Today, I spoke with Jen Ponton about her film Love on the Run, which she plays the character Franny. When Franny woke up one morning it was another day of possibilities to have all her dreams come true. Her optimism can’t be silenced even when Rick takes her hostage while robbing a bank.
Jen is an incredible person with an absolutely awesome personality. She’s a powerhouse of energy, professionalism and excitement for her trade and I’m not just using buzzwords. She’s an incredible person who believes in a positive body-image regardless of our size. Being a large person myself, I appreciate the mentality of loving yourself regardless of the stereotypes and pressure that society puts on us. Body shaming is a real thing and while most people associate it with women and how they are treated, men also suffer from a tremendous amount of body shaming and pressure to look like the actors on the big screen. Everywhere we look, we see magazines and models, celebrities and musicians who set a impossibly high standard and we feel inadequate when we don’t look like that.
What I enjoyed about Love on the Run is that Jen Ponton’s character, Franny, is a larger woman but it’s not a major focus of the movie. Most of the time, in a lot of movies I see, the large person’s size is actually the main story regardless of what the context is all about. It’s front and center all the time and there is usually a lot of humor or shaming because of it, or worse a “transformation” from a fat-suit to a skinny person because that is what society wants.
Love on the Run is different in that Franny’s size isn’t a plot point. She’s just a person who goes on an incredibly strange but heart-warming journey through the film and ends up in a interesting and hilarious place at the end. Take the humor away from the film and you’ll have a really great story about a woman and her personal journey to self-discovery, but add that human in and you’ll get a hilarious romp through the craziness that is Franny’s life.
It’s a tale of optimism and positive thinking, something we all need in the times we are living in.
Check out Jen’s website below and be sure to pick up the film on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Dish, VOD and just about everywhere.