Petting Zoo, director Micah Magee’s intimate portrait of a young woman from a low-income family coping with an unexpected pregnancy, premiered earlier this year at the Berlin Film Festival to a warm reception. Shot in and around San Antonio, Magee was excited to bring the film back to Texas as part of this year’s SXSW Film Festival.
We had an opportunity to speak with Magee and Petting Zoo star Devon Keller during the festival’s opening weekend. Find out what they had to say below.
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First things first, I just have to say that I enjoyed your film, and that it’s very nice to see this type of subject matter approached from a place of empathy and understanding, rather than a place of judgement.
Micah Magee: Yay, thank you!
So tell me a little bit about the setting. I know you wanted to shoot in San Antonio because you grew up there, right?
Micah Magee: Yeah I went to Clark High School where we shot the film, and Devon is from there. There are locations I spent a lot of time in growing up. There are also places where my cousins and family still kind of are, so we enlisted a lot of family members.
And Devon, this is your first film, right?
Devon Keller: This was my first film ever.
Was it absolutely terrifying?
Devon Keller: You know, you’re the first person to really say it like that. I was so terrified. I remember when she was actually considering me for the part, and in my head I was like “Should I be doing this, should I be doing this.” Like “Dev, you’ve always done live theater, you don’t know anything about film.” And then I was like “Come on, don’t hold yourself back.” So I finally just overcame that. But at first I was terrified.
Was it important for you to cast someone from San Antonio?
Micah Magee: It didn’t start out that way. We did an open call in San Antonio, just like a couple of little lines in the newspaper. Nobody had paid attention to what I’d written down in terms of what the roles were, there were just all types of people who were interested in the story. It almost turned into sort of a research thing, because most of the people who had come in were women between the ages of 40 to 45 who had lived through similar experiences and just wanted to talk about it. So that was really interesting, but didn’t help with casting.
I saw Devin in a fashion show at the high school. She was in the audience, and she won a burrito. So she was on her way up to get her Taco Bell coupon or whatever and I was like “Whoa, she’s it.” But it took a really long time to get her to come in to a casting because she was like “Who are you, why do you want my number?”
I got her mom’s number finally and they all came in. It took a long time to get my producers on board as well. She had never acted before on screen and they weren’t sure she could carry the role. I was just really stubborn. I’m so happy I did it. She was amazing.
Was it strange for you to be shooting in the same place you went to school?
Devon Keller: The school brought out so much of my personal self, so I had to really just draw myself out and be like “Dev, this isn’t your high school, this is Layla’s.” It was challenging just because the school is so much of myself rather than Layla. There was a scene we shot in the movie in a place where I used to hang out and eat lunch and that’s exactly what Layla is doing. It was just so weird.
The film played at the Berlin Film Festival, and it got a very positive response. Is there a sense of relief that came over you when that happened?
Devon Keller: Oh you have no idea, yes. When I first saw the film – I think it’s just because you’re watching yourself – I was like “oh my gosh, I could have done so much better in that part.” I just remind myself that Micah wouldn’t have finished the film unless she was complete about it. So as long as she was happy with it, I’ll be happy with it. Once I saw that everyone else liked the film I was like “I’m being a bit too self critical.” You know, it’s hard to watch yourself on screen.
The subject matter is something that continues to be a hot button topic in society and politics, but rather than take a stand on side of the fence or the other, you explore all the different aspects of how this will affect this young lady’s life, and the struggles over the choices she has to make. I think it’s refreshing to see a film approach this subject like that.
Micah Magee: It’s important for me for my characters to be approaching the role from the inside, not the outside. So not looking at the characters and pitying them, or judging them, or knowing what they should do better. It was important for them to be able to establish empathy for the character. With this topic you find people who want a clear answer. They want your decision, they want your idea of what that is.
I think in filmmaking and acting you have the opportunity to create empathy. By doing something like that you can help create social change that is actually coming from inside the people watching, because they not only know more about it, but can feel more about it. They can understand each other better. I really hope we can have people from both sides of the pro-life/pro-choice debate come together, and maybe look for some solutions for how a young woman in that situation can be better supported to fulfill her potential, whatever her choice might be. I would love it if people would watch the film and find each other that way.
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Petting Zoo is currently screening at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival.