Q&A with Jug Face’s Lauren Ashley Carter

Jug Face was just released to theaters and we were given the opportunity to have actress Lauren Ashley Carter take part in our latest Q&A feature to talk about her role in the movie. Aside from discussing her favorite on-set memory and other Jug Face details, she also talks about her love of horror movies and what's next:

Thank you for taking the time to talk with us. Can you tell us how you became involved with Jug Face? Was it something you heard about and auditioned for or did they reach out to you specifically for this part?

Lauren Ashley Carter: Thanks for having me! Andrew van den Houten and I have worked together previously on two films, Rising Stars and The Woman. He asked me to read the script and tell him what I thought. I called him after I finished and told him I really liked it. thought it was a great story. He told me that he and Chad agreed that I should be Ada. Then I found out Sean Bridgers and Sean Young were attached to the project as well, and I was thrilled to be a part of it.

What attracted you to the role of Ada in Jug Face and how did you prepare for this role?

Lauren Ashley Carter: Ada goes through such hell in this film, and we are very different people. Ada makes these fear-based decisions which is completely the opposite of how I think. I tend to think too deeply on most matters: over thinking and analyzing. Also, Ada responds to fear by fleeing where I'm a fighter. I am drawn to characters that are not like myself.

To prepare, I had many conversations with Chad and the other actors about the world we were living in. Sean Bridgers was such an ally to me in all of this. I would come to him before the beginning of a new day, and he would sit with me and go over the script: where we had just come from and where we were going. I couldn't have done it without his help.

Can you tell us about your work with writer/director Chad Crawford Kinkle? Did you have any creative input on your character or the story?

Lauren Ashley Carter: Chad and I were very open with one another the entire time. I expressed that I wanted his story to come alive the way that he imagined it, and he wanted me to feel as comfortable and safe as possible. It was a joy to work with him. Chad allowed everyone to freely discuss what they wanted for their characters and the story, and it was a very collaborative effort, but we were all on the same page from the start.

What is one of your favorite memories from being on set filming Jug Face?

Lauren Ashley Carter: This is hard!!! There were so many. *spoiler*

I have to say it was the Dirty Panty saga.

There was a scene where I had to paint blood on my underwear in Dawai's shed. Michael David Bevins, who was the costume designer (also worked with me on Rising Stars and The Woman) is a very dear friend of mine. He felt so badly for me have to put on these dirty panties. He spent all day soiling them. I just remember watching this poor man sitting outside making dirty panties. He made three or four pairs AFTER the set he had already made that were too dirty. This way, when I pulled the bloodied underwear up, I had several layers protecting my "self".

Now, the previous set of panties that were distressed too much were supposed to be tossed. But instead, the crew decided to pull a prank on our 2nd AD, Emily Neumann, and attached the panties to the bumper of her car.

She was rushing to work on another project, and she never realized. She drove around Tennessee for over 24 hours with dirty underwear on her bumper, flapping carelessly in the wind.

I still have a cackle every time I think about those panties.

Many of our readers are probably familiar with your work on The Woman. Do you find that your attracted to genre/horror roles more than other types of projects? What is it about these types of movies that attract you?

Lauren Ashley Carter: I am attracted to a good story. I love doing comedy as well: if they're not screaming in fear, I hope they're laughing. I love the feeling of suspense, dread, terror. It's a very powerful feeling to know that you can capture an audience in such a visceral way.

In general, are you a fan of horror movies? What are some of the movies that you love watching?

Lauren Ashley Carter: Very much! I spent most of my childhood watching horror and scifi along with Disney musicals, Looney Toons, and Rocky and Bullwinkle. I remember watching Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween and Ashley Laurence in Hellraiser and going home and pretending to be a victim trapped in the closet, or running from a imaginary hell lord; Tying myself up and escaping. I was never scared, it just looked like so much fun. It probably helps that they both kicked ass in the end.

Then there was Pamela Springsteen of Sleepaway Camp 2 and 3. I wore this tapes out! That was the first time I thought it could be fun to play the bad girl.

I can watch many films repeatedly: Sleepaway Camp trilogy, Scanners, Halloween, Alien, Hellraiser, May, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Cabin Fever, The Shining, Audition, Videodrome, Taxidermia, Re-Animator... It goes on and on!!

Martyrs really did a number on me. Just the plot more than the images (which were fabulous and disturbing). That's a movie that is burned into my mind. It'll be a while before I need to see it again. Brilliant film. Same goes with Old Boy: i remember every scene so clearly. And being a daddy's girl, the ick factor kind of turns me off from watching it again any time in the near future.

Then there was Dahmer. I got about 40 min in and had to turn it off. I felt like I was watching a mock snuff film, and it really bothered me. I know the details of the murders, I thought I could handle seeing them played out, but something about it got to me and it didn't feel right. Funny Games had a similar effect on me.

What other projects do you have coming up and where can our readers follow you online?

Lauren Ashley Carter: I am currently starring and co-producing a dark comedic thriller. DOSEY, written by Lukas Persson. We are going to launch our we site soon, but people can follow us via Twitter. LAC_voyager, DoseyStrikes, and LukaBop for more details. Also, our Dosey Facebook page DOSEY-The Motion Picture.

I'm on Facebook, but fans can get in touch with me through Twitter where I am always happy to share info about past and future projects.

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Want to learn more about Jug Face? The movie is now in theaters and available on VOD. We've included the trailer and release details below.

"...JUG FACE, the tense horror-thriller written and directed by Chad Crawford Kinkle, will have a national theatrical roll out on August 9th through its domestic distribution arm Modern Distributors. The film was produced by Andrew van den Houten (“Funeral Kings,” ‘’The Woman”) and Robert Tonino (‘’Home Movie,” “Ghoul”) for Modernciné, and stars Lauren Ashley Carter (“The Woman”), Sean Bridgers (“Deadwood”), Sean Young (“Blade Runner”), Larry Fessenden (“I Sell the Dead”) and Daniel Manche (“The Girl Next Door”). JUG FACE was executive produced by Lucky McKee, Arrien Schiltkamp and Loren Semmens. The film will have a pre-theatrical VOD roll out in the U.S. on July 8th, and is slated for a VOD release, day and date with theatrical, on August 9th.

JUG FACE tells the story of a pregnant teen trying to escape a backwoods community when she discovers that she may be sacrificed to a mysterious pit. The entity in the pit requires a life for keeping the community safe. The face of the person to be sacrificed is crafted onto a ceramic jug. When ignored, the entity unleashes an evil onto the community. Now no one is safe as tragedy befalls each member one by one and they soon realize that the pit wants what it wants."