‘Breakup Season’ Starring Tulsa's Own Samantha Isler, Chandler Riggs To Premiere At Circle Cinema Film Fest

The Circle Cinema Film Festival begins on July 12th in Tulsa and will feature dozens of films with Oklahoma ties.

One of those films, "Breakup Season" stars Tulsa actress Samantha Isler who takes a lead role for the first time in her career opposite Chandler Riggs (Walking Dead). Breakup Season has been making the rounds across the country at various festivals and will have its Oklahoma premiere on July 15 at 7 p.m.

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Isler is known for her roles in "Captain Fantastic "Molly's Game", and the TV show "Supernatural". She was gracious enough to join me and my co-hosts on the So Many Sequels Podcast, to talk about her career and experiences in the entertainment industry. Isler spoke about how she got involved with Breakup Season and what it was like to work on a very personal film like this.

"December of 2022, right around Christmas I was sent the script and asked to audition. I read it over and I was really intrigued by the concept of it," said Isler.

Breakup Season tells the story of a young man (Riggs) who brings his girlfriend Cassie (Isler) to his rural Oregon hometown to introduce her to his family, but it doesn't go as planned when they break up on the first day in town. Things only get more difficult when a snowstorm and massive pile-up on the only road out of town prevent Cassie from going home. The two have to go through a post-breakup relationship while being unable to get away from each other.

"At the end of the day yes it's just about this young relationship and it's about kind of the falling out of that relationship. But there's so much gravity to that in everybody's real lives you know? I feel like everybody goes through that first real relationship or first heartbreak," said Isler.

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Filming took place in La Grande, Oregon and Isler said she only got to meet the rest of the cast when shooting began.

"We got to set that first week of February in a very rural town in Oregon and we had this little Camp you know for a month and it was lovely and upon meeting everybody for the first time we got along so well but then there was just kind of this moment like a day or two in when we started filming that we all kind of really got excited about each other and confident in what we had," she said.

Isler started her career as a child actor in films like "Molly's Game" starring Jessica Chastain and the faith-based film Home Run. She talked about the excitement of starring in her first lead adult role.

"It was really interesting because Chandler and I ended up relating on a lot of things in a lot of ways just in the roles that we've had up until this point and even though they've you know been different in their own ways we've still been the kid you know the kid onet the kid in the film 'the son' 'the daughter' and this was for both of us our first romantic lead but really our first roles as actual adults and so that was really exciting I felt like it was a way for us both to kind of challenge ourselves and just kind of try to step out of being perceived as a kid," she said.

We also talked about why she chose to stay here in Tulsa instead of moving out of state to pursue her. career.

"My family was adamant about helping me pursue my dreams without uprooting everybody else's and so you know everyone else's," said Isler. "You know I loved going to LA and working or getting to go to events and things like that but I just loved coming home and just like breathing. And people here are kind and they're supportive and I was never somebody that you know had the too much of an itch to like get out of their Hometown."

Isler will also be honored by Circle Cinema with a Walk of Fame medallion alongside Tulsa actor Joe Sears.

"I was sent a little link too it's like check out the other people that that are on there and I'm like clicking through the list and I feel lucky you'll be there with them," said Isler.

See the full interview below. The Circle Cinema Film Festival runs from July 12-15 and ticket information can be found at CircleCinema.org