192 - Aliyah 'The Curse' Lee Interview

Our series of interviews with the cast of 'The Curse' continues as we welcome Aliyah Lee.

Aliyah portrays Janice, who is recruited by her boyfriend, Pascal, played by former guest Alexander Gibson, to act as a married couple for the filming of 'Fliplanthropy' as faux buyers for a passive living home.

Join us as Aliyah shares her experiences of writing, producing, acting, and directing, alongside her insights from 'The Curse' set.

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Welcome to the Nerd Party. Hello, and welcome to the A twenty four
project Here in the Nerd Party network, my name is Lee Hutchinson and Dallas
King and I make our way throughthe A twenty four filmography and along the
way bring interviews with the talent involvedin front of and behind the camera.

(00:26):
Our series of interviews with the castof The Curse continues as we welcome Aliah
Lee. Aliah portrays Janice, whois recruited by her boyfriend Pascal played by
former guest Alexander Gibson, to actas a fake married couple for the filming
of Flip Theanthropy as faux buyers fora passive living home. Join us as
Aliah shares her experiences of creating herown work acting and her experiences from the

(00:51):
Amazing Curse set. Thanks so muchto Aliah for joining us, and hope
you too will enjoy this podcast.Well, obviously our introduction to you and
the Curse was was as an actor. You're also a director, producer,

(01:11):
comic and also a theater actor.What kind of ignited your passion for the
industry and the craft. Well,it's kind of funny, so you know,
of course, as a child,we all play pretend and that's fun.
And when I was a child,I was really focused into dance and
classical ballet, and you know,as I grew up, that sort of

(01:34):
went away. I developed rheumatoid disease, so dance was no longer, you
know, really an option for me. And I actually ended up having my
son very young. So I hadmy son when I was nineteen, and
so all my college plans and stuffsort of got pushed for a little while.
So I went back to school whenI was thirty and I did one

(01:57):
semester as a journalism major. Hatedit. The I was a spring semester.
And so the college that I wentto we always did a spring musical
every year, and so one ofmy assignments as a journalism major was to
go interview the cast of the springmusical. And so I went and I
did it and whatever. And I'msitting here talking to all these like theater

(02:17):
majors and you know, props designers, all these people, and I'm just
like, oh, these are mypeople, Like this is where I should
be. So I promptly transferred totheater the next next semester, and it
kind of all went from there wasthere any kind of fear about making that
transition, because it's a precarious careerat the best of time, they carerund
of creative industries. Was there athing of like I need to play it

(02:39):
safe and you know, look atmaybe something else, or was it just
like this is where my heart andpassion really is and kind of taking that
I guess maybe a bit of arisk. Yeah, I mean definitely it's
something to think about for me.I really I think there was some maybet

(03:00):
fear or anxiety. But at thesame time, I kind of felt like
I had spent the last you know, ten twelve years playing it safe.
I was a legal assistant, Iwas, you know, working my nine
to five and all that, andI was like, you know what,
maybe it's time and yeah, soit was. It was anxiety provoking,
but not detrimentally. So it absantlymentioned that you've got a broad kind of

(03:27):
spectrum of like skills in the industry. Do you kind of have a preference
or is one bit harder to breakinto than the other? Perhaps? Yeah.
So I actually got into production becauseI was struggling with finding acting work
and what better way to you know, start yourself into the business than by

(03:49):
making your own stuff. And asI got into producing and into directing and
you know, writing and storytelling,I realized, oh, I don't think
I can direct myself, Like I'mnot ready for that. That's not that's
not in my wheelhouse as a littleindie filmmaker starting out, And so all
my indie stuff I've done on myown, and you know, I have

(04:11):
sort of just fallen into actually bookingthe acting roles later. So yeah,
it kind of the two really gotogether. But at the same time,
I don't know, I think it'sreally cool that we live in this age
of like media literacy and all ofthe you know connections that we have with
the Internet and everything, where indiefilmmakers can you know, really get their

