Made with filmmaker Julius Avery, who wrote the script and was at Cannes in 2008 with his film "Jerrycan," the pair made waves on the French Riviera one production meeting at a time.
Back Stage sat down with the two filmmakers to talk about the film and casting.
What is the film about?
Michael Spiccia: The film is about essentially a small girl who takes on the town bullies that come to torment her dad.
Julius Avery: Michael and I got together, and we spent a lot of time talking about the kind of things we wanted to explore in a film, and..
Spiccia: And after we had several in-depth discussions of the story I wanted to tell. I was drawn to Julius through a film he did four years ago a called “Jerrycan,” and we met through mutual friends and peers. And as we got to know each other, we had this uncanny similarity in our upbringings. We had so much in common…and themes such as control and bullying were two areas that we really wanted to focus on. You know after we spent some time talking and discussing, Julius went away and wrote a script. He brought it back, and I was incredibly excited by it.
Avery: For me, I have this saying that the story has to work in a setting of a backyard or on the moon. I just wanted to throw in a framework that was interesting and hadn't really been explored before, and Michael had talked to me about wanting to explore an unexpected twist. I was really drawn to the films “Firestarter” and “Carrie.” You know, “Firestarter” is essentially about control and “Carrie” is about bullying, so I thought it was really fitting. So those kinds of stories really excited me, and they both have kind of unexpected twists. It felt very fitting for us to go down that path. And that's what I sort of based the story on.
Why were those themes important to you?
Avery: I've been obsessed with control…For me, control is quite a big part of my life.
Spiccia: Likewise.
Avery: And bullying was something that I explored in “Jerrycan,” and you know, it's something that I've been exploring in a lot of my work and so is control. Michael and I had a very similar upbringing where we weren't the tough kids or the cool kids.
How did you cast it?
Spiccia: We went through an extensive process with a casting director, who did a great job. We spent a bit of time looking at many girls for the role or Ruby, and when Mitzi walked in the room, as soon as she was on camera, I knew instantly that she was Ruby. She just came with this incredible presence. The fact that the character doesn't talk, she really had to communicate a lot through physical expression and action and emotion, and she could do all of that with a really understated and real approach. That's what really drew me into her. And it was a no brainer.
When a character doesn't talk, how does that affect your directing?
Spiccia: Well, I think it becomes, I suppose, more psychological. It's more about physical display and communication, but it's being able to convey a physical action that can draw you into her mind and how she's feeling and emoting. That's essentially the way I saw directing and dealing with Ruby.
What is it like to have your film at Cannes?
Spiccia: It's incredible. Cannes is a pretty overwhelming experience. There is a lot happening. It's a very potent film market. It's the biggest market in the world. It's been incredibly exciting being part of an experience you'll never forget.
