She Returns To Big Screen As ALPHA Gun Toting Mama! Don’t Mess With Her Family!
PC: Emily Scher
Dawn Patrol Premieres June 5th, 2015 A Summer Surf Flick With Serious Social Themes—West Side Story Set at a Locals-only Beach.
By Elia Esparza
Julie Carmen—star of films for directors Robert Redford, John Cassavetes, Michael Mann and John Carpenter—returns to the big screen, starring opposite Scott Eastwood and Rita Wilson in the edgy surf film, Dawn Patrol that opens in select theaters June 5th, 2015.
Although her character is promoted as a “THUG” Julie defends her character’s gun toting ways. “When your son goes missing and a soldier shows up at your doorstep promising he’ll lead you to your son’s unmarked grave, what would you do?” asked Julie. “Laura Rivera is ‘Everywoman’ who loses a child to murder. We see her in every culture throughout time. To label her a thug is to obliterate the mother’s point of view. Who carries the weight of the orphaned parents?”
Known in our close knit Latino entertainment community as a trailblazer, indeed it takes an innovative actress such as Julie Carmen to create a character we haven’t seen before on screen. We caught up with the enigmatic actress between her hoods in Malibu and New York.
Dawn Patrol is sneaky in the way it dissects racism and xenophobia” — Julie Carmen
Latin Heat: You’re very choosy about films. What was it about Dawn Patrol that appealed to you?
Julie Carmen: The script tricks the audience by making some of the protagonists say anti- Mexican slurs but the plot flips so the audience is confronted with their own assumptions about race and class.
It also appears that my role as Laura is the antagonist because I hold a gun to Scott Eastwood but from my point of view, my character was greatly wronged. I had to dig into my darkest fears of losing the person I loved more than anyone in the world and I had to decide what I would do if their killer put himself at my mercy.
Dawn Patrol is a brilliantly complex script. It feels like ‘Rashomon’ – Scott Eastwood’s character and my character co-narrate it from parallel perspectives. It’s soulful storytelling” — Julie Carmen
LH: Laura Rivera sounds like a wounded soul but very strong woman—
PC: Emily Scher
JC: She has a rich back story. She’s born in the United States and wields great power but is gutted when her loved one is murdered. We see her struggle and weigh her primal desire for revenge.
LH: Why is Dawn Patrol relevant now amidst the current civil and global unrest?
JC: Dawn Patrol takes place in an iconic, “any city with racial tension,” although our story is set in a California beach town. We recognize the people in this town, each affected by the ripples of war, the housing crisis and the breakdown of civil society. It’s an honest film that doesn’t skim over the human consequences of violence.
LH: How was it working with director Dan Petrie Jr.?
JC: Daniel Petrie, Jr. is an actor’s director. Although we had no rehearsal time, Dan shaded the set with an umbrella of compassion and calm. It feels safe to make risky choices with him. I knew he was always holding the container and I trusted his gauge about emotional reality in extraordinary circumstances. Dan is a soulful director.
LH: After starring in over 30 Hollywood films, raising two children, working as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, a Yoga Therapist and as Associate Director of Mental Health at Loyola Marymount University Yoga Therapy Rx… After teaching yoga to Suzanne Somers for twelve years and being interviewed in her books, why come back to Hollywood now?
JC: A great role in a great script. That’s why I’m back.
Thank you, Julie!
Julie Carmen is a force … back in the box-office arena. Watch out! She’s a strong woman with acting chops to match. She is clearly as impressive a talent as any other mainstream actress.
From Broadway—when she first danced in Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit—to her role in Cassavetes’ Gloria opposite Gena Rowlands, Julie Carmen’s fascination is her ability to get into the soul of the characters she portrays allowing us to feel their joys and triumphs and their pain. She makes us feel.
Dawn Patrol premieres June 5th – important to watch opening weekend!
FIND A THEATER NEAR YOU ON FANDANGO.COM
Follow Julie Carmen on Social Media: Twitter: @JulieCarmen3 Facebook: www.Facebook.com/JulieCarmenActress www.Juliecarmenactress.com
Photo Fashion: Veronique Manga Bell Dresses http://juliecarmenactress.com/shop.html
About Dawn Patrol: Film premieres on June 5, 2015 in selected theaters. Director: Daniel Petrie, Jr. | Writers: Rachel Long and Brian Pittman Producers: Rick Dugdale, Daniel Petrie, Jr., Scott Eastwood through Enderby Entertainment | Cast: Scott Eastwood, Rita Wilson, Julie Carmen, Jeff Fahey, Kim Matula, and Chris Brochu
About Julie Carmen: Born in New York to Spanish, Cuban and German parents, Julie is a bilingual hippy pacifist vegetarian from the sixties who always brings her game to every role she’s cast in. In Redford’s Milagro Beanfield War, she breaks the mold of a submissive Latina housewife. In Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness she leads Sam Neill’s character into a parallel universe. As vengeful vampire queen Regine Dandridge, in the original cult classic Fright Night Part Two, Julie’s seductive performance inspired many fan clubs. As Angelina Jolie’s mother in the mini-series True Women, she fights to free the slaves as John Leguizamo’s lesbian mother in King of the Jungle, she leads marches against police brutality. Julie played the sexually insatiable environmental revolutionary Nina on the HBO series Dream On. www.JulieCarmenActress.com
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