(04:31):
stuff out there and like can actuallyproduce things that people can see. And
you know, it's really cool thatwe have that opportunity. But I would
say that for me, it wasa lot harder to get a good acting
role than it was to maybe getthe desire to make my own stuff.
And you know, for people thatare like much like myself, they're just

(04:55):
familiar with you originally from things likeThe Curse, what kind of like productions
perform and says, would you recommendpeople to check out from your kind of
film? All grapha so far andwhere my people can find maybe some of
this stuff. So the Curse rightnow, I believe, is the only
thing that is available to see meact in. Soon, a feature film

(05:16):
will be coming out. I don'tknow when the release date is, but
it was written and directed by myfriend Alejandro Montoya Maren, who is also
you know, he came up inAlbuquerque. He's in La now. But
I'm excited about that one. It'sgonna be a fun, little kind of
action comedy. And then let's see. Other than that, we can look

(05:40):
at my independently produced short films.So my first film is a post apocalyptic
sci fi climate change movie called Permafrost, and so that takes place in a
frozen over Texas and we actually filmedit in my home state of North Dakota.

(06:01):
So yeah, it was North Dakotaplayed a really good Texas which was
great. But yeah, so that'sthat's a that's a short film that will
soon actually be available on YouTube.I think there's a couple more festivals we
need to hear back from before wecan fully release it. But it's on
its way out there on our YouTubeor vimeo. My production company is seven

(06:24):
to one Productions. You can findus in both of those places. And
then my second film, also notquite available yet, still in the festival
circuit, but it's called Dispatch andit's a sort of a legal procedural drama
and it follows a disturbing nine toone to one call from ringing phone to
resolution. And it's a film thatis close to my heart as someone who

(06:48):
came up as a legal assistant andwe're in you know, criminal defense and
that kind of thing. So it'sit was really fun to go into,
you know, sort of melding mytwo professions together and also really hard to
cut down the legalies to make itpalatable for a short film. I'm curious

(07:08):
as well, like you know,correct me if I'm wrong here, but
like you're based in New Mexico,right, Like, yeah, We've had
so many people on from kind ofNew York, Los Angeles, London,
Like what's the film industry like inNew Mexico? Because I think for a
lot of people, if they immediatelyhad to say something, they think of
things like breaking bad and so on, Like what is the industry like there.

(07:29):
How does it differ from say,kind of Los Angeles, maybe for
better in some ways? Sure,so, I I mean I'm a little
biased, but I love New Mexicofilms. So yeah, New Mexico film
is excellent in the sense that weare a small, tight knit community.

(07:51):
Everyone kind of knows everybody. You. It's really a good way to sort
of feel out different productions and yousort of know you're getting into with different
crews and stuff. You really it'sa it's a really close knit community,
which is super cool. And thenalso we have excellent tax rebates in the

(08:11):
state of New Mexico, which I'vedefinitely taken advantage of as an indie filmmaker.
Here, depending on what you're doing, where you're shooting, whether you're
using specific qualified filming facilities and stufflike that, you can earn back up
to I believe thirty percent of whatyou spend in the state on your production,
which can be huge. So that'sa big deal. But yeah,

(08:35):
I think for me as an actorthe biggest thing is, you know,
if I were living in La everyaudition I go on, I'm going to
sit in a room with two hundredother girls who look just like me.
Right in New Mexico. There mightbe ten other girls who look just like
me. So it's you know,it's a smaller market and so you're not

(08:56):
you know, you're not going outfor big A list type roles. But
also so it's a smaller market andyou're going out for smaller roles, but
they're there, and there are feweractors to you know, book them.
So it's you know it guess itkind of depends on what you want to
do. I also got into actingas an older person, so like I
didn't start, I mean I bookedI booked The Curse when I was thirty

