Actress Alana de Freitas has played many diverse characters but she is receiving a lot of attention lately for playing the more dangerous ones. So much attention in fact that she has been cast in the upcoming K Jam Media film The Misfits. While the production is fairly tight lipped in these early stages, details about the film’s plot describe it as the story of a group of unconventional thieves that engage in an elaborate gold heist in order to help cybercriminal, Dalton Sanders end the threat to his family after he discovers his daughter is on a hit list. These are modern day Robin Hoods who see themselves as defending those who can't stand up for themselves. In a Taken meets Ocean’s 11 concoction, The Misfits looks to be highly stylized and quick-paced, likely with a few surprise reveals along the way.
Miss de Freitas is cast as Violet, a femme fatale/living weapon, who is the only female member of the misfits. When Producer, Amaury Nolasco saw de Freitas’ work as Carrie in the short film End Games, he recognized in her a quality needed to play Violet. Carrie is kind of an anti-hero. She is by no means the good guy. Her methods are anything but heroic and yet they inspire an inner sense of righteousness. She is a dangerous woman. Violet and Carrie are both very strong women who don’t back down from a fight. There are definitely parallels you can be drawn between Carrie and Violet, but Violet is unmistakably a good guy, in spite of the unconventional methods the misfits use to extract their own special brand of justice.
Alana is eager to join the ranks of female “butt-kicking” action heroes like those of films Salt, La Femme Nikita, Catwoman, and the upcoming Atomic Blonde but notes, “I’m a literature lover, so I always feel that there’s a little Estella from Great Expectations in my brand of femme fatale. Ultimately, you can take inspiration from others, but you still have to draw that essence from within yourself. Find the part of the character you relate to the most; start from there and just build upon it. Get inside their skin and walk around. You need to own their point of view. It really excites me that we are seeing more and more roles for women that have this fierceness that traditionally has been reserved for men.” Fitness training, hand to hand combat, and munitions work are all a part of the boot camp that the actress will be undertaking to get herself inside the skin of Violet.
For confirmation of de Freitas’ eclectic abilities and roles, one need look no further than The Legend of Ben Hall. This biopic about infamous Australian bushranger Ben Hall is a period piece taking place in the 1800’s. As the good friend of Mary Morriss, Alana displays a range of complex and contrasting emotions in some of the productions most tense scenes. While Ned Kelly is well known, the less famous Ben Hall has become a legend for the unusual nature that surrounds his life and death. Hall was one of Australia notorious bushrangers in the 1800s. He was never directly responsible for any deaths, yet he was shot dead by eight policemen.
Matthew Holmes (writer/director of The Legend of Ben Hall) declares, “In one very emotionally charged situation, we see Mary and her friend Rose (played by Rain Fuller and Alana de Freitas respectively) deal with the fall out when John Gilbert (Jamie Coffa), Ben Hall (Jack Martin), and John Dunn (William Lee) take things too far. This was one of those scenes in which you have to say a lot without speaking too much. Directing Alana in this scene was easy. She completely understood the weight of the situation and took a moment before we began rolling; the emotion was just there, raw and exposed. I couldn't have been happier."
From pugilist to wallflower, Alana de Freitas takes great joy in throwing herself completely into her roles; undoubtedly because it allows her to investigate all of these aspects of her own personality. If you happen to run into her at a red carpet premier it might be wise to remember all that she is capable of and treat this lady with the same respect you’d give to Violet from The Misfits.