By Kenn Gold
The multi-talented Camille Mana has two upcoming feature films that are sure to be noticed. She portrays "Missy Chin" in the anticipated April 2008 Miramax feature film
Smart People from Oscar-winning producer Michael London (
Sideways), in which she plays a student leader at odds with her English professor played by Dennis Quaid. In addition, Camille goes has a prominent role Lionsgate's teen comedy feature film
College. The story follows three high school seniors who visit a local college campus and have a wild weekend adventure, and will be released nationwide on January 4
th.
Camille is best known as "Lisa" on UPN sitcom One on One, now in syndication on The N. She also recently produced the short film, Equal Opportunity, a comedic satire. This film won the coveted Best Film award in NBC’s First Annual Comedy Shortcuts Film Festival. As a result, Camille inked a Development Deal with the network, and the result was Good Ol’ Boys, premiering soon on NBC’s digital delivery platform, dotcomedy.com. Camille also has the title role in the upcoming indie film The Samurai of Strongsville, Ohio – hitting festivals this spring. The offbeat teen coming-of-age story meets martial arts flick, revolves about “Suki Tan”, a teen outsider who battles her demons in an unusual way, and meets the consequences head-to-head. The challenging role required Camille to study the Japanese sword-fighting art of Kendo.
Camille recently took a breather and spoke with MediaBlvd Magazine about her upcoming films, and about the many projects she has going on. She also spoke in depth about her experiences filming College in post-Katrina New Orleans.
MediaBlvd> Can you tell us about College, the movie you just finished up?
Camille>Yeah, it’s a teen comedy coming out January 4th from Lions Gate. And it’s kind of in the vein of Superbad and American Pie. And I’d say it’s just as good as both of those, not your run of the mill teen comedy show. It’s starring Drake Bell and Haley Bennet from Music and Lyrics. Kevin Covais from American Idol, and Ryan Pinkston from Punk’d, and myself, and some other fun young people who are up and coming. I’m so excited. We did it in the Spring in New Orleans and it was kind of an interesting thing being on scene in New Orleans, because it’s definitely in a transitional space, which was kind of a bummer. But it’s really good that a lot of films are going into production there. It’s good for the city to have money coming in and stuff. But it was definitely an interesting experience. We were on location for a couple of months, so it was definitely a good Spring time experience.
MediaBlvd> Had you been in New Orleans before Katrina, at all?
Camille>No, actually that was my very first time. I actually arrived on Fat Tuesday for the last three hours of Mardi Gras. It was really an interesting time to get off the plane. I arrived with two of my cast mates, and we were like “whoa, if this is what New Orleans is going to be like for two month’s, we’re in for something.” Then it was normal the next day. I was really freaked out, and there was a lot of debauchery going on, but that was just the end of the celebration.
MediaBlvd> So you only got in 3 hours of debauchery before it ended?
Camille>Yeah, only 3 hours, but the next 2 months were kind of debaucherous as well, both on camera and off! In the movie especially, because almost every scene we were doing is a party scene, with a college party movie. Then off camera, we’d be doing that too. So it was a fun time.
MediaBlvd> Is there still just a lot of obvious damage around, and things that haven’t been rebuilt?
Camille>Definitely. The stuff you see on TV is…., or I guess you don’t really even see that much on TV anymore. But I’d encourage people still, to send whatever you can over there. The weird thing about it is I’d never spent time in the south before. I’m from California, and the amazing thing was the people there. Most of the crew were local, and some of them have been coming back from being relocated after this terrible tragedy. It’s so phenomenal how you survive, and everyone is so warm, and easy going, and genuine, and has such a positive outlook. After having gone through what they’ve gone through, it’s really incredible how all of them are such good people, and to have been around that environment after what they’ve gone through.
MediaBlvd> Would you say everyone was really welcoming?
Camille>There’s a lot going on in both New Orleans and Shreveport with both major studio films, and independent films. It’s really good because it’s bringing in a lot of jobs to the locals, and revenue to the state. It’s a really good thing I think.
MediaBlvd> Can you tell us about Smart People?