(09:18):
eight, So yeah, I meanit didn't feel right to go to La
and Compedience, you know, hotlittle twenty two year olds. Curious because
like the cast of this this show, like from the mix of people we've
interviewed so far, you're first likeNew Mexico where it was shot and so
on with a couple from Los Angeles, was like a production like The Curse

(09:41):
coming to New Mexico, something thatlike immediately comes on you and locals radars
of like big production coming and you'remaybe all competing for acting roles you know
best grip, directing assistants, allthat sort of stuff went to something like
the curse register for you guys atthe early stage and how does that kind

(10:01):
of then unfold? Yeah, Iguess it depends on where you're at.
For me, it was through myagent, is how I get all my
information. I suppose I could bemore active on social media and find things
out for myself, but you know, we all do our best. But
yeah, for me, it wasthrough my agent. And my ears perked

(10:22):
up immediately because I'm in a twentyfour geek and so I was like,
ooh, oh, I'm interested inthat, you know. And I was
already a fan of Nathan Fielder andSafti brothers, and so the idea of
them being here was really exciting forme. And then you know, I
did my first audition figured out.You know, it's it's like any audition,

(10:43):
you do it, you throw itaway, you hope for the best
whatever, and thought nothing of it, and you know, maybe a month
later I got a callback and Iwas like, oh, oh that's nice.
I was like, my first callbackI've ever gotten for anything big like
and then uh so it was actuallyfunny. It was the night before my
son's high school graduation, and soit was his back laureate ceremony that night,

(11:09):
and so I had to leave myson's back laureate like half hour early
to go to my little zoom callbackor whatever. Anyway, did the callback
next morning. Had a request forlike a director request for like five different
scenes the morning of my child's graduation. So my husband and I were just
like, Okay, we're gonna fuckingdo this. We're gonna get it done.
Like, so we did it.There was no makeup involved, but

(11:31):
it was fine, and uh yeah, I guess they liked me and it
was great, but I don't knowjust the idea of like, oh it's
a twenty four. I was soexcited right away. So it felt really
serendipitous that that was like my firstmajor role. Was always kind of janics
that you were auditioning for, orwas it like a kind of range of
scenes that you were like they weretrying to maybe kind of feel like what
might be the best rule for you. The first one that I auditioned for,

(11:54):
I don't remember the character's name,but it was it was definitely a
smaller part. It was more likeyou know, getting Whitney a coffee or
something like that. That was theone that I first did and then I
got the callback for and then whenthey asked for the requested scenes, than
those were all Janas And I'm cusedas well, kind of like with knowing

(12:16):
it's like Nathan Fielder and the Safties, did you have kind of an idea
of what this kind of production mightbe in your head, like as a
as a fan or what did youkind of expect it to be, because
it seems like it was kind ofshrouded in an element of mystery. It
really was. I did not knowwhat to expect. I know, the

(12:37):
little blurb in the breakdown said genrebending, and I was like genre bending,
huh. You know, like usuallyyou get auditions and you kind of
have like a there's like some kindof trope or like a type or something
like genre bending. That doesn't giveme any idea of what's happening. But
yeah, you know, you kindof understand Nathan's you know, stick and

(12:58):
like, but yeah, I reallyI had no idea. I was just
like, well, I'm gonna doit as me and like I hope they
like me. And that's what wedid. And yeah, it's one of
those things that it's amazing to seeYou've got your TV show hairstyle. I
always I wondered, like, wouldthat be something that's very specifically for that
kind of role, because you lookon your IMDb and it's like a mixture

(13:20):
of hairstyles, and like the Curseone is this kind of ginger and yellow
and it's like it's weird. WhereI was almost thinking and it's it's maybe
it's testament to the curse, becauseeverything with the Curse, no matter if
it was like someone has a gun, someone has chicken, someone is doing
something. You're like, there's gotto be a reason something's weird here.

