August 18, 2025 • 45 mins
Hosts Paul Cruz and Gino Akbari sit down with filmmaker Nicola Rose—an accomplished director, producer, and writer—to discuss her new feature film Magnetosphere.
The film follows 13-year-old Maggie as she navigates her first crush, a big family move, and her unique way of experiencing the world through synesthesia, all set against the backdrop of the magical Hale-Bopp comet in 1997. With a cast including Colin Mochrie, Patrick McKenna, Debra McGrath, Tara Strong, Steven He, and breakout star Shayelin Martin, Magnetosphere brings neurodivergence to life in a visually stunning, heartfelt way.
Nicola shares her inspiration for the story, her process of authentically representing synesthesia on screen by interviewing over 70 synesthetes, and the challenges of making an independent film that is both magical and deeply human.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- Nicola’s journey from idea to indie feature film
- How lived experiences of synesthetes shaped Magnetosphere
- Why setting the story in the late 1990s deepens its nostalgia and magic
- The dynamics of Maggie’s relationships with her crush, her best friend, and her family
- The role of supportive adults like Ms. Dearing in fostering trust and creativity
- How Nicola’s own neurodivergent traits influence her filmmaking
- Advice for young neurodivergent storytellers
Memorable Quotes
- “The way to be authentic is ask people—‘what did you experience?’—and then bring that truth to screen.” – Nicola Rose
- “Synesthesia became a metaphor for feeling out of sync, which so many of us experience.” – Nicola Rose
- “Being kind is the most important lesson filmmaking has taught me.” – Nicola Rose
Resources & Links
Watch the Magnetosphere trailer: http://freestyledigitalmedia.tv/film/magnetosphere
Stream Magnetosphere now on Amazon Prime & Apple TV
Nicola’s Substack: nicolarosedirects.substack.com
Nicola on Instagram: @nicolarosedirects
Magnetosphere on Instagram: @magnetospheremovie
Magnetosphere on Facebook: Magnetosphere — Movie
What Are the Most Common Types of Synesthesia?
https://exceptionalindividuals.com/about-us/blog/what-are-the-most-common-types-of-synesthesia/#:~:text=It%20is%20not%20to%20say,developed%20all%20on%20its%20own.
Synesthesia - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
Stay Connected
- Learn more about Neurodiversity Voices Podcast: www.neurodiversityvoices.com
✨ If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe, rate, and share The Neurodiversity Voices Podcast with your community. Together, we can keep amplifying diverse voices and celebrating the beauty of different minds.
Instagram, Facebook Page, YouTube, Substack: @neurodiversityvoicespodcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/neurodiversityvoicespodcast
Transistor.fm: https://theneurodiversityvoicespodcast.transistor.fm/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tnvp.bsky.social
Be Our Next Guest on The Neurodiversity Voices Podcast!
Do you have a story, insight, or experience that could inspire and empower the neurodiverse community? We’re looking for passionate voices—self-advocates, professionals, educators, parents, and allies—who want to share their journey and spark meaningful conversations.
✨ If you’re ready to highlight your perspective and contribute to a platform that celebrates neurodiversity, we’d love to hear from you!
👉 Apply now to be a guest: https://www.neurodiversityvoices.com/be-our-podcast-guest
Let’s amplify neurodiverse voices—together. 💜
Chapters
00:00 Exploring Synesthesia: The Inspiration Behind Magnetosphere
11:01 The Significance of 1997: A Nostalgic Backdrop
15:51 Maggie's Emotional Journey: Ch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Gino Akbari (00:02):
Welcome to the Neurodiversity Voices podcast.
I'm your host Paul Cruz, and I'mthrilled to have you join us on
this journey of exploration,advocacy, and celebration of
neurodiversity.
I'm Gino Akbari, your co host. Together, we'll
have meaningful conversations,share inspiring stories and
challenge misconceptions aboutneurodiversity.
(00:24):
This podcast is for everyone. Whether you're
neurodivergent yourself, aneducator, a parent, or just
someone curious to learn more.Our goal is to amplify voices,
foster understanding, and sparkchange in the way we view and
support neurodiversity. We are
so excited to have you with us as we celebrate the
(00:44):
beauty of diverse minds and worktoward a more inclusive future.
So sit back, relax and let's get started. Welcome
get We're speaking withfilmmaker, Nicola Rose. She's
the writer and director ofMagnetosphere, a coming of age
(01:05):
film that follows 13 year oldMaggie as she navigates her
first love and a big move anddiscovers that she experienced
the world through synesthesia.
It is heartfelt, funny, and visually stunning.
Nicola, welcome to the show.
Nicola Rose (01:24):
Thank you so much, and thanks for the kind words.
Gino Akbari (01:29):
Let's start with what drew you in. What made you
want to tell a story about ayoung girl with synesthesia?
Nicola Rose (01:39):
Know, synesthesia was something I heard about
years ago. I think originally, Iwas trying to remember where
originally because a lot ofpeople have been asking me this
question and I think it was onthe radio. I think I was in the
car with my mom. I think I wasin my teens. I think I was
listening to the radio and theywere talking to people with
(02:01):
synesthesia on a program.
I'm from The States, so this wasNPR and they were talking about,
you know, people withsynesthesia are called
synesthetes and they weretalking to people who could like
hear color or experience soundas texture, like physical
texture and things like that.And I found it really
fascinating, but then I didn'tthink about it again for years
(02:23):
and years and years. I just hadit like way back there in the
recesses of my mind. It was instorage. It was way, way back
there.
And I forgot about it for manyyears until I had done at that
point, I wasn't even makingfilms. As a teenager, that
wasn't really my goal yet. Thatwasn't really That came later.
(02:44):
So years later, had done a bunchof short films. I had done one
feature film, was Good ByePetrushka, which was my starter
feature film.
