The Director

Arden interviews her co-host Jullie Anne about her upbringing in Europe and Africa. They chat about how the gift of a childhood illness taught her the wonder of her imagination and movies. How she got into direction, jumping from stage to film and how Bridgerton changed her life.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Distress. Hello, I'm welcome to Lady of the Road podcast.
My name is Art Marine, and we are so excited
to have you with us. Today is a very special

(00:37):
episode of the podcast. Normally, this woman will be sitting
on the same side of the virtual table with me
interviewing some fancy, badassballer woman. But today we thought it
would be fun for you to get to know my
co host my I'm gonna say I was thinking about
this earlier. I'm gonna say, my fanciest friend, my fanciest friend.

(01:02):
She is a Multiple Beast nominee. She is a Golden
Globe nominee. She is a director of theater, television, and movies.
She is literally directed and produced everything you've ever seen. Okay,
so we're talking oranges in The New Black, We're talking weeds.

(01:23):
We're talking Nurse Jackie, Masters of Sex Parks and Rex
Grace and Frankie like it goes on and on. She
has a production company. I'm just gonna say this. This
is this quiet, elegant, soft spoken, fun woman who has
a production company that each year there's an announcement that
this particular person has sold six pilots. It looks like

(01:46):
in a day she did it last year. She did
it during the pandem. Do you think the pandemic is
gonna stop her from selling six shows at once. I
don't think so. But most importantly, and her most prize
credit is she is the co host of Lady of
the Road. She has a British person living in the desert,
my friend, your friend, Julie Ann Robinson. He thank you.

(02:12):
That's absolutely lovely. Gosh, I don't feel fancy in any way.
If it's that's what makes you great. It's nice to
be called fancy, even though I just really, really, really,
honestly from the box of my heart, don't feel at
all fancy. That's why we all like you. Like so
many other people, if they had all those credits, would

(02:34):
be such blowhards. And that's what makes you a unicorn.
I'm going to say, a lady unicorn, thank you. How's
your pandemic going? You're you don't live in l A anymore? Yes,
I got one teenage boy and one preteen because she's
a very important distinction. Yes, I have discovered what's the difference.
The preteen is still sweet? Actually, they both great, the great,

(02:57):
the great. There's no way you would have creep kids. Know.
The preteen sat on my knee yesterday and I was like,
oh god, I've got a friend that says things. She's
got this great saying you never know when the last
time will be? Doesn't that break your heart? So you
never know the last time your kid is gonna reach

(03:19):
for your hand, or you never know the last time
they're gonna want to snuggle, or you know, you could
go on and on about that, but I've always remembered
when she said that to me, and so I think
you just value it, You just try and value it.
How old is this preteen? Peace? Twelve? But they're both
great kids. I'm very lucky. Do you like living in

(03:40):
California because you're such an English rose? Well, I remember
when I first started coming over back in the day.
I used to get off the plane and I'd be,
oh god, it's so nice, it's so sweet. And I
remember getting here and the cruise were so nice and
so portive compared to the crews that I was used

(04:02):
to working with in the UK. I was mainly working
in house BBC at that time, and they weren't used
to female directors at all. So I came over here
the crews were really nice. What year was that? Trying
to remember, I mean it must have been four twelve
years ago. Twelve years ago, so what would that be?

(04:23):
Two eight, two thousand and eight. So the BBC generally
they are like you don't get to hand paid, like
this is your crew. They used the same ones for everything.
I mean, I can tell you because I met you
around two thousand twelve, probably we did Suburgatory together and
I was thinking about it, what a change is actually
finally happening in Hollywood? You know, Uninstatiable. We had a

(04:46):
lot of female directors because we had a female showrunner.
But like I realized, like looking back, I've been on
series since ninety seven and you were probably one of
my first female directors and that wasn't until two thousand twelve,
just fifteen years of doing it. I mean that's crazy. Yeah,
And I think it was a shock to the in

(05:07):
house BBC. I'm sure it was a big shock. Would
they try to undermine you? Yes, and like and what
do you have an exact is there a particular story
that stands out? You don't need to name name products.
I think I was an idiot as well, because I'd
only just started. So you have to like, I don't
want to go on about it because it was back

(05:28):
in the day. Did you ever win? Did you win
them over by the end? Did you jedi mind meld them? No? No,
it was tough in the early days. It was tough.
I think as well. Before I went into TV, I
did theater and theater was even tougher. Actually back in
the UK for a female director, there was so few
female directors back then. It was very, very difficult. It

(05:52):
was a boys club very much. So I have so
many questions. But before we get started, I want to
point out to our listener. So I was trying to
be professional. You know, here I am. I'm interviewing a
bath To nominee, a Golden Globe nominee. I want to
do my homework. So naturally, where do you start when
you're this kind of a fancy pebody award future award

(06:14):
winning journalists that I'm becoming. I of course go right
to Wikipedia, as I'm sure Barbara Walters does, and it
said a funny thing. I was sure it was you.
Your picture was there, everything was. It said that you
were seventy five years old. I know, I just saw
that myself. It's incredible. Oh, my god, that made me

(06:35):
lest I was gonna tell you on the podcast, but
then you emailed it to me this morning. You're like, oh,
my god, Wikipedia thinks from seventy five years old. I
didn't know what to do about. Oh, you can change
that easily. Maybe maybe our maybe our wonderful producer an
Anna's helped change things for me. I mean, it would
be kind of cool to be seventy five amazing, wouldn't

(06:55):
it beett to go up? He would look great. People
would be like wow, ye would be like, likely's so good. Yeah,
she's like a late bloomer and she is killing it.
I don't know about your upbringing. I do. I know
that you're not from London. I know that you are
you from a small town. Are you from like a
little city? Where did you grow up? Oh? Right, well,

(07:20):
I was born in America in I love Herma. I
got here in hermon. I love it Burlington. I was
born in Burlington, but grew up in Montpelia a little bit.
Why were your parents? In her mind? My mom and
dad met in the Peace Corps. Mom came back and
my dad followed my mom back, and they got married
here in the US. And then I traveled to the

(07:43):
UK briefly, and then we went and lived in Africa.
I can't believe you don't know this. I don't know
any of in Africa for seven years until I was eleven.
Where in Africa? Malawi, Central Africa. How was that for you?
It was amazing? And end we moved to the northeast
of England, which was, you know, a change. It's a

(08:07):
huge change. It was raining, it was cold. Do you
think that that informed, like using your imagination and stuff
like that were even artistic kid? I was. I remember
I played a giant tomato. That was my first on
stage experience and it was great. But actually even more important,
I think, was moving to this kind of you know

(08:30):
now I love it now, I love Northumberland. I love
going back to there. But at the time the shock, yeah,
this beautiful environment into this very cold and kind of
felt soulless at that time, that was actually more important,
I think than anything else. Because my mom was telling

(08:50):
me this the other day. Apparently I went through the
Yellow Pages it's called the Yellow Pages in the UK,
and they called the Yellow Pages here when you find
phone numbers and things, and I found the phone number
of this drama club when I was I think eleven
or twelve, and I phoned them up and I left

(09:11):
a message on the answering machine, and they phoned my
mom back and said, your daughter has phoned and said
she wants to join the group. She's too young, but
she can come back when she's like twelve or something.
So that's what happened, And that was did you direct
place as an adolescent or Yeah, it was very early.
I think I was about fifteen, and I decided what

(09:33):
I wanted to do. What was your first player directed? Well?
I used to put together groups to take around the
old people's homes in our area performan sing for them,
and then I would do choreophy beause I used to
dance a lot as well. And then I chose my
college because it was the only college that had a

(09:54):
directing course. So I was pretty very very focused early on.
Is that dog? No? I love it? No, I love
the dog? Is that your dog? What kind of what
kind of a dog is that? I don't know? Is
that we have two months because we got them from rescue,
and that the how is they just how? That's great?

(10:14):
That makes it real? I love that? Were you mostly
at that point thinking you wanted to be a theater
director or were you aware like, no, I want to
be like a movie director or a TV director, Like,
were you aware of that as an option? Like I
was always obsessed with um the screen. I always kind

(10:36):
of knew that that's what I wanted to do, but
I could see that my path to get there was
through theater. Did you have siblings? I did, younger sister. Yeah,
I still do. Are you guys tight? Very much? So?
So you were like, okay, this is it, and we're
your parents. Are your parents still married or were they?
Did they stay married? No? This is what happened. I

(10:57):
went to college. It was my first year at college
it and I phoned home one day and I said, hey, Mom, Hi,
can I talk to Dad? And she said, I'll get
him to bring you back. And it was a really
it was a really intense tone, and I thought, oh,
that's unusual. Yeah, it pings, you know, your spidy. It
was like something's going on anyway. So then my dad

(11:19):
phoned and I've just seen him a couple of weeks before,
and I heard this crackling was like and I said, hi, Dad,
you saw far away? He said, yes, I've moved to
the United Arab Emirates. Oh and really that's interesting. So
that was how I found out my mom dad was

(11:41):
getting separated. Why did he move to the U A
did he did? He did? He got a job there
and he fancied it. So it actually I can see
why Southern California, like, I can see sort of a
warm climate and you're a chill like even though yes
you have a British accent and yes you're from England,

(12:04):
there's a lot of your d NA. It feels like,
do you think living in all of these different places
it can't help but inform your creativity and how you
like approach thing. I think so, I think that kind
of really pragmatic. Unfortunately, and for a long time I
was I felt really torn between. I felt like I

(12:25):
should be in England because all my family was in England.
But my kids were growing up great Southern Californian kids,
they were settled, they had friends, and the option to
go back to the UK was kind of taken away.
Yeah at that point. So I hate to say it,
but a lot of decisions, at least in my life

(12:46):
have been based on kind of pragmatic reasoning. That's one
of the reasons why I was great to go back
and do Bridgetin. That was the first thing I directed
back in the UK. So you started as a theater director.
So you went to school, you got your theater degree,
You've got a degree in directing, and then what was
your first professional directing job. People hate me when I

(13:09):
say this bit, but my first professional job was working
for a company called the Royal Shakespeare Company in England.
I've seen it. I was what's called a staff director.
So I basically left college and went and had to

(13:30):
run productions for the RSC. How did you get that job?
I just went and interviewed. I found growing up in
a rural town. I think the magic of it is
like the daydreaming. I really feel so programmed by the
the fact that I wasn't over stimulated and I love

(13:51):
to work. I love creativity, like I've always been ambitious,
like I love to make things. And I think it
allowed me to dre be big because it was so
far away, but it felt so real when you were younger,
like what was the big dream? Like who did you
see and be like, oh, I want to do something

(14:12):
like that. M that's really interesting. When I was young
I was sick quite a lot. We're kind of sick. Oh,
I have this weird thing where I couldn't walk. Wow,
but wow, you just have such an interesting like there's
so many like like, there's so many interesting things. But
but building you that would that I think affect you

(14:33):
and probably make you this wonderful, mellow, kind human. Thank you.
I couldn't work for a while, and on TV I
when I came to England, I just watched and watched
TV TV TV. I loved it so much because I
hadn't had TV. And then what they would do. They
would play like Ginger Rogers, Fredsta, Gene Kelly, all of

(14:58):
those musicals, and I would be lying in bed and
I had this long prog lea thing to change the
channel because I couldn't even go and change the TV channel. Yes, yes, yes,
So I would poke and and I would go onto
this musicals and I would just sit and watch musical
after musical, and I just loved it. And I can
remember quite distinctively watched. There was like one movie a year,

(15:22):
or maybe two movies a year that we got as
members of this club. One of them was the Sound
of Music, and I remember watching Julie Andrews. Sound of
Music is so one of my favorite movies. Yeah, and
I remember, you know the opening shot where there's a
helicopter and it's ye down. I remember thinking, I don't

(15:44):
know how they how did that happen? I wonder I
was curious about the shot. You're like, how did they
make that shot happen? Whereas I was watching, I'm like,
how do I get to be Maria? I know I
would have been like lethal, but like, how do I
get to be like yeah? Or I know I would
have been least I been in like Gretel, I got
like a little weird grattle. Okay, So you're like, you're

(16:05):
thinking global, I like, how do I how do I
get a helicopter shot happening? Yeah? I was. I think
in retrospect you look at that and you think, well, no,
I definitely was having those thoughts then. And then it
was when I was in the UK, I was working
at BBC, and I can't describe it's the weirdest thing.
I had this very very strong, just impulse to come

(16:28):
to the West Coast. Now, I was born on the
East Coast and I have a lot of family on
the East Coast. But I just had this impulse to
come to l A. How old were you at that point, Well,
I was already by that point. I've been through the
theater and I started in TV in the UK. It's
interesting as you, you know, watch just getting ready and
getting to I mean, truly your resume is incredible, but

(16:51):
so into like two thousand and five, two thousand and six,
two thousand seven, it really took off for you. And
it's hearing you talking about your love of musicals, I
could see that. I have to say, not just with
so One of the ones that you were nominated for
a Golden Globe and for a bath to four was Blackpool,
which is so fun, which doctor who David Tennant, isn't it?

