BrendanW 
This time, I got to sit down with the beautiful actress/model/writer/director Pandie Suicide! She talked about her time as a Suicide Girl, moving from New Zealand to the States, going from modelling to acting, writing, and directing, and even writing a book!
I wanna thank you for joining me today. It’s always wonderful when I can get someone on ‘Film Talk’ who can reach out to a lot of people who may not be familiar with their work.
Thank you!
Now you started off living in New Zealand if I’m not mistaken. It was there that you got involved with a website known as Suicide Girls. Tell us a little bit about that. What is Suicide Girls and how did you get on board with that?
I became a Suicide Girl in 2005 when I was living in New Zealand, which is where I’m from. There were no other Suicide Girls in New Zealand at that time. I decided to apply, shot my first set, got it accepted and now here we are today!
And then you came over to the United States in 2008, I believe, and what drove you to make such a huge move and change of scenery?
I wanted a challenge!
What was the first thing you started to do once you got here? Modeling, acting, writing, or does it all kind of blend together?
It was everything. I’m always doing everything I can’t separate all these different aspects of what I do from each other because, for me at least, they all come from the same place. I did start with more music videos as well as everything else when I first got to the States which I think can be kind of a crossover between modeling and acting, at least in some cases.
You star in a number of horror shorts so I would imagine you have a love of the genre. What are some of your favourites and maybe your favourite directors and styles?
I’m really partial to slasher flicks, anything with a lot of blood and preferably a serial killer or two. I also like vampire flicks and just anything dark and interesting. I like all the classic slasher flicks – Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween etc plus Maniac, Saw, Hostel, American Mary, The Collector. There are so many films I enjoy, one I recently saw which I loved is called Shock Value, it was about both making horror films and serial killers so it had everything I like!
Your first short film as writer/producer/actor just came out last year and it’s called “Massacre.” Tell us a little bit about that film and how you went from acting to finally getting to take the helm of a short film behind the scenes as well as in front of the camera.
The idea for Massacre came to me in a vivid, bloody and violent dream. It was such a crystal clear vision that I knew I had to make it a reality. I teamed up with Director Erik Boccio ( check out his great work on www.funnyordie.com under the moniker ‘weirdfellas’) who I felt totally got what I was trying to create – in fact I thought he was so in synergy with what I like to write and see on the screen that I’ve teamed up with him again for my next project Blood Bath, shooting this month with actress Kimberly Ables Jindra and FX make up artist Laney Chantal.
For Massacre I was very lucky to have an amazing cast of talented actors who are mostly also musicians. My two lead actors were Billy Morrison who plays guitar in Billy Idol’s band and has appeared as an actor in all kinds of things including an episode of one my favourite shows Californication, and London May who plays bass/drums in Glenn Danzig’s band Samhain as well as a whole host of other music projects, London is a highly trained theater actor and very accomplished. I think we were really lucky with what those two were able to bring to the screen! We also had an appearance from Jeff Hilliard a great comedic actor (check out his music videos online as well as his ‘jumpsuit lifestyle’ series of photos and videos), Katy Foley and Jeordie White who plays in Marilyn Manson among other things and was really great in his cameo role as a Street Detective (in fact stay tuned I think he was so good I may just have to work with him again on a certain upcoming project!), and Rob Patterson who previously has played guitar for Korn, Filter and Otep. Jeordie and Rob also co-wrote the score (with a song from artist/ musician Shannon Crawford also appearing in it) and did such a great job they won us an award at our first film festival appearance! We had DP Evan Pesses behind the camera making cinematic magic, and also Damian Lea as a producer along with myself. A lot of the post production work got done in New Zealand which was pretty awesome, our editor was Greg Daniels and some of the post work was even done at Peter Jackson’s Park Rd Post Production Studio which was super amazing for us as they do such high quality work!
Is “Massacre” available online to those who would like to see it or purchase it?
Not yet! It will be out later this year though, stay tuned!
You also did a whole lot of music videos for various artists ranging from Taylor Swift to Aerosmith to David Lynch’s “Crazy Clown Time” video. What was the experience like ranging from completely different styles like that especially when it compares to doing short films?
Shooting a music video is a lot like shooting a short film, albeit perhaps with less dialogue. The form of the music video can be a lot less linear however, a lot more free and experimental with whatever story it’s telling generally than the short film. They tend to run more on themes than on narratives though of course not always, as there are very experimental short films and music videos that are basically a short film set to music. I do really like the form of the music video, I think you can do a lot with it. One day maybe I’ll try my hand at directing one!
You are also a novelist! Tell us briefly about “Seraphim Song” and where people can check it out.
Seraphim Song is my debut novel. It’s in the urban fantasy genre though there are definitely some darker, more horror-esque elements in it for sure. It tells the story of Will A., half angel, half mortal and all rockstar. I actually wrote it a long, long time ago as a teenager and recently rediscovered it on an old harddrive. I decided to release it to see what the response would be like and it’s been great so far. You can find it on amazon.com, as well as my short story about vampires in my hometown back in New Zealand called Vampire Summer which hit a few Amazon bestsellers charts, including horror short stories which was pretty amazing for me and is also a piece I found on the same hard drive that I wrote when I was at university in New Zealand!
Is there anything else you’d like to plug? I noticed you are in a film set to be released sometime this year entitled “Ditch Day Massacre.” Anything you can say about that one? Weirdly enough, I found it listed as 2014 and 2016 so maybe you can help us with this one. Is this still a film that is yet to be released?
I’m not too sure what’s going on with that film, you’d have to ask the producer! It was a fun film to shoot though, it stars Bill Oberst Jr. who is amazing as a villain in it.
I really admire the fact that you’ve gone out and done such a wide variety of things in the film and modeling industry. Any advice for people looking to head down a similar career path?
Thank you! That’s very kind of you to say! My advice is to just get out there and do it! Whatever it is you want to achieve do everything you can to take even the smallest step towards it today, right now, this week! And do the same thing, over and over and eventually you will get to your destination! It’s hard work in the industry but please don’t give up if it’s what you really want to do! Just keep at it, keep learning, keep honing your skills, and most importantly keep creating! Good luck!
Thank you so much! Good luck in your future endeavours!
