YOU, ALWAYS Christine Luby director talks romance in the tropics

On Netflix, Australian rom-com YOU, ALWAYS is an instant hit, filmmaker Christine Luby in conversation on the collaboration with cast & crew in North Queensland. Enjoy our lively fun-fact-filled informative behind the scenes chat on the film and her extensive career. 

YOU, ALWAYS starring Jessica De Gouw, Adrian Grenier, Desmond Chiam, Aria Burton and Yasmin Kassim who's also a co-writer

https://youtube.com/@movieanalystshaneadambassett?si=nZyw5fHIS4t_KgXj

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Uh yes, if you know romance, you'll know that music. Well, I think you will anyway. It's the City of Prague Philomanic Orchestra from Romeo and Juliet. Actually, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, directed by Bas Lerman. What a movie. Well, Romeo and Juliet in general. The classic Shakespeare story is one of the greats when it comes to romance. It could almost be said that romance is not dead, but when describing Romeo and Juliet, it's almost like an oxymoron, right? It doesn't matter. Anyway, I'm here to talk about romance in movie form. 2026 style. You are always directed by Christina Loubi. And it has a cast in it that you will be absolutely lining up to sit down and watch because it's a Netflix movie. It is Jaggy Entertainment that made in Australia. The cast, which I just alluded to then includes Jessica DeGaulle, who is an amazing hurtborn actor that is just smashing it all around the world. Aria Burton, a young star in the making, I do talk about her among other people, but the standout impression that the young Aria gave in the film is terrific. And Christina Louby and I had a chat about it, as you're about to hear in our conversation, in our interview, uh Desmond Chimes in it. From Mortal Kombat 2, the current blockbuster in the cinemas, Adrian Grinier. I hope I'm saying his name right. Of course he was in Driving Me Crazy, the 1999 classic with Melissa Joan Hart. It's uh very close to my heart. Actually, the the year of 1999 is that impressive. It deserves its own podcast. It is a seriously intense year of a movie that's unbelievable. Anyway, let's get on to you always. And another lingerie in this story and a whole creation in many ways. I'm your host you can find at movie underscore analyst or my YouTube channel is another good place to see more interviews. Movie analyst at Shane Adam. I hope you enjoy my conversation with director Christina Luby, and uh she's no stranger herself to uh rom com but behind the camera, which we do discuss in detail. This is a deep dive on you always and her career in general. I hope you enjoy. She's wonderful, and um, you'll agree, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

I have a beautiful life. Have a good time at Kemp. But sometimes I feel like true love only exists in books.

SPEAKER_03 4:35

Dr. Jim Bell, don't you have everything you need right here? Look around you. We live in paradise.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

Island time, baby! That's a good time out with a bit of money.

SPEAKER_03 4:49

Nice save, Dr. Bell.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

I am so sorry. Wait, are you actually you rode a ravi in the wind? I did. Would it be weird if I got to go anyway? Yeah, I'd be really happy to guide you in around through my areas. Yeah. Just do it, just do it. You sure there was nothing between you two? It's my best friend. She deserves it after everything she's better. Sometimes it feels like something mistake.

SPEAKER_03 5:51

You can't just abandon your life here.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

You still fight of losing everything. You won't fight for anything. This is what all right. Love stories and made up.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

It is like a real pleasure to meet you.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Likewise. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Uh so you always is your latest film, uh, and it's another film for Jaggy Entertainment. Like, firstly, before we go to You Always, please tell me how did you get involved with uh Steve and the company? Because they make such great films.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

They do, yeah. Yeah, I was there since the early days, and I was initially an A D for them. Um when I say A D, I mean that I did, you know, five other jobs as well. So I was always the one like, oh, we just lost our location manager, I'll jump in. Oh, we don't have extras casting. I can do that too. So, you know, be there painting the edit suite till three in the morning, and you know, I'm kind of OG, um, helping the company get started. And I was very lucky that they gave me my first break uh on this little love of mine, which uh gave me the chance to jump across from ADing to directing and haven't really looked back since. Yeah, you always is my seventh feature.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

It's so good because they've always given opportunities to everyone, but a lot of female-centric uh people, you know, behind the cameras, leads and so forth, writers. I just think it's great. The great entertainment group, Jaggy.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Yeah, no, we do well, and um we're really proud of having gender parody on pretty much every single film. Our crew is 50% women, and that's not always easy to do. You have to make an effort, and so we're so proud of that. It's pretty special.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

So you always uh how did that just what was the genesis? How did it all begin? Was it a story idea from someone? Did someone bring it to you, or was it one of your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Um, it wasn't my original idea. So it originated with Steve Jaggy. I think he said romance, far north Queensland, jet skis, and then the idea went off to our first writer, Ansley Gordon, and she uh developed it and made sense out of that and turned it into um an outline. I came on board at Outline Stage and we did quite a few drafts together. Actually, it has been a process. Um I couldn't tell you how many, but we kind of got it to a certain place, we got feedback, and then um then we actually moved on to a second writer and we kept all of the characters and the place and jobs and stuff, but we did sort of a restructure there.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Yeah. Um, and then so that was in solid draft stage. We got a green light, and then right at the end, um, Yasmin Kassine came in and she did this gorgeous uh comedy polish on it and just brought it to life a little bit more. So I went through three writers and they all offered something unique and gorgeous to it to get us to the final script. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Yeah, we'll get to yes, Yasmin, because uh you can tell at times when it's her jokes. I can just you can just tell so unique in that way. Yeah. Uh I'm a hopeless romantic, so I love love these kinds of films. Um, but then there's that line in it, uh, true love conquers all. Uh I just think that in any romantic film has a place. Uh yeah, I really enjoyed the writing in this. So it has some strong, strong themes of the heart, which you know most of your movies that I've seen do.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Yeah, I I was really happy with this one to go a bit deeper than you're kind of normally allowed to on these kinds of on films. Um, and specifically because it was for Netflix. I feel like there's a few good gut punches in there that you normally wouldn't get in in other kind of more tame rom-coms. Um, so I'm really proud of that, you know. And also we do some genre blending. We open with the image of a naked bottom. We have a jet ski sequence and a CPR rescue and a and a cleaning montage inspired by uh Deadpool and Wolverine within the first 10 minutes of the film. So I I hope the audience sees this is not your average rom com.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

No, I did like that scene actually, uh the cleaning montage because one when it's a cleaning montage, you don't often see that really when you think about it, especially picking up kids, you know, mess. But there was images, it was like a split screen, and I thought that was done really well.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Thanks. We decided it on the morning, and I was doing this little sketch of she could go here and here and here and here, and we did it really lo-fi and all in camera, and it just took a little bit of VFX cleanup to make that come to life. Because I had literally just seen Deadpool and Wolverine. I was like, oh, we can, yeah, I think we can do something like that. Why not? Let's try. And it worked.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Well, speaking of Deadpool and Wolverine, uh, there was a bit of swearing in this. And I don't know if I've noticed as much uh swearing in in the Jaggy films as this one, or am I was I missing it previously?

SPEAKER_01 10:45

No, you're spot on. You're spot on. It's uh only because we knew it was um gonna go to Netflix that we were allowed to do that. And I was like, do we need to record alts? Like I was timid because you know, in the past, it's like if you don't have an alt, then you're cutting the line entirely. But we did not record alts, we were told to go for it, and we did.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Yeah, well, Christine, when the first one dropped, you know, I wasn't shocked or anything, but I just went, oh, okay. And then there was a couple more, and I thought, oh, this is different. Uh well, net Netflix were always on board then. Uh I'm I'm guessing, you know, from the outset?

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Um, it was technically an acquisition, I must say.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

So um, but we knew it wasn't going to be for a network that was conservative. So that gave us a some degree of freedom to do what we wanted.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Well, I mean, from what I saw yesterday, I think it's in the top 10 and it's only gonna go higher, I'm sure. People will get the word out. I love the film, and it's perfect for Netflix. You know, you can sit back, watch it, and just you can get a lot out of it, but it's also an easy, an easy watch as well.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Totally. Yeah.

unknown 11:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

How did you go about the casting? I mean, it it's pretty well cast, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

