From writer/director Sarah Adina Smith (Hanna, Legion, Room 104) and based on the novel Bright Burning Stars by A.K. Small, the drama Birds of Paradise is set at a prestigious ballet school in Paris, France at a time when ambitious aspiring ballerina Kate Sanders (Diana Silvers) is trying to prove she’s worth the scholarship she was given while also going up against beautiful fellow dancer Marine Durand (Kristine Froseth). As their dynamic evolves from confrontational to friendship to competition, the two young women risk everything to win a highly coveted contract with the Opéra national de Paris.
During this interview with Collider, which you can both watch and read, co-stars Silvers and Froseth talked about why they were drawn to this story, the work they put in to play ballerinas, what it was like for them to see the finished film, and the good and the bad when it comes to the audition process. Silvers also talked about the experience she had shooting Season 2 of Space Force, while Froseth talked about playing Betty Ford for an upcoming project.
Collider: I’ve been a dancer since I was four years old, but I’m also six feet tall, so I never did pointe because there wasn’t much chance of me finding a dance partner. But I’m absolutely the perfect audience for this and I loved every second of the dancing, so thank you for talking to me about it.
KRISTINE FROSETH: Wow, that’s really good to hear.
DIANA SILVERS: Yeah, that’s really good to hear. One of my talking points is that I’m a very tall person. I get it. I had danced for a few years when I was a kid, and when I was eight or nine, I had my first growth spurt and they were like, “ You are going to be too tall to be a dancer, so you shouldn’t even try.” And I was like, “Okay, I’ll just do something else then.” And that was the end of it. That was the end of my dance career.
Yeah, I was nine years old and about six feet tall, so I get it.
SILVERS: I grew six inches. It was crazy.
I read that this was a project that involved finding a filmmaker who could turn this into a film for you guys, which is very cool. What made you want to tell this story? What was it that made you see a movie in this story? How did all that happen?
FROSETH: Yeah, I was working with (director) Sarah [Adina Smith] when my manager first told me about the book. We were shooting Looking for Alaska, and she was an amazing support during that process. We had just talked about wanting to do something physical and a new challenge, and I was very out of my body and I really wanted to explore certain things, just within that, and female relations and friendship and competition. What my character goes through, which is that she just lost her twin, or other half, and she’s coping and trying to get by. And then, at the end of it, the way that she begins her healing process was really powerful to me. So, I was really excited about doing that. And then, everyone wanted Diana to be involved. I had heard of her, and I was really excited about that too and about Kate’s journey and all that she goes through, and all of the different themes.
SILVERS: By the time it came to me, they were like, “Sarah Adina Smith is gonna do this film and Kristine Froseth is already on board. Are you on board?” I met with Sarah and we got a drink, and she gave me this grand pitch and told me all of the things that were gonna happen in this film and what was gonna happen with Kate. She asked if I was cool and down to train to be a ballerina, and I was like, “Yes!” I thought it’d be really fun to explore someone who starts off with such a clean moral compass, and then slowly but surely deteriorates into, what am I willing to do to achieve greatness? I hadn’t played anyone like that, and that is a theme that I was like really interested in exploring, along with the other world of this friendship she has with [Marine] and it pushing the boundaries of sexuality. It’s like, “Do I wanna be this person? Do I wanna be with this person?” There are all of these themes that come up, especially in that coming of age time of your life. I was like, “This sounds incredible. I’d love to be a part of it. When do I start training?”
FROSETH: She got the bands out real quick.
Ballet is equal parts beautiful and terrifying. It’s really like its own horror film, in that way. It just seems medieval, but also beautiful. Taking that into consideration, what were you most scared about, when it came to playing a character at the elite level? It’s hard enough to portray ballet at all, but these are serious ballerinas.
FROSETH: Yeah. It was really just trying to educate myself and get in as much information as possible. Knowing that we only had three months and three weeks to do all of this, we had to lower expectations. We were both very hard on ourselves. They are true athletes and they train usually from when they’re young, and we just didn’t have that. We didn’t want to disrespect anyone. We wanted to ensure we were doing it as truthfully as possible, but we also had to be realistic. That was scary, knowing that we had high expectations and wanted to get as close to it as possible, but it is impossible, at the same time.