Camille>Yeah, Smart People I actually did before College, in the Winter of last year. We filmed in Pittsburgh, and it’ll be out April 11. Miramax has picked it up, and there’s some buzz that it might be up for some potential awards, because it’s pretty fun. Michael London who was the head producer of Sideways and other really amazing movies that all go to Sundance and win lots of awards, and other producers who have done films like Brokeback Mountain- it was such a blessing to be welcomed into that family on such a great project. It was a life changing experience; in such a different way that college was not. That will be out April 11th. Do you want the synopsis?
MediaBlvd> Yes, please.
Camille>It’s starring Dennis Quad, Thomas Haden Church, and Jessica Parker and Ellen Page. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with her yet, but you will be soon because she’s coming up in so many movies. She’s 19 and she’s probably going to win an Oscar by the time she’s 21 or something. It’s kind of Dennis Quad having a mid-life crisis. He’s an English professor and he’s lost the pleasure in his job. He’s becoming this curmudgeonly old dude. It’s a dramedy by the way, kind of in the tone of Sideways, where it’s hilarious, but also heart breaking to see what he’s going through. I play this antagonistic student leader, who is trying to get him in trouble for being such a retarded professor, and also, I’m dating his son, but he doesn’t even know it because he is completely out of his kid’s life. And he’s falling in love with Sarah Jessica Parker’s character. Thomas Haden Church is his half brother who comes back into the picture, and between those relationships, he becomes a good dad again, and a good professor. He finds himself once again. It was just such an amazing script. I was reading it again on a plane on the way to Pittsburgh, and I was crying and laughing out loud. This stuffy old dude next to me was saying “What’s going on with this girl?” It’s such an amazing movie; I just can’t wait for it to come out. I’m excited about College too, but they are such different movies. It’s going to be interesting to see how 2008 plays out for me. I love teen movies, and I love potential Oscar award winning movies. So I’m excited.
MediaBlvd> It sounds like you have some really exciting stuff going on with Equal Opportunity as well. Can you tell us about that?
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Equal Opportunity- embedded from YouTube
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Camille>I’ve been on hiatus from a sitcom I used to be on, called One on One, which I thought was going to go to The CW, but it ended up be syndicated to The N. Out of boredom I sort of wanted to produce something with some friends, so I made this short film called Equal Opportunity. And we ended up going the Montreal Comedy film festival, and ended up winning at a bunch of other festivals, including this NBC annual comedy film festival. We ended up winning first place in that, and got this development deal with NBC, and just finished up this follow-up project. It’s been interesting learning the other side of film making, not just being in front of the camera. There’s so much involved and it makes you appreciate every single person on set. When I was working on College, I made sure to talk to every person on the crew to learn about their jobs, because everybody is a vital part of the process.
MediaBlvd> Isn’t it pretty rare to get a development deal like that?
Camille>Yeah it is. When I called up my writer friend, whose short sketch I’d had on my computer for a year that he wrote in college. I was like, let’s just a camera and do this on a weekend, and it turned into a much bigger ordeal. We were able to get pretty known comedic actors, and I don’t even know how I convinced them to do it. Some of these people, I really look up to. I was just this random little Asian girl on UPN, and they had no idea who I was. But we put a lot into it and it just turned out really good. And I think people responded to it. It was phenomenal. We won the first festival we were in then went to pretty much all of the comedy festivals in the States and in Canada, and got so much press for it. It was really out of just wanting to do something creative and fun, and it turned out tobe something more than that, which is always a great thing.
MediaBlvd> Is the follow on a pilot presentation then?
Camille>Yeah, it’s a pilot presentation. NBC has a digital platform at DotComedy.com and they have all their digital series on there. It’s called Good Ol’ Boys, and they’re going to launch it, I believe in November or December. Good Ol’ Boys will be launched by NBC and I’m sure they’ll promote it, but you can find it at DotComedy.com.
MediaBlvd> You mentioned that One on One is on hiatus, does that mean that it might go back into production at some point?
Camille>No, actually, it was on for 5 seasons, and now it runs on the N, pretty much in marathon form, so you can catch it on there. It also runs on My Network TV, which is channel 13 in LA. It’s sort of on all the time, and it’s kind of like looking at an old yearbook photo. It keeps following me around. I miss the show, and I miss the kids and I’d love to do a sitcom again, maybe this coming year after the movies come out.
MediaBlvd> Do you enjoy comedy the most? Is that what you want to be doing?
Camille> Comedy is so much fun, but I actually thought I was never very good at comedy when I was first starting out. It’s sort of just the way I got my foot in the door. With One and One, and Equal Opportunity, and now College, it was definitely all comedy. And now Smart People is sort of a departure from that. It’s still funny, and most of my scenes are sort of comic relief, but I have no idea how the final cut is put together, if it leans more dramatic or what. I also did another short film which is sort of serious and will be out in festivals next year, so I don’t know if I should even mention it or not. It’s a dramedy called The Samurai of Strongsville Ohio, and I play the title character. The title is sort of tongue in cheek. I play a teenager in Strongsville Ohio, but I have delusions of being a samurai in my fantasies, so take on the mean girls in ninja mode and battle them. But it’s actually quite heartbreaking because it’s a coming of age story in which my best friend betrays me. I sort of deal with things with the samurai fantasy at first, but then come into my own as a woman, and people have to deal with that. Out of all the projects I’ve done, it was probably the most challenging thing I’ve ever done, because I had to study Kendo, which is the Japanese art of sword fighting. I have all of these crying, breakdown scenes with my best friend, both in samurai mode and in regular mode so I was basically crying for 10 hours every day, and fighting in samurai costume. It was pretty grueling.
MediaBlvd> Had you had any martial arts training before the Kendo?
Camille>No, but I had dance training growing up, and I think dance is a good background for martial arts. But that was the first time I had any formal training. It was really fun and challenging and I’m hoping that I get to do more of it down the line in other roles.
MediaBlvd> How do you find the time to do so much at the same time?
Camille>I’ve always been kind of a workaholic. I feel bad if I’m not doing too much, so this year I’ve actually decided to slow down and take a breather. I’m starting to promote the films coming out, and I’ve just finished producing the Good Old Boys, but I’m gearing up to produce a feature film, and I’m writing a lot of stuff. But time is relative in Hollywood, and it takes time for stuff to come out. I was actually in New York for the weekend, just doing nothing, and I’m going to London next month. I’m just trying to travel and feed my soul a little bit cause I think I’d like to slow down and let things just sort of happen.
MediaBlvd> You got through college in 6 semesters? What kind of course load did you have to take to do that?
Camille>Well, I finished my degree in Economics, and I don’t really know how I did it looking back. I was flying back and forth, pretending I was still living in LA so I could go out on auditions, sometimes for these really tiny parts that had like two lines. And I’d end up flying out on the same day that I had an economics final or mid-term. So I’d totally bomb a test, and my parent’s would think I was crazy. But I guess it’s all worked out now, and I wouldn’t trade in my years at Berkley for anything in Hollywood. I think it’s so important as a young actor to have lived life so you can bring it on screen. I don’t think I’m really that book smart, I just know how to strategize. I took some online courses from home.
MediaBlvd> And you’ve done some writing too? One of your bios mentioned that you have done writing for some feature films?
Camille>My next project is developing a girl-buddy comedy that I’d like to do as a feature. But finding the time between everything going on and just being a normal person and getting back to work is hard. I’m producing a friend’s feature film which is still in the early stages and I’m writing this girl-buddy comedy that will kind of be in the vein of College. I’m committing to it in public right now, so that’ll actually make it happen.
MediaBlvd> You’ve had so many different experiences at such a young age, do you know yet what you want to end up doing or what you want to be when you grow up?
Camille>I want to be happy. I really just want to be happy! I want to be everything, but I love to do creative things! I really just want to do that and make a living in this town, and I’m really happy that it’s playing out that way already. So we’ll just see where the next turn takes us.
MediaBlvd> What do you like to do in your spare time?
Camille>I try to go to a lot of shows to see bands. When I was in New York I went to a music festival. Last year I saw something like 61 bands in 3 days, so I’m just kind of a over achiever in my social life too!