(13:41):
And I kind of wondered, thehair is a bit of a unique style.
Is that purposely to just to thinkthat's another weird element or how did
that all come around? Did you? That is actually a funny story.
So I had a very different lookfor quite a long time. I had
sort of like a old Holly wouldlike read Bob. It was really cute

(14:03):
and I loved it, but Ialso just needed a change, you know,
and I was going through some lifechanges, like my son had turned
eighteen, and I was realizing,oh, I'm like a whole adult human
now, like not just whatever.And so I just kind of decided I
was going to change my hair.And at this point, I had kind

(14:24):
of just given up on, likeever booking a role. Like I would
do the auditions that my agent wouldsend me, but I just felt like,
I don't know, I felt kindof stuck and I just didn't really
feel like it was going to happenfor me, and I just was ready
to focus on my production company,and so I changed my hair just for
fun. Immediately got that first auditionfor The Curse, and I was like

(14:46):
shit, So I took a littleselfie and I sent it to my agent.
I was like, hey, shouldwe talk to casting about this?
Like she's like, no, it'sfine, they'll see it in your tape.
I was like, okay, SoI did it, and I guess
they liked it. Honestly, Iwouldn't be surprised if they booked the hair
instead of the actress for this one, but hey, either way worked for

(15:07):
me. It's such an interesting show, like as we touch, it creates
this sense of discomfort, genre bending, Like you made that assumption based off
that, like I would make thatassumption based on it being in a field
of thing like how much of thatcomes off the script because from what we've
learned, like people get just acouple of slides sides and so on,

(15:31):
you don't get the full picture.How much do you have to go off
like on the page alone. Okay, so our sides for our scenes,
at least for my scenes, werereally kind of bare bones, and so
we would kind of do a takeas written and then kind of improvise from

(15:52):
there, which was really really reallyfun and allowed us to just kind of
play around and see where things went. But as far as any understanding of
like the show as a whole,nothing, I did not know. I
was like, I understood that itwas a meta sort of you know,
we were cut on the show,on the show, but yeah, I

(16:15):
did not know the full arc ofthe show in any way whatsoever. And
is that something that frustrates or excitesyou, like you hear from so many
actors where nowadays it is so commonto barely get like full scripts for multiple
reasons. Are you sitting there likeI really feel like I need to know
where I fit into this or isit just Hey, I'm a paid gun,

(16:37):
I'll just go along with it andmake kind of hay. Honestly,
definitely more the latter. I alsojust think it's fun, like it doesn't
really matter if I know the wholestory like I can. If I'm doing
it wrong, They'll give me direction. I don't know, And I guess
maybe that's just having trust for yourdirector and trust for your writer and knowing
that they you know, they wantyou to look good to you. And

(17:00):
yeah, did you kind of drawfrom any sort of reality TV style shows
for for like your performance of ofJanice. Honestly, not really. I
you know, I will say I'mfamiliar. My mom's a big HGTV kind
of gall so I've seen a lotof it. But I really just kind

(17:22):
of I just kind of wanted Janieto be bright and like sunny and obsessed
with Whitney, like that's how Isaw Jannis. Why would you be obsessed
with Whitney? Is it that kindof like it's the TV presenter like Hollywood
kind of come to tech, likeasking in that afterglow. Whitney is such

(17:45):
a such a presence, you know, and she's such an image for everyone,
and so I think Janie seeing Whitneyas this woman who has it all
together has her own show. Ohyou know, she's doing all this stuff.
And also she's beautiful and she's youknow happy and you know generous and

(18:07):
all this. So I think thatJanice really buys into that and you know,
wants to emulate that you were alwaysa cast along one of alongside,
Like one of our recent guests,Alexander Gibson as like you were in a
relationship, but you become this fakehusband and wife and pregnant wife to be.
What was it like kind of workingtogether on your your scenes? It

