Interview with Kickstart My Heart's Kelsey Bollig

Kickstart My Heart is a horror-action short film by Kelsey Bollig. After a violent accident, Lilly (Emma Pasarow) wakes to find herself having barely escaped the steel grip of death, only to discover the fight has just begun. Lilly has to battle through her mind’s multiple levels of hell and bloody torment in order to regain control over her consciousness.

Kickstart My Heart was screened at Fighting Spirit Film Festival 2022 and won Best International Short Film, Best International Cinematography and Emma Pasarow winning Best Actress and Kelsey Bollig winning Best Director.

The director Kelsey Bollig is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles, who creates an intriguing sensory experience when you watch her films. Her past short films have won awards around the festival circuit, including Best Director at NOLA Horror Film Festival.

Describe Yourself in Three Fictional Characters.

Abigail Whistler from Blade Trinity - she's tough, feminine and a total survivor.

The exploding baby from The Incredibles - just a ball of happy flammable energy.

Trinity from the Matrix - Honestly, I think I just want to be her.

Photo Courtesy of Kelsey Bollig

What are your first memories of film?

The Sixth Sense was the first live-action film I remember seeing in the theatre. I remember my parents taking my brother and me and hoping it wouldn't give us nightmares (it did). However, I'm so grateful for that movie because it inspired the love of horror I quickly developed after watching.

When did you know that you wanted to pursue a career in filmmaking?

I was an odd child. Horror was my genre of choice at an early age and I knew I wanted to at least be a screenwriter by the age of 12. At 12 years old I wrote a couple of feature scripts that ended up being finalists/winning awards at The Shriekfest Film Festival in Hollywood. These wins gave me the confidence to move forward with writing making horror the genre that invited me to participate as a filmmaker.

Can you tell us about your first job in film?

My first small job was PAing for America's Got Talent when the show came to Denver, CO. I was the person in charge of the walkie-talkies and was THRILLED to be on any kind of a set even a reality competition show. Funny story, I was actually fired and escorted off the set because producers recognized me from an audition tape I sent in to audition live on the show. Apparently, contestants can't also be PA's. HA, I was clearly very young and had no idea what I was doing.

How did you get into horror filmmaking? And what do you hope to see more of in the horror genre?

After film school, I moved to California and wrote films at night to try and feed my creative itch. I quickly learned that the only way those scripts were ever going to be seen was if I made them myself. So I cut my feature scripts down to short size, began collaborating with producer friends, and we scrapped together some productions. Once I began that journey, it never really stopped. I hope to see more horror with some light at the end of the tunnel. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with doom and gloom, I love a good nihilistic horror film...but lately, I've really been craving horror with heart. I'm a fan of showing the good in the world through the darkness.

Kickstart My Heart is a personal film, do you mind telling us your personal relationship with the film?

Not at all. In 2019 I was crossing an intersection on foot in LA and I ended up being hit and literally run over by a car. I broke 30 bones, lacerated my spleen and liver, my lungs collapsed and I had a mild concussion. After spending 2 months recovering in the hospital, I spent the next year in rehab finding the strength in my body again without pain. The whole ordeal of the accident was a long, painful, and silent process and it inspired the initial makings of Kickstart My Heart. There is something to be said about the loneliness of healing. It's a hard thing to understand. From the outside, healing is quiet, it's slow-moving, but on the inside, it's a ruthless battle. I really wanted to put a face to that pain.

Photo Courtesy of Kelsey Bollig

What was your writing process for Kickstart My Heart?

I wrote Kickstart My Heart a100 times in my head before ever putting pen to paper (typing it out). it was a film I wrote during rehab every week. For each body part I was focusing on that week, I'd imagine being injured in the accident and what that would look like in a battle. Because the original idea was just a short film, it only took me a day to write. I'm a quick writer when I've already fleshed out the story. Now the feature has turned out to be the trek of a lifetime and I'm someone who, against everyone's best wishes, doesn't like to outline (queue the boos). I like the let the characters tell me what they want before going back in and really fleshing out a structure, it's unconventional but it's worked out for me thus far!

How did you decide on the title Kickstart My Heart and did you have any other previous titles for the film?

