NZIFF 2021 Q&A: Michelle Savill, director of MILLIE LIES LOW

How's your 2021 been?

Fun and busy, I’ve been finishing the film and directing commercials.  

Give us the elevator pitch for your film in 10 words

I’ll do it in five. Going down? So is Millie. 

The one moment of your film that stands out

Millie sneaks into her old bedroom: the last thing we shot right before lockdown 2020. Six months later when we got back to filming, we picked up at exactly the same scene and shot her coming out of the room. So much happened in the time between those two shots but Ana and the crew pulled it together seamlessly. 

The one moment of your film that you wish you could have changed

I wouldn’t change anything, the film’s done and we are so proud of it.

The one moment of your film that you think audiences will connect to - and why

That crazed feeling you get when you see the three dots of someone replying on text, but then they disappear.

The one moment of production during a Covid world that saw you enraged by the pandemic

We were halfway through day three of the shoot and our producers halted filming. We were told to pack up and go home as it had become too unsafe, and three days later we went into our first national lockdown. 

The one moment of production during a Covid world that really saw you seize your film's concept and refuse to give up.

When we were in pre-production for the second time, after a tense six months not knowing if we would even be able to finish the film. My appendix burst and I had to stay a week in hospital. We considered postponing the shoot again but I thought, nah fuck it, it’s now or never. Let’s go. 

What's next for you?

I’m co-directing a feature film next year called Workmates with Curtis Vowell, written by Sophie Henderson and produced by Sam Sneddon and Morgan Leigh Stewart.

I’m also attached to direct a TV series called Wall, which I co-created with Sophie Henderson and Chelsie Preston Crayford, produced by Lisa Chatfield and Tim White. Eli Kent and I are writing another feature together too. 

The one film from the 2021 New Zealand International Film Festival that everyone should see - apart from yours

Florian Habicht’s ‘Woodenhead’