(18:30):
was really fun. Alex and Ihad a good time. It was actually
both of our first like major roles, so we were kind of in the
same boat. At least. Iwas from Santa Fe, so I felt
like comfortable in the area. Hewas, you know, coming from La
So we talked a lot about likewhich restaurants to hit up and you know
all that good stuff. But yeah, Alex and I had fun. We

(18:52):
I think we had a pretty goodrapport and you know, we were able
to keep each other feeling pretty comfortableon set and you know engaged, you
know, with all the hurry upand wait that tends to happen on set
too. It was like we developeda pretty good friendship. It was nice.
I liked it. One of thethings where when I was kind of
talking to one of my co workersthat I had watched The Curse and I'd

(19:15):
mentioned I was like interviewing kind ofAlex and yourself, and I was like,
they're one of the few characters thatI don't feel stressed around or anything
like that. But she goes,actually I found them quite cringe worthy,
which really made me feel anxious andstuff like that. And one of those
kind of perfect scenes was like hischaracter like bursts into song and he shared

(19:36):
with us like that wasn't originally inthe script, but it was like part
of like the audition process was like, wow, they's skills. If you
go, oh yeah, I cansing a song. I was curious,
was that like burst into song likeshared with you ahead of the moment,
or is it something that you justwatched in real time? Going huh.
I'm also I did know what wasgonna happen. That was one of those

(19:59):
instances where we we did the firsttake just as written without the song,
and then it's like, okay,that's great, everybody, you know,
let's regroup whatever. So Alex andI went back to holding and Nathan came
back and he was like, Okay, Alex. Remember remember during your audition
when when we had you sing thatsong? Can you do that for us
today? And Alex is like,well, yeah, yeah, I can

(20:25):
do that. And I was justlike, oh, thank god, they're
not asking me to sing. Nobodywants to hear that. So yeah,
I did know when it happened,but it was it wasn't planned ahead of
time and was always planned that yourcharacter would kind of reveal oh I'm quote
unquote pregnant and so on. Wasthat was built into Yeah, yeah,
that that one was written in thescript. One of my kind of favorite

(20:48):
scenes just for like just the absurdityof it all, is that kind of
scene where you, like, youand your Alex's character just talk about recycled
paint for about four minutes, forexample, and you just watched, like
Benny saff Day's Dougie and Amicstone's Whitneyjust watching it, and it's just like
they look so bored and like,oh my god, what have we done?

(21:11):
And I just find it quite amusing, just like two actors just being
so straight faced for keep going abouttheir cycle paint, keep going on about
it, and it's just it's socheesy and lame, like like shooting those
kind of like outdoor scenes where you'rejust like painting away and just waxing lyrical

(21:32):
about this kind of nonsense. That. Okay, So that was my last
day on set, and it wasso fun. The painting was really fun.
I really liked the little girl whowas like, she was adorable.
I had fun talking with her.So the painting was super fun. That
testimonial scene where we're talking about thepaint was barely scripted, and they just

(21:56):
kind of had us improv at thecamera for a little bit, just like
give us little throw out little hintshere and there talk about this or mention
this, and yeah, it wasI loved it. I think I don't
know. I think I loved theimprov part a little more than Alex did,
But I don't know, that's justpart of me. It's a hard
thing to kind of just drag onabout kind of paint, isn't it.
Yeah, Well, that was honestlyone of my favorite bits. When I

(22:18):
watched the show, I was like, oh my god, that's so fucking
funny, Like it's so awkward andit's so funny like literally watching paint live.
Yeah, like they're pained expressions,just sitting there watching it, just
going like fucking hell, like whatare we producing? Who's literally going to
watch that? And so on.It's just it's just bizarre and so on.

