Jason Ritter Interview, Sept. 28, 2008, Part 4

Jason Ritter : Absolutely, yeah. She really did because again, that, for some reason that can taint a person as opposed to... people... it's a strange thing in society. I don't understand why survivors of violent rape or sexual abuse like, they should be considered heroes and warriors for the fact that they are able to get out of bed on any given morning when something that violent and violating and terrible happens to you. So I don't know for Marianna to give a voice to that, she was willing to do anything to make it seem real and to have those woman in the audience that might feel a connection to this character, feel like 'oh my gosh, yeah I am’. There's a line in the film where she goes 'even if I was a normal girl I couldn't come out with you today' and my character says 'you are normal'. And the fact is, you wouldn't look at her, you wouldn't look at that movie and say she's normal. But if you look at that character's life, her reactions to the way that everything is happened is completely normal but she's been made to feel like this pariah who men, like... this coveted virgin idea, like 'I want us to lose our virginity together' and that's such a beautiful idea what about the people who it was taken from; they're not as pure? It a sad strange thing that's it's unfair and this idea of purity.

There's a line a Brighteyes song, Brighteyes is one of my favorite bands at the moment, and there's a line in a Brighteyes song where he talks about where we're all trying to be pure but it isn't a very easy thing now is it to do. And that song is about a woman who is being abused by her father. But that idea that, of course we all want the dream life and an idyllic upbringing. But for those of us who didn't get that, which is actually 'most of us', how do you reconcile? Do you go around your entire life pretending that you did have that? And then what happens when everyone realizes that you haven't had that.

So it's this weird thing in society where people are so terrified of being honest with each other because they desire connection. And the idea that too much connection... there's a limit on too much connection. This documentary that I saw here I think we're alone now, about two Tiffany stalkers. Again, it's like obsession to the extreme. And that obviously we can say that's over the line. It’s obviously not being reciprocated and it has no basis in reality. But at what point does being honest about your feelings toward someone become too much. Because you can, it can be too much for someone, you're in a relationship, everything's fine, one person says 'I love you', the other persons goes 'whoaaa' and that's too much. It's all of this desire to remain disconnected from people in a certain way.

Reelscene : Yet at the same time longing and wanting.

Jason Ritter : Absolutely, absolutely. And people do want that but they're also terrified for so many different reasons. So that was one of the things that Marianna wanted to show. Also is that, 'yes, we’re terrified' but take a look at what we're doing. One of the other things about this movie is for women or men who have been in relationships where someone has loved them and they've pushed them away and push them away and push them away, they watch this movie and go 'oh my gosh, that person's biggest crime was that they wanted to love me, and all I did was punish them over and over and over again for it'. When she finally, I mean I'm ruining it for anyone who might not have seen it, but when she finally tells me to leave, you see my character who has worked so hard for all this and is now is alone again. And so if you have been in a position of being in a relationship and pushing someone away, you get to see in this movie the other person's perspective. And the same thing if you've been pushed away, that's, that's,... they're both such painful positions to be in.