Unseen Interview: Yoko Okumura, Midori Francis, & Jolene Purdy Talk Blumhouse Thriller

Unseen Interview: Yoko Okumura, Midori Francis, & Jolene Purdy Talk Blumhouse Thriller

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Unseen director Yoko Okumura and stars Midori Francis and Jolene Purdy about the upcoming thriller. The trio discussed female friendship and implementing consistent tension. Paramount Home Entertainment releases Unseen digitally and through video-on-demand today, and it will begin streaming on MGM+ in May. “Two women form an unlikely connection when a depressed gas station clerk Sam, receives a call from Emily, a nearly blind woman who is running from her murderous ex in the woods,” reads the film’s synopsis. “Emily must survive the ordeal with Sam being her eyes from afar using video call.”...

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Unseen director Yoko Okumura and stars Midori Francis and Jolene Purdy about the upcoming thriller. The trio discussed female friendship and implementing consistent tension. Paramount Home Entertainment releases Unseen digitally and through video-on-demand today, and it will begin streaming on MGM+ in May. “Two women form an unlikely connection when a depressed gas station clerk Sam, receives a call from Emily, a nearly blind woman who is running from her murderous ex in the woods,” reads the film’s synopsis. “Emily must survive the ordeal with Sam being her eyes from afar using video call.” Tyler Treese: Yoko, female friendship is at the core of Unseen. Can you speak to getting these two great leads and making that story, that relationship between them that happens all over the phone, a compelling part of this thriller? Yoko Okumura: Yeah, the female friendship at the anchor of the story was what made me want to make the movie. I read the script and I was like, “This is the key component where I can really imbue my own authentic experiences into.” My female friendships have been the most important friendships in my life and the most important relationships in my life. So I really knew in the casting process, I really wanted to find some two people who brought very different strengths and very different vulnerabilities to the table that would be complimentary to each other. You know, Midori immediately brought this raw intensity and strength to Emily and Jolene brought this immediate vulnerability, but this kind of quieter strength that was really buried underneath. So I just knew that together, it was going to be like fire, like sparks. It was going to be a really amazing thing — and thank goodness, I was right, because it really was. Even on the first Zoom table read, which can be hard, everybody was complimenting how much chemistry they had immediately. Midori, like Yoko said, there’s a strength to your character and I love that you weren’t just a damsel in distress. You’re not just helpless, you are whooping some ass in the beginning of the movie. While you need assistance, there’s still a lot of strength to this character. What did you like about Emily being proactive in the script? Midori Francis: Yeah, man, it’s funny. Even hearing you say that, I’m like, “Ah yeah, Emily,” you know what I mean? As actors, you have so many different parts to yourself, but then a movie or a TV role comes up and then you take one of those aspects and then you kind of blow it up to become a character. So it was so nice to play somebody where strength and fortitude and resilience and just raw survival was the characteristic. It was so empowering and so fun. I’m not going to lie, I felt like a superhero on some days and, I don’t know, do I feel like that in my day-to-day life very often? Absolutely not. So it was awesome and I’m so grateful I got to do the part and work opposite Jolene who … when I first read the scripts, I’ll say — I loved my side, don’t get me wrong — but when I saw what happens with Sam towards the end and the twist and what she’s been going through, that’s the part that really moved me. And so seeing Jolene bring that to life on the screen and I was rooting for her so much like, “Sam, go Sam!” It was awesome. Jolene, there is that quiet strength to Sam as was mentioned and she seems over her head and she has her self doubts throughout the beginning, but she’s always doing her best to be of assistance. Can you speak to her resilience and her desire to help? Jolene Purdy: Yeah. I think she’s just weighed down by life, doesn’t see any hope, and then gets this phone call and I think it is just the trust and just — even though Emily is...