I always say it was my filmschool because it taught me how
to make a feature film and it,you know, it allowed me to make
mistakes without the stakesbeing too, too high. And it
taught me a lot of what to doand some of what not to do and
(03:07):
so forth. And after Goodbye,Petrushka, you know, I was
thinking, So I definitely wannado more movies, but what do I
want to do next? And I hadvaguely in mind that I wanted to
do a story about a child or ateenager with either an
extraordinary ability or atleast, I shouldn't say at least,
but either an extraordinaryability or like an extraordinary
(03:30):
difference of some sort. Andsynesthesia came to mind after I
saw another gorgeous film calledConfetti, which is by the
director, Anne, who eventuallyit is gonna get back to Anne
that I have mentioned her namelike 50 times in the past few
days on all these podcastsbecause she did a beautiful
film.
It's a Chinese American filmcalled Confetti. It has to do
(03:52):
with a little girl who hasdyslexia. And, you know, it's
it's this very quiet, veryindependent, very small film. I
loved it. I loved the way thatthe cinematography was done such
that there were all these, like,POV shots showing us kind of the
interior of the little girl'smind.
Like we would be outside hermind, we would be looking at her
(04:13):
from without and then all of asudden we'd be looking from
within outside like we'd be we'dbe her all of a sudden we'd be
looking at stuff from her pointof view. And we would see like,
if she was trying to readletters, Chinese characters on a
blackboard, we would like seethem like twist and turn from
her point of view in midair. Andwe would see how they were
(04:33):
changing and we would be like,oh, oh my gosh, we're looking at
stuff from her point of view.And it was so cool. There's no
way that this was the first filmto do this, but I happened to
see it at a moment when I wastrying to figure out where did I
want to go next.
Synesthesia, it doesn't have alot to do with dyslexia, but it
is very generally speaking ofthe same family of
(04:56):
neurodivergences. And so I was,I was having a conversation with
my now ex and saying, would loveto do a story like that about,
you know, maybe a kid who haslike, I don't know this through
that or this or listing things.And he said, well, what about
synesthesia? Because you'vementioned that before. And I was
like, yes, synesthesia.
(05:17):
And, you know, it's such anobvious like, when you think
about it, I don't know how muchyou guys you are the
neurodiversity voices. You mayknow more about synesthesia than
I do, but like, it's not justauditory and visual, but there
is so much of it that isauditory and visual. Like so
often it is that it seems like areally super obvious thing to
(05:38):
put on TV or to put on film. Andin fact, after looking it up, I
was like, oh my gosh, why havenot more people done this? So
this challenge that I set myselfwas how do I depict synesthesia
on screen such that people canunderstand what it is even if
they've never heard of it, neverheard it before.
And also how do I do it on alimited budget? Because
(06:01):
shockingly, I had a limitedbudget. That was that was the
challenge I set myself was howto depict this so that even if
synesthesia was nothing you hadever heard of, you could still
kind of learn along with thecharacter and discover alongside
her what was going on with herbrain.
Gino Akbari (06:21):
And once you knew that this was your focus, how
did you balance portrayingsynesthesia in a way that feels
authentic to people who livewith it while still making it
cinematic and relatable forthose who've ever experienced
it?
Nicola Rose (06:36):
Man, you guys asked the right questions. I was just
talking to somebody about thisbecause like, authentic is the
word, isn't it? It's such animportant distinction because it
can't be right. There is noright. There's no accurate,
right?
Because no two synesthetes, orfor that matter, no two
neurodivergent people experiencethings the same way. Like
(06:58):
probably no two neurotypicalpeople experience things the
same way. Like my notion ofpurple is probably not the same
as your notion of purple orwhatever. You know, we're never
going to know because we can'tdescribe qualia in those ways.
Anyway, long story super short,because this used to obsess me
as a kid, I would be like, Oh mygosh, what if my mom doesn't see
(07:18):
red the same way I see red?
What if she sees this strawberryas yellow? The way what I think
is yellow, but she thinks it'sred. And, my God, it blows my
mind. And, you know, I think Ihad a lot of time on my hands as
a child. But point being, youknow, the best that you could
only thing that you can do ismake it be authentic, and the
way to do that is to go toprimary sources, and the way I
(07:39):
did that was to go to Facebook,and there is at least one,
There's probably more.
There's at least one hugeFacebook group out there, which
I think is just calledsynesthesia. And it's like
synesthetes, hundreds, maybethousands from I think it's
thousands from all over theworld who experience, you know,
all different kinds ofsynesthesia, hundreds and
(08:02):
hundreds of different kinds ofmodalities. And, you know, I put
my innocent little post in theresaying like, hey. I'm working on
a movie, and I would kinda liketo talk to some people and find
out what you experience. And, Imean, I don't know what I
expected.
I got deluged, naturally.Everybody wanted to tell me
their experiences. And so nextthing I knew, I yeah. Yeah. You
(08:25):
know, I couldn't speak toeverybody who wanted to speak to
me.
I think I ended up speaking toabout 70 different people. Like,
it was a lot. It was way toomany to ever use all their
experiences in the film. Youcan't. You know, you would just
it would be an overload.
So I think I winnowed it down tolike five people ultimately
(08:46):
whose experiences kinda hewedmost closely to what Maggie, who
is the main character in themovie, what her experiences were
gonna be. So everything that yousee in the movie, which is
streaming now across Canada andacross The US and across Mexico
on kinda all the major streamingplatforms, Amazon Prime and
(09:07):
Apple TV, if you see this movie,you can look at any experience
that this child has ofsynesthesia and know that
experience was told to me bysomebody who had that actual
experience. Nothing is 100% madeup. There may be modifications
and like things that aremassaged slightly to like work
(09:28):
on screen. Because sometimes youdon't have all the information,
so you have to fill in the gapsa little bit, if this makes
sense.
But there's nothing in you can'tjust make stuff up. That's
that's how you be you ask, howdo you be authentic? The way to
be authentic is ask people,okay, what did you experience?
Now I'm gonna write this down.Now I'm gonna test it out on
(09:49):
audiences and see, is thisworking for you?