The film has always been called Kickstart My Heart and yes it was very much inspired by the Motley Cruë song. To me the song very much depicted what the film was about, that adrenaline kick you get when fighting for your life. The song was actually inspired by Nikki Sixx's near-death experience when he overdosed on drugs so the themes are heavy throughout both the song and the film.

Can you talk to us about creating a sensory experience on Kickstart My Heart?

I've always been a musically driven and energy-driven filmmaker. I like to feel emersed in what I make and as a by-product, I hope to force the audience into an emersion as well. Everything in the film really drives this from the color pallet to the lensing. We really tried to make the movie appear as if it could suck you into the frame at any moment. We used 14mm lenses to help really give that "in her mind" feel and to keep everything in focus so no detail was left behind. We dove into every bone crack in the sound mix, and we weren't afraid to get close to moments to help gain the trust that everything we were doing was practical (even though it wasn't).

Can you talk about the special effects and makeup design for Kickstart My Heart?

Yes, we didn't have a lot of resources regarding special fx for this film so we did end up doing a lot of VFX on the back end to bring a lot of blood back into the film (my partner is a VFX artist so we were lucky enough to snag him for this project). Our location was super touchy about blood so we couldn't spray blood around the set even though I so badly wanted to. However, we did have an incredible SFX artist named Kao who hand-painted our zombies and our vampire monster like an absolute champion. The vampire monster was very much inspired by the monsters from Neil Marshal's The Descent which were monsters that terrified me as a kid - however, we did put our own spin on them.

How did you collaborate with Joshua Mabie on the stunts for the film?

Josh is an angel from the heavens. He is such a talented and incredible human being. I had never done action before this project so he really held my hand through the process of designing and connecting our fights to our story. I knew the general looks and feel I wanted the fights to have, the logic behind the development of our lead's skills she finds her inner warrior, I knew I wanted to move from sloppy to refined and the emotional beats, and Josh really created choreography that checked all the boxes I was Imagining. He also was our cam opp which was a HUGE help in giving the film that interactive feel I really wanted. Josh was really able to anticipate and dance with our stunt performers in ways no other cam opp who was just hopping in the for the day could.

How was your experience making Kickstart My Heart? Were there any particularly challenging days or really enjoyable days on set?

Photo Courtesy of Kelsey Bollig

The experience was stressful but incredible. The challenge was really in the fact that we had 3 days to cover SO much ground but the energy from our stunt team really carried us through. Every day was unique and such a blast, I am now addicted to action.

The credits of Kickstart My Heart show real-life footage from your accident, as well your recovery journey. How did it feel for you to put this personal footage and photos onto a very personal film?

In the making of the end credits, It felt strangely like a huge release. I felt like I was letting go of the accident by revealing the events to the world. But when we actually showed the film, the end credit sequence started to feel like my way of connecting to the audience. After each showing of the film we've had, audience members have come up to me and shared their stories of recovery and loss. It's extremely touching. I've never felt so in tune with my audience and I'm grateful for that.

What is your favourite part of the final edit of Kickstart My Heart?

The atrium zombie fight scene is definitely my favorite action sequence but the ending between Lilly and Richie really is my favorite part of the film. Emma Pasarow and Cooper Alexander really did an incredible job at portraying these characters in a hauntingly honest and pure way - It's really what the film is about.

Do you have any upcoming projects that you can tell us about?

Yeah! I'm happy to share that I'm attached to direct a horror film called BREEDERS that's with Lionsgate and Hyperobject and will be starring Olivia Cooke! I'm also finishing the feature for Kickstart My Heart and hope to bring that out to the studios soon.

Photo Courtesy of Kelsey Bollig

Speed Round. Choose One Film for each question.

1. What is your favourite film by your favourite filmmaker?
   American Psycho by Mary Harron

2. What film surprised you the most?

   Most recently, Barbarion.

3. What is the film you’re most excited to see?

   Triangle of Sadness and the new Evil Dead film

4. Your favourite person, what is their favourite film?

   My grandfather Lynn - he ADORES Love Actually

5. Which cinematic universe would you like to live in, e.g. The Grand Budapest Hotel, MCU, Sailor Moon?

   Everything Everywhere All at Once - specifically the hot dog fingers universe

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