SILVERS: It’s a pretty grueling, gruesome, medieval, and yet such a beautiful, creative art and expression. I don’t even know the right word. Ballet is so many different things. It’s a sport, it’s an art, it’s expression, it’s rigid, it’s free. It’s so many different things, and trying to understand all of that, there’s so much opposition in what ballet is and how your body even works to do ballet. Trying to learn all of that in such a short amount of time was really, really hard. We were doing the best we possibly could and wanted to be respectful of the dance world. We hope that we were, with this film.
What was it like to see the finished film and to see how all of your hard work blended with the dance doubles that you had? It looks so flawless.
FROSETH: It was special. I just remember getting into our first tutu. I was already so tired by that point. It had only been three months of training, and that was so rewarding. And then, to go through the actual shooting, and then COVID, and going back to it, and now seeing it on the big screen was really rewarding.
SILVERS: Ultimately, we learned all of the choreography. When we would rehearse, we weren’t on point ourselves, obviously, because that would be dangerous and irresponsible, but we learned everything and we did as much as we possibly could. Ultimately, I’m not even sure which moments [weren’t me]. Obviously, anything on pointe, I know it’s not me, but otherwise I couldn’t tell you which is what. When you have a team of people that are helping you reach a certain place, to the best of your ability, I’m really proud of the work that we both did.
FROSETH: We were just consistent. We always got back up. We finished and we gave it our all.
SILVERS: Yeah, we tried our best.
Even though you weren’t dancing on pointe, did you ever put the pointe shoes on to see what that would feel like?
FROSETH: Just once, and they got mad at us.
SILVERS: We didn’t wear them all the time, just for a costume. When we tried to go on our toes, they were like, “Guys!” But we tried it privately.
FROSETH: It hurt. I couldn’t do that.
SILVERS: Yes, you could. You’ve got natural ballet feet.
What was it like to work with Sarah Adina Smith throughout this? You guys were on this from the beginning and it sounds like you were a part of your characters’ evolution. What was it like to be involved, in that way, throughout the production?
SILVERS: Ultimately, Sarah was the captain of this ship, and we’re lucky that she was open to how we felt about our characters. She was open to hearing my thoughts on Kate. There’s what’s on the page, and then there’s rehearsal, and then there’s choreography, and then there’s on the day. Through those rehearsals, we built trust, which left more room to play on the day. Ultimately, Sarah was our leader. She was the captain and she was our director, so it was really her vision and her story. I hope we told the story to the best of what she wanted.
It’s said in the film that greatness has a price, and when it comes to ballet, we can certainly see the toll it takes on dancers’ bodies. Did this experience give you an understanding or an appreciation of the dancers who do this, that you just didn’t realize before?
SILVERS: You have an idea of what dancers do and the lives they live, but it’s that old saying of, walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. Try putting on pointe shoes and walking a mile in those. They’re insane. Their dedication to the discipline and the sheer force of will power to do this, day in and day out, and the passion to do this, day in and day out, for your entire life, is so admirable. I have so much respect for them.
FROSETH: I’m right there with you, especially after going through all of that. It was just three months, but still, I have so much respect.
Do you feel like there is a way to achieve that greatness without compromising your soul in some way, like all of these characters find themselves doing? When you’re in a world like that, that is so competitive, is it hard to avoid some sort of compromise?
FROSETH: I’d like to think so. It’s less about the validation. For me, at least, it’s always going back to the intention of why I’m wanting to do this, and then taking a step back if it’s messing up my mental health or if there are certain things that I’m realizing are not healthy. Then, it’s about taking a step back and questioning the path and the intentions. If you have that awareness, you can hopefully create a balance.
SILVERS: I feel like playing dirty means you don’t have trust that what’s meant for you will happen. I feel like it’s just having that trust and that faith in the universe that you will not miss out on what is meant for you. Focus on yourself and your own path, rather than, how do I get rid of this person? There are no road blocks. Your biggest enemy is yourself. Your biggest competitor is yourself. You project that part of yourself, the part that you’re insecure about, onto other people and things, but really, it’s so internal. You just have to put the blinders on and hone into where you’re at. You have to stop worrying about everyone else and just let them be who they are going to be.
