INTERVIEW: ‘Body Odyssey’ puts bodybuilding in the spotlight
Photo: Body Odyssey features Julian Sands and Jacqueline “Jay” Fuchs. Photo courtesy of IndiePix / Provided by Foundry Comm with permission.
The new movie Body Odyssey, directed by Grazia Tricarico, is available today, Feb. 28, on IndiePix Unlimited. The body horror film tells the tale of Mona (Jacqueline “Jay” Fuchs), a 45-year-old champion bodybuilder, and the many tribulations she must face with her coach, Kurt (Julian Sands in one of his final movie roles). Tricarico co-wrote the script with Marco Morana and Giulio Rizzo.
“The idea come from an exercise that I had in film school,” the director said in a recent Zoom interview. “It was a day in which I prepared a fight scene with two actors in a gym, [and] the owner was a bodybuilder. I met him and his wife in this gym, and I started to think about this special body and what our body means today, in a sense that it’s a place of experimentation and freedom. In another sense, it’s a prison.”
Tricarico started to ponder how bodybuilding connected with perceptions of femininity and masculinity, and how bodybuilders work so strenuously on their body as if it were a work of art. But what about their souls?
“[There] is sometimes the stereotype of the stupid bodybuilder that takes steroids, but it’s not the reality,” she said. “What I discovered [after] 10 years of research is that this person has psychological control that is impressive, and they are a very rich and deep person. I think, for example, that Jay (Jacqueline Fuchs), the main character, that I met more than 10 years ago when everything started, she’s incredible in the power that she has to construct, to build her body and her femininity outside the standard that a society imposes on ourself. It’s not easy, and I think this is beauty, in a sense. I found the beauty in her and in this courage to build the body in the way that you want, that you desire. It started from that inspiration.”
The director was well aware when making the movie that some people don’t accept female bodybuilders because these critics have different ideas about what a woman’s body should look like. Tricarico reported seeing some people be disgusted at the bodybuilder’s craft, but the director was fascinated and wanted to give respect to these athletes.
“When I see Jay look at herself in the mirror, I can understand how she loves her body and her image,” the filmmaker said. “She worked constantly, every single moment of her life. She worked with her container that is her body. It’s incredible. I’ve never seen a woman look at herself in that way, and I think that’s so special and interesting investigating this.”
The director found Sands to be a gifted performer who was a mentor on set, and he bonded with Fuchs, who was new to acting. Tragically, Sands died two years ago after going missing while hiking. This gives Body Odyssey an extra special feel for his many fans who were hoping for more cinematic performances.
“Julian was an incredible father for the movie, and the relationship that they built for the movie was really special,” Tricarico said. “And we worked with Julian on this character, this coach, in a not standard way in the sense we didn’t want a classical coach because the relationship [between] a bodybuilder and their coach is different. It’s a kind of a shaman. It’s a father. It’s a lover. Work on her mind before work on her body. It was a relationship, a sentiment that Jay recognized in her life, so it was very interesting the creation of … this relationship.”
Many critics have praised the movie, classifying the tale as a body horror flick akin to the work of David Cronenberg. Tricarico welcomes that comparison and is flattered by the praise.
“Body Odyssey has some body horror,” she said. “Yes, I think it could be a body horror, and I’m honored when a name like David Cronenberg is associated with me. It’s maybe too much, but, yes, for sure I accept.”
The director added: “I think everybody has a conflict with their body and try to push their body in some ways. It’s the energy of evolution, so I think [on a] different level, everybody has a problem, a trouble, a conflict with our container. … I think that is important to investigate … especially in this moment when we have another life, a digital life with an avatar or virtual reality. For this reason, we have to think about the relationship that we have with our body. Maybe when we are free from this container, we become something else. I don’t know. I think we have to think about this. The bodybuilding world explores the limit of the body. It’s an interesting way to think about this.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Body Odyssey, co-written and directed by Grazia Tricarico, is now available from IndiePix Unlimited. Click here for more information.