(22:44):
Like one of the kind of it'salmost kind of become a bit becomes
a bit of a pivot point.Is like the scene one of the kind
of faked TV scenes where they're kindof like, oh, and we're going
to give you this pot and kindof the asher character has a mobile phone
in it in his hand, Like, were you aware, like when that
scene was being shot that it wouldbecome something that would play a larger role

(23:06):
kind of later on in the seriesthat he was being so disrespectful or rude
or is it just shooting it ina bubble, like you're just like these
kind of characters. It was wewere mostly in a bubble. I did
have some idea that that was goingto be an issue because you know,
there was make sure we get thiscoverage of this phone and you know that

(23:26):
kind of thing. So the phonewas definitely you know, the phone was
what is it Chekhov's gun? Butyeah, I didn't know that it was
going to be that such a pivotalthing for their relationship and the show and
all of that. How did youfind it switching between these kind of scenes
where like, you're shooting a TVshow, but then you're shooting a TV

(23:47):
show within the TV show that's kindof comes with this. It's already hyper
stylized to an extent anyway, butthen you're kind of playing another character within
that. How did you kind ofkeep track of all of that? I
kept my sides in my pocket andI checked them constantly. But yeah,
practically, as far as as faras the role was concerned, I don't

(24:12):
think there was a ton of differencebetween Janis on camera and Janis off camera.
I think she was just kind ofJanus all the way through. But
yeah, yeah, I think thatwas the main thing. Is keep your
sides in your pocket, know whereyou're at. Janis one, Janis two.
Yeah, kind of split universe.What can you kind of tell us

(24:33):
about like Nathan Fielder's like directing styleand how he managed a set. Oh
so, I actually really enjoyed Nathan'sdirecting style. He was really gentle as
a director, I found, andalso really willing to just like, well,
obviously it was somewhat improv based show, but really willing to let you

(24:56):
like fuck around and play and likefind what worked. And yeah, also
he has a really cute dog.That made me happy that the scene in
the jeans shop when we you know, I'm like pulling his jeans up or
whatever and then we walk out.Every time we would walk out of the

(25:18):
door, I would walk over tovideo village and pat Nathan's dog until it
was time to go again. Sothat was my highlight. But yeah,
I don't know, I just reallyenjoyed Nathan. He was a really calming
presence. I think he was areal steady guy on set. It's always
one of those ones like if you'rea Nathan for you fan, much like
I think we both are, andso on, like did you have like

(25:41):
a kind of preconception of what hewould be like kind of going in and
was there an element where you're like, I just don't want the kind of
illusion to be burshed about, likewho the real Nathan Fielder is? Honestly,
kind of yeah, I didn't reallythink about it till you said it,
but kind of. I guess it'salways scary to meet people, you
know because you have an idea ofwho they are or whatever. But yeah,

(26:03):
honestly, real life Nathan pretty charismatic, like normal dude, not nearly
as awkward as as characters, butthe awkwardness plays excellently. And who knows
to him for finding that type,because that's incredible, It's so funny.
I'm curious as like, you know, as we mentioned earlier, you have

(26:26):
you create your own work, youknow, you're an actor, director,
producer, create your own content.Very similar in ways too, kind of
people like kind of Nathan and Bennyas well, Like you know, did
you sort of see them in akind of similar veain to yourself and so
on, and kind of do yousee sort of that kind of spirit between

(26:47):
kind of filmmakers and talent like yourselvesamongst each other. Yeah, So I
don't know that I would put myselfon their level as an indie filmmaker,
but certainly I would see I haveseen both of them as inspirations. Yeah,
I was, and you know,obviously blown away with everything the Safty
brothers have done as well, andjust the I think the thing that I

(27:11):
relate to the most, aside fromjust the you know, the gumption of
the you know, get it doneandy filmmaker business and to do something different
that other people aren't doing. Ishow fun it is. Because that's the
thing that I saw the most,I think between Nathan and Benny on set,
is like they inspire each other andlike vibe off each other, and

(27:34):
like it's really about just creating thiscool project and like making this thing and
being excited about this thing. Andit's that's what I find exciting about filmmaking,
and like relating to other filmmakers orwriters or who you know, people
who really just you can collaborate withand bring out the best in each other

