and set out to win Battle of the bands. Analesa shine as Kendall, a seventeen-year-old girl trying to find her place in the world.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Analesa about their career, Metal Lords, and the YA series they’re writing.

PC: How did you discover your passion for storytelling and the arts?
Analesa: I used to do slam poetry when I was younger, as one does, and eventually that translated into wanting to write movies, television shows, books—the list goes on and on. Somewhere along the way, I realized that no matter how much rejection we have to get used to dealing with as actors, no one can take your writing away from you. It doesn’t matter if it takes ten, twenty, thirty years for it to be published or hit the big screen. It’s yours the second you write it. Now I just love to challenge myself. Every time I sit down and think I don’t know how to write for a certain medium. I challenge myself to figure it out.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Analesa: I am pretty easily influenced by great artists. While the list may seem random, that includes Tom Robbins, Daveed Diggs, Rafael Casal, Bill Lawrence, Vince Vaughn, and more. I look up to people who are out there expressing themselves and telling stories in ways that I’ve never seen done before. I wrote Tom Robbins a letter once about my pursuits in novel writing. He wrote me back some of the most encouraging words I’ve ever received, and to this day it remains the only piece of snail mail I have held onto.

PC: How has your experience as a writer made you a stronger actor and vice versa?
Analesa: The best thing I’ve discovered from bringing my writing into acting—and vice versa—is intentions. Approaching every scene with a really strong intention or purpose. When I write, I’m always asking myself why is this scene happening and why does it need to happen? Looking at it from a different lens and asking, “Why did the writer put this scene here and why does it need to happen?” has helped me look at auditions completely differently as an actor.

PC: Tell us about Metal Lords, your character, and what drew you to this project.
Analesa: Metal Lords is about two teenage outcasts named Hunter and Kevin who struggle to form a metal band in a high school filled with struggling kids desperately searching to form their own identities. Metal Lords does a fantastic job at using metal music as a catalyst to show that you can be different and that is absolutely OK.

PC: Throughout the film, your character is trying to find her place. How did you create the space for yourself to dive into her journey?
Analesa: As someone who struggled with being comfortable in my own skin for a very long time—living in a world that really wasn’t built for my struggle with my gender identity—I connected with Kendall on a level I didn’t know was possible. One of the craziest experiences related to getting into character was simply putting on her costume every day. Because she wears these poofy, tight dresses and ultra-feminine clothing. I, Analesa, felt myself growing inwardly once I stepped into her clothes—uncomfortable, wanting to flee, hating every second of it, wishing I had my t-shirts and skater jeans. Most people show up on set in, like, pajamas, but I made sure to bring outfits that reminded me of who I was outside of Kendall. So there was this super surreal moment of stepping in and out of Kendall’s “skin” every day that helped further solidify that a part of her lived inside me and the idea that it’s okay to still be discovering who I am and how I want the world to see me.

PC: With the film coming out soon, what do you hope audiences take away?
Analesa: More than anything, it’s okay to be your weirdest self. So much of my childhood was spent hiding what I liked from other kids at school out of fear of being called weird, but what I think this movie shows is the ultimate key to power: be yourself and embrace what you love because life is way too short not to. And you never know…you may get somebody interested in something you never thought they would be in the process.

PC: In addition to Metal Lords, you’re also writing The Only Series. Is there anything you can tell us about that project?
Analesa: Yeah! It’s a three-part, YA book series about three teenage girls from three different time periods overcoming specific traumatic events, kind of akin to the Fear Street trilogy and others like it. The Only Series follows three teenage girls through the kidnapping era of 1991, the Myspace era and mental health challenges of 2005, and the uncertain future of the year 3001. In an attempt to give young girls a place to go when they’re hurting, The Only Series ties together the themes of sexual assault, mental health, abusive relationships, loss, love, and growing up across three different genres. With a true crime thriller, a grounded high-school romance that goes wrong, and an epic fantasy to round out the journey, there’s something for everyone.

Pop Culturalist Speed Roun

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Analesa: Scrubs.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Analesa: Embarrassing, but…Daddy’s Home 2.

PC: Favorite book?
Analesa: Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Analesa: Parade by Jason Robert Brown.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Analesa: Mayday Parade, We the Kings, Forever the Sickest Kids. I’m a 2000s angsty punk fan all the way.

PC: Dream role?
Analesa: Ghost-Spider Gwen Stacy.

To keep up with Analesa, follow them on Twitter and Instagram. Watch Metal Lords on Netflix today.

Photo Credit: Storm Santos