Does it feel like you have to get out of your own head the most, when you go in to audition for something?
SILVERS: Yeah, that’s hard.
FROSETH: It’s been interesting with Zoom too. Before I would find it challenging, when you went into space and saw the other girls that were sitting there.
SILVERS: Really?
FROSETH: Yeah. I’d always get into my head about how we all look alike and maybe they want that version. Sometimes they would send girls home, and the ones that would stay, I’d get in my head about why they were staying. I would focus so much on everything else, besides just serving the story and feeling confident in my choices and my own interpretation, and hopefully being able to adjust with the director on the day. I’m still struggling with having a healthy relationship with the ego. It’s hard to get the negative thoughts out.
SILVERS: For me, I hate Zoom. It feels so impersonal.
FROSETH: I hate the process.
SILVERS: For me, the actual audition itself and being in the room is the best part. It’s always waiting after when you’re like, “Oh, God, how did I do?” That’s the worst part. And then, you hear another name and you’re like, “Oh, man, they’re so cool.” But to actually be in the room and get to work creatively with the people, that’s the best part. At a certain point, you’re just happy to be there because you’re acting and you’re doing the thing that you love. After that, it doesn’t even matter what happens, really. If you don’t love the process, then you don’t love the thing itself.
FROSETH: That’s true. All you have is that moment in there.
There’s something about this whole world that Jacqueline Bisset embodies perfectly. What was it like to have the experience of working with a legendary actress like her?
FROSETH: She’s just a force of nature. It was amazing just to watch how focused she was and how present she was. She would always just keep you on your toes. You could not, not be present with her in a scene, and that was incredible. And off screen, she was just so lovely. You could ask her questions and she would be there for it.
SILVERS: I feel like she was a little method with me as Kate. I felt like off camera, I still wanted her approval so bad. If was fun, on wrap day, she was like, “You’re very talented.” And I was like, “You liked me, this whole time?” I think she did it on purpose because she wanted to really keep us in this environment. She knows better than me. Working with someone like that is so humbling because you’re in the best position with everything to learn and everything to gain from this person. That’s the time when you just sit back and watch and experience it. She’s incredible.
What’s next for each of you? Do you know what you’re going to be doing next?
FROSETH: I just wrapped on another show (called The First Lady) that was really fun, where I got to play Betty Ford. She’s meant a lot to me, with all that she’s done with the Ford Center and how much she’s talked about addiction. That was incredible, and that comes out next year. And I have another movie coming out. I’m just hustling. I just celebrated this, and it’s on to the next. We’ll see what happens.
SILVERS: I filmed Season 2 of Space Force, this last April to June. It’s been hard with the pandemic. Pre-pandemic, you could work out two projects at once. I’ve had a couple of things that I wasn’t able to do because of my commitment to my show. It’s hard to say what the world would look like, if there wasn’t COVID, but the reality is that you have to really be patient. Like I said earlier, I know I won’t miss out on what’s meant for me. So, I’m just gonna celebrate this and keep on keeping on.
What’s the experience of doing that show like?
SILVERS: It’s really fun. We were in Vancouver for Season 2 because of COVID. Greg Daniels was shooting his other show already in Vancouver, so it made sense just to move us up there. It was just really, really fun and we had a good time. We forgot we were in a pandemic, which is the best thing. It feels good when you’re on set and you’re just so present with the people that you’re with, which is exactly what it was like with Birds of Paradise too. Even though there was COVID and we had to go back for round two, it didn’t really feel like that because we had our own safe space. And it was the same kind of thing [in Vancouver]. There were lots of karaoke nights.
FROSETH: Oh, my gosh, that’s amazing.
SILVERS: We watched a lot of ‘90s blockbusters together, which was fun. Face/Off is an insane film. It’s fantastic.
Birds of Paradise is available to stream at Amazon Prime Video.