Guest Post by Adrienne Biddle
I’ve thought a lot about why I gravitate towards the projects director Bryan (Bertino) and I work on. I’m not entirely sure either of us consciously went into our partnership with this goal, but when I look back at all the material we’ve developed and the movies we’ve made, they do seem to share a common theme — the portrayal of women as multi-faceted creatures.
Without boring all of you about my journey, the one steadfast feeling I’ve had ever since I was young is that I’m not a victim. This is almost entirely due to the exceptional role model I have in my mother. A brash, hard-working, ambitious, smart, powerful and loving woman who raised me, with the occasional husband along the way. (Not to diminish the role these men played in my life, but Mom was always “the parent.”) Gender discrimination was never something we discussed. Being female was never something we discussed. The approach in my house was that if we didn’t get something we wanted, or someone stood in our way for a seemingly irrational reason, it was because they were foolish not because they were sexist.
That’s not to say we didn’t have issues or baggage. As strong and competent as we felt, we still battled insecurity, selfishness, weakness, anger, loneliness, and alienation. We often masked these difficult emotions with aggression. I’ve come to realize with time that we are hero, victim, villains, and a bit of everything in between — depending on perspective and circumstance. Reaching an understanding of this complexity has reshaped my sense of her role as my mother, my role as her child and our roles as individuals. All this to say, being a woman — being human for that matter — is pretty complicated stuff.
When I first read “There Are Monsters” (the original title of “The Monster”), what struck me was the honesty at the core of the mother-daughter relationship. A no-holds-barred look at a mother and daughter dealing with the hands they were dealt. What incited my passion for the story, was how Bryan managed to create a powerful sense of empathy for these two women. It would be so simple to judge and dismiss Kathy as simply a horrible person. Or to look at Lizzy as a helpless victim of her circumstance. Both of these things are partly true, but they aren’t the full story.
America can be a pretty judgmental place for those who can’t, for whatever reason, be more discreet about their demons. And when it comes to mothers, forget about it. Children are sacred and to be protected at all costs. One slip-up, and you’re pretty much fucked. But this script showed the truth of relationships — that two people can find each other regardless of their issues. It doesn’t excuse them, and it doesn’t require complete forgiveness, but it also doesn’t mean that there is no space for the good stuff. As tragically as this story ends, we see — as does Lizzy — that Kathy loves her. There is no question Lizzy got the short end of the mom stick. But perhaps as she grows up in the fantasy world we’ve created, she’ll be able to look back and know that Kathy’s problems were her own and that she loved her daughter the best she could given her weaknesses.
I don’t have children, but I was one. And I have a complicated mother. She never battled in the way Kathy does, but I think everyone can look back at their childhood and find a place where our parents didn’t follow the “How to be the best parent” manual. Thus, I was able to find my way into this story too. And what I found was something I try to apply in my everyday life: there are two sides to every story, so before rushing to judge, try to understand the truth. It may not always be pretty or fair, but more often than not it can provide a sense of perspective that opens the path towards healing and moving on.
“The Monster” hits theaters and On Demand on November 11 and is available now on DirecTV.
Adrienne Biddle is a film producer. After receiving a Masters degree from the Peter Stark Producing Program at The University of Southern California, Adrienne began her career at Jersey Films, where she worked on several projects including “Man On the Moon,” “Caveman’s Valentine,” “Garden State,” “How High,” and “Erin Brockovich.” In November of 2002, she left Jersey Films to become Vice President of Production and Acquisitions at Summit Entertainment. In November of 2005, she left Summit to become Rogue Pictures’ Senior Vice President of Production. In September of 2009, she partnered with writer/director Bryan Bertino to form Unbroken Pictures. The duo has produced four movies together: “Mockingbird,” written and directed by Bertino, for Blumhouse and Universal Pictures; “The Blackcoat’s Daughter,” written and directed by Osgood Perkins, starring Emma Roberts and Kiernan Shipka for A24; “Stephanie,” written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, directed by Akiva Goldsman, starring Frank Grillo and Ana Torv for Blumhouse and Universal Pictures (’16 release); and “The Monster,” written and directed by Bertino, starring Zoe Kazan and Ella Ballentine also for A24. They also have several projects in active development.