And if people are if it'sresonating with people, then you
know you're doing your job. Andit can never be fully like,
you're never gonna resonate witha 100% of people. Like, there's
a super quick example that Ialways give is there's a scene
in the movie where Maggie'ssynesthesia, which is not always
(10:10):
a pleasant thing becausesynesthesia isn't always a
pleasant thing, where it makesher nauseous and she throws up
because she's overstimulated andall the things that lead to
that. One of my neurodiversityconsultants that was working on
the film with me and she hassynesthesia and knows a ton
about the topic. And she lookedat that and said, you know, that
(10:31):
scene did not work for me atall.
I don't know what was going on.Whereas the other person or not
sorry. Not the other person whowas also a synesthete and also a
neurodiversity consultant andalso had worked on the film with
me was like, Oh my God,something like that happened to
me when I was a kid. And it wasthis loud sound and it gave me a
migraine and made me throw up.So, you know, you're never going
(10:56):
to resonate with everybodybecause, like, you can't, but
the best that you can do is doyour do your due diligence in
trying to be as authentic aspossible and resonate.
I don't wanna say with as manypeople as possible, but as
strongly as possible with thepeople that you are trying to
resonate with, which in thiscase is neurodivergent people
(11:19):
and the people who love them,people who wanna understand
them, people who wanna say,okay. I don't really get what's
going on with my daughter, but Iknow she experiences stuff
differently. So what is sheexperiencing?
Gino Akbari (11:33):
The film takes us back to 1997 with the Hale-Bopp
comet in the sky. Why did youchoose that moment in time as
the backdrop for Maggie's story?
Nicola Rose (11:47):
97 1996 and 1997 were the two years that the Hale
Bopp comet was passing by Earth,and I used that as a sort of
anchor event to sort of bookendthe story. There's a lot of
reference to outer space andspatial phenomena. One of the
characters is an astronomystudent. Maggie has a doll that
(12:12):
she talks to, you know, whennobody is looking, who is like a
little space Barbie. So outerspace is sort of a constant
background character in thisfilm or or like a background
presence, whatever you wannacall it.
But, you know, I also I was verykeen to take it back to a time
when the characters wouldn't,like, constantly have devices in
(12:33):
their hands. And, you know,there's so much in this story
that would have been lessinteresting or less impactful or
would have been resolved so muchmore easily if somebody could
have just Snapchatted somebodyelse or if somebody could have
just, like, looked it up andgoogled, what am I experiencing?
(12:53):
Oh, synesthesia. Okay. Okay.
Done. You know? It's like a fiveminute movie. It's a lot easier
it's a lot easier to let thestory be a story that takes
place in its own at its own paceif everything is not so easily
at the character's fingertips.And I think, you know, which is
(13:14):
not to say that no storiesshould be set in the present
day.
I think some stories work waybetter in the present day. My
first feature was set in roughlythe present day that worked well
for that one. For this one,there was just something about
it that I wanted to feel alittle more like a memory and a
little more like something thatdidn't necessarily quite just
(13:34):
happened last week, but happenedmore like when you were a kid.
It's it's not really a kid'sfilm, but I want it to harken
back to like when when we werekids, when whoever's seeing it
might look at it and say, oh,yeah, that feels like something.
Even if I didn't experiencethat, it feels like something I
experienced.
I I go back to something thatGreta Gerwig said about Lady
(13:57):
Bird, which is set in roughlythe same it's like six years
later. And she used a certaingrain of film because she wanted
it to feel like a memory thattook place in the early two
thousands, like when she was inhigh school. And it did feel
like that time, like she's acouple years older than I am. So
I felt like she got itaesthetically right somehow in a
(14:18):
way that's hard to quantify. Butshe, you know, she wanted it to
look and feel like a memory.
And that's what I was going forhere. Now we shot on digital, so
not with Grain, but with thingslike characters using Walkman
and listening to audio cassettesand writing things out longhand
and, you know, not being gluedto iPads and stuff like that.
Gino Akbari (14:42):
Nostalgia. I think for me, it was magical.
Nicola Rose (14:45):
Thank you.
Gino Akbari (14:46):
Yes. I just thought the whole reference to the comet
and the flame and the color hasadd, I thought it married very
well because I thought it wasactually magical. That is what
attracted to me. I'm notneurodivergent. I'm just almost
an outsider here.
So for me to watch that, learnabout it, and full disclosure, I
did not know what it was. Cool.
Nicola Rose (15:08):
It is because really interesting. Okay.
Gino Akbari (15:11):
Yeah. It was because of this interview, this
that I had an opportunity tolearn about it, watch it, But I
thought that was brilliantbecause it made it so magical,
the happy moments. Was
Nicola Rose (15:23):
That's actually so good for me to know because
here's this person, you, whodidn't know what synesthesia
was, who wasn't part of thatcommunity, and it made sense to
you. So that's heartening forme. It's like, oh, okay, this
makes sense, even to somebodywho's not already initiated.
Gino Akbari (15:39):
No. I thought it was personally, as an outsider
in this case, brilliant becauseit was almost like a beautiful
mind. I did not take anythingnegative from it. I took
everything positive and therewas a sort of this magical touch
to it where I'm in awe and I'mlike, wow, she can see these
colors. We can't, I can't.
(16:00):
So that came across
very
nicely. So,
Nicola Rose (16:04):
yeah. That means a lot to me to know that it makes
sense to somebody who doesn'texperience it. And I have a lot
more I could say about that, butbasically, you.
Gino Akbari (16:12):
Yeah. No worries. So so Maggie's character feels
layered and real. How did youdevelop her emotional arc? Which
parts of her are drawn from yourown life, if any?
Nicola Rose (16:27):
You know, very little, actually. I was thinking
about that because a lot ofpeople assume that the character
is based on me, and that's anatural assumption. I'm actually
if anything, as a child, I wasprobably a lot more like her
little sister. I was very loud,very musical, very probably a
little obnoxious, probably a lotobnoxious. You know, Maggie is
(16:51):
more shy and cautious andtrepidatious and doesn't, you
know, she keeps her cards closeto her chest and doesn't
necessarily want people to knowwhat's going on with her unless
she trusts them fully.
