By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Actress Kristina Klebe has had quite the varied genre career, from a pair of All Hallows’ horrors (Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN and the anthology TALES OF HALLOWEEN) to key parts in Zack Parker’s PROXY and Mike Mendez’s DON’T KILL IT to playing Eva Braun in Adam Green’s “The Diary of Anne Frankenstein” segment of CHILLERAMA and Leni Riefenstahl in Neil Marshall’s HELLBOY. She now has one of her most intense roles yet as Hildegard Baumann in BROOKLYN 45, which debuts on Shudder this Friday, June 9.
Written and directed by Ted Geoghegan (WE ARE STILL HERE, MOHAWK), BROOKLYN 45 stars Anne Ramsay, Ron E. Rains, Jeremy Holm (THE RANGER), filmmaker/actor Larry Fessenden and MOHAWK’s Ezra Buzzington as a group of friends who served various military roles during the just-concluded WWII. One of the group leads the others in conducting a seance to contact a recently deceased loved one, and the presence they awaken brings dark and guilty secrets to light–as does the arrival of Hildy, a local German woman whom some in the group suspect of being a Nazi sympathizer. BROOKLYN 45 combines supernatural chills with relevant themes of patriotism and nationalism, brought to life by its uniformly strong cast.
How was it working with the BROOKLYN 45 ensemble?
It was a great experience. We were on set almost the entire time together, because we’re all in every scene, except I came in a little later. Everybody really respected each other, and it was such a good group of actors. Everybody was just there to work and do their best job. I thank Ron Rains for making us all laugh daily, at the stupidest jokes [laughs], and it was powerful to see everybody inhabit their characters, and really grow together as a team. And we got a rehearsal, which is so rare, where we were able to go through the entire script as if it was a play, from beginning to end. That was very helpful, because we got to pretty much block it out from beginning to end. And it felt like a play, actually; it felt like the process one might go through for a theater piece. I come from the theater, and in fact I believe all the actors have some kind of theatrical background. And we were able to shoot in order, which was a dream!
In particular, you have a very powerful scene opposite Anne Ramsay…
Yeah, which is funny, because everybody says that’s their favorite scene, and it’s not my favorite! It is really cool, and it’s definitely shocking when people see it, but I already know it’s going to happen. So my favorite scene…when I was watching the movie at SXSW, I remember thinking it was the moment when I’m with Ezra, and I say, “I am an American!” That was the most powerful moment for me, for my character, because I feel that is so at the heart of this movie. What does it mean to be American? What does it mean to fight for your country? What does it mean to be patriotic? And how do we judge people who don’t either look, talk or have the same religion as us? We like to separate people.
But ultimately, I think a lot of first-generation Americans–and I am one myself–are super-patriotic, almost more so than people who come from a long line of Americans, because they’re trying to prove their worth to this country, you know? A lot of times, they enlist faster in the armed services than anybody else, because they’re like, “It’s my duty to serve this country, to prove that I am patriotic and I’m American.” So I think that moment, for her as a German, is about trying to prove that she belongs here, that this is her country too.
Is this the first major role you’ve had that ties in to your heritage?
Definitely. I’ve played smaller German parts, but they’ve all been Nazis, historical characters. This is the one that is most similar, in terms of emotionally connecting to a character, because she is an immigrant, and my parents are immigrants. It was nice that Hildegard is layered, because some people might think she is a spy, and in my opinion she is not, and she’s not a Nazi, and she’s being judged because of her accent. That has happened to me in my life; when I was growing up, people would call me “Nazi,” and I didn’t even have a German accent. So I felt I could connect with her for sure.
Both reading the script and making the movie, what were your thoughts about BROOKLYN 45’s relevance to current times?
It’s very relevant, I think now even more so. It was relevant when we shot it, but now, with the war in Ukraine and the amount of prejudice that Russians in America are facing… It’s like, every time someone hears a Russian accent–and I catch myself doing it–it’s like, “Oh no, they’re Russian…” And they’re probably American, number one, and they’re probably just as horrified at what their country is doing as anybody else. I find myself thinking about that, how much we judge somebody just listening to their voice and accent and what they sound like. Not to mention the most obvious, which is that people judge others who have a different look or a different-colored skin than they do. But right now I find the relevance with the accents, with the Russian thing, to be very interesting. You know, we’re a country of immigrants, and we seem to not remember that.
What can you say about Ted Geoghegan as a director?
Ted is a very kind director, and he’s very good at gently leading the group along in the right direction. He’s very diplomatic, and makes sure that everybody’s happy, and he’s good at listening. And he has great ideas; he’s a great writer too.
I really wish this movie was coming out theatrically. As much as I love Shudder, I think this movie could reach a wider audience. It could play in theaters, and I think people would go see it and love it, because so many people could relate to the story. Yeah, there are scary scenes and one kind of grotesque moment, but it’s not something that would deter people from going to see it in a theater. I mean, they see stuff in other movies that’s just as gruesome, probably even in Marvel movies. To me it’s not just a horror movie, it is a drama with supernatural elements, and it’s something that could be appreciated by a lot of people.
Is there anything else you’d like to say about the experience of making BROOKLYN 45?
Well, when I started doing Reiki [a practice of energy healing] over the course of the pandemic, I set an intention that I only wanted to make movies or do any other projects that will possibly have a positive impact on the world, or on whoever watches it, or work with people who are positive and kind. BROOKLYN 45 was the first movie I made after the pandemic, and after I had set that intention, and so far, everything has gone well. Before the pandemic, I was so tired of working with assholes. I don’t want to do that ever again. Life is too short, and things have to be positive, and BROOKLYN 45 was a project that showed me that that’s possible. That’s not to say I haven’t worked with awesome people or on awesome projects, but this was the first one since I made that intention where I knew it’s possible to have a beautiful experience with a beautiful cast and crew.
