It may seem odd for 32-year-old Castille Landon to write and direct a movie about women in their 70s as she did with her newest film, “Summer Camp,” but Landon doesn’t think so at all.
“I think I relate quite a bit to older people,” Landon told The Dominion Post. “I’ve always had older friends. And I’m very close to my mom and to my grandma. So I drew a lot from just imagining myself going through their circumstances. I spent a weird amount of time thinking about if I were trying to be on dating apps when I’m in my 60s or 70s, what does that look like?”
Landon examines some of that in her latest movie. In the film, three long-time friends, played by Kathy Bates, Diane Keaton and Alfre Woodard, get together for a camp reunion. Landon wanted to explore the themes of loneliness and isolation that exist among older women.
“I did do a lot of research. And I’m naturally curious. And I have heard a lot about doctors researching the neurological effects of loneliness. I’m not a doctor, but I do know that it actually changes people’s brains, and it kind of atrophies, from what I understand.”
Landon went on, “Especially in this post-pandemic period, I think it makes the themes in the movie more resonant than they probably were beforehand, but [loneliness] is especially detrimental for people as they age.”
The film also deals with other issues women face, particularly as they age, such as losing a spouse, getting lost in work and allowing yourself to be swallowed up by everything else while not caring for yourself.
“I think that I experience as a woman going through the world where I don’t want to be defined by my looks, but I also do want to still feel pretty, that there’s a little bit of that that comes into play to where Mary is this intelligent, strong woman and pillar of her family. And yet she also wants to feel cared for.”
One thing Landon marveled over was the ability to work with so many impressive performers. Many in the cast have either won or been nominated for a number of prestigious awards, and she believes that elevates this movie.
“There was a moment when the three ladies were filming a little scene where they’re in their bunk beds towards the end of the movie. It’s a really simple scene. And the scene goes from each actor and they kind of all almost one up to each other. Where it was like Kathy’s just killing it. And then Diane, and then Alfre with a tear in her eye. And then it will go back to Kathy and it’s even better this time. It was one of those ‘pinch me’ moments where I was like, ‘All three of these ladies have been nominated for Oscars or won them.’ Like, that’s so real.”
“Summer Camp” opens this weekend in theaters nationwide.