If anything, she's a little morelike my sister and her sister is
a little more like me, which isinteresting. But, you know, the
(17:13):
emotional arc of that charactercame almost entire I mean,
what's on the page is what's onthe page, which is the words you
see on the screen and a certainamount of screen direction
saying, like, she says thisflatly or she says this
trepidatiously or whatever, butnot too much. But so much of the
pretty much a 100% of thecharacter's emotional
(17:36):
particularity came from ShailenMartin, who is this brilliant,
intuitive, canny 17 year oldactress who actually just 15
when she played Maggie, whobasically just like colored in
the lines herself. Like,everything up there. Like, yes,
I directed her.
Yes. I said, okay, let's go thisdirection with this, and let's
(17:56):
try less of that and more ofthis and whatnot. But basically,
she's so intuitive and so almostjust like just sort of like a
baby animal, just all these rawinstincts she has about what to
do that you don't really want tomess with anything she does. You
kind of you know, I felt asthough I was there to shape and
(18:19):
guide occasionally, like, say,okay, let's pull back here or
let's do more of this there.But, basically, just let her be
let her be what she was.
She was cast for a reason. Theysay 98% of directing is casting,
and that's that's pretty true.And I would say it's pretty much
all her, and I'm just there tosupervise.
Gino Akbari (18:41):
The film shifts between muted tones and bursts
of vivid color and music. Howdid you and your team work
together to capture Maggie'ssensory world visually and
sonically?
Nicola Rose (18:56):
There were a lot of meetings, you know, before we
ever got to set. There were wewere in preproduction for well
over a year, which is actually apretty expedited process, you
know, for people who arefamiliar with indie filmmaking.
Even for an independent lowbudget film, that's still pretty
quick. And, you know, there wereseveral different departments
(19:19):
that had to sort of coordinateand get together in terms of
making all of those, whether itwas the visual stuff, whether it
was the auditory stuff, whetherit was the post production
visuals, or whether it was thecomposition, making all those
things flow together as one sortof one sort of piece. All of all
(19:42):
of them had to coordinate and somuch happens in preproduction,
so much planning.
And then when you get to set, somuch of that actually comes
apart and it turns out, oh no,you know what? That actually
isn't going to happen the way wethought it was going to happen.
So you have to be prepared toroll with punches and find out
that, okay, no, this, forexample, some color lighting
that you thought you were goingto get or some angle that you
(20:04):
thought you were going to get,some camera angle you thought
you were going to get is notgoing to be possible or some,
some kind of lensing is notgoing to be doable. I don't
know. So you end up modifying onthe fly any number of things
that end up, like in the endcoming out different and who
knows, perhaps better than whatyou expected in the first place.
(20:26):
And then a great deal alsohappened in post production with
the anything that you see thatlooks like animation, anything
that's, you know, swirls comingout of her head and, you know,
her drawing stuff in the skywith her finger and stuff like
that, all of that was designedahead of time and then made to
come to life by a visual effectsteam led by a supervisor whom I
(20:49):
worked with one on one, and thenhe worked with the rest of the
team and communicated theworkflow. And so all of that is
to say that so many hands wereinvolved in this, and it all had
to there are just so many piecesof the puzzle that had to come
together to make it one coherentwhole.
Gino Akbari (21:09):
At the heart of that world are Maggie's
relationships. Her first crushon Travis and her deepening
friendship with Wendy. How didyou approach showing the
contrast between those twoconnections, especially through
a neurodivergent lens?
Nicola Rose (21:27):
You know, to me, the most important thing was
that nobody ever quite 100%understood what was going on of
the three characters. Of thethree of them, I would say Wendy
is the most aware by far ofwhat's happening. But even she,
you know, I don't think it's aspoiler to say that here's this
(21:48):
12, 13 year old girl who'sdiscovering that she might be
queer or at the very least,she's got this crush on her
female best friend. And this issomething that she didn't
expect. It comes at her out ofnowhere.
And so she's dealing with herown set of worries and
confusions and feelings that,like, if we told the story from
her point of view, it would be awhole different movie, and it
(22:10):
would be just as interesting, ifnot more interesting. It would
be a whole other story. There'sthere's, like, there's endless
other material there, I'm sure.And, you know, Maggie is sort of
at the apex of the love trianglethere with Wendy on one side,
Travis on the other, and the twoof them never meet. They never
Wendy, obviously, she hearsabout Travis all the time way
(22:31):
more than she ever wants to, butshe never she never actually
comes into contact with him.
So everything was shot veryseparately, and it did feel like
two separate worlds.
Gino Akbari (22:45):
There's also that quiet but powerful bond between
Maggie and her art teacher. Whywas that relationship so
important in her journey towardself trust, and how does it
speak to the experience of beingunderstood without needing to
explain yourself?
Nicola Rose (23:07):
I think there had to be one adult there who wasn't
a parent who looked at her andsaw what was going on and
understood without evennecessarily being neurodivergent
herself. We don't know that sheis. We don't know that she
isn't. I think she might be, butwe don't you know, the question
is never asked or answered. ButI think it's really important
(23:29):
that, you know, I think asadults that work with children,
and I work with children in thesense of being a director who
directs child actors, I have aresponsibility to make sure that
they feel safe and playful andable to create good work and as
(23:50):
though as though they can dotheir best work on set.
And I think if I were an artteacher in an art classroom, I
would feel that I had that sameresponsibility to always have an
eye out to know what was goingon to what's the word I'm
looking for? I would want to tryand be as aware as possible of
(24:11):
what was going on inside thesechildren's minds to try and
support them through what isgonna be one of the most
difficult transitional times intheir lives. And so it was
really important to me that thatcharacter of Miss Dearing being
unusually empathetic. And heractress, Deb McGrath, who is
herself enormously empathetic,said that the one thing she
(24:36):
figured out right away aboutthat character is that she
really likes kids. Like, shelikes them as human beings and
she wants to know what's goingon inside of them.
