Actress Yolanda Ross has been in a plethora of films from Woody Allen’s “Whatever Works” to the propulsive drama “Antwone Fisher.” Ross occasionally directs with a short entitled “Breaking Night” completed. Initially auditioning for a different film for writer-director John Sayles (“Amigo”), she ended up nabbing a part as the strong-willed protagonist of Fontayne in “Go For Sisters.” The film tracks the travails of the friendship between Ross’s character and Bernice (Lisa Gay Hamilton, “Jackie Brown”) as they attempt to save Bernice’s son from kidnappers in Mexico.
Ross, nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her part in the film, took time to chat with The Eagle’s David Kahen-Kashi about how she landed the part and working on such a tight schedule.
E: How did you first get involved with the film?
Yolanda Ross: I met John [Sayles] in 2007, I’d auditioned for “Honeydripper.” From what I’ve heard him say in interviews, he thought I was too young for that part and Lisa Gay Hamilton got that part that I went up for. He had notated that he thought I was a really good actress and needed to work with me. So next time I heard from him was when I got the script for “Go For Sisters.” He had written the part for me and sent me the script and the bio.
E: What was the preparation for your character of Fontayne? Did you do any research beforehand?
YR: Well, I already played a character that had been in jail so I knew that side of Fontayne already. With “Go For Sisters” it wasn’t part of our script, so it wasn’t like I needed to go into jail and all that kind of stuff. What I did for Fontayne was I focused on past regrets. I think things that anybody, well every person has something in their past they wished they hadn’t of done, and that feeling within her. And wanting to go forward and getting a second chance with this friendship and make something of it.
E: What was the dynamic between you and Lisa Gay Hamilton when playing these characters?
YR: We took to the parts very easy I felt in a way. We got along as friends right off, so it worked really easily. I think from John knowing both of us or having met both of us, like he actually did get to work with Lisa Gay, he knew her mannerism more. I feel good actors understand what it is their doing and who the characters are that you’re playing and John made it really clear with the bios for the characters. So I think knowing who your friend is, you know, really knowing that person and also knowing and feeling that that is the one person in your life that saw you as a human being. So no matter how hard or how much of a stiff kind of personality she made come up as, you know her as a human. And she knows you as one too. Not as this person who messes up and is in jail, she knows you as that little girl and saw the good in you. And I think they know both sides of each other.
E: Was it tough to create a character with the speed of the shoot shot over 16 days in 66 locations? Is that exciting to shoot a film that fast?
YR: Yeah, it’s exciting. It is what it is, it’s an experience. Each film is an experience. It was a good experience to be able to get up and do your work and not sit around all day. It went by so fast that a lot of it kind of felt like that we were going. As far as creating a character, I mean you are this person when you hit the set so it’s really just going through each scene and just being alive and present in each scene. Cause I can’t look at it as a whole. I just really look at it as each moment. So I’m playing the moment whenever I’m going to set. Each time we shoot it, it’s like it has got to be a fresh thing. It can’t be like I’m thinking about a whole picture overall.
This interview has been condensed for style and clarity purposes.
