By: Valerie Milano
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 6/23/2024 – In the world today, danger seems to be lurking around every corner, a new virus in every crowd, some form of harm looming behind every tree and bush. We have become so aware of the artificial threats that we sometimes fail to safeguard against the everyday dangers hiding right out in plain sight.
This is the premise behind writer/director Xenia Leblanc’s thriller “The Exposed,” which is having its world premiere at the Dances With Films festival this weekend. Starring Mack Ogden, Zöe Papia, Michael McWhorter (TizzyEnt), and Zach Zarvos, the film tells the story of a nurse who comes home exhausted after a long shift to find herself haunted by a much more malevolent presence than she ever could have imagined.
Leblanc, is the same actor who breathed life into the character Young Red in the hit Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black.” She also has a starring role in another Dances short, “The Pickup,” which is written, directed and produced by her husband Nicholas Acosta. Leblanc not only stars in, but shoulders a large share of the production duties, including second unit director, co-producer and even as a stunt driver in the action comedy.
Despite her hectic schedule, Leblanc took time to sit down with The Hollywood Times for an exclusive conversation about her film. She’s certainly paid her dues on her way to being a writer and director as well as a star.
Click below to see our exclusive interview:
The story, she said, is a classic bit of misdirection that sprang forth from an effort to make a short film under some very rigorous parameters – no CGI or VFX allowed; a story that could be told in five minutes or less; the incorporation of a mask of some kind; and the use of a photo from an iconic film.
“I thought of a story that could be filmed in a short period of time, so we filmed it in our apartment,” Leblanc said, adding they were able to produce a mask and the iconic photo, too.
“Another one of the challenges was we had to film it during the day,” she said. “So, we had to black out the windows to make sure there was no daylight coming in. I think our director of photography did really well.”
Leblanc explained that she came up with the idea of the main character being a nurse because “that is a very demanding profession and sometimes, when someone is that tired, they may not see things clearly.” For her part, Papia is excellent in this film. She has very little dialogue, but she is able to convey the story with her facial expressions and body language.
As easy as Leblanc, her cast and crew made telling this story, it has been difficult to talk about the film without giving away the plot twists. She did agree that “The Exposed” is something of a reverse cautionary tale.
“One of the things that I can tell you is, when I was a kid, I used to watch a show, I think it was called ‘9-1-1,’” she said. “It’s a very realistic show, and one of the things that really scared me as a kid was not so much the supernatural element of what can happen, but after watching that show, I was really freaked out by the natural causes of what can happen. So, I think that was one of the influences for me.”
For the rest of the story, folks are just going to have to spend five tense minutes at the TCL Chinese Theatre located at 6925 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles and learn the answers in person.