(27:56):
and you know, just keep itgoing, keep that ball roll, and
make more cool stuff. Like that'skind of what I related to most.
And seeing them work together, Ithink I feel like they cultivated a really
healthy, functional, like lighthearted set, which matters, you know, and
probably a nice contrast to the anxietythey're creating. Arictly, that's exactly because

(28:19):
that's how I felt was like everything, yeah, everything on screen there was
that there's always that tension, buteverything off screen was just fun and really
fun. And then on the oppositeside, as you mentioned, you know,
this is one of your kind offirst kind of big rules kind of
as an actor, and then you'vegot someone like I'm a Stone that's been
in the industry for decades now asan actress and so on. What was

(28:42):
it like kind of working and watchingsomeone like that. I mean, she's
obviously just recently won the Oscars aswell. What was her like to be
around her? Wonderful. I wassuper intimidated to meet her. I was
like, oh my god, she'sa goddess a stuff, you know,
but she's super down to earth.She's a sweetheart, she's funny. We

(29:07):
were often in the makeup trailer atthe same time, so like, I
don't know, by that time theshow was over, I personally felt pretty
comfortable around her and she I havea good Emma story. Actually, the
day that we were shooting the exteriorscenes in front of the mirrored home,
it was the hottest day of thesummer in New Mexico that year, and

(29:30):
it was I think they I thinklocations measured like a twenty degree difference between
like where we were standing in frontof the homes and like across the yard
just from the mirrors, and soit's just this absurdly hellishly hot day and
whatever. We're all sweating our assesoff, and anyway, we do a
take and you know, we needto go again whatever and reset, and

(29:56):
Emma looks off in the distance andshe sees a dust devil, which apparently
must have been a new thing,and she just like went chasing after it.
She was so excited. She justlike we're all delirious with heat,
and she was just like an adorablechild, just like fascinated. But it
was so cute. I was like, oh my god, this woman is
adorable, Like to be that likeon and because I'm pretty sure she executive

(30:19):
produced the crisis to be that taskedand working so hard and like be able
to just bust out and have,you know, a lighthearted little moment under
all that stress and all that physicaldiscomfort, I think says something about a
person. So what was that houseactually kind of like and so on,

(30:41):
like how real was it? Like? What was it like as a is
it like more of a set thanan actual house? Or is a house
that's a set? Like what's thewhat's the story? So exterior and interior
were two whole different places. Sothe exterior was really more of a shell

(31:03):
of the home, and then theinterior was just the interior of a whole
different house somewhere else in Espanola.So yeah, not at all even the
same thing. There's a Hollywood magiccompletely was so cool though, right,
yeah, it's so unique. Likewhen did you get to see kind of
the Curse for the first time andwhat was your your reaction to it.

(31:26):
I watched the first episode the firstweekend that it came out. I was
gonna watch it the first night,and I was like, no, I
don't want to watch it by myself. I gotta like wait. So I
had some friends over and family andstuff, and I made appetizers and we
all watched, and so I thoughtit was hilarious from the get go,
but I already knew that that's mytaste, you know. But it was

(31:48):
really fun because I had, youknow, a really sort of a diverse
group of people in my living roomwatching this show. I wasn't sure everyone
was gonna really resonate with what wewere watching, but everyone really kind of
dug it, like it was prettycool. It's like, oh and the
cherry Tomato boys, like that's alwaysgoing to get a laugh. So brilliant,

(32:08):
and like what was it like watchingit like weekly and building up to
your role in it, because alsoyou come in sort of mid season and
then before you know, it's gotthis finale that anyone that's ever watched it
is not going to ever forget.Like, what was it like to go
on that journey, because as muchas you were there, there's so much
of it that you weren't there foror had no clue where it was going

(32:29):
to go. Did you enjoy goingon that journey with it as well?
Oh my god, yes, itwas so fun and it was I don't
know the episodes I was in.I was anxious because, like you know,
seeing yourself is a whole different thing. But as far as just watching
the show, I felt like itwas just such a wild ride and such