And I think she does have thatsort of almost clairvoyance of
knowing, oh, you know, this thiskid may have a neurodivergence
or this one may have a maybe a acrush on this one or this, you
(24:56):
know, this one may be havingtrouble here or whatever. And I
think, you know, we're not alllucky enough to come across that
person. I wish we were, but weshould all be so lucky. We
should all be so lucky to have amiss during in our lives.
Gino Akbari (25:13):
Right. When you look at Maggie's synesthesia, do
you see it as a metaphor for thebroader neurodivergent
experience or for what it feelslike to be slightly out of sync
with others?
Nicola Rose (25:26):
Yeah. I think it's even bigger than
neurodivergence, actually. It'sinteresting you put it that way
because I think it has to dowith feeling slightly out of
sync or seriously out of sync.It's not necessarily
neurodivergence, although sooften it does come down to that.
But I know that as a child, Ifelt massively out of sync with
(25:51):
people around me as soon as Iwas old enough to realize that
there were differences betweenpeople.
Because, I mean, there's acertain part of childhood where
you were too young and too sillyand too happy to even, like,
have a clue. But as soon as youdo start becoming more aware of
who's around you and that noteverybody likes you and not
everybody likes each other andso forth, you know, you do start
(26:12):
at that point to feel as thoughto to feel uncomfortable. And I
think, you know, synesthesia, itcould have been just about
anything. It could have beendyslexia. It could have been
autism.
It could have been ADHD. Itcould have been some other
difference that's maybe aphysical difference that's not
necessarily a neurodivergence. Imean, not that that isn't
(26:34):
physical, but talking about adifferent kind of physicality
here. I think anything thatmakes you feel out of sync with
the world could have been thestand in here. And synesthesia
just happened to be one that'sunusually cinematic, so, of
course, I had to go with it.
Gino Akbari (26:56):
And in telling that story, what kinds of
conversations aboutneurodiversity or emotional
difference did you hopeMagnetosphere would inspire?
Nicola Rose (27:08):
You know, what I was hoping would happen, and it
has happened so far a lot oftimes, is that people would
discover by watching the filmthat they themselves either had
synesthesia or had somethingsimilar and they had gone all
this time, you know, maybe wayinto adulthood without ever
realizing. I had a feeling thatwas going to happen. I didn't
(27:29):
realize how often it was goingto happen. It has happened just
about every time the film hasscreened anywhere. There has not
been a single time that somebodyhas not come up to me afterwards
and said, Oh my gosh, you know,I experienced this.
I didn't realize what it was.And you know, maybe they had
heard of it, maybe they hadn't,maybe they didn't realize all
the different ways you couldexperience it. But yeah, there's
(27:49):
just there's what I think is wewe go around with our own mental
landscape looking and feeling acertain way to ourselves. And we
don't necessarily like questionthat because like, why would we?
Why would we?
Why would we say, why do I thinkabout orange when I think about
this subject? Like, we wouldn'tif we have thought about orange
(28:12):
when we think about aerosolspray cans since we were six
years old, why would we goaround questioning that? We
would just, it would just be avague association in the back of
our minds and we're not going tolike think about it. But if
somebody makes us think about itone day, then we're going to
make the connection. Butotherwise I think we take our
(28:32):
mental landscape very much forgranted.
And unless somebody actively,like a therapist or some
something, somebody makes usactively question these things
that we think about, we're notgoing to, like, suddenly take
them out and examine them. So,yeah, hopefully a story like
this makes us do that.
Gino Akbari (28:53):
Now you've spoken about having neurodivergent
traits yourself. How has yourpersonal background, whether
that's neurodivergence, yourartistic journey, or both, shape
the way you tell your stories oreven direct?
Nicola Rose (29:09):
You know, it's been evolving ever since I made my
first feature film, Good ByePetrushka, which was not
supposed to be aboutneurodiversity, but I kept
hearing from autistic viewerswho had identified with the main
character. And if you hear thata few times, think, okay, well,
that's interesting. But Istarted hearing it enough that I
(29:29):
thought something interesting isgoing on here. Although, as far
as I know, from from having beentested, I, am not autistic
personally. I do have some otherneurodivergences.
I apparently have ADHD fromtesting, and I I did discover
that I had synesthesia as achild, although I don't have it
(29:52):
anymore. So that was somethingthat I discovered along the
course of doing the research forthis movie. So that was perhaps
one of the more interestingpersonal discoveries that I
made, you know, making thismovie because here I am
thinking, I'm making this moviethat's, like, a complete
fiction. This has nothing to dowith me. I just made up a story.
And it's like, no surprise. Themore you think you're writing
(30:14):
fiction, the more you'reactually writing by yourself.
It's it's like it's always thatway.
Gino Akbari (30:21):
On the production side, what was your favorite
scene to direct, and why did itstand out for you?
Nicola Rose (30:28):
My favorite scene to direct. There are a few that
I can't say without giving awayspoilers. So just thinking my
way through it here. I think oneof my very favorite scenes to
direct was an early one where,it's it's early in the story
where Maggie asks her father.She asks him a question.
(30:53):
She says, why am I ugly? And heresponds in a very unexpected
way. And it goes in a directionthat ends up it ends up bringing
back like a sort of motif thatcomes back a few more times for
the for the rest of the story.It will it will sort of come
back to her every time she looksin the mirror, which her looking
in the mirror is also a motif inthe story and her being unable
(31:15):
to come to to quite come topeace with what's in her
reflection. And that was such aninteresting that was such an
interesting scene for me todirect because I didn't expect
any of the ways that the actorswere going to play off of each
other.