It is.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Uh the leads, especially with you know, with Jen has to uh evolve as well, but she's also, you know, hooked with Ethan and and you know, the it's just so good the casting. I don't know how to put it into words. It worked.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Yeah. Shout out to Ben Parkinson casting who cast the film. Um, so actually, Adrienne was already on board when I jumped on board, and I was delighted by that. I mean, I just thought, what an opportunity here. Um, and then yeah, casting was, you know, we had um a short amount of pre-productions. So it did happen pretty quickly. And we were shooting in far north Queensland. So the way these work is like you have your one American, you know, you're bringing over, and then Australians. And then as you get to the smaller roles, they've got to be Queensland, if not Brisbane, then Cairns. So um, yeah, I knew Jessica's work and I was like, she would be great for this. Uh, but it was a very last-minute thing. Um, Desmond Chium, who plays Patrick, was literally meant to be on his honeymoon, and we grabbed him and he came into the film, brought his brought his wife. And so we had, you know, Adrian had his whole family there. So that was really fun. Um, I knew I wanted Yasmin as Matilda early on. And then um, you know, the role of Willie was played by a Queensland local who had never been in a film. I literally saw like a tape, and he had one-on-one scenes with Adrian Grenier. So this was like a real risk to put a first timer, you know, on a global production, you know, next to Adrian. And I was like, I don't know, but I have a feeling that this is gonna work. And we cast him and he did wonderfully. And there you have it. So shout out to Queensland cast, you know, it was great.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Uh look, Patrick and Willie had to be just right. I mean, it the chemistry was obvious with Adrian uh in particular, uh, and Jess, but I've got to say that it was very important that Patrick was the right fit because he needed to be that outsider who wedged his way in, and then obviously uh things happened in the end. We'll probably probably try not to spoil it too much, but yeah, it all worked. And then Aria as well. I mean, how Aria where did she come from? Can I ask?

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Or heaven. She came from heaven.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Yeah. I I mean, some as a movie analyst, some people do take uh your interest and they, you know, they stand out and you you they you know follow on their careers, but then others fade away. I think Aria just hit the ground running for me. I don't know if she's been in anything else.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Um, I haven't checked since we filmed, but I think this was her first major uh film. And I mean, she was such a natural, it was shocking. She was on it. I mean, she's gonna be a star. She is already a star. And a a child actor who's not in the same film you're trying to make can ruin a film. I mean, they can really take it down, and you're going, oh no, not the kid again. I mean, Arya was just the opposite. She blew us away every single day. I mean, just incredible.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Now, dealing with the tropical conditions, any injuries, anyone get bitten by anything, bugs or snakes or anything?

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Luckily not. No croc attacks either, because we were there during summer season. So it was stinger season. So it was quite an operation for all of our water scenes because you have to go to really deep water to get away from the stingers.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

I could tell that. Yeah, you could tell it was a fair way offshore.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Yes. And you know, I had numerous jet ski sequences, snorkeling, people in water, CPR rescues. There was a lot near the water. So we went to some pretty extreme measures to make the water safe. Um, namely, the snorkeling scene involved a three and a half hour boat ride each way to get to the outer Great Barrier Reefs to have safe water. Because they were like, you can do it closer, but they need to wear stinger suits. Now, I don't know if you've ever seen a stinger suit, but they are not sexy.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

No, I've I've seen them. No, I know what they've never put one on, but I know what they're what they are. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

No, we saw this older couple walking up in wearing them. And I was like, You want our cast to look like that? Not happening. So I was like, we'll do the boat ride. Um, so that's how we did that one. And um, yeah, I mean, it's a real challenge. Shooting in water. Uh the jet ski sequences we shot about an hour offshore. So it ate into our shoot day. Um, so it's kind of a miracle that they exist um as they do, because it was really challenging to shoot those.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

No, well, they're they're impressive. And like the rest of the movie is, and I'm not just saying that, Christine, it really is a great film, but the jet ski scenes stood out for me because well, you're using grow GoPro camera type setups as well. Like it just seemed to flow the editing sequences in those scenes worked, and then you obviously had might have had a uh you know, certain people in the water as well. I mean, there was a lot of angles, camera angles, and maybe yeah, we had everything.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

