Mackenzie Davis talks ' Happiest Season' and mentions Kristen in Flaunt Magazine

 

What was the deciding factor for you to join Happiest Season? 

I didn’t know Clea [DuVall] before we met about the movie, but she was a friend of a really good friend of mine, and I just heard the most wonderful things about her, and it made me really ambitious to work with her and to force her into being my friend. So that was just a forgone conclusion before we even met. I was like ‘I’m in!’ But Kristen doing it was such a vote of confidence. I think she has such an interesting career and she’s not precious about the work that she does in that everything is going to be nominated for a César Award. 

What I really appreciated about the film is not only does it break boundaries because it creates this same-sex romance on screen, but it also does it in a genuine way. You’re not perfect, Kristen’s character is not perfect. Were you aware you were making a film that was going to change things a little bit?

I think we were aware of the headlines—that it’s the first queer-fronted studio romantic comedy Christmas movie ever made. So we knew that was the banner of the movie, but in terms of all the stuff, the imperfections, and the character failings and stuff like that, I felt sort of worried about it and insecure when we were filming it. And there’s also this feeling that I had making the movie, and that I had watching the movie, where I’m like, ‘These girls are going to have a lot of work to do on their relationship after this.’ Like it doesn’t feel like it ends now. There’s a lot of unpacking, this experience is going to go on, so I guess what I’m saying is: I think all those messy bits do make it better because it’s not a riding off into the sunset sort of story.

It’s quite difficult to find a piece about you that doesn’t mention the word ‘feminist’, and I want to know how you feel about having that label thrust upon you. Perhaps it comes from the fact that you have a degree in Gender Studies, but I wonder if that’s ever felt like a very convenient label that journalists thrust upon you?

Well, I don’t think it’s a label, because it’s something that I have no reservations about, nor have I ever had any reservations about identifying as. It feels almost passé to call yourself a ‘feminist’ now, because it’s like, if you’re not, what the fuck are you doing?! [laughs] Where do your beliefs land? So I don’t know the potency it has anymore. There was a weird time where it was extremely potent and scary for people to say and then extremely in vogue and then the in-vogue-ness has now made it feel kind of limp or something. It’s just a belief that women should be treated equally or receive equal rights to men—it’s not a really radical point of view.

But to the other part of your question, I do think the conversation surrounding feminism, strong female characters, women in Hollywood, are lazy and are sort of pigeonholing the actor answering the question even further into another category, instead of being able to have a conversation about the work that they did, the role. I find I’m constantly asked about the optics of the things: what does this mean for the future of women in Hollywood and they always want a think piece on it, which is not my job. My beliefs are evident across my resume. I’ve made very specific choices because of the things I want to see in the world and the things I believe. And to have to constantly answer about my gender in interviews even if it’s talking about—not in this case, sorry—even if it’s talking about positive advancements, just feels like I don’t get to talk about more interesting things, or things that aren’t tied to gender identity. But you know, you have to talk about things to death until they stop being interesting, so hopefully we are getting close to that. 

Happiest Season talks about something else which is quite interesting and quite deep, and that’s being truthful to yourself and being truthful about who you are to others. Have you ever gotten in trouble for being quite strongly the person you are and not doubling down from that. Or have you doubled down?

I think I tend to double down, I don’t know, I mean life’s a journey and you’re changing all the time. There are times when I was so unpleasantly staunch in my opinions and the way I communicated them to people. I then had a period of recalibration where I was like, ‘Leave room for other people to argue with you without you needing to own them,’ and like dominate a conversation, but I don’t know. I’m thinking of this time when I was in theater school, which was like the maddest I’ve been in my life. We would do scenes and sometimes there was nudity in scenes—it felt like a safe environment, part of exploring things, but I heard of a list that was in the basement of the theater school in the boys’ locker room rating all of the girls’ bodies. We were in our early twenties, not fourteen—not that it would be okay then—but there was just such a lack of respect and privacy. We were sharing our naked bodies as part of a very, very safe space to do work, and I was furious and told them to get rid of this list. 

Then we were working in the basement of the school on another day and I saw the list, like pinned up on the wall, and I have never yelled or been possessed with a demon in the way that I was when I found it. And I just remember ripping it off the wall, walking in the middle of the classroom where a class was going on, and screaming at all of these immature little boys and then storming out of school and not coming back until the next day.

I tell that story because I really relate to this—in terms of doubling down your personality—but I do feel like I get possessed with a feeling of this miscarriage of justice or something, and that can lead me to behave erratically. Also, socially I don’t think a lot of people liked me at that school because I was not fun. 

Read Mackenzie's full interview at the source.