And so the ways that PatrickMcKenna playing Russell, the
dad, and Shayelin Martin playingMaggie dealt with each other and
(31:38):
bounced off of each other inthat felt so real to me and felt
so authentic and interestingthat I felt as though I could
have watched that scene play outfor days and it could have still
been interesting. It was I Iknew where it was going. I had
written it, and I was stillsurprised by where it went,
which is just a testament to howhow well they do what they do
and how much nuance there is tohow they play their characters.
Gino Akbari (32:06):
Getting an independent film like this made
is no small task, of course. Didyou face challenges convincing
others of the importance of apositive coming of age story for
a new diverse audience?
Nicola Rose (32:19):
I don't think it was necessarily difficult to
convince people of that. I thinkwhat's difficult to convince
people of in general is thatindependent films should be made
at all because, you know, theyare not, let us say, known for
making large amounts of money.There is no money for them
unless you well, it depends onwhat country you're in. There
(32:40):
are some countries. Canada caresabout them a little more than
The US does, and France caresabout them very much.
You know, it's all relative, youknow, because people in Canada
will say, oh, it sucks to makeindependent films in Canada.
Nobody cares. Think, yeah, butin The U. S, you have to ask
your friends for money. There'sthere's, there's no agency at
(33:00):
any level of government in thestate and the city.
Cares. Nobody cares. Nobodywants you to make anything
artistic ever. Now I amoversimplifying this grossly,
but I also don't think I'moversimplifying it too much. It
really depends where you are,and it really depends what
you're trying to do.
I think what is difficult onceyou've actually gotten past the
(33:21):
hurdle. Let's say that peoplehave given you money or have
invested money and they knowthat it may not come back, but
they're hopeful that it will.And they've they've given you a
certain amount of funds to makeyour film. I think I've run into
a surprising barrier withconvincing people that stories
about a young child areimportant and that stories about
(33:44):
girls are important. As I've hadit put to me a couple times, you
chose the wrong sex and youchose the wrong age.
And that's something that I finddisgusting. And I find that
attitude disgusting. I don'tunderstand how anybody can
wholesale look at one whole sexor one whole group of age and
(34:06):
say, these stories areworthless. I understand that
we're dealing with we're dealingwith a movie economy where
Disney and Marvel rule the dayand there is nothing else. But
it's wrong because it excludesall other points of view.
It's almost exclusively justsuperhero movies, retreads, and
(34:31):
sequels at this point. And whatthat does is it shuts out
99.99999% of other stories thatmight be told. And are they all
going to be good? No. Are theyall going to be worthy of being
told?
No. Am I even saying that thisone is? Not necessarily, but I
would hope that it is because Iwould hope that it would
resonate with people who havefelt weird and who have felt
(34:52):
different and who want to seeneurodiversity represented on
screen.
Gino Akbari (34:57):
And once you were on set, how did you create an
environment where the emotionalhonesty of the story could
really shine?
Nicola Rose (35:07):
You know, the best thing that you can do as a
director is stay as calm aspossible all the time, which is
difficult because you are alwayson the clock, and you always
have point zero zero zero onefive seconds to complete
everything. But if at allpossible, if you can keep that
information hidden from youractors so that they feel calm,
so that they feel playful, sothat they're able
(35:29):
psychologically to do their bestwork, you will get the best
results. And so it's that yourjob is to make them feel as
relaxed and as comfortable aspossible and as though they're
not at work at all and as thoughthey have all the time in the
world. And they absolutely donot, but you want to give them
impression that they do. But,yeah, if you are stressed and if
(35:50):
you are showing your stress, andwe're all guilty of it.
I've been guilty of it. Everydirector is guilty of it. I
think if if if you show yourstress, you know, the actors are
going to also be stressed, andtheir stress is going to be what
kills the scene, unfortunately.So you owe it to you owe it to
(36:13):
everybody not to not to let thatbe known.
Gino Akbari (36:17):
So since the film's release, what kind of feedback
have you received from audiencesand especially from people with
synesthesia? Has any responsestayed with you?
Nicola Rose (36:28):
Yeah. You know, when you do something like this,
I think when you createanything, you even though, yes,
there might be people aroundyou, you might have a team
around you, and obviously, thisthis sort of thing takes a huge
team, you are in a sense doingit in a vacuum because you're
(36:48):
not hearing the wider world'sreaction to it. You're only
hearing if you're hearing anyreaction to it at all, it's from
a small group of people thatyou're working with. So you
don't really have a very clearidea of what you've made. If
anything, you have a verydistorted idea of what you've
made.
You have no clue what you'vemade. So I was very gratified,
(37:10):
very shocked to receive some ofthe most beautiful critical
reviews I have ever seen. Ithought, you know, I didn't
think, but I usually don'tactually, but you know, if
anything, I, I, I was expectingto, I was expecting to hear, you
know, this is kind of weird. Idon't know. It's an indie, it's
(37:32):
low budget.
Like it tries. I'm not reallysure what it is, whatever. I
don't know. I just figured itwould be something in the middle
of the road. The criticalreception.
First of all, it is very hardfor independent films. And I
mean truly independent filmshere. I'm not talking a
$2,415,000,000 dollar,25,000,000, $35,000,000 budget
(37:52):
indie films with an actualstudio that are not independent.
I'm talking about truly indiefilms that are made for sub
$1,000,000 that are made for sub$500,000 that are made for
nothing. It is so hard to getthem reviewed at all.
We have had 16 critical raves.And yes, the publications are
(38:14):
small because publications likeThe New Yorker, publications
like The Hollywood Reporter,publications like Variety,
publications like The LA Times,they do not look at these things
except in the rarest andweirdest of circumstances. And
by the way, that's wrong becausesmall voices will never be
amplified. As long as thatcontinues, it is absolutely dead
(38:36):
wrong. They owe it to everybodyto look at small work, but I'm
not going to change that.
So I'm just saying it. Nobody'shearing me. It's fine. Whatever.
You guys heard me.
If nothing else, the point isthe people who are willing to
look at it, I think they'redoing heroic work because even
if they say it sucks, even ifthey say this is the worst thing
(38:59):
I have ever seen, they'reamplifying small work and there
is no way other thanword-of-mouth for small work to
be known about. They're doingsomething incredibly important,
even if they pan the work. Sothe fact that I don't know how
many reviews we've had now. Ithink it's 16. I don't know.
