VIP Interview with Feodora Susilo, writer, producer, director and lead actress of the Award Winning Film ‘Roseston: Doctor’

Today, we introduce Feodora Susilo a young and talented Indonesian/Australian actress and filmmaker based in Perth, Western Australia. In this interview, we talk about the inspiration behind her feature film Roseston: Doctor, what lead her into filmmaking and how challenging it is when you are your own producer/director/ cinematographer and crew. Enjoy!

Hi Feodora! Could you tell us what brought you to acting? When did you first realize you wanted to work in the entertainment industry?

Funny story, what made me want to act was back when I was 13 years old, I was reading a book series called The Hunger Games, while I was reading, I felt so connected to the main character (Katniss) that I wanted to act as her in the film, but obviously the film was already released when I first started reading the books. And I guess, I’ve always wanted to work in the entertainment industry. I’ve been writing stories and dancing since I was little, way before I even thought about acting. I just knew that I wanted to get into anything creative, but I didn’t know how, till 2019.

How did you transition from acting into filmmaking? Can you tell us more about your previous projects?

Well, with me acting in a few short student film and feature film, I’ve always felt the need to create my own, like I have so many ideas in my head, just waiting for me to bring them to life. So, when I first started my own web series, it was called ‘Within’ (2017) and I cast my friends in this little project, it’s not on YouTube, anymore since I wasn’t proud of how it turned out. I also made a short film called ‘Hell Within a Loop’ (2018) which is supposed to be connected to the web series ‘Within’, but it only features me in it, it’s still up on my YouTube channel. That was my first short film, I ever did. ‘Roseston web series’ (2019) is about the mysterious murder of Harrison Harper. After a year of the murder, Grayson never gave up on trying to find out who the killer was, even if the case was closed. Grayson tries to reach out to some people who were at that exact place and that was at a party, a party to celebrate all the Roseston senior students’ last second year of high school. The death of Harrison Harper was the beginning of many deaths. This web series has a whole different cast, but it still connects with the film (Roseston: Doctor).

You also wrote the script of your feature film: Roseston: Doctor. When did you start production and what is the inspiration behind it?

I started writing Roseston: Doctor in 2019, but I didn’t finish it at the time, I put in on pause until the middle of 2021. I wouldn’t have finished the script if OJay Voerhuis (Ace Manning) and Saxon Philpott (Will Harvey) didn’t contact me in wanting to collaborate with me. I’m thankful for them for being interested in working with me. The inspiration behind it was definitely the web series ‘Roseston’ I’ve created back in 2019, I wanted to connect the web series with the film and make it make sense for the audience who haven’t watched the web series, yet, but at least understand what happened and where they are at 3 years later. Some other bits of inspiration were the game ‘Life is Strange’, The show called ‘T@gged’ and the music I usually listen to when I write.

You wrote, directed, produced, and acted in your own film. How was this experience for you? Which part did you love the most and which part did you find more challenging?

Oh gosh, everything was a challenge. It was stressful, but comparing to working on Roseston web series, I would say this film wasn’t that bad. The reason why I say that is because working on the web series I had no crew, it was just me and my cast and we would take turns filming each of our close ups. Whereas in Roseston: Doctor I had a small crew, but on some filming days I would have no crew and that means I would have to be behind the camera doing everything and of course one of my cast mates would help, as well. Though the most challenging part was scheduling shoots and working out everyone’s availabilities. What part I loved the most would be acting.

The director and actress Feodora Susilo and the official poster of ‘Roseston: Doctor’

Which directors inspire you the most?

The directors that currently inspire me the most are Chloé Zhao and Destin Daniel Cretton. These two have directed marvel movies and have shown me that race doesn’t matter in the industry and that’s what I aspire to be one day, probably not directing a marvel movie though, that’s just too much for me, ahaha.

Can you tell us more about the cinematic landscape in Australia and especially in Perth?

I would say Perth isn’t an area known for big filmmakers filming around there, but I believe that there’s so many hidden cool areas here that would make good locations for filming, you just have to explore more around here. I used to think that all the abandoned areas have been demolished and I wouldn’t be able to film certain scenes for the movie, but I ended up finding one anyway. Lucky enough, it was a big location and there were so many areas to film at.

How did you choose your actors? Did you have a specific idea in mind, or did you see the characters coming to life during the audition process?

The only roles I held auditions for were Jasmine and Dalton. The rest, I didn’t need for them to audition I just saw them as the part and knew their work.

