Verge Flashback: Katie O'Grady Set to Shock and Awe in Rid of Me

It was almost seven months ago, in my preparations for the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, that I was sent a film called Rid of Me, director James Westby's curious hybrid of psychological drama and pitch-black comedy that, if there's any justice, should make actress Katie O'Grady a star. And now that it's making its way into limited theatrical release, viewers outside the festival circuit can find out why.

Rid of Me features O'Grady as Meris, a mousy homemaker transplanted out of California when her husband Mitch (John Keyser) nabs a big job in his small Oregon hometown. Greeted coolly at best by his preppy, past-dwelling high school friends and their wives, Meris suffers a gradual breakdown that culminates in her divorce from Mitch and a meandering, nihilistic -- and often hilariously unsettling -- journey of self-discovery. The film is in keeping with Film Geek and The Auteur -- Westby's previous tales of outcasts regrouping under an intense social glare -- yet turns the page on those protagonists thanks in large part to O'Grady's intrepid physical shape-shifting. She's all in as Meris, literally from an opening scene as bold (and no doubt polarizing) as any faced by this year's Tribeca audiences.

Don't walk out, though; Rid of Me keeps it real in only the best ways. Movieline caught up with O'Grady to discuss the film, her accidental producing gig, how Meris changed her, and the art of paralyzing awkwardness done right.

I know you've been at this for a while, but this is pretty big role. Do you feel poised for a breakthrough?

I think it would be really nice to keep doing great work, and get great roles. That's for sure. As far as a breakthrough, I don't really have any control over that. I'm just doing what I can to keep making it about the work. That's the way I'm looking at it. But: We would love as many people to see this movie as possible. For me, getting to play a character like Meris, you just really want people to experience her after spending so much time in her shoes.

What's your background -- especially as it pertains to splitting your time between Los Angeles and Portland? That's kind of unusual.

It's very unusual. I was told when I first started acting in Portland that you couldn't be an actress and live in Portland, Oregon. I thought that was an awesome challenge to try and beat. And you can be an actor and live other places now. It's so much easier. But most of my work is in Portland. It's a city I love and want to live in, and I have to go down to L.A. for meetings and auditions sometimes. Mostly my work is [in Portland], because you try to take the projects that come along. When L.A. comes to Portland, I've been lucky enough to be a part of some of those projects. I think that more and more people are getting to live in other cities and experience the quality of life that they want to have and pursue their art. That's been the best part for me, for sure.

Is there a film scene in Portland?

You'd be surprised at the incredible film community in Portland. It's strong; it's a force to be reckoned with. The folks there are really interested in art, and they're interested in expressing it in their own way. There's a great film commission and film board there. A lot of people in the community are really focused on supporting art, so when you do something, you can get quite a following and quite a turnout with local art lovers who want to check out your work. I think that's pretty unique to Portland, and it's one of the reasons I love to work there.

How did you and James Westby start to collaborate?

I worked with him on The Auteur; I had a small role in that, and I traveled with him and the film as it went to Tribeca, London, then to L.A. and what not. I just really love his work. I've always loved his work. I saw Film Geek in a dark theater by myself one time, and I fell in love with his expression. And also his quirky, offbeat sense of humor. He's not interested in mainstream so much as is in pushing buttons and finding out what people are not supposed to be saying. That's something that interested me a lot.

I read his film Rid of Me, and he didn't actually have me in mind for the role of Meris. He had me in mind for the preppy, man-stealing... whore. [Laughs] Briann, played by Storm Large, who did a fantastic job. That character. I had do some serious work to change his mind, and that included doing everything I could to produce the movie and get it up and running -- and fight to play Meris.

Had you produced before?

No. I hadn't produced before. I'm pretty bossy, and I know what I want, and I just went after it. I was lucky to work with James, who -- being an indie filmmaker -- had done a lot of things by himself. He kind of gave me the encouragement that I could do it. I found myself hunting down film permits and hiring SAG actors, which was really the hardest part, I found, of making the film. I did location scouting. It just kind of unfolded little by little, and I found myself doing the job and loving it. And now I've produced a couple of other projects of his since. I just fell in love the idea of producing and getting to have a voice in what's out there. From a producing standpoint, it's not the thing I want to do -- acting is. But I also can see that I will producing alongside acting for a long time.

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