After starring in three back-to-back-to-back films with genre maestro Neil Marshall (The Reckoning, The Lair, Duchess), Charlotte Kirk and Marshall teamed up for one final film, an erotic thriller / giallo hybrid called Compulsion, which casts her as a bisexual seductress, opposite Anna-Maria Sieklucka, who is best known for starring in the erotic 365 Days trilogy. Filled with graphic on-screen kills in the tradition of the great Italian giallos and sensual on-screen sex scenes in the tradition of the great erotic thrillers of the ’80s and ’90s, Compulsion resurrects two nearly extinct genres at once. Here, Kirk discusses the making of the film, which shot on location in Malta.
Compulsion is a cross-pollination revival of two seemingly extinct or endangered species genres – the giallo and the erotic thriller. Say something about what “compelled you,” so to speak, to collaborate with Neil Marshall again for this hybrid.
It’s interesting that you say that. Giallos were the absolute inspiration for the film. Although, originally, I wanted to make an erotic thriller. As the script and the story progressed, we were watching films for inspiration. We started by watching the old giallo movies. Neil was very heavily inspired by the Italian classics, and I honestly don’t know why those went away. The giallo … I don’t think many people know about them. When I tell people about them, they go, “What’s that?” They’ve never heard of them. It feels like it was a very niche genre. An erotic thriller is something else. They were very big in the ’80s and ’90s. We watched all the classics – Basic Instinct, Single White Female. All the great classics. I’ve never really seen a film where they were kind of merged together. I wanted to make an erotic thriller, and Neil wanted to add the giallo vibe to it. This is what we ended up with, kind of a mixture. With erotic thrillers, you get the classic kills, the slasher scenes, and Neil wanted the black leather glove and zone into that, those kinds of movies he was watching. I’m really proud of it. We catch both genres.
Every genre has its parameters, and I’ve been trying to define what makes an erotic thriller exactly that. How would you define what an erotic thriller is, and how does Compulsion fit into that space? What were your desires to create your own identity in that genre with this film?
I always try to make movies that I want to watch. I’m thinking of movies like Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, Unfaithful. I think that’s a great question. What makes it erotic is of course the sexual element. There’s always … that’s always at the forefront, and you shouldn’t shy away from that. In the writing, in the characters, in the direction. It doesn’t have to be explicit, but it has to be in the subtext. Look at Body Heat. Everything was hot. The characters were always sweating. It was steamy and sexy. Sex is always in the forefront. Not sure if that’s an answer, but I think that’s what comes to mind when I think of your question: “What is an erotic thriller?” And of course, there’s the thriller aspect. You’ve got to have a thriller element to it. If it’s an emotional thriller, or an action thriller. Usually, in Neil’s movies, you’ve got lots of kills. I think that’s it, really. A sexual element, and a thriller, whether it’s action or emotional.
You’re an incredibly physical actress and performer. The four movies you’ve done with Neil all feature you going through the wringer. In The Reckoning, which also had some sexual elements, you go through an incredible journey. In The Lair, you’re put through the meat grinder – it’s all action. Duchess is the flowering of you as a performer because you do everything in that movie. Also, a meat grinder journey, with some romantic and sexual elements as well. Compulsion goes in another direction, but you put your body very much out there. Say something about putting your body, heart, and soul into each one of these movies, and how Compulsion is the culmination of these four films.
I think it was part of it, right? When you’re doing an erotic thriller, you can’t shy away from it. When you’re doing an action film, you’re gonna have kicks and guns and all these things. When you have an erotic thriller, you have to go all in. It’s like the character I play, Diana. What she is is a very free-spirited, very openly sexual character; it doesn’t matter who she’s with – female, male. She’ll do whatever she can to get what she wants. Even though that’s at the forefront, there’s a lot of stuff going on inside. She’s experimenting as well. That’s a great thing you mentioned, though. The Reckoning is also a horror film, but there is a sexual element. I think if the story requires it … a lot of the films that Neil and I have made are genre pieces. Horror, action, sci-fi. If the story requires sexuality, you do it, but sometimes you don’t need to do it. It’s not always necessary. If that’s the direction the script goes in and if the director requires it, and if I’m comfortable, I’ll do it. I felt very comfortable on set for this. It serves the film. Whatever serves the film. Physically, it was one of the most “out there” performances I’ve done. To get ready, I did watch a lot of those films. I trusted the director. We didn’t do it for nothing. We collaborated and we worked on it together. I’m okay with that.
We’re living in a time where erotic films are very rare, and when intimate scenes are shot, these days there tends to me an intimacy coordinator on set. Did you guys have one?
You know what, no, we didn’t. No. All of the scenes were really comfortable. We had a closed set, of course. That was necessary. But we didn’t have an intimacy coordinator. I’ve never had one. I’d like to. It would be very interesting to see how they’d make you feel even more comfortable. We didn’t request one.
Say something about how those scenes were directed and coordinated.
Yeah. It’s almost like a dance. It’s choreographed moves right? It was very technical, to be honest with you. Neil gave us an idea of what he wanted and what he didn’t want. For example, the slow motion stuff in the hot tub. It was all very sensual; we were both naked, washing the blood off each other after they’ve killed the guy and then they kiss. Neil wanted that to be sensual as opposed to explicit. You do see quite a bit, but it’s still very sensual. The main sex scene in the bed, we shot that in slow motion as well. Neil gave us three or four moves that he told us to do, like you’re on top of her, and then she’s on top of you, you kiss each other, and keep repeating it until I can get different angles. Of course, he let us use our imaginations too in that scene. That’s what made it come together. There was a “Do this, but don’t do that, this is what you don’t need to do.” Just in general, I felt very comfortable working with Neil and Anna as well. It’s a lot more technical than people think! (Laughing)
I understand. Say something about Anna-Maria, your co-star. As I understand it, you found her while watching erotic films, namely the 365 Days movies.
Yeah! We went out to a lot of actresses and watched a lot of movies, but we came across her when we watched 365 Days, and I thought she was great in it. We kind of wanted a European actress and wanted to keep this a European film. We watched the film, and we reached out to her, and she really connected with it. She liked how complex her character is, and she was really receptive to it and was really excited. She’s done this before. A lot of actresses can be really nervous with this kind of material. She was absolutely okay with it. She was an absolute pro with the sex scenes. Even more than me, with the erotic stuff. She was really great to work with.
Say something about working on that location. It almost felt like a character itself. Beautiful place.
Malta! It was amazing. We didn’t know where we wanted to film it. When we wrote it, it was kind of a nondescript place in Europe. We had scouted, and we went to the Malta Film Festival, and we absolutely fell in love with it. A lot of medieval movies have been made there. Gladiator and other things. The architecture is amazing. We wanted to shoot a movie set in an old looking place in the country, and we wanted the location to be foreign to the characters. Everyone is just visiting. It was so lovely. It had an Italian vibe a little bit.
I’d like to know about a couple movies you have coming out. Tell me about Myra: Golden and Exit Protocol.
Myra! Oh my god, I’m so excited about this film. The filmmaker saw Duchess and it inspired him to write Myra. It’s similar in some ways with the character and the story, but it’s set in Tijuana, Mexico, and in terms of the character it’s so different. With Duchess, she’s so out there, but Myra is the complete opposite. It’s got all the elements as Duchess, all the action, the love interest, the tragedy, it’s got everything, and I’m so excited. Exit Protocol, I think that is coming out in the next month or so. Saban is releasing it. It was amazing getting to work with Dolph Lundgren and Michael Jai White. That was an amazing movie to do, getting to work with these action legends. Pretty cool, and really fun.
Available in Select Theaters, Digital and On Demand on September 19th
