Mary mentioned to me that she wouldn’t run a lot of takes.
She didn’t. It’s a tiny movie—it’s not like a Kubrick film where you can do a hundred takes. Or allegedly, those sorts of things you hear about. [Laughs] This was four weeks. It was like doing a play. I just stepped onto the set, but before I knew it, I was off the set. The adrenaline of it got me through all of that.
Did it take a toll—physically, emotionally, all the above?
It’s funny—having small children, they just couldn’t care less if it’s taking a toll on you or not, whether it be work or something else. That’s always very grounding. But I felt sad it was over. It was such a gift to be able to do it.
Because the camera was so close, it was a very technical exercise as well a lot of the time. And my scene partner, you never see. There’s twists in the filmmaking that people will hopefully recognize, but that was wild, going, “How’s that going to work? How’s this story going to be told?” It’s just all from the perspective of Linda, in a way that I’ve not experienced for a while in the cinema—watching it, just like, “Oh, you are inside this person’s eyeballs.”
Do you remember what state of mind you were in when you finished filming?
Whew. I have an Australian kind of relaxed, laidback quality that I know is culturally familiar, but I am peddling fast underneath a little bit. I was just like, “Is this okay? Did I fuck it up?” Did you know what I mean? I didn’t want it to be over. When Mary and I talked again later, I was having separation anxiety from the character—and from Mary, and Mary as part of the character, and our friendship. I felt a little of that when I was coming away from it. And I felt pretty wrecked, physically.
There’s the physical toll I was asking about!
[Laughs] I admit, I looked busted.
You play another intense role in the film Tow, which premiered to strong reviews in Tribeca. But it still hasn’t found distribution, correct?
I do definitely feel the change in the business a little bit. [Tow] was a film we put together even smaller—we shot that in 20 days or something like that, very, very creatively challenging.
I’ve had so many indies that have taken awhile to sell. You have to have a thick skin. Look: we made this, I’m proud of it. But I’ve been doing this for so long, I have such a practicality about things now. What I love about producing is just the involvement of the creative decisions. I’m not particularly savvy with marketing or the financial side of things—but casting, producing, script editing, developing, that stuff has been really fun.
You mentioned it being kind of a weird time for the business. What are you noticing?