In the world of the American prison system, it’d be easy to think that everything was black-and-white. That the people inside are in there for good reason, and that those watching over them and that it’s the best system in place for the crimes committed. Well, that’s not always the case, and while there are many who do deserve to be locked up, the reality is that the life behind bars is enough to break even the most positive of human beings. With that in mind, some prisoners are willing to go to any lengths to get out, even going so far as to enter romantic relationships with their correctional officers.

Such is the case in the film Heartlock. LRM had a chance to speak with Lesley-Ann Brandt, the actress who plays the character of Tera, a correctional officer in the film who enters a romantic relationship with a prisoner. In our discussions with the actress, she delves into the need to retain femininity even as a CO, and the sad state of the prison system in the states.

Heartlock is available now!

https://youtu.be/eCIEOmeacsk

LRM: Okay great. Just wanted to make sure. Well first of all I enjoyed your character. The ending shocked me. For those that will be viewing the movie, the film, can you tell them a little bit about Tera?

Brandt: About Tera. Well Tera is a correctional officer in a prison who is, falls privy to this concept of backing which is where inmates befriend and get close to them in order to procure special treatment or contraband and in a lot of cases surprisingly when I was researching for the film they start actual relationships with inmates. Some become pregnant, started families. So Tera is sort of balancing dealing with a life at home with her dad who is not well and living up to his expectations. He was a former CO himself and very well respected in the system and she meets an old high school classmate who is in jail and she starts a relationship with him essentially. Which is the beginning of the end for I guess the two, these two characters.

LRM: Okay. And then also seeing you in this, wearing the uniform, in this case, how did you feel getting to wear this law enforcement uniform?

Brandt: It was very, that’s an interesting question actually. I felt like I was putting on like a new skin, if that makes sense, everyday. It was very comfortable for me because you see a lot of my roles are not, I’m not in the most comfortable costumes, but that in itself I think made it a lot easier just the very sort of stringent kind of stark crisp shirt. You know? The pants and the boots it definitely helped me get into character. And what was interesting too is like I felt my least sexy.

If that makes sense? Like my least attractive. Do you know what I mean?

LRM: Yeah.

Brandt: But it’s interesting that the woman who are in these situations then start these, a lot of them have started these sexualized relationships. It’s a very masculine feeling. I thought as though I had like balls between my legs. And I always, when I think of Tera I feel she comes, she acts from the groin, if that makes sense? She’s a character that is, yeah she definitely leads with her hips in the sense of where her stance and power comes from.

So it was great. It was the easiest costume I had to wear. Compared to Mazikeen on Lucifer I’m wearing a far more revealing costume.

LRM: Right, very fitted. Yeah, what attracted my attention was like okay the whole time we’re seeing you you’re very formal, very strong character in uniform and then suddenly in one of those scenes when you start tying down your hair, you take off the belt and it’s like okay we’re seeing the female here.

Brandt: Exactly. And that was, even in the scene where they get together the fact that she wears lingerie underneath I think she didn’t start off wearing that. And I think that’s what a lot of, I think in a weird way if I was a correctional officer that would probably be tied to my femininity is what I was wearing underneath. Not necessarily lipstick or makeup or anything like that, but that this is a skin I put on to do my job and then when I take it off I shed that skin and then I’m who I am.

https://youtu.be/aq-EEvoU0ZE

LRM: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Brandt: But I think in a situation like Tera and for a lot of these CO’s I did research and I did manage to get in contact with someone who, a woman who had started a relationship with an inmate is you’re in prison with these guys. Even though you’re “free” you’re sort of not. You know and you spend as much time with them in these very brightly lit fluorescent cells. Your cells just a little bigger and your free to move in between, but yeah it was, that was something that I asked John if I could wear something that was just a little bit lacier and sort of more feminine to give that visual sort of juxtaposition.

LRM: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Oh, we definitely got it. Like I said it’s like you have this image of this officer that’s very strict and everything and then suddenly it’s like, “Oh okay she’s a woman. She’s got feelings, she’s got desire” and all that.

Brandt: Of course. Of course. Yeah.

LRM: So going back a little bit about the movie so what were your thoughts on the advice Tera received from her boss to maintain that intact career?

Brandt: Well yeah I mean getting advice from, I think, I love the character her senior officer because it was, here’s a woman who had been through the system and worked her way to a position of power and here’s this rookie CO coming in guns blazing, well not real guns, but sort of like hard and not really knowing that a lot of prison life is, yeah there are rules and there are things you can and can’t do. That being said just trying to keep the peace between gangs for example, there are probably things COs do that are not in line with what the rules are, but it keeps the prison working.

The biggest thing I probably took away from just trying to keep it professional, which was hard for Lesley-Ann, but I understood Tera’s position was this idea of like there’s really no reform in the prison system. It’s really teaching human beings. and particularly here in the states, and it was, it’s like you’re essentially playing babysitters. And how do you professional as a babysitter because the system is not conducive to, like I said, reform. To help, what does solitude confinement do to the human mind. It destroys it. We’d all go crazy.

And there are people in the system currently serving life sentences and going from one prison to the other and that’s all they know. So I think really when you think you’re being a professional it’s really about just surviving, to be honest.

LRM: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Brandt: Yeah.

LRM: Yep. I could see that definitely for sure for both ends. I mean the ones in uniform even the men that are behind bars. Right.

Brandt: Totally, absolutely. And you’re not really being paid that much when you’re a CO, but you have this huge responsibility which is crazy to me. Interesting to me that someone chooses to go into that sort of line of work.

LRM: Yeah it’s not easy.

Brandt: It’s a hard job. I walked away from this project with so much respect for the men and women who do this for a living and also so much sadness for the idea of sometimes life deals a lot of these inmates sh***y cards in their lives. And one thing escalates to another and then you find yourself in this hamster wheel of imprisonment.

LRM: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Brandt: You know people who are getting picked up for a minor, I don’t know, marijuana I think just like 20 years ago are still in jail and now in California it’s legal and you’re like, “Wow people’s lives were destroyed years ago and today you and I can walk down the streets of California and smoke a joint and it’s legal.

LRM: It’s ironic how it works right?

Brandt: It was a trip. Yeah it’s a trip. It’s a trip and then you know they go to jail 20 years ago. They maybe get into a fight and then they get more time and then just one thing leads to another and then before you know it they’re 50 years old and they’re in jail and that’s all they know.

And there’s no opportunity for them to, yeah it was, I approached the film, even though my character’s quite hard, but with a lot of compassion for both sides.

LRM: You did mention that you did your research and you had a chance to interact and actually hear real-life experience of, it seems like that really helped your character understand a little more too, firsthand.

Brandt: Absolutely, because we can all look at a script like this or look at a film… I mean, Patricia Arquette just won the Globe for her portrayal of a similar situation, Escape at Dannemora, and it’s like what is the backstory behind it all? Because it’s very easy for you and I to sit and judge. You know? But having had this conversation with her and understanding where she was at, what her situation was at home, what her relationships were like, why she would be vulnerable to someone who would, why she would allow herself to be put in a situation like that. It wasn’t for me to judge. I could only just listen and sort of interpret it.

LRM: Right. Well, you did a great job. I definitely enjoyed it. To finalize is there something you can share? Sure. Anything you can share that you have for this coming year? Well, we’re already 2019.

Brandt: Well, Lucifer we’re now on Netflix and our season four is coming out this Spring worldwide which we’re pretty excited about.

LRM: Yes and on Netflix.

Brandt: So we were previously canceled by, yeah. We were previously canceled by Fox. The fans did what they did and our show was then picked up by Netflix. So we’re excited to be part of the Netflix family and it definitely gives us a little bit more freedom as a show creatively too to explore, it may be darker themes. You know we are a show about the devil so…

LRM: Right. It should be dark.

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