We had um mounts on the jet skis that were GoPros, we had um aerial shots at a different location. Actually, while they were off shooting snorkeling with our underwater photographer, we were shooting um the aerial jet ski sequences, and then we also had to do some pickups on land, um, like closer to the shore. And um, yeah, it was but but most of the jet ski sequences were shot off the back of the mothership boat. So we had this platform that camera can land on. Yeah. And then for instances, when Matilda's holding on to the buoy or boy in Australia, um, and Ethan comes up, you know, there's a wide shot, and then we just moved the the buoy closer to camera for a close-ups, and then even closer for her close-up, and then we just had like a a reverse for Adrian, but always camera was always pointing the same direction so that it looked like open water everywhere. So a lot of camera trickery to get those. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Yeah, I I could see because I was looking really closely, but honestly, uh it it was really nice the way it was all done, and you could see there was a lot of effort put in to get those right.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Yeah, yep. Bit of trick photography, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

And not to mention the color, the water, um, the color of the water was different depending on where we were. Yeah, yeah, it changes and we had to do pickups. So the the colorist had quite a challenge making that all look like the same body of water because it absolutely was not. So it's blended together nicely.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

And a couple of times we saw those hovercraft guys surfing around, and then it they ended up being part of the story as well.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

They did. I you'll have to ask Steve about that when he wanted flight boarders in there, so we got some flight boarders in there. Yep, it they're quite interesting crafts, I must say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Yeah. When I was watching it first, I thought, oh yeah, they must be not part of the movie, and then they're back, and then they were part of the movie.

unknown 18:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

It's interesting. Uh, and is there no sharks up there? Was there any shark watch or anything?

SPEAKER_01 18:50

No, no shark watch. We did, uh, for instance, for the beach bowling scene that we have, the glow in the dark beach bowling, we did have a jet ski going back and forth all night to ward off any crocs that might want to come on shore.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Of course, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Crocs were a worry and there's signs up. Um, you know, I've shot up in Far North Queensland for dive club and also for this little love of mine. So this was very on my radar, and I was hyper aware of it. Um, and you kind of just get on with it, and the jet ski really is uh it wards off the crocs and you're kind of good to go. So yep.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Well, was that beach bowl? Is beach bowling a thing? I've not I've never seen that before. Is it a real game?

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Uh it is. It is. Our writer, our first writer, Ansley Gordon, you know, came up with the idea of it. And I did find some images online. So it is a thing. I wouldn't say it's a culturally Australian thing, but there you have it, you know. It was very visual to shoot. So loved that.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

There's also, I mean, you can give away the secret if you want, or it might be an actual uh actual footage, but there's a scene where uh Jen and Ethan are in the car and they get the phone call from Patrick, but the scenery in it seems like might might be a screen, or are they actually driving? It's very well done, but it uh it's sort of a cross between either being fake or real. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Yeah, yeah. Um, so yeah, funny story. I did want to shoot on a low loader process trailer on that actual road. The problem was the speed limit and they wouldn't block it off, and it was a whole, I was just told no, and that was the road to shoot on.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

It was a whole thing for you.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Yes, it was a whole thing. So we ended up shooting. We're actually the first shoot to shoot, um, first film to shoot at uh Screen Queensland in Cairns um at their new studios. That's an old Bunnings that they've done a gorgeous job renovating. So we were based there for our production office and we shot our car scenes in there. So it was blue screen. However, the backgrounds that you see, we sent a camera car with all of our angles rigged up up and down that road to get all of the footage. And then on the day we had shot that was actually shot after we shot the car stuff, weather scheduling, but our cinematographer had actually gone and driven up and down the road, and we had the footage from that playing for the actors so they could approximate the steering. And then the lighting guys were watching the TV as well and trying to, you know, as they flicker, you know, trees and stuff, they'd see a tree coming up and go, ooh, shadow, and you know, adjust the light so that it was as close as humanly possible as we could get it. So I think it turned out pretty well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

Oh no, no, yeah, it wasn't knocking it at all. Uh me with the trained eye, I could see something was a little bit different, and it was just done really well. But and it was a good scene too, because it was funny. So I wasn't sort of concentrating completely on the on the scenery, it was the actors as well. So a lot happening, but great story. I mean, just to get it get it on screen.

