Canadian actress Kristin Booth, who stars in two films at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. (Christal Films)
Kristin Booth has two films at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, though even if you saw them back to back, you might not recognize her as a star of each. Booth uncannily transforms into the roles of a squeaky clean yuppie trying to find sexual satisfaction with her long-term boyfriend in Young People F---ing, and a street-walking intravenous crack addict in This Beautiful City. But as the 34-year-old, Toronto-based actress told CBCNews.ca, maybe these characters aren’t so different after all.
Q: Would you agree that Young People F---ing and This Beautiful City, the two films you appear in at TIFF, are about desire?
A: One is a comedy, one is very gritty drama, but I definitely saw connections between the two. Both films and both roles are about a need for something and those unfulfilled needs manifest themselves, one more than the other, in a sexual way. I think they’re both about love, and acceptance and trying to figure it all out. Each character chooses a different way to express or suppress herself.
Q: Although it’s occasionally graphic, Young People F---ing seems like a blatantly commercial film: it’s a sweet portrait of several good-looking couples working through their various sexual politics in one night. But the title seems like commercial suicide. What did you tell your parents about it?
A: I really like the title. I think it’s straightforward and honest and, really, what else would you call it? As far as telling my family, I was pretty blunt. I said, ‘This is what it’s called, and you’re not seeing it.’ My parents have a really hard time separating me from the characters that I play. [laughs] That means they’re not coming to the festival, but they’re supportive and proud.
A: I find that with most things in life, and in my career, the anticipation is always worse than the actual situation. I’d be fretting and nervous, but once we were on set and starting, everyone was there for the same purpose. You genuinely forget your self-consciousness and get into it. All the other stuff around you sort of disappears. [Director Martin Gero] is such a great guy, I immediately felt comfortable with him and trusted that everything we did was for a greater purpose, and any sort of awkwardness would be used only for the film. It’s a movie about the human condition, not sex toys.
A: It opened my eyes to class structures, definitely. I decided one day that I was going to go out on Queen Street West in costume and makeup, and try to get some money on the street. I was bruised, looking like I was jonesing. I was asking for a quarter, and it took me a half-hour to get one. The only reason I did get one was because I sort of trapped a guy at the gas station who was pumping gas and couldn’t go anywhere. I went into some stores that I go in all the time, but I went in as [my character], and the reaction and the treatment are much different. People treat you like you don’t exist. And I’m guilty of it, too: You walk down the street, somebody is asking for money, trying to strike up conversation, too, and you just keep walking. Our preconceived notions of who these people are is extremely strong, and cruel.
A: Comedy scares me more than drama. To find the truth, and to find the realistic feelings and then to make it funny, too, is very difficult. I’ve always felt that the best comedy comes out of drama, out of tragedy. At its best, it’s watching people in circumstances that they struggle through. Both films were new challenges for me; they definitely demanded a kind of intimacy and openness. It was scary. I’ll admit it.
Young People F---ing screens at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 6 and 8.
This Beautiful City screens at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 11 and 13.
Katrina Onstad writes about arts for CBCNews.ca.
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