(17:15):
He's marvelous and it's a musical where they sing in
real time. And then even watching the thing that is
just this beautiful movie which I remembered actually seen before
when we were developing a show together. Before. I remember
i'd watched Coming Down the Mountain And for those of
you who haven't seen it, go find it. This is
a movie. It's starring Nicholas Hoole. He's this teenage boy

(17:37):
and he's part of this family and his brother has
Down syndrome, and he feels very threatened that he feels
that all of the attention and energy of his parents
is going to his brother, which it is, and he
and he resents his brother so much and comes up
with a plot to kill him. Everyone's so great in it,
and you know how to this wonderful actor who act

(18:00):
really Tommy Jessup who has Down syndrome, who was incredible, incredible,
and you had to do these scenes where Nicholas Holt
is like yelling at him. And there's also an element
of the movie where it's this fun coming of age,
that magical adolescence for both of them in a weird way.

(18:20):
And there's so much energy and vibrancy. And it also
has like there's a lot of music in it. Like
I could tell that you I didn't know that you
love musicals, but like it feels that it really it
felt almost like a musical without being a musical. But
there's like this wild element. Was that intentional No, I

(18:41):
kind of try and really sit inside the piece that
I'm delivering, yeah, and get inside it in a weird way.
And that piece was written by Mark Haddon, who wrote
a book called Curious Incident of the Dog in the nighttime.
I read that, which is amazing, really great book, which
has turned into a place still running, and then worked

(19:05):
a lot with Mark on the vision for it. And
then I also had a great DP the name of
Danny Cohen Pooh among other things, shot They Miss the
King Speech, Danish Girl's fantastic DP. You got your helicopter shot,
by the way, you did, You got your helicopter shot,
You got your sound of music shot? Yeah, yeah, I

(19:26):
remember I was in the helicopter we were shooting that,
and I was like shouting. This particular helicopter shot was
kind of it just had a guy hanging on harness
out of the helicopter. The side of the helicopter wasn't there.
He was hanging on the harness with the camera on
his shoulder. And then I had a stunt guy on
the cliff, and I remember I wasn't getting the shot

(19:48):
I wanted, so I say to the pilot, can you
just get over? Can you get over over closer to
the cliff, Just just move over so that we can
get the shot. And the I remember he was an
r af right and he said, Julianne, if I get
any closer to the cliff. There's going to be an
awful lot of paper with I like that. You're like,
come on already, I've got We're gonna take a break
and we'll be right back and we're gonna talk about Nicholas.

(20:09):
Halt and we're back. When we left off, Julienne was
being talking to the Royal Air Force guy and we like,
get closer, get closer, get closer. How was it? I mean,
I felt like you handled those scenes between the two brothers.
Those must have been hard. I mean, did you do

(20:30):
a lot of rehearsing. Those must have been hard to shoot.
Because Nicholas comes. He's so great in that movie, the
show that he's on now on Hulu about Kathy Grave.
He's excellent in it. I mean, it must have been
hard for him to really be able to be It's
an unlikable thing to stand there and scream it Tommy,
you know, but you you need it for the story
to work. And Tommy was so great, Like, how did

(20:54):
you rehearse that? How did you Those performances were incredible, Yeah,
I mean, Nicholas is just such an amazing talent. I
developed a technique at that point where I would stand,
which has actually stood me in good stead since where
I would stand really close to the camera, right by
the lens, and I would direct Tommy. I would say

(21:17):
the lines to him and he would say them back
to me, and I would say them in an angry
way and he would say it back to me, and
so I would kind of work as a team with Tommy,
and so I get the performance in that way, and
God bless my editor who put it all together. It's
so good. And Nicholas was just he was just a

(21:39):
you know, he is who he is. He was a
seasoned professional and I'll never forget he would be He'd
be like if he wasn't an actor, he could be
a great first idea. I remember that about him. And
he would go, I don't think he's going to get this, Julianne,
are you You're not going to get it? And we're
leaving this location, so you know, and I would say
we're gonna get it, okay. Nick he would say, well,

(22:01):
you know we're looking at you've got an hour and
then some sty He always nailed it. Though Elissa Milano
was like that, I would say on Insatiable. She was
also like an actor and like the first dating. Yes,
I think maybe if you've maybe if you're a child star,
I mean like literally, maybe you're so used to schedules
and yes, the deal. Maybe that's every child star is

(22:22):
also a great first day day. Yeah, yeah, no, we
we would have bets. It felt it was very It
was a rock and roll movie that somebody else shot.
It could have been sappy, and it wasn't. It was
like really badass and it sounds like the world saw
you after that. Is that a fair assessment? Yeah? I

(22:44):
think so. I mean I was lucky enough that Blackpool
had already been recognized and nominated. So Blackpool was first. Yeah,
Blackpool's first, and then that and then that movie was
the movie got me recognized in the US. And I

(23:04):
guess if I did have a lifetime ambition, it was
to direct a studio movie in the US, which I've
got to say, I know it's more common now, but
at that point the number of women that had directed
studio movies was so with so few of them, And
this is something that I wanted to talk to you about. Actually,
I feel a little bit in my career. I was

(23:26):
really I have been doing this for a long time,
and it's interesting It's something that nobody really noticed because
it wasn't a big deal at that time. Do you
know what I mean? It's um, yeah, your pathfinder in
a way. Well I was I was going to ask

(23:47):
you about that because I have a bunch of friends
that are female directors, and you know, I've had conversations
with them where they're like, yeah, you know, you get
a movie into Sundance and then your male peers will
get to go do a Marvel movie and you have
to get into Sundayance four more times. Or if you
do do a studio movie and it doesn't do well,
you'll never get a chance again. But your guy friends

(24:09):
will get like it's like an it's an opportunity thing.
I love that there was a sort of no self
consciousness about it. It just kind of happened. Yes, Was
TV on your radar at that point or like or
in your mind? You're like, was at that point the
dream to be like I'm a movie director and I'm
gonna just do a movie after movie after movie. I
think the thing is that I made a huge realization,

(24:31):
which was that I wanted to be around my kids
as well, and the movies were taking me away from
my kids, and my kids were becoming less portable, they
were going to be in school, and again, there's something
that nobody ever talks about, but it is really hard,
and I know other female directors it becomes increasingly difficult

(24:52):
to leave your kids, and I didn't want to leave
my kids anymore. I wanted to ask you about that,
because not only are you this quiet, stealth, bomber badass
that you are quietly taking over Hollywood, but you are
also a mom and you have these two kids, and
you you know, you've said you worked through your pregnancy.

