An Interview with Jacqi Vene from ‘The Surprise Visit’

Jacqi Vene stars in director Nick Lyon’s intense, gritty and suspenseful thriller THE SURPRISE VISIT, which premieres in theaters and on demand January 14 from Vertical Entertainment.
 
When a young couple makes a surprise visit to Mom, they get an even bigger surprise themselves from an old family friend who plans to steal Mom’s valuable jewelry while she is out of town. But when the “easy peasy” robbery goes wrong, resulting in the accidental death of the daughter’s husband, it forces the two young drug addicts to make a difficult decision; to abandon ship, or do the unthinkable.
 
 
Nerds That Geek: Congrats on a captivating film! Is this the type of film you enjoyed growing up? was that part of the appeal in doing it?

Jacqi Vene: Thank you so much! I actually haven’t seen it yet. This movie seems raw and dark so I wouldn’t say I would watch this growing up, I don’t think I would be allowed to. The appeal in doing it was working on a thrilling true story and playing someone who lived such a different life than I do.

NTG: I imagine just getting to visit those beautiful locales wasn’t too deterring either!?

Jacqi Vene: It was a stunning place to film. I can’t wait to go back. All of the leaves were changing from yellow to red, I caught a little toad by the river. I was in heaven. There was this quaint little town with the cutest shops and coffee houses. I could live there. The people seemed so nice there too!

NTG: There are some great moments in this – favorite moment? What’s the big ‘gotta include that in my demo reel’ moment for you?

Jacqi Vene: Well, I haven’t seen it! So, I really don’t know. All I know is that my favorite thing to film was where Casey and Annabel are standing at the waterfall towards the end of the movie with all of the fog coming up and surrounding them and Casey does this hypnotic monologue and casts Anabelle back under his spell to “finish the deed”. As actors we both walked off set feeling draped in a rare magic that can only be produced from a movie set.

NTG: Do the scares happen organically, on the set, or are they generally written into the script?

Jacqi Vene: I think for this film it was a mix between both. Nick Lyon was really open to things happening organically. And with such a wonderful partner in crime like Rob we were able to find some organic scares.

NTG: Were you encouraged to contribute and improvise?

Jacqi Vene: Yes! I love improv so sometimes I ask for forgiveness instead of permission on that, but it can be risky on some sets. Nick was really open to anything organic and Rob who wasn’t really used to improv but adjusted to it really fast and eventually we found a rhythm as Casey and Annabell and we could have created scenes from nothing because we knew those characters so well.

NTG: Did you know any of your co-stars?

Jacqi Vene: I didn’t know any of them beforehand, but I know them all very well now (: I just got off the phone with Rob and Serah! I cannot wait to see them soon and hopefully work with them again.

NTG: Did you have some time to get to know them before the shoot?

Jacqi Vene: We didn’t have much time to get to know one another before shooting. We sort of jumped right into it, but we were all enthusiastic to work together so there wasn’t any hesitation.
NTG: The chemistry between you all really clicks. What do you attribute that to?

Jacqi Vene: I attribute that to people eager and passionate to make a good film. We didn’t necessarily have the time to create chemistry organically, but we had the experience and vigor to make something real and we knew what we had to do get the job done.

NTG: How was it working with Eric Roberts?

Jacqi Vene: It was fun and intriguing to have someone who has been in the industry as long as him on set. We didn’t have many scenes together, so I didn’t get to spend as much time with him to hear as many stories or get as many tips as I’d like but there is always next time!

Let’s plug your social media! You can follow Jacqi on Instagram @jjjacqi. Find her art at artbyjacqi.com. Jacqi also has original content on her YouTube Channel, @Jacqi.

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