(32:52):
a like there was. I thinkthe thing that stood out to me the
most, like watching the show asa whole, is the dichotomy between like
the silliest shit and then like thestart contrast of like the reality of like
the poverty and the you know,all of the things that are the serious

(33:15):
issues in the show, and howthey instead of like canceling each other out,
sort of accentuated each other. Atleast in my opinion when I watched,
I'd agree with that. I'm curious, like what's been the reaction in
places like New Mexico because, asyou say, there's some really powerful themes
about as you say, poverty,white saviors, kind of you know,

(33:38):
Native land, all these sorts ofthings that are continuing to go on in
it. Like what's been the reactionto kind of the show and it's it's
kind of message and they are andequally as a real product of you know,
kind of New Mexico and the industrythere and performers like yourself. I
mean, I guess I can bestto that as someone who's in the industry.

(34:02):
I think that having you know,a show like The Curse highlight New
Mexico and actually have like Espanola thecity and New Mexico like be a star
on the show, I think that'scool as hell. Anything that's bringing more
film into the state is good forthe state and you know, the economuni
the state and all of those things. But as far as honestly, I'm

(34:25):
curious too about how it would bereceived, like specifically, if you know,
if you're if you are an Espanolaresident or if you you know,
if you're closer to those communities,like how that would be received, Like
I'm a white girl from Santa Felike, you know, I can't quite
comment on how that might be received, you know, by those communities,
but that's an interesting thought. Idon't really know. So what kind of

(34:50):
what's next on the horizon for foryourself post the Curse? Well, I
currently am working on developing a TVseries that I would love to pitch,
and that's you know, it's inthe baby stages right now, but we're
working on it. And as faras acting goes, again, The Unexpected

(35:13):
should be coming out soon. Idon't know exactly when. And then let's
see. Other than that, Ithink we've got let's see. My production
company, seven to one Productions,has permacross and Dispatch still doing its last
legs of festival run here in theStates. I think that's about it for

(35:37):
now. I know there is afilm that a friend of mine made called
Hidden Flora that I technically helped produce, but really I just kind of helped
fund. It's really their project,not mine, So i'd encourage anyone to
see Hidden Flora as well. It'sanother new Mexico local indie film that I

(36:01):
think is going to be really greatmade by Ryan Rocks. Their previous films
have been astounding, so that's prettycool trying to think, well, so
I have going on. I thinkthat's about it for now. I'm definitely
cures to see Permafrost, like itfeels like. When I read the kind
of description of it the other day, I was like, oh, yeah,
that was just like kind of Texas, Like was it a year or
two ago when it just like thewhole slate just like fell apart with whether

(36:25):
that you know here in Scotland wewouldn't kind of say boo to and all
that sort of stuff. It wascrazy to see how it completely fell apart
and so on. Was that abit of an inspiration or was it one
of those ones you saw that happenyou were like, I can literally tell
you there's a great film out there, but I imagine a few steps beyond
for real. I was actually submittingPermafrost to festivals when that was happening,

(36:47):
and I was definitely mentioning that inmy in my little cover letter on film
Freeway. I was like, Hey, this is happening in Texas right now.
I'm feeling a little guilty did Imanifest this? I hope not.
Do you have a politician that fliesaway to another exactly at the same time.

(37:09):
And where's the best place to kindof stay up to date for for
people that want to kind of followthese projects or what you've got coming next.
You can check us out at sevento one Productions dot co. It
seems like it should be dot com. It's dot co. Also, we
have seven to one Productions Instagram.Let's see, I have my personal Instagram

(37:34):
Ali Ali sixty five. What elseLinkedIn? Technically I have. I'm barely
ever on it, but you canfind me there. Well. Thank you
so much. Like Ali, Ireally appreciate you taking the time to come
on. This was so fun.Thank you so much.