(25:14):
I respect so much like that you finding that balance.
You know, did you go right back to work after
you gave birth. I didn't in the case of my oldest.
I had postpartum depression after my oldest. So the second one,
I thought, I know what I'm gonna do. I'm going
to go right back to work, and so literally I

(25:36):
was back on set two weeks after giving birth, which
is pretty intense. It was intense, right, It was big love,
Oh Cool. One of my favorite line producers of all time,
Bernie Couldfield, said to me, I was nine months pregnant
when I was doing eight and a half months pregnant.
When I was directing Big Love, she came up to
me on set she said, you know what we're gonna

(25:56):
We're gonna have to push this scene until and I
was like, I'm gonna give birth next week and she
she goes, well, you'll be all right, it'll be fine.
So we pushed it like three weeks. So I gave
birth and went back and so I was directing That's awesome.
After that, it was it was ridiculous. It was ridiculous.

(26:17):
And then I did Pushing Daisies immediately after that. Which
have you have? You always had the same agents and
did they freak out or do any like? Did any
did you ever have anybody give you a hard time
and you're like, hey, I'm pregnant, I'm having Like did
that ever? Like, did you have people on the business
side treat you differently? That's a really good question. I
was doing. I went for an interview, So she went

(26:39):
for an interview for a TV show. Yes, And I
loved I just loved that TV show and I still
wanted to do it. And I thought I was leaving
and they were like, Okay, when can we do it?
We'll put you in for these days. I was like great.
I was walking out and I said, oh, by the way,
I'm pregnant, and my agent got a call and they said, look,
we know we've booked her in for some eights, but

(27:00):
we don't feel comfortable because it's too close to her
to date. And I was like, I was so fucking
piste off. Yes, language, I was so how did they
do that? Yeah, I'm not sick, I'm pregnant. Yes, you're
not sick. You're pregnant on World. Yes. So I went

(27:22):
and I booked a show called Big Love with Bill Paxton,
and I didn't tell anyone that I was. That you
felt you had to hide it, and then that's the
one that you that you're like and then eventually you're
a let's bring yeah, and so I was. I walked
in and I was like huge, and Mark and Will,
who are the showrunners but the nicest people in the world.

(27:44):
They looked at me and I've forgotten that I didn't
tell them and I walked in and they were like, yes,
but it was great. It was one of my favorite
jobs of all time. Obviously, when we come back, we're
going to talk to Julianne Moore about work and business
and balance all of it and we're back. I am

(28:06):
so enjoying talking to Julianne. I have. Yeah, this is amazing.
You're an interesting balance of your super chill. You're very
easy going and also an incredibly hard worker. Do you
ever get stressed out? Yeah? I really do. Just it's
really really tricky to deal with sometimes. But I mean,
building in these breaks, I guess is one way. Yeah,

(28:29):
and then just I really really try to stay involved
and to be involved in my family and with my kids,
and that's a way to kind of distress as well.
You're very You're very present. I have to say, just
full disclosure to the listeners. I developed a show with
Julianne years ago, but in dealing with you on that side,

(28:49):
you're very present. You're very fun collaborator. To me, there's
nothing more fun than creating and launching something new. Is
that your favorite part of the Is that your favorite
part of the business now, like doing a pilot, setting
a tone, creating a world or like what or do
you prefer going in and being like I'm gonna do
big love? Like is there? I mean, I do love

(29:13):
doing that. Actually, it's kind of I learned so much
by I do less episodes. Now I do less episodic.
We call episodic business pilot. So basically, if an episodic
is if you're watching a show and say you're watching
I don't know, thirteen reasons why an episodic would be
A director would do like episode eight of season two.

(29:36):
You come in for one episode doing a pilot the
differences because it's theirs. It's the very first episode of
a series, and you're really setting the world. You're setting
the look. You're setting almost like a movie. Each show
looks different, each show has a different like the whole
you're setting the tone going forward, launching the series. You're

(29:56):
giving birth to something new. So you you do love
doing episod sadext what what? What do you love doing
about it? What I love is that you can you
can you meet a lot of great people that way.
So some of my favorite dps I've met on and
become friends with, and also production designers and writers and

(30:17):
that's where we met. Yes, that's right, answer boctory. So
there's lots of I love meeting new people on those sets.
And I also you can learn a lot about visual
style from if you you basically have to work within
somebody else's template, and so you can start shooting in

(30:38):
ways that you would never really think of shooting, or
you can kind of build on it. And so for example,
I did Castle Rock and Mike Up and All did
the pilot of that. I love Mike Up and Doll
and that was a thriller. That was a horror, straight horror,
and I was like, I'd never shot horror before, and
now I can shoot horror. One of the was you
told me to watch was Manhattan, so I did, which

(31:00):
was this great series that I think a lot of
people didn't see because it was on this network that
people didn't have access to, and it was about the
development of the nuclear like the New Year and you
and you had a young the gentleman that was the
sheriff from Stranger Things, David Harbor, he was in it.

(31:22):
And then the marvelous Mrs Masil lead with Rachel Rachel Brosnahan,
Ashley Si Comman. Amazing cast. First of all, I actually
really enjoyed because I was hopping in the middle because
I watched your episode and I it was interesting, but like,
what what what did you love the most about that one?
I love with Tommy Slay and he was the producer

(31:42):
and he is the president of the d g A now.
But I did Panap with him. Yes, I did Manap
with him. And he's just a very inspirational human and
he doesn't ever compromise, and so I love it when
you feel people are pushing you. I also really loved

(32:03):
the writing on it, and coming from the background the
writing is it was complex and challenging. I always feel
there was It's funny Manhattan and Big Love, and there's
certain shows that where the writing was so good and
they weren't recognized, you know, and it's interesting what becomes
a darling and what doesn't. It doesn't quite You're like,
why this and not that? Yeah? Yeah, because Manhattan was

(32:25):
one of the things that I will always remember that
I love the most. And where do you recognized? We
shot that in New Mexico in the desert beautiful. It
was so beautiful, so amazing. I love New Mexico. I
would love to go back and shoot New Mexico again.
So you go on location, live work, balance like life work.
So do you like going on location? Is it hard

(32:47):
for you? Is it fun? I love it if the
guys can come out and see me. I don't love
it if they can't, I don't. One job, which was
the catch was a pilot that you developed with Shanday Yes,
which I found the underlying material for and developed, and
that pilot I went away for five weeks. I think
it was the longest I've ever been away from my family.

(33:09):
I didn't like it. I remember that as not liking it.
The longest we've been a part I think is like
three weeks, maybe the longest I've ever been away from
the kids. That's amazing. Well, I'm glad it's good, you know,
because I know a lot of women struggle with life
work balance and each job and it may not even
be necessarily like a physical having to go somewhere, but

(33:31):
even just leaving the house and the time away like
that's I know, that's something that a lot of people
deal with, and it seems it seems like you do
it well. So you met Shonda Rhimes on Grey's Anatomy. Yeah,
that was again. You know, people just I think a
career is opportunity, stroke good luck sometimes and so it

(33:51):
wasn't luck that I got the Royal Shakespeare Company first
job out of college, but it was it was a
great opportunity and opened a lot of doors for me.
And then I don't know if I ever told you
how I ended up in l A. Was I came
here for a holiday holiday. Did I tell you the story? No?
Do you know this? No? So I came here for

(34:13):
a week holiday. I had this very strong desire to
come here. Was directing at the BBC. Somebody came up
and gave me tickets for Will and Grace, a recording
of Will and Grace, so in the audience to be
on the audience. To go and be in the audience,
and I saw this guy, Jimmy Burrows, and he was
the director, and I thought, gosh, how interesting. He's a

(34:33):
director and a producer and I want to be a
director and a producer. I'm going to phone him up.
So I phoned the production office of Will and Grace
and I said, how can I talk to Jimmy please?
And they said yes, and they basically I talked to
Jimmy Burrows. Oh my god. For those of you listening,
James Burrows like literally is the biggest multi cam sitcom director,

(34:57):
like allegend, like he's directed every He is as big
as it gets. So you do you think your British
accent helped get I think. I was like, I'm the BBC, yeah,
and I'd love to talk to Jimmy. They put me
through and he invited me to come and shadow him. WHOA.
So basically the same little gal that called up that

(35:19):
theater company was like, I'm ten years old. You called
Jimmy Burrows and they were like, Hi, this is the equivalent.
It is the equivalent of calling like j. J Abrams
For those of you listening, it's like hello, I'd like
to talk to J. J Abrams please and having him go, sure,
you could shadow me on Star Wars. So so he
invites you, So what did you shadow him on? I
shouted him on Willing Grace and then he introduced me

(35:42):
to Kelsey Grandma. So I shadowed Kelsey who was directing Frasier,
and then I directed, and then then I shouted Tom Freeman,
who's the greatest to the three Him from is also
classic one numerous Emmy is like as big as a Wow.
So this was before I really started doing much TV

(36:05):
directing the UK. And then so I'll never forget that
he was the kindest human being and copy into his
office quite rough, you know, a little intimates. How have
you found it, And this is like months. I've been
here for six months. So you shadowed him for months. No,
not a specifically him for months, but I was dotting
around the place. I was in l A. And then

(36:26):
I traveled America and I came back to and said, so,
how do you find it? I said, you know, Jimmy,
it's been fantastic and I'm really grateful to you, but
I think I'm more of a single camera person. Oh
my god, you got snatty yet, Jimmy? Did he laugh?
Did he love that? He was like, oh, oh, I see, yes.
I didn't like single camera very much. I didn't move it.

(36:47):
I wasn't a big fan of it. And he was
just really reasonable and really good about it. And so
I went back to England because it was also like
at this point you had no resume and he probably
could have helped get you an episode and you're like nothing. Yeah,
basically I saw that you did two row Girls, which
actually stood out. I was looking at it that your
only multi cam that you ever did. Yes, how was

(37:10):
that for you? It was? I was always curious obviously,
and turns out your prefer single and it turns out
I prefer single. Camp but interestingly and weirdly, I cast
Jimmy oh Yang in that episode. That was how Jimmy
got his sad card And we're back. You do a

(37:37):
lot of work with refugees. How did you get involved
in that? And are you currently doing something? I got
involved in that because I saw that awful image of
the toddler washed up on the shore and I thought,
I really have to do something. And this is what
I don't know about four years ago and all of

(37:57):
the migrants were coming across the met Tranean in leaky boats,
and the loss of life is so immense and it's
kind of just something that people don't talk about. I
mean even on all the American boarders. You know. I
went to Tiajuana and I we spoke to some people.
And when you speak to the families who have walked

(38:21):
and got on this horrendous train called the Beast, where
people fall off and die, and in many cases they're
leaving behind the situations where their children are going to
be sexually trafficked by gangs, and that's why they're walking.
I don't know, it's just the injustice of it, in
the inenecty of it. I just know you read about
it now, even like all these people are leaving their

(38:42):
countries because of things like that, and they're just trying
to get to another country and COVID happening and they
get to the other country and it's worse, and then
they're trying to go back to their towns and their
towns have been like looted and burned. There's nothing to
go back to. It's heartbreaking. Yeah, have you worked with
ox FAN? Is that right? Yes, ox FAM and the
International Rescue Committee, the a C. Now, Julianne, I think

(39:03):
that there's something that everybody here knows you from that.
I think people would be it's sort of almost the
the elephant in the room. You directed the Pilot of
Britain and when it premiered, and maybe it was still now,
it was the most watched was Is it the most

(39:24):
watched pilot in the history of television or streaming? Is
that correct? I didn't know it definitely was at one point.
I remember squid Games may have overtaken it because my
kids are thinking to me, Squiad Games is really popular
among that right, It's hard to compete with all those jumpsuits.
You can't nobody can compete with all those jump suits.

(39:46):
So we're when you booked bridgertain which is by anybody's estimate,
like a cultural phenomenon, Like, were you aware that it
was a super special project to be attached to. I
mean it was in that it was shonder land, you know.

(40:08):
I was excited, and I was working with Chris van Dowson,
who I've known for fifteen years. He was the writer.
I was excited to be working with him and I
I've done a lot of period shop, but I haven't
done deep period before. So personally, on a personal level,
I was excited, but there was always the danger that

(40:29):
it could go horribly wrong. I think I've always been
attracted to those projects that are kind of quirky, different.
I've always been drawn to those, and this was another
in the long line of those projects. But as I
said before, I often take on projects that scare me

(40:51):
on purpose. I don't know why. I don't know what
that is about me. I think getting drawn towards the
stuff that scares you and like walking through the discomfort
sort of that is really like the only way for
growth in a weird way of like I feel like
there's information and what scares you a little bit. I
think that's really true. I think that's really true because
lots of stages of my career I could have not

(41:17):
taken the turning that I took um, sometimes for good
and sometimes for evil. Yes, yes, truth. So I know
you've told me personally. One of the things that I
think is so cool and interesting and that I think
it really really was a huge part of the success
of Britain was you helped hand pick quite a bit

(41:43):
of the cast. Would you talk to us a little
bit about like what who you picked? Who? Who was attached?
The Duke was already attached? Correct? Was he already He
wasn't already attached? Yeah, but a lot of eyes were
looking at him. Yeah he was. Yeah. People really loved

(42:03):
him for it, quite rightly. But there were auditions in
the UK. So I'm thinking specifically of Polly Walker, who
was Lady Featherington. She came in and Betsy was there,
and Chris was there. In fact, they've just gone out
for lunch and I said, okay, I'm going to meet
Polly Walker on my own. And Polly Booker came in

(42:26):
and she read a tiny piece of it and I
just ran out. He thought I was mad. I ran
out of the room and I ran down the corridor
after Chris and Betty. I said, come back, come back,
come back, and so I dragged them back in the room.
And that was our lovely Lady Featherington and Luke Newton

(42:47):
somebody else who plays Colin. Yes, Bridgeton, he is an
unbelievably talented young man. Yes, you could just tell the
kind of authenticity, yeah, which he brought. And and you're
leading lady, the leading lady, oh, Phoebe. Yes. I really

(43:08):
advocated for her, and I'm very pleased that I did,
and she came in and obviously it wasn't my decision.
It was a lot of people's decision, but she did
come in and do a chemistry read with Reggae and
Shonda and I were all in the ring England. In England, No, No,
that was in That was in l A. That was

(43:31):
I was at Shonderland. Wow did they fly them all in?
Reggae was already here and Phoebe was passing through. So
I think it was a happy circumstance. That was the
one that was in the UK for a lot of
the time, and I happened to be in l A,
happened to have flown back and yeah, so we did
this this chemistry. Reader, was their chemistry electric in the Roman?

(43:53):
Was it clear that they It was really clear because
their chemistry was crazy. Yeah. They were lovely, lovely together
right from the very beginning. I mean, I just have
to tell you, you know, I've always been a fan
of yours, but like watching the pilot and just seeing
what you did with it, it was so beautiful and

(44:17):
fun and like the visuals and the art direction, and
I was so excited for you that you got to
really with the musicality, with your history of things of
music like like that you got to really strut your stuff.
And I remember the party that had like the sort
of the lights and the sort of sparkling sparkles and

(44:40):
fiery things. It was it just knocked my socks, Like
the design side of me, like coupled with the fun
of it and the casting and the romance and the music,
like and I can see what you're saying how you
were hoping that it would all like work because everything
is a little bit extra, but like, who wouldn't want
to escape into this world? I mean it was just

(45:01):
absolutely magic. What was it like filming like those party
scenes at that mansion with those lights and the dancing,
and like, can you tell us a little bit about
the actual filming of the pilot like that. Yeah, it's interesting.
I heard a podcast in which the podcaster Ezra Klein

(45:21):
was said, for many years, I've mistaken tiredness for stress,
and I think that's really true of me. I thought
it was stress, but it wasn't stress. It was probably
exhaustion because on ours, on days like that, you have
very very long working days, especially because I prep a

(45:42):
lot and I wasn't able to do my full preparation
because I like to spend a lot of time in
the locations and I wasn't really able to do that.
So I would spend hours before the shoot really prepping
the shoot. I like to mentally walk through every single
shot that I'm going to do. That a pre game,
like an athlete going to Wimbledon. I guess, so, I

(46:03):
guess it is like that. It is they played the
game beforehand and their brain is pre game. That is.
I've always done that. I've always loved that. But I
did that for Bridgetain And so when you're looking at
those ballroom scenes, there's a lot of shots to walk through,
so I spend hours doing that and then the DP
would come Jeffrey fantastic DP, and then I would walk

(46:27):
through every single shot with him and his team, the grips,
the gaffer. This is before the actors, before anybody turns
up on set. So a time of day are we talking?
Because I sometimes have called times that are like four
am to be on set for six twelve am, Like
are we talking? Like you're there at six in the
morning walking through all these shots with everybody. Yes, yes, yes,

(46:48):
probably earlier, but I would say for Bridget and there's
a lot of night work, so you you would be
working through the night, all night, and you'd be fighting daylight.
And that is the scariest feeling in the world when
you can see the sun coming up and you're thinking,
I haven't got all the shots and there's a finite
you know, you can't go into you can't go into

(47:10):
overtime because it's going to be daylight, because the sun's
coming out, the sun's coming up. So you're well, that's
what we call it, fighting daylight. How many days did
you film and did you have any leeway? Like, okay,
if we don't get if we don't make them day
we don't get all of our shots. We can pick
it up at the end, like or did you have
to get you had to make your days every day?
That is how is more in England? You you have

(47:34):
to Yeah, because if you think at Wilton House, for example,
which is where we did the introduction of Daftly to
the Queen, right, you know you've got four days there.
First day you're in one huge room. On the second
day you're in another room, and all of your lights
are moving from room to room, and you've got these

(47:57):
things called balloons which float above the action and create
this beautiful light. And maybe you've only got a balloon
for one day. It's a big machine. It's like it's
a big traveling circus. Really, there's a huge city of
trucks outside the house which houses a village of people

(48:18):
who are costume, makeup, hair, actors, props. I mean hundreds
and hundreds of people. And then when they go from
that location, they're gone. So the one thing I would
say is it was a series, so if I knew
I wasn't going to get a shot, I would always
be able to make an emergency request for director. Further

(48:44):
down the line, can you get it close above this
bunch of flowers. Can you get a close up? And
then in this instance, there was a unit that followed
us around picking up the shots that it didn't require
the whole crew to be there for right right, right,
So there was a wonderful director who I would say

(49:07):
to her, I really need a carriage with six horses
leading it coming up to Castle Howard a drone shot
and she would go and get that drone shot. Or
I need a close up of a hand opening a door,
and she would. We would give her the context that

(49:28):
she would go and get those close ups for us,
and that enables it to feel richer and more textured,
I guess than just the first unit picking up absolutely everything.
Does your average person watching can see this was an
enormous like the scale of it, just the dance scenes alone,

(49:49):
like which is the biggest production you ever did, like
as far as and the beautiful choreography, and I remember
or you were telling me about how you've filmed it
with some of the po V like the like the
camera I can see would have to have an amazing
camera operator who's almost has to learn the whole dance

(50:10):
routine because they are a part of it. And then
you have like the entire room of everybody choreographed. Yeah.
So if you think about it, weeks and weeks before
you rehearse with your actors and rehearse with your dancers,
and we plan to shoot into the body of the
room for the conversations. We didn't want to shoot against

(50:34):
walls as much as possible. So if you think about it,
if you're going to have a conversation and you're going
to film it again and again and again, because that's
what we do behind the actors. If you're shooting into
the ballroom, the dances have to be dancing the exact
same movement each time. Otherwise edit duty doesn't work for

(50:58):
editing purposes. Oh my, you're right. So for the listeners
at home, say you're looking at the Duke and the
and phoebe chatting, and like you see a person in
a hot pink dress one second and they're still chatting.
You cut away to something else and then that person
the hot pink dress is gone and there's like a
man and like a blue suit, Like I can see
what you're that it has to match like so that

(51:20):
you have options in the editing room. That's madness. Yeah,
So we would rehearse. So we rehearsed the timing with
the dancers, the timings of the conversations with the dancers,
and that went for all of the all of the dancing,
and then obviously if our leads we're going to go
into the dancing and take place, it all had to

(51:43):
be timed out. I liken it to doing a very
big jigsaw puzzle and quickly and efficiently, and you just
really hope that you're not going to come away missing
a key piece of the that jigsaw puzzle. It's actually
worse when you're doing a standalone pilot because really the

(52:04):
chances of going back and picking up that piece of
the jigsaw puzzle are more remote if you're if there's
not any crew being left behind or act as being
left behind. But it's still it's it's white knuckle, Okay,
I have well, I have one more of the dance
sequence questions how did you do it? With dialogue and

(52:26):
people dancing? Like like how do people keep dancing? And
you hear that dial like is there music? Playing? Like?
How great question? How do you do that? It's a
great question. So they all of the dancers have these
things called ear weeks, in their ears and they're absolutely tiny,
so you can't see them even in close ups going

(52:47):
to the dancers ears. So every single dancer needed it's
playback effectively. So and then you just asked them, you know,
they dance lightly because their professional dances. You get your
dance as lightly as possible underneath the dialogue. Well, then
I would imagine then your leads probably also had him

(53:08):
in and then they had to like probably turn down
the music a little bit while they're chatting because because
they are also dancing like the ones. The word dancing, Yes,
holy cow, that is that is thrilling. And I know
that this is also like a partial, you know, our
version of our self help podcast. I would like to

(53:29):
say how inspired I am hearing about your prep work.
One of the things that I learned that Like, again,
as I've mentioned on the podcast, I'm a person who
presents very sort of easy or social or extroverted, but
who actually has had quite a bit of anxiety in
my life. And I get nervous for things. Particularly, I
get a little shy if I don't know somebody, and

(53:51):
I get nervous before I go do new things. So
here's a little tip for the listeners that take it
or leave it. But this is something that's helped me.
A friend suggested this, and I've done it now for
a few years, and when I do it, I find
I actually have a better day. But in particular, if
I have something that I'm nervous about. My friend told
me a little trick to write out my whole day,

(54:12):
every detail, as if it's already happened and that it
went well. So it's sort of like pregaming, or say
I have like a big audition or something, and I'll say,
and let's just pretend it's not COVID time that I
was going in person, you know that I'd be like
I woke up right on time, I made my breakfast,
I was able to go for a walk and relax,
you know, and even accounting for the fact that I

(54:34):
might get nervous, like I knew I had to drive
forty five minutes, so I left myself an hour and fifteen,
and there was traffic, but I'd allowed enough time to
make it there in time, and and then I was
able to find a parking spot and I allowed enough
time to get there, and then when I went into
the auditions, or even if I'm doing stand up or something.
I'll account for the fact that, like who I am
gets nervous, So I'll write out and say, like, even

(54:57):
though I got nervous, and there was a moment I
started to leave my body, like I just took a
breath and I made eye contact with the person in
the room, and I came back to myself and I
was able to like really own what I'd prepared, and
I stuck my landing, and like, you know, I got
a call on the way home that they I'm the girl.
But like that, I write everything out, accounting for including

(55:19):
my own nerves, things that could go wrong, that I've
sort of done them in advance, so that when they
happen in real time, it's like, oh, I already accounted
for this. I prepped for this, Like this was part
of the plan, and I don't get as thrown and
it's okay to get a little nervous and to need
a pre game. So that's my little self belt tip
something that helps. It really helps. I think it's really good.

(55:42):
I I do that, but I don't do the By
this point, you're probably thinking you're never going to make
your day, but you do make your day. Yes, I
should build that into it. Courage is not like you're
just naturally brave. Courage is like you have some fear,
you sort like gathered your strength and you're trying it anyway.
That's courage, you know. So I feel like you do

(56:04):
in your pregame is courage. Yeah, yeah, no, I like that.
I like that because it is. It's um it is
nerve wracking. It is it is did your life change
doing Britain? Like did your career change? Did? It's something
almost that people would be waiting for, like because you've
been working for so long, and you know, you've been

(56:27):
nominated for things before and you've had but like there's
so few cultural legitimate phenomena, like has there been a
pre impost bridgertain for you? I think from other people's
perspective that probably that is the case, But from inside
my head, I just feel the same. Yeah, you know

(56:49):
that's always been me, is that I've always felt the
same inside exactly exactly. It's sometimes you know, I'm getting
to the age where you really want to be kind
of very centered and very focused and for people to

