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Academy Award-winning actress Christine Lahti played an agoraphobic woman in the 1992 made-for-TV movie The Fear Inside. In her new film, Touched with Fire, Lahti switches from the mentally ill character to the role of a caregiver for her bipolar daughter, played by Katie Holmes.
Seeking to de-stigmatize bipolar disorder, the film tells the story of two poets who fall in love in a mental institution. Drawing on her own, real-life experience with a bi-polar sister, Lahti explained to WW that she didn't need to do too much to get into character.
Willamette Week: Do you have any personal connection to the script?
My sister struggled with bipolar for over 20 years, so I have a deep connection to it, actually. One of the reasons I wanted to do it was that only was the script really wonderful, but the writer/director [Paul Dalio] is also bipolar, so he's just an inspiration to all people with mental illnesses. He really tries to put out a film in an attempt to destigmitize bipolar, and let people know that they are not their disease. It doesn't have to be something that's so shameful; it's just a challenge.
How did that connection inform how you approached this role?
I really understood the collateral damage that can occur in a family when one person is struggling with this mental illness. I really understood the seductive nature of mania. My sister would be so inclined to get off her meds because the medication made her feel brain dead, because they never found the right cocktail for her unfortunately. She would continuously go off her meds and once she got manic, it would eventually turn into a psychotic kind of mania, so that wasn't fun. But that middle stage, hypomania, was incredible. She felt the most alive and creative and so I think that I knew about that seduction, so I had more empathy for why my character's daughter might also be seduced by it.
I think that's an important perspective to bring in to make it more authentic.
I think the film is very honest. These young people are not always emphatetic, especially in their mania; they're incredibly narcissistic. They're not always likeable and that's very brave of the filmmaker. They're also lovely and engaging and charming and beautiful people; they're just multifaceted. It was important to the filmmaker and to me to make sure the parents were not the villains. These parents are very complex people and they're doing their best to have some tough love with their kids and you see how torn they are.
How did you go about preparing for this role?
I didn't really need to, because I had lived it. It was one of those rare times where I didn't really have to do anything. But Katie and I did a lot of rehearsal. Paul Dalio and I did a lot of improv and talking about how to flesh out the mom's character. We talked about our own experiences, like the first time he had an episode and what it was like to be overmedicated. We just had a lot to share and he was so open and I think he just shared that with all the cast members and really helped the cast get under the skin of these characters.
Was it any more emotionally taxing than other roles?
I think all roles are emotionally taxing and this one in particular might've been. I think it was also therapeutic. I think it was healing for me.
What do you want people to take away from the film?
I'm hoping that it helps to destigmatize mental illness. There's a call at the end of the movie where the filmmaker has listed all these incredible artists, musicians, writers and poets who were diagnosed with bipolar and that and the film makes people think, "Oh, why are people ashamed to talk about this?" I remember my sister used to be so torn about whether or not to tell her friends and it was so saddening. It isolated her in ways that did not help her and I think that any film that can help put a human face on a struggle that is very challenging for people is a positive thing.
You can buy tickets for Touched With Fire—opening in Portland on Friday, Feb. 19—below:
Willamette Week