That's for a tiny indie film.That's a big number. I mean,
(39:22):
it's not because you look at,you know, you look at a big
major release, big major studiorelease that has 350 reviews,
250 reviews, something likethis. You know, you're lucky if
you get 10. We have 16.
They are all like. They're sopositive that they read as if I
paid off the critics to writethem. I can assure you I did not
(39:44):
because my net worth is about$10, but it is has just been a
gift, and I have been sograteful. I cannot even tell
you. I did not expect that.
I don't know what I did expect.I wasn't expecting, like,
something horrible, but I wasnot expecting this.
Gino Akbari (40:05):
Looking back, what did making magnetosphere teach
you that will influence yourfuture projects?
Nicola Rose (40:14):
Be kind to people. That's it may sound like a
little bit of an enigmaticremark, but each project in its
own way reminds me whether bypositive or by negative
reinforcement that being good topeople is the only way to do
(40:34):
your work well because there isjust absolutely no excuse ever
to be any other way. And thatyou can make or break somebody's
experience. You can make orbreak somebody's life by being a
force for good or a force forbad in their world during an
experience where they'revulnerable, where they're
acting, where they're directing,where they're doing something.
(40:56):
You owe it to everybody aroundyou to be a good person.
Gino Akbari (41:00):
And finally, if a young neurodivergent girl is
listening right now, dreaming oftelling her own stories, what
advice would you give her?
Nicola Rose (41:11):
This is gonna be a surprising one. I would say
cultivate other interestsbesides the arts. I'm not saying
don't write it down. I'm notsaying don't make a movie. I'm
not saying don't write a story.
In fact, I am explicitly sayingdo those things. Do write it
down, whether it's a movie,whether if it's a book, whether
it's a graphic novel and youlike to draw. I don't know. Do
(41:31):
it. Write it down.
Make it. But also make sure thatyou diversify and spread out
your interests among otherthings. Make sure that you are
interested also in a physicalactivity. Make sure that you're
interested also in a science.Make sure that your interests go
beyond the arts because limitingyourself to this one thing is
(41:51):
not necessarily healthy.
And I have found that out thehard way. And as an adult, I'm
still working on learning todiversify my interests.
Gino Akbari (42:01):
That is great advice for anyone, and I would
just like to add something herebefore we wrap up. You said a
few times during this interviewthat the movie was made for
people with neurodiversity. I'mgoing to say that from my point
of view, I think the movie wasmade for everybody else other
(42:22):
than them because I know what itis now. I never knew that. And I
think movies like this are meantto move and inspire and bring to
our knowledge about topics likethat where we didn't know.
I had zero clue what synesthesiais or the word existed. I knew
(42:44):
autism and ADHD but I did notknow that this existed. Now I
know and my wife will bewatching it and my 14 year old
daughter will be watching it.Yeah, the message and I mean
that because the message is foreverybody else. Now I can walk
around and when somebody saysthat, know exactly what you mean
and what it is.
So thank you for delivering thatmessage to people like me as
(43:10):
well.
Nicola Rose (43:10):
Thank you. I mean, oh my gosh, you know, I didn't
set out to make an issue film ordeliver a message. I really
never do, but I think if work isgood or for that matter, if work
is bad, sometimes people taketheir own messages from it. It's
really not a comment necessarilyon the quality of the work so
(43:33):
much as it's a comment on themulti multi multi functionality.
It's the word I'm looking for.
I think what I'm saying is athousand people will see the
same film a thousand differentways, and it can have a thousand
(43:53):
different effects on them andinspire them to do stuff that
might have no logic to it, butfor whatever reason, you know,
when I look back at some of thethings that inspired Magneto
Sphere or Good bye Petrushka forthat matter, because I keep
forgetting I made this otherfeature film, like, few years
ago that apparently was about anautistic girl, although I
(44:16):
didn't, like, mean to do that.Hey. So that's what happened.
When I when I think of some ofthe things that inspired that,
gosh, especially with GoodbyePetrushka, they have no logical
connection to what actually cameultimately the result of which
(44:36):
is so so far away from anythingthat might have launched the
idea. You end up on a very, verydifferent route is what I'm
saying.
Gino Akbari (44:46):
Nicola, thank you for joining us.
Nicola Rose (44:48):
Thank you, guys.
Gino Akbari (44:51):
If you enjoyed this conversation, please rate,
share, follow, subscribe, andleave a review on your favorite
podcast app.
If you have any questions, ideas, or stories
you'd like to share, please feelfree to contact us. Our website
is neurodiversityvoices.com.Please fill out our listener
(45:14):
survey form. We'd love to hearfrom you.
Until next time, take care, stay curious, and
keep celebrating the beauty ofdiverse minds.
Thanks for listening to the Neurodiversity
Voices podcast.
Welcome to the Neurodiversity Voices podcast.
I'm your host Paul Cruz, and I'mthrilled to have you join us on
this journey of exploration,advocacy, and celebration of
neurodiversity.
I'm Gino Akbari, your co host. Together, we'll
have meaningful conversations,share inspiring stories and
challenge misconceptions aboutneurodiversity.
(00:24):
This podcast is for everyone. Whether you're
neurodivergent yourself, aneducator, a parent, or just
someone curious to learn more.Our goal is to amplify voices,
foster understanding, and sparkchange in the way we view and
support neurodiversity. We are
so excited to have you with us as we celebrate the
(00:44):
beauty of diverse minds and worktoward a more inclusive future.
So sit back, relax and let's get started. Welcome
get We're speaking withfilmmaker, Nicola Rose. She's
the writer and director ofMagnetosphere, a coming of age
(01:05):
film that follows 13 year oldMaggie as she navigates her
first love and a big move anddiscovers that she experienced
the world through synesthesia.
It is heartfelt, funny, and visually stunning.
Nicola, welcome to the show.
Nicola Rose (01:24):
Thank you so much, and thanks for the kind words.
Gino Akbari (01:29):
Let's start with what drew you in. What made you
want to tell a story about ayoung girl with synesthesia?
Nicola Rose (01:39):
Know, synesthesia was something I heard about
years ago. I think originally, Iwas trying to remember where
originally because a lot ofpeople have been asking me this
question and I think it was onthe radio. I think I was in the
car with my mom. I think I wasin my teens. I think I was
listening to the radio and theywere talking to people with
(02:01):
synesthesia on a program.
I'm from The States, so this wasNPR and they were talking about,
you know, people withsynesthesia are called
synesthetes and they weretalking to people who could like
hear color or experience soundas texture, like physical
texture and things like that.And I found it really
fascinating, but then I didn'tthink about it again for years
(02:23):
and years and years. I just hadit like way back there in the
recesses of my mind. It was instorage. It was way, way back
there.
And I forgot about it for manyyears until I had done at that
point, I wasn't even makingfilms. As a teenager, that
wasn't really my goal yet. Thatwasn't really That came later.
(02:44):
So years later, had done a bunchof short films. I had done one
feature film, was Good ByePetrushka, which was my starter
feature film.
I always say it was my filmschool because it taught me how
to make a feature film and it,you know, it allowed me to make
mistakes without the stakesbeing too, too high. And it
taught me a lot of what to doand some of what not to do and
(03:07):
so forth. And after Goodbye,Petrushka, you know, I was
thinking, So I definitely wannado more movies, but what do I
want to do next? And I hadvaguely in mind that I wanted to
do a story about a child or ateenager with either an
extraordinary ability or atleast, I shouldn't say at least,
but either an extraordinaryability or like an extraordinary
(03:30):
difference of some sort. Andsynesthesia came to mind after I
saw another gorgeous film calledConfetti, which is by the
director, Anne, who eventuallyit is gonna get back to Anne
that I have mentioned her namelike 50 times in the past few
days on all these podcastsbecause she did a beautiful
film.
It's a Chinese American filmcalled Confetti. It has to do
(03:52):
with a little girl who hasdyslexia. And, you know, it's
it's this very quiet, veryindependent, very small film. I
loved it. I loved the way thatthe cinematography was done such
that there were all these, like,POV shots showing us kind of the
interior of the little girl'smind.
Like we would be outside hermind, we would be looking at her
(04:13):
from without and then all of asudden we'd be looking from
within outside like we'd be we'dbe her all of a sudden we'd be
looking at stuff from her pointof view. And we would see like,
if she was trying to readletters, Chinese characters on a
blackboard, we would like seethem like twist and turn from
her point of view in midair. Andwe would see how they were
(04:33):
changing and we would be like,oh, oh my gosh, we're looking at
stuff from her point of view.And it was so cool. There's no
way that this was the first filmto do this, but I happened to
see it at a moment when I wastrying to figure out where did I
want to go next.
Synesthesia, it doesn't have alot to do with dyslexia, but it
is very generally speaking ofthe same family of
(04:56):
neurodivergences. And so I was,I was having a conversation with
my now ex and saying, would loveto do a story like that about,
you know, maybe a kid who haslike, I don't know this through
that or this or listing things.And he said, well, what about
synesthesia? Because you'vementioned that before. And I was
like, yes, synesthesia.
(05:17):
And, you know, it's such anobvious like, when you think
about it, I don't know how muchyou guys you are the
neurodiversity voices. You mayknow more about synesthesia than
I do, but like, it's not justauditory and visual, but there
is so much of it that isauditory and visual. Like so
often it is that it seems like areally super obvious thing to
(05:38):
put on TV or to put on film. Andin fact, after looking it up, I
was like, oh my gosh, why havenot more people done this? So
this challenge that I set myselfwas how do I depict synesthesia
on screen such that people canunderstand what it is even if
they've never heard of it, neverheard it before.
And also how do I do it on alimited budget? Because
(06:01):
shockingly, I had a limitedbudget. That was that was the
challenge I set myself was howto depict this so that even if
synesthesia was nothing you hadever heard of, you could still
kind of learn along with thecharacter and discover alongside
her what was going on with herbrain.
Gino Akbari (06:21):
And once you knew that this was your focus, how
did you balance portrayingsynesthesia in a way that feels
authentic to people who livewith it while still making it
cinematic and relatable forthose who've ever experienced
it?
Nicola Rose (06:36):
Man, you guys asked the right questions. I was just
talking to somebody about thisbecause like, authentic is the
word, isn't it? It's such animportant distinction because it
can't be right. There is noright. There's no accurate,
right?
Because no two synesthetes, orfor that matter, no two
neurodivergent people experiencethings the same way. Like
(06:58):
probably no two neurotypicalpeople experience things the
same way. Like my notion ofpurple is probably not the same
as your notion of purple orwhatever. You know, we're never
going to know because we can'tdescribe qualia in those ways.
Anyway, long story super short,because this used to obsess me
as a kid, I would be like, Oh mygosh, what if my mom doesn't see
(07:18):
red the same way I see red?
What if she sees this strawberryas yellow? The way what I think
is yellow, but she thinks it'sred. And, my God, it blows my
mind. And, you know, I think Ihad a lot of time on my hands as
a child. But point being, youknow, the best that you could
only thing that you can do ismake it be authentic, and the
way to do that is to go toprimary sources, and the way I
(07:39):
did that was to go to Facebook,and there is at least one,
There's probably more.
There's at least one hugeFacebook group out there, which
I think is just calledsynesthesia. And it's like
synesthetes, hundreds, maybethousands from I think it's
thousands from all over theworld who experience, you know,
all different kinds ofsynesthesia, hundreds and
(08:02):
hundreds of different kinds ofmodalities. And, you know, I put
my innocent little post in theresaying like, hey. I'm working on
a movie, and I would kinda liketo talk to some people and find
out what you experience