Sophia, what was the most challenging aspect of directing a film where the characters’ decisions lead to a path of self-destruction? How did you ensure their arcs were still relatable and grounded?
The most challenging part of directing self-destructive characters was finding the internal motivation behind each girl’s decision to keep moving forward. From the beginning of the writing stage, I knew I wanted each girl to cope with immense stress in varying ways. I ended up with three responses that created immediate tension while maintaining believability: emotionally detached logical solutions, anxiously avoidant overwhelmed fleeing, and tension-adverse nervous deflection. In other words, fight, flight, and laughter.
What was the process like for assembling the cast and crew? How did you ensure that everyone shared the vision for this unique blend of punk rebellion and personal growth?
My crew was made up of my classmates from film school, and everyone was uniquely familiar with the vision due to their proximity to my project from the very beginning of its conception. Regarding the cast, I was on a set with our lead actress, Lola Thatcher, two years prior and essentially wrote the script with her in mind. After a week of auditions and chemistry reads, my producer and I found the other two leading actresses, Grace Maltman and Eve Andrews, in London. In Paris, we auditioned our older gentleman in the car, Pascal Goffi.
I held several Zoom calls leading up to the shoot, talking the girls through their characters and motivations. Once everyone made it to Paris, I had intensive rehearsals to get everyone into character, including taking my cast to La Zorba, the punk center of Paris. We also caravaned to the filming location, which allowed a unique opportunity for the cast and crew to get to know each other with a well-curated punk playlist playing in the background.
Punk music and rebellion are core elements of the film. How did you connect with the punk culture in your performance, and what did it mean for your character’s identity? How did you work together with Olivia in order for this representation to be accurate?
Although the film is set in the present, I wrote the characters with the core values of the original 1970s British punk rock movement: authenticity and rebellion. Each character had a distinct relation to the punk lifestyle, which meant they expressed themselves differently.
I had great luck finding an authentic rockstar, Eve Andrews, to play one of the lead girls. My other actresses cite Eve as a big help on set, filling in gaps in knowledge and mindset when needed. Some of my actresses also lived near Camden, a current punk hub in England, and poked around the area in their spare time leading up to the shoot.
Working with Olivia was a special treat. They are incredibly talented in the make-up and wardrobe department. I had very clear references of how I wanted the girls to appear collectively, and Olivia understood the vision completely. They talked to the actresses about their characters and how they would present themselves individually through their style, and it ultimately came down to pooling some of the actresses’ and crew’s clothes and altering pieces found at nearby thrift stores.