Jennifer Kent
Jennifer Kent is an Australian director, screenwriter, and former actress. She is best known for writing and directing the psychological horror film The Babadook. Her second film, The Nightingale, premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival and was nominated for the Golden Lion.
Early life and education
Jennifer Kent was born in Brisbane, Queensland. She says that she put on her first play when she was seven and also wrote stories. In an interview with Paul Risker, she states, "I actually started writing my own plays as a kid: directing and acting in them," and that "it was something that was very organic for me."In her late teens, she chose acting as she "wasn't really aware at that stage that women could direct films". While growing up, there weren't many female filmmakers in her region, so she aspired to become an actress and attend the National Institute of Dramatic Art.She graduated in 1991 from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Performing Arts.
By the end of her journey with education, she claims she "was burnt out and had terrible stage fright," in a masterclass interview that took place in August of 2020. After a while, she figured that acting wasn't for her after all, but wanted to continue writing and directing. Kent described her writing process as bad, resulting in her becoming doubtful of her ability to be a director. As she continued writing, however, the feeling that she could succeed became more apparent.
A strong, memorable moment for her is when she viewed the film "Dancer in the Dark," a film written a directed by Lars von Trier. At the end of the viewing, she leaped into the air and stated, "I'm going to work with the man who made this film." She was eventually offered the opportunity to spend a day on set, and after that experience, she ultimately realized that she was capable of becoming a director and writer.
Career
Acting
Kent began her career as an actress, working primarily in television. She was a main cast member of Murder Call, from creator Hal McElroy, playing Constable, Dee Suzeraine, in all 31 episodes of the series. She also appeared in several episodes of other Australian TV series such as All Saints, Police Rescue and Above the Law. Kent also had a small role in Babe: Pig in the City and The New Adventures of Black Beauty. She has also been an acting teacher for 13 years at major institutions such as NIDA and the Australian Film Television and Radio School.Directing
After losing interest in acting, Kent was inspired after seeing Dancer in the Dark to pursue a career as a filmmaker. She wrote to the director Lars von Trier, asking to study under him and explaining that she found the idea of film school repellent. In 2002 von Trier allowed her to assist him as part of a directing attachment on the set of his film Dogville starring Nicole Kidman.In a journal by Paul Risker, which speaks about "The Quarterly Review of Film & Video", Kent shared her journey on becoming a director. While working with Lars von Trier, she "learned a lot about directing watching him at work." In 2006 Kent directed an episode of Two Twisted, an Australian series following in the tradition of The Twilight Zone.
In 2005 Kent directed her short film Monster, which was screened at over 50 festivals around the world, including Telluride, Montreal World, and Slamdance film festivals, SXSW, and Aspen Shortsfest.
While she didn't make this short film with the idea of The Babadook already in mind, she says people think otherwise. She exclaims that without this short film, The Babadook wouldn't have been possible. Before making The Babadook, Kent made three to four full-length feature scripts that couldn't get funded within Australia. She was left with two choices: give up or go outside of Australia. She states that Binger, a film lab in Amsterdam that acts as a creative residence for writers and directors, helped support Kent through the creation of The Babadook and, ultimately, saved her creative life.
In 2014 she adapted her short into a feature-length film The Babadook starring Essie Davis whom Kent had known through drama school. The film tells the story of a single mother played by Davis who must confront a sinister presence in her home while dealing with the emotional fallout of her husband's death. Kent Explains " was always quite fascinated by people who could suppress really dark, deep, painful experiences and wanted to explore the idea that perhaps pushing down on those terrible experiences is harder than facing them". The Babadook premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, and was quickly picked up for distribution in the U.S. by IFC Films. Kent did five drafts of the feature script, received most of her funding from the South Australian Film Corporation, then conducted a Kickstarter campaign to help raise US$30,000 to pay for set construction. The Babadook received widespread critical acclaim, and doubled its budget with $4.9 million in the worldwide box office. The Babadook script won the Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting at the 2015 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.
Kent has been vocal in the press about the lack of female directors in horror cinema. "It will shift, as the world shifts. Women do love watching scary films. It's been proven, and they've done all the tests. The demographics are half men, and half women. And we know fear. It's not like we can't explore the subject."
Kent met with executives at Warner Bros. in late 2014 to talk about possibly directing the Wonder Woman film, a job which eventually went to Patty Jenkins.
Later in March of 2017, Jennifer Kent began the production of The Nightingale, starring Aisling Franciosi and Baykali Ganambarr, who play Clare Carroll and Billy. The film takes place in 1825 and tells a story of Clare, who seeks vengeance, and a tracker named Billy, whom she hires.
While making the film, Kent felt that she couldn't authentically tell the story unless she collaborated with Tasmanian Aboriginal people. While in Tasmania, she eventually got in touch with Jim Everett, who became a part of the film's production. In an interview called "Once Upon a Time in Van Diemen's Land" by Graham Fuller, Kent shared, "We enlisted "Uncle" Jim Everett, a Tasmanian Aboriginal Elder, who could speak directly to the experience." She also states that without Jim Everett's vast input, she wouldn't have made Billy as real as possible. She also stated that Nightingale "was the only movie directed by a woman to play in competition at the Venice Film Festival last year."
Style & Themes
When designing the soundtrack for The Babadook, Kent states, "I think a lot of modern horror films tend to just think a loud sound is an assault, and that's a way to scare people." According to Kent, sound, an effect in film she adores, is extremely important to horror films. She explains that "we worked very hard with the Babadook soundtrack to make something that was truly unsettling." While creating the voice of The Babadook, she described the process as one of trial and error. Afraid that the character would sound stupid, she waited to finalize sound designs until she heard the one sound that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.When initially designing the Babadook's appearance, Kent was inspired by Lon Chaney's makeup design in London After Midnight. When building a character, Kent starts with a feeling of something that, at first, is amorphous, as she describes it. With the Babadook, Kent was drawn to the feeling of grief and its impact if left undiscussed. Kent claims the Babadook, inspired by the idea of facing grief, thus came to her and "wanted to be discussed" in "a scary form" due to the fact that grief, itself, is a "fear of feeling" and a "definite specific terror."
''The Babadook'' (2014)
When making films, Kent explains she tends to start writing from an idea. While making the film, The Babadook, she shared that she was in the process of grieving. She didn't want the idea behind the film to surround that feeling of grief, but instead suppression due to a fascination she had with the idea of someone unable to go through the process of a big loss. This gave her the "lightning bolt," as she describes it, which came to her and allowed the film to grow.Her first feature-length film, The Babadook, is a supernatural horror film written and directed by Kent. In late 2014, Kent announced that, due to popular demand, a limited edition of the Mister Babadook pop-up book featured in her film The Babadook would be published in 2015. Kent wrote the book in collaboration with illustrator Alex Juhasz, who had created the prop book used in the film. The book sold out its run of 6,200 copies.
''The Nightingale'' (2018)
Her second film, The Nightingale, deals with murder and revenge in 1825 Tasmania. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film garnered an approval rating of 86%, based on 234 reviews.The film received funding from an investment from Screen Australia and financial support from Kojo Productions and Screen Tasmania. The film ended up with a budget of two million dollars and received less than half of the costs, causing the film to be a failure at the box office.
''The Murmuring'' (2022)
In Del Toro's television series "Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities," Jennifer Kent directed a short story from Del Toro in episode eight of the series, titled "The Murmuring."The episode stars Essie Davis and Andrew Lincoln. They play as a married couple who have moved into a new home and use their work to suppress their grief. Kent takes the direction for this short story and uses her horror anthology to explore the episode's grief and turn it into horror.
Personal life
As an actress wanting to direct, Kent explains she felt boxed in in some areas. In an interview, she recalled a time when she was younger and she told a friend that she wanted to direct. According to Kent, her friend, acknowledging the struggles female directors face, responded by asking "Why do you have to make everything so hard for yourself?" In some ways, Kent thought she was right, but explained that she has felt, as an Australian, she could not live in Australia and not tell the stories of others facing similar struggles of their ownWhen making The Babadook, she met with two Australian screenwriters to decide on production, and was asked if the film was real or psychological. These writers claimed a film could not have both, to which Kent responded, "Yes, I think you can." While making her argument, Kent referenced The Shining as an example of a film which does so. The response she was given was "yeah, but you're not Kubrick." Kent explained that these were the kind of blocks she faced in the process of becoming a female film director.
The Australian screenwriters denied her script, forcing her to alter it. When she later returned, with two changed pages, they allowed her to move forward with making the film. While it was the same script, according to Kent, "you have to fight hard and be slippery to find a way through to keep the script you want." Jennifer Kent tells young emerging filmmakers to understand that resistance, disapproval, and rejection are part of the filmmaking process. She explains that The Babadook's script was criticized heavily, the production and cut as well. She says to be stubborn, but also to learn to take criticism and listen to great ideas.