(57:11):
lean in and listen to you because you're speaking wisdom. Yes,
but I've never really felt that type of person that's
the kind of enthusiastic and I get excited and I
get nervous and I get anxious, and I think that's nice.
I mean, you know, I'm a big believer and sort

(57:33):
of grow where your planted of like, oh, I'm still me,
Like this big thing up and I'm still me. Like
you don't wake up and magically you're not YOUAL Like
you're still YOUAL. Have you worked on anything really fun,
says Bridgetain that you're excited about. Yeah. I did a
series for Netflix called Partner Track, which I was really

(57:56):
really loved the show runner. I guess one thing that
has changed is that I now absolutely follow my heart
when it comes to projects. It's not anymore about oh,
I've got to do this. It's it's not about the
rat race anymore. It's about what I think not only

(58:18):
is interesting to me, but also is maybe about, you know,
good things that you put out into the world. It's
a little bit about what you're putting into the world.
And I want to be really careful about that. So
I was I believed in Partner Track. I love the showrunner,

(58:38):
Georgia Lee. She's she's really special, and I just thought
it was. It was just really quietly quite an important
thing to be part of. So so I went and
did that was very exciting, And then it was interesting.
The other day I was sent I'm doing something else
now that hasn't been announced yet, but it does really

(58:59):
lean into a very kind of yummy period musical world.
Very excited about. That's up my alley, really looking forward to.
But for example, I was sent the other day something
about a group of high powered women who kind of

(59:22):
all get into a catfight, and right they all battle
each other behind the scenes in this high powered situation,
and I thought, you know, I just don't want to
be part of putting that energy into the world. So
I'm that is a change, and I'm very privileged to
be able to make those decisions. Okay, I'm gonna ask

(59:45):
for now for one, and you don't need to name names.
The worst behave she meltdown ship show behavior you've seen
on a set, and how you handled it. People are
getting better. So that's back in the day. In the day,
there was a showrunner and an actress that simply did

(01:00:10):
not get on. They couldn't be in the same space
at the same time. And this particular actress would if
she got winds that maybe the showrunner was around, she'd
stay in her trailer and it's time. Time is money,
Time is money. Yes, that's the biggest thing about being
a TV director is just if you're not shooting, then

(01:00:30):
you're burning thousands and thousands of dollars. And so I
thought right that everybody was terrified of this particular actress.
I thought, right, that's it. I'm just gonna go knock
on the door. I'm just gonna go knock and train
the door, and I'm gonna just say, you know, we're
all waiting. So I went and I knocked on her
door and she said, oh, hi, Julie Anne, and she said,

(01:00:54):
come on in, sit down. So I went in and
I sat down and chatted. I said, you know, we're
ready on set. You are you're ready? I said, yeah, yeah,
we're ready for you. And she said, oh okay, well
let's walk over together. And so we walked back to
the set together and she had been off the set

(01:01:15):
for good two hours. Time to hide in your trail
tens of thousands of a long time. Yeah, So I
got it to set and then it was a scene.
It was the end of an episode she had to
throw a set keys to somebody else and she, for

(01:01:40):
some reason and I just don't know why, she threw
the keys at the camera and she broke the camera
lens with the keys. With those lenses are so expensive. Yeah,
I mean, I'd say a plus plus. But the great
thing was my editor saw this footage and used it,

(01:02:01):
so itsode. Wow. That is well, Julianne. Is there anything
you haven't gotten to do professionally that you wish you
could do that? What's next? What's your dream? What's on
your bucket list? Okay? I would like to do something
like Alien, Oh, I love that for you. I would

(01:02:26):
like to do something with like huge pressure, tension, insane,
kind of like on the edge of your seat. Castle
Rock was a bit like this, something where you just
feel sick in your stomach and you don't know if
a monster is going to jump out of that. Yes,

(01:02:49):
that's next on my bucket list, and so it shall
be for any young ladies out there. What would you
like to say? What would you what would you if
you could go back in time? Talked a little Julianne
who was dreaming watching those musicals with her long poker
changing the channel, like, is there any words of wisdom
that you would like to say, like a little gal

(01:03:11):
out there with big dreams? There is, and this is
something that I want to talk to you about. But
there's a big premium in being nice as a woman,
and I would always think, Oh, it's my fault. I'm
not being nice enough to this particular DP who's being
really mean or to this you know showrunner. I I

(01:03:35):
just have to make myself into the super nice person
and then kind of find a way to work them
and find a way to get through the system. And
it did do me, you know. I mean, I I
found that useful way to get ahead. But at the
end of the day, it's it's like putting somebody under

(01:03:57):
a lot of pressure. You put yourself under a lot
of pressure to shape you into being somebody else that
the other people need you to be. And I don't
think that that's strictly necessary. That's my message. If you
find yourself doing that, you don't need to do that.
And I don't know if younger, I don't know if
people do do that anything. I think it's changing. I

(01:04:19):
do think it's changing. I feel like back in the day,
I also feel like I had to be a chameleon
for a long time and for many years. I'm sure
it's still to some extent. There's some of that out there.
We have to make other people comfortable and like just
to kind of get through. But it sort of makes
you smaller, and like you have to kind of make

(01:04:39):
yourself smaller to do that, which is not owning all
of your own strength. I think, do you like business?
Do you like the like the business side or negotiating
or like that stuff. I don't know. I've always been driven.
I'm I'm really lucky. I am so redun I have
been taking care of business. I think that that has

(01:05:00):
driven me a lot. Actually, the pressure and the responsibility
of that I have carried very very much. So I've
always felt, oh gosh, what happens if it runs out,
what happens if it dries up? It's you know, and
I think I could have done less of that as well.
So far, this is so great, Julianne. You're you really

(01:05:20):
are a very special person, and you're very talented and
you it's a treat to get to know you more.
Thank you so much for your interview. Thank you so much. Gosh,
I've gone on for ages. You were great and I
would like to listen to this so I'm sure our
listeners are enjoying it. We really appreciate you, guys. I
hope you guys enjoyed getting to know one of your

(01:05:41):
co hosts. I certainly enjoyed getting to know her further.
Do you have anybody that you want is to interview
or any thoughts about our episode so far, Please email
us at Lady of the Road at gmail dot com.
All right, Julianne, everybody stay safe, have a good time.
Thank you for listening. We'll see you next time. Bye

(01:06:02):
bye m