Emily Deschanel, Nadine Crocker hope 'Continue' sparks mental health talk

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Emily Deschanel and Nadine Crocker said movies like Continue, in theaters and digital video-on-demand Friday, help people discuss difficult mental health subjects.

Crocker wrote, directed and stars as Dean, a woman coping with Depression after a suicide attempt. Deschanel plays Janet, the psychiatrist who is treating Dean.

Crocker took inspiration from her own experiences with Depression and a suicide attempt when she was 23. However, Crocker confirms Dean is a fictional character.

"I realized very early on that this could be a vessel to really start a conversation and to help people," Crocker told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "Filmmaking was a way to get the audience to empathize."

Crocker said she knew a film could reach people when she performed autobiographical scenes in an acting class. Some of those scenes are in Continue.

"People would come up to me afterward, tell me their story and tell me their struggles because they realized I had those same struggles," Crocker said.

Deschanel agreed with Crocker that a film could be a productive discussion tool and involve drama.

"It was really inspiring to me on a subject that not enough people talk about - mental health, suicide prevention and addiction," Dechanel said. "I thought it was really important and I was really inspired by Nadine."

Janet was a composite of many doctors Crocker had, and her late aunt.

"They showed me warmth when maybe they weren't necessarily supposed to," Crocker said of her doctors. "That compassion just came through in a time when I needed compassion more than anything."

Having played other roles in the medical field, most notably forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan on 12 seasons of Bones, Deschanel researched the specific psychiatry job. She said she also approached Janet as an individual.

"I think it was really important for her to have empathy," Deschanel said. "It's hard to show because there has to be this barrier between the character, and then it breaks down a bit."

Crocker said movies like Girl, Interrupted, Requiem for a Dream and Blue Valentine were meaningful to her. She said the impact of films on her inspired her to become a part of them.

"Film for me was an escape and then all of a sudden I dropped out of high school at 16 and moved to L.A. on my own," Crocker said. "So film can change your whole life."

In Los Angeles, Crocker began a career as an actor and appeared on shows like Hannah Montana, Castle and Supergirl. She said she struggled to complete the Continue script, but the death of Robin Williams in 2014 motivated her to finish.

"Robin Williams is someone that I've loved my entire life and his films were my warm blanket when I was having down days," Crocker said. "When he died, it made me pick the script back up and be like, 'I can't stop. I can't give up on this.'"

Acting out the suicide attempt that begins the film brought back memories of her darkest times, Crocker said. She said her cast and crew, including husband Anthony Caravella, producer Jay Seals and cinematographer Sy Turnball checked in with her frequently filming that scene.

Making Dean different enough from herself also made performing the scene easier than had it been the Nadine Crocker story.

"I was like, 'This isn't you. We are becoming someone else for now,'" Crocker said.

Continue is one of several independent films Deschanel made after Bones ended in 2017, all of which are being released this year. She said that since having sons in 2011 and 2015, she has been more selective about work and took two full years off after Bones.

"I'm not in the grind like I used to be and that's okay," Deschanel said. "It has to be something that is worth my time or that I'm excited about."

Crocker said many financiers told her that nobody would watch a film about Depression and suicide. That made her more determined.

"I want to talk about the [expletive] that no one else does," Crocker said. "I want to elevate subject matter that maybe other people are afraid of."

If you or someone you know is suicidal, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.