As I said, OJay Voerhuis (Ace Manning) and Saxon Philpott (Will Harvey) reached out to me wanting to collaborate, and so I was like “Heck. Let’s just do this.” I’ve met Saxon in the AMA Screen Acting classes and I pictured him as Will Harvey when I first saw him act. OJay, on the other hand, I didn’t see any of his work, but I decided to give him a chance, because I knew he would do anything to understand the role. And that means keeping me up till 2am to talk more about Ace with him.

Adrian Beau Cardinal (Harrison ‘Harry’ Harper). I did hold auditions for the role of Harrison Harper, but all the audition self-tapes I’ve received for it were not what I was looking for. I didn’t get to see Adrian’s audition self-tape or even his showreel because he took a while to submit it and I was in desperate need of someone to fill in the role, so I quickly looked through his Instagram to see if he has done any acting. What caught my eye was that he has done martial arts and I just decided to give him a chance and cast him for Harrison.

Kyra Belford-Thomas (Jasmine Davis Reagan). I met Kyra on set of It Only Takes One Night, as extras, and although we didn’t talk that much, I had a feeling she would fit a role, but I wasn’t sure, yet. When I saw her audition self-tape for Jasmine, I instantly pictured her as the role, the power she holds in that self-tape really showed and I was just glad she took an interest in auditioning. I would like to work with her, again.

Jeremy Darling (Dalton Harper). Like Kyra, I met Jeremy on the same set, he was very friendly, and I also thought about casting him in a project. When he sent his audition self-tape, I saw how perfect he fit in the role and I’m glad I casted him as Dalton.

How did you prepare for the role of Astrid? How do you usually prepare before stepping on set?

It has been a while since I played Astrid Lin, so I would re-watch the Roseston web series and see what and how some things have changed about her, now. I also re-read some of the scripts that were supposed to be in season 2 of the web series, that never happened. So, I did have enough stuff to prepare for my return as Astrid.

Usually, if I have time to prepare, I listen to songs that represent my role or that the character would listen to, just to get the vibes of what she’s like. After that I would re-read my lines and the other lines and think about how she would react to the person she’s talking to, like is this a close friend or family or a stranger, etc. I would also think about her body language and what she would do in each scene, before stepping onto set.

Your film is the sequel of the web-series Roseston. Can you tell us more about it? How do you think the story progresses and what is the message you want to communicate to the audience?

Roseston: Doctor follows up from the web series ‘Roseston’, 3 years later. Astrid finds herself still in the town, she feared since the traumatising event, only because her mother was released from prison. When she thought she could go on with a somewhat normal life, a guy she dated, once, sparked her paranoid self. Therefore, she went to get help from Harry and Will.

I don’t think I can tell you more about this, without spoiling, but if you have watched the web series, you may be thinking, “Why is Harry in this? And how is he in this?” well, this film explains everything.

Since this film is set 3 years after the traumatic event that Astrid and her friends have been through, there’s a lot to unpack and there are so many things that the audience have missed, and this film may catch you up on what’s going on. And what better way to do this is have Grayson Harper pass the spotlight to Astrid, thus Astrid as the lead in this film. We see it from a different point of view with her, as the story moves forward and explains some details from the past. The message I’m trying to communicate with the audience is that your past isn’t you, anymore, it doesn’t define you. You have time to change and grow and improve. Also, to never go on a date with a stranger, Astrid learnt her lesson.

Producers and casting directors require more and more a strong social media presence and a certain number of followers on Instagram. Do you think this has changed the way we perceive actors? What do you think are the pros and cons of social media?

Wow, that’s actually a good question. I think it hasn’t changed that much, I feel like it shouldn’t matter how many followers you have on any social media platform, as long as you can understand and play a role right, that shouldn’t matter, in my opinion. I feel like the pros for social media is that you can get yourself out there and share the things your passionate about and also get noticed by producers, casting directors, etc. The cons, I would say is that people will talk low about you, if their expectations of you aren’t met.

What type of role do you see yourself playing in the future? What is your dream project?

Well, the roles that I usually play are badass, popular girls and characters who get killed off, so I would like to play characters who don’t die. I would also love to play roles that are just full of angst and kind of complex, I think it would be great to challenge for myself in those types of roles. My dream project would be to star in either a Marvel or DC show/movie, or a horror movie.

What’s next for you? What are you working on right now?

Well, I am working on screenplay for a possible short film that will have a bit of the same vibe as Roseston: Doctor, but the storyline is very different, so this will be an interesting one.

Follow Feodora Susilo and her projects on: