Sophie Hyde is a director producer writer and founding member of Closer Productions. She Lives and works on the lands belonging to the Kaurna People in South Australia. Her debut feature drama, “52 Tuesdays,” won the Directing Award at Sundance and Crystal Bear at Berlin Film Festival. Her work has won a BIFA for Best Debut Screenplay, Australian Academy Awards, Australian Directors Guild awards, and the Australian Writers Guild award for Best Series. Her documentaries have won the Australian Documentary Prize, premiered at Sundance and Hotdocs, and screened on PBS (USA), ABC (Australia), and ARTE (France and Germany).
“Good Luck To You, Leo Grande” is screening at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, which is running online from January 20-30. More information can be found on the fest’s website.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
SH: Nancy, a retired teacher hires Leo to sex her. They have a few meetings and explore pleasure, sex, intimacy, and connection.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
SH: Emma Thompson and the idea were irresistible.
W&H: What do you want people to think about after they watch the film?
SH: How important pleasure is. How much we have been taught not to love our bodies and how much it costs us. How someone else’s perspective can open things for us that we haven’t previously thought about or understood. We have a tremendous capacity for connection. That desire can lead to great things.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
SH: We shot during COVID lockdowns at the UK. Along with Bryan Mason, DP, and editor, I flew from Adelaide (Australia), a place that was almost COVID-free, to the middle a peak in infections. It was scary in advance but it was much less frightening once we arrived. Even though we were there, there was a lot remote working. I don’t mind remote working because I do it a fair bit, but some people, especially those used to being in the room with each other, really struggle to communicate in that way.
I felt that at times — that pressure of people not working the way they were used to working. The film was wonderful in so many ways. The only thing that I disliked about the remote was color grading. It was not enjoyable and I would not do it again.
W&H: How did your film get funded? Let us know how you got your film funded.
SH: I believe that the film was funded by an equity financier, with international sales. I have often been a producer on projects I direct but I wasn’t on this so I don’t have any more insight than that.
W&H: What inspired you to be a filmmaker?
SH: I have always loved stories and love to work with others to create them.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
SH: Someone once advised me not to have children if you want to be a director. It would have made my personal life much more difficult. There is no one answer to how we build our lives and so there shouldn’t be a kind of life you have to give up to tell stories, in fact, we should be seeking stories from people with a broad range of experience. This is how we get the most varied and interesting stories.
W&H: What advice would you give to other women directors or non-binary women?
SH: I identify as a woman because I was raised as one and it’s been a significant part of me and I identify as non-binary as well because I think the binary is ultimately unsatisfying and sometimes damaging. That’s maybe a contradiction in itself but one I’m happily exploring right now. My advice? We don’t have to live up to an image of what a director is — what they look like or how they lead or how they tell a story. We don’t have to pretend.
W&H: Name your favorite female-directed film and tell us why.
SH: I’m a big Lynne Ramsay fan and also Céline Sciamma. I was really taken with “The Lost Daughter,” so Maggie Gyllenhaal has really excited me.
W&H: How are you adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic? Are you creative and if so, how?
SH: I feel very blessed. 2020 was a year in which I was able to really dive into the writing process. It was a time when something changed in me. I now feel that jumping into that space feels familiar, not comfortable. I feel extremely grateful that I was able to make this film. I felt safe and very lucky that all the post work was done at home.
Things feel slower and more uncertain — which is amazing because they already felt uncertain — but I also feel less distracted when it comes to work. I feel very conscious of where I am now and how fortunate I have been. I am conscious of the people who have been most negatively affected by all that has happened. I truly hope we can find a way for this to be possible moving forward.
W&H: The film industry has a long history of underrepresenting people of color onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — negative stereotypes. What steps do you believe are necessary to make the film industry more inclusive?
SH: More films by POC. I want it as part of an entire industry, and I certainly want it as an audience. This will likely mean that the funding system for films will need to change. Gatekeepers will need to shift and talent may need to find new ways. But if it’s set as a genuine goal then all those things will need to follow.
Source: Women And Hollywood