This short film is a modern retelling of the Greek myth. It’s a story of divorce and how two parents cope to control their most beloved daughter just as she is growing into a woman.

Demeter is portrayed by Academy-Award winning actor Melissa Leo (The Fighter, Frozen River, 21 Grams). She rules over the gardens and all the land at Mount Olympus. The story begins on a perfect day in August. Demeter has gathered her brothers Zeus (the county executive) and Poseidon (who’s usually sailing off to some island in his yacht) with a few friends for her daughter Persephone’s sixteenth birthday.

Persephone, portrayed by Lindsay Andretta (Far From Heaven) is not cooperating with her mother’s plans. As a rebellious teenager, she would rather be anywhere but at home at Mount Olympus and she refuses to dress according to her mother’s wishes. She steals away to the arboretum and looks out over the River Styx yearning to travel and explore life away from the trappings of home.

Hades (Gilles Malkine) Demeter’s ex-husband makes matters worse. He arrives at Mount Olympus in his red convertible after years of estrangement, for his daughter’s birthday celebration. When he learns about her yearning to be elsewhere, he hatches a plan to take her away.

Hades surreptitiously steals away with his daughter across the River Styx to his estate in the underworld. There, she discovers a world filled with costumes, masks, color, temptation and spectacle. Hades spoils her with anything she wants. Persephone enjoys the power she has in the underworld but she starts to miss her mother and the beauty of Mount Olympus.

Demeter is tormented by her daughter’s disappearance. She suspects Hades, but is unable to find any recourse. Her distress and anger are evident as summer ends. The trees lose their leaves and the earth is enveloped in snow and ice.

Zeus realizes that he needs to help his sister recover her daughter. He sends his brother Poseidon to the underworld to broker a deal with Hades – they will share custody.

When Persephone is reunited with Demeter, summer has returned in all its glory but as the story comes to an end, we see Hades driving towards Mount Olympus. The trees have turned orange and red. He is coming back to take his daughter Persephone, whom he has made Queen of the Underworld – but she has other ideas.”

For More information on the film, please go to the Official Website – Persephone

Read the Interview about “Red State”

In it writer Deborah Medenbach said:

“…Stone Ridge resident and Academy Award winner Melissa Leo stars in “The Sea Is All I Know,” which screened in a short film package at the festival. Director Jordan Bayne said the top-level cast needed very little direction from her in interpreting the script about an inner conflict faced by a middle-aged couple who bring their terminally ill daughter home to die.

Brief search for good lullaby
“I worked with extraordinary actors. You don’t need to tell Melissa Leo too much,” Bayne said. The film has just started the festival circuit but has already completed some of the necessary groundwork for consideration for an Academy Award. “Melissa loves this film and is fully behind it.”

Read the whole article here.

From Raye: When I asked Melissa about her feelings about the cancellation of All My Children, she replied:

“I am heartbroken about the cancellation …and feel for all whose jobs were lost. But I hold out great hope AMC will lead the way in the new alternative ways we, in cast crew and production, will find to share our work with the public. I look forward to watching and perhaps even playing in AMC online! If anyone can pull this off it’s Susan Lucci and the people she works with… and the past, when soaps took radio to television, will repeat itself …as soap operas lead us into the future of the dramatic arts!”

click on the image to see the gallery

click on the image to see the gallery

click on the image to see the gallery

The Photos on this page are the personal property of Melissa and not for use on other sites without her written approval. Thank you

Look closer at that beautiful beaming face and you’ll wonder how the casting directors ever found such a perfect match for Melissa Leo. Why, the two could be twins!

Okay, you caught us, that IS Melissa Leo.

“When I read the script and heard that Kay Howard’s sister, Carrie, was coming to town, I was mortified as to who might play her and I begged if I could please audition for the part and played it under a pseudonym. I played it under the name of Margaret May.”

When asked if the name had any special significance, Melissa replied, “Doesn’t it sound like a movie star name? It’s my mother’s name and her sister’s name. There’s just something about it that sounded just right to me.”

“What a ball it was, getting to play the two parts. The show is really worth taking a look at to see how they did that. You never even think it’s the same person. My father said, “Melissa, who did they get to play your sister?”

The Photo on this page is the personal property of Melissa and not for use on other sites without her written approval. Thank you