SPEAKER_03 21:43

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

Uh what are the challenges as a as a director on a movie that's up in you know tropical conditions, other than crocs and stinger suits? Are there any heat restrictions like with cameras and things or sand? Like, how does it work? Or is it just all planned out and works smoothly?

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Ha.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

I knew it. I love these questions because then that your mind's ticking over.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Absolutely. I mean, you tell any crew they're shooting on a beach today and they're going, oh God, here we go. Beach, water, cameras, lights, you know, there's safety. There's there's gonna be issues. It's challenging. Sand is not the easiest, you know, surface to work in and walk in and set up cameras in, and you know, so it presented a lot of challenges. Um, but we did have a really good plan and we stuck to it for the most part. So yeah, the lenses were okay, I believe. Um, I don't remember putting ice, oh, maybe we did put ice packs on them at one stage. You know, they do they can get hot, um, but it wasn't a major problem. Yeah, yeah. I think we were doing all right. I don't remember any delays because of that. So that was good. Um, but yeah, I mean, going from wet to dry for the actors, you have to plan your shoot day really, really carefully because you can't start off with a wet scene and then wait around for an hour and a half while they do a full reset and then shoot a dry scene. So the scheduling really has to be on point for these sorts of films. And we only had to shoot 15 days to shoot it, which is not very much.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

So yeah, my editor is that 15 days.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Yes, yes. Um, my editor calls it directing with my hair on fire, which is accurate. Yeah, no, that is that's epic to get through what you did in 15 with the jet ski sequences, especially and the snorkeling um and the CPR rescue. You know, I feel like we did have a things, a number of things that were above and beyond your sort of average LAN-based rom-com to deal with. And the fact that it all came together, yeah, it's it's a bit of a miracle. I'm not gonna lie. We got lucky, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Oh, it's just so good. And I noticed that Yasmin, we've got to talk about her, Yasmin Kasim, who comes into the movie and I've made note of it at the 46th minute and eight-second mark, she comes in and makes an impact. Uh, you've worked with her before, I know, but why was she the right fit for Matilda?

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Oh, I mean, at that stage, I knew I wanted her in the film. And our second writer, I told our second writer that he did some research on her and then started tailoring the character to her. So she was it from the get-go. There was no one no one else was any part of the conversation. And um, because we'd worked together on Dive Club, I just knew she was perfect for the role. And she plays a really important role in the story, and she has to come in and make an incredibly strong impression and totally drive Ethan's character in a different direction than where he was headed, and you know, and and then make a tidy exit without going, oh, I wish they would be together, you know. And so she just like every part of the story, she was just so instrumental in guiding us where we needed to go. Um, and she's hilarious and funny and had great chemistry with Ethan. And so it's just everything you want in an actor, really.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Yeah, she can have great chemistry with anyone, I think. But you know, it just helps that you've got some great actors in your movie. But I think uh Yaz can just walk on screen and talk to a tree and that she'd have chemistry. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Oh, absolutely. I would watch that film. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Well, uh, you know, pitch it to Steve because you know, this movie was just pitched with jet skis and romance and beach, you know, you just have to have two or three little things like that, and then you can combine a movie. So trees, romance, you know, turn it into an environment film or something.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

You heard it here first, folks.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Uh and turning back the clock with you, why did you become a filmmaker? Is it something that you were destined to do? Were you interested? Obviously, you were interested in movies, I guess, and theater maybe when you were younger, but why did you pick up a camera and go for it?

SPEAKER_01 26:01

Yeah, I had a circuitous path for sure. It was not direct, and I didn't know I wanted to be a director till very late in the game. Okay. Um, I kind of fell into film production. I was living in London at the time. I trained as a dancer, so not an actor, but I was a dancer. And I was in some dance films, and I remember looking on the other side of the camera and going, Oh, there's a whole world of people back there. And who's that jerk yelling at us, like to, you know, hurry up? And someone went, Oh, he's the AD. And then I went and inadvertently became one. So um, you know, yeah, and that carried me for a while. I moved to Australia. I, you know, cut my teeth on shows like Puberty Blues and The Wolverine, and you know, um, did all sorts of Australian television as well.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

They're both big productions to cut your teeth on.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Yes, yeah, puberty blues was huge. They were like, you just processed 862 extras on your first uh TV show and choreographed them all. And I was like, oh wow, yeah, that was that's big, isn't it? So um yeah, that was good. And then it was really um, you know, moving to Queensland and the pandemic and helping um a lot of directors through their first features. I kind of felt like I'd made my first one already. I was sort of living vicariously, learning from their mistakes and being their kind of right-hand woman as we, you know, got through their first feature. So um, yeah, and then the opportunity came up during the pandemic, and the company couldn't bring in directors from interstate because the borders to Queensland were closed.

SPEAKER_03 27:35

So the company went you're up.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

And I went, okay, here it is, let's do this. So yeah, that's how I got this little love of mine. And then we immediately did Dive Club and then um Love and Penguins, aka Yumi and the Penguins, and then The Curious Case of Dolphin Bay, and then um then I moved to LA because it felt like I'd sort of hit the glass ceiling in in Australia a little bit. Um and uh yeah, I did two more films in the States, actually with them Isabella Gomez, who you just had um back in March. Yeah, she was in my uh film in Ireland. We got to go to Ireland and film in castles together, so that was really fun.

SPEAKER_00 28:13

Oh, wow. Isabella's terrific. I had a great time talking to her. I didn't realize you'd saw the interview, so that's great.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Yeah, she's awesome. Um, so yeah, I made two more films in the States, um, and then the strikes hit. And it's been an interesting roller coaster since then. Um, but then went back to Australia, shot You Always and another one, Beauty from Pain. So that's kind of my chronology of yeah, what's happened in my first five, six years of directing.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Do you ever think you'll go outside your box and maybe do a horror film or a, you know, an action movie or something? Is that something that you could maybe you could still combine it with romance, of course?

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Yeah, absolutely. I try to be genre agnostic. I know my past resume does not necessarily look like that, but yeah, I um I have a horror film on my slate, I have an action dark comedy, I have a love triangle on a spaceship, um, I have you know a really diverse um set of interests and am so ready to explore them. So, yes, I love being the rom-con queen, but I can do so much more. So with any luck, a horror film will be next. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Well, you had me at Love Triangle on a Spaceship. That sounds pretty intriguing. Uh is it futuristic or is it uh you're back in time?

SPEAKER_01 29:35

It's like a sci-fi back in time a la um the Atom project. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

Okay, I won't quiz you anymore, but uh you've got you you got me buying a ticket, that is for sure. I love it. Uh so any anything that you want to tell me about that's coming up next after you always, or you know, um you touched on a few of your your bit of your work, but anything that's on you know, on dated that you we can look out for?

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Um I'm waiting to hear about sales, but uh with any luck, I should have an edgy, R-rated Christmas film coming out this Christmas. So that's oh good.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

Well, once you make a Christmas movie, that's it. You know, people watch it every year.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's a bit of a family drama that one. So that's really fun. Um, and then again, fingers crossed, this horror film, it's a a female-driven body horror. It's kind of like the substance meets meme girls. And um, yeah. So we're we're um putting ducks in a row for that one and maybe uh uh hopefully a 2026 shoot.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

So I like the way your mind thinks, it's good.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

Uh with the Christmas one, you said it's R-rated with um violence, swearing, sex, or is it just a combination of families doing what families do at Christmas, arguing?

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Right. Yeah, it's a definitely a bit of that. There are some arguments. Um definitely some F-bombs, some drug use, you know. Uh yeah, it's uh not your um Hallmark Christmas movie, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

Uh with you always was it always gonna be called that? Did it have another title?

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Oh, it did have another title. Oh my goodness. I'm not gonna remember the name. Ansley Jess said it the other day too, and I was like, oh yeah, no, it it changed, I think by the time we got to our second writer, it had changed. So um, yeah, but she said it and I was like, oh, that's the one. Yeah, that has to be it.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

I'll have to I'll have to ask Jess next time I see her. She's she's so lovely as well. I really like Jess uh I've spoken to her at various uh red carpets and things over the years. She always remembers me. She was in a movie from uh was filmed over in Western Australia, uh These Final Hours was called, I think. Um, with Angari Rice was in it too, a young Angari Rice and Nathan Phillips. Like that's where I first met her. And she's one of those actors that will see me, say hi. She's just always lovely. So again, great casting, but I'll have to ask Jess what the original title was. I'm always interested in you know when movies change their names.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

Yeah. It might have been called It Could Have Been You, but I might be making that up. Yeah. Stay tuned. We'll put it in the comments. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

Well well, I want to thank you. Uh, is there other things that you do outside of all this filmmaking and and you know, movie world that you're in? Do you, you know, do you are you writing a book maybe or of your hit your experiences, or do you uh surf maybe? A lot of ocean in Australia. Maybe you've tried surfing or sport, you know, what is it you like outside of you know work?

SPEAKER_01 32:44

Yeah, I love traveling. That's a big one for me. Um yeah, yeah. I just took my mom to Italy last year. That was really fun for a yoga retreat. So yeah. Um, and yeah, I I really do try to have a work-life balance. I think it's really important and something we don't talk about in the film industry very much. So I'm big with mental health and exercise and nutrition and meditation and yoga and all that good stuff. And then I use it when I'm on set to avoid overwhelm. So I'm really big on that. And I'm really big, you know, about making sure that it's part of the discussion. Um, and other than that, goodness, you know, skiing.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Um snow skiing or water?

SPEAKER_01 33:27

Yes, yeah, snow skiing.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

Yeah, love it.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

There's no greater freedom, really.

SPEAKER_00 33:33

Yeah, I I enjoy it too. We don't sort of get a chance much in Australia, although we have our snow season, but some seasons are better than others. It's not like Aspen every year.

SPEAKER_03 33:43

Right, right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, just try to stay busy.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

I was gonna say, does part of you not having your movie theatrically released? Does that is that something that you maybe look back on, but you just think, or do you just think the opportunity to have it uh, you know, seen streaming is is great enough for you?

SPEAKER_01 34:04

I I've had both. Most of my other films have gone theatrical in Australia, so it just depends. Um, it's very unique film to film, and it's a formula I'll never know or understand. So I just go where I'm told. Um, but you know, it's not shab, it's not too shabby having your film uh released on Netflix worldwide on you know a certain date, and we're already trending in 12 countries. So I do love streaming. I think it's just wonderful to connect with such a global audience and get millions of views. And I mean, I've had so many much feedback coming in from people and um that it really connects with people and really means something to them. And you know, as a filmmaker, you can't really wish for anything greater than that. It's uh it's why we do it, really.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

Oh, yeah. No, it's not it's a double-edged sword in some ways because the cinema is my second home. You know, I'm I'm there, as you would have seen in other interviews I do. I just love gushing about movies and being in the cinema. But streaming has its place, and I love how Netflix are giving these movies a real solid go. Like you said, all around the world, people are seeing them. And um, it means a lot to me because it's you know, my country, and I'm knowing people that are in the movies, and they're they're such well made from filmmakers like yourself. So yeah, it's a double-edged sword, but cinema is clo, you know, close to my heart, that's all.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

Yeah, no, it's really special to be able to have, you know, the red carpet premiere and celebrate with all your friends. And, you know, it's kind of hard to determine your own, you have to mark your own success as you go. It's a funny thing. Everyone was like, How do you feel? It's out. Is this life changing? And I'm like, Yeah. I mean, I'm so happy and it's wonderful, but you know, you really have to mark your success as you go because otherwise it flies by and you're like, oh, I think that's the moment. You know, people say, What's the moment you feel like you made it? I mean, you have to define that for yourself as a filmmaker. No one announces to you, congratulations, you have made it now. You know, it's a funny thing.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

Well, you know, I think you've made it, but you've still got a lot to go. You're still rising as far as I'm concerned. So congratulations on your success so far. And uh it's been lovely getting to know you. And and I want to see this uh love triangle in space. I can't wait.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Stay tuned. It's coming, it's coming.

SPEAKER_00 36:20

How good is that? Thank you, Christina, for your in-depth conversation. On you always, I hope you listening also get a chance to watch it and enjoy and get back to me and let me know your thoughts. I'm always interested. At movie underscore analyst is where you'll find me online and uh, you know, YouTube channel and so forth. So thank you very much. My name is Shane A. Bassett. This was another edition of Cine Critique that I had absolutely pleasure bringing to you. And until next time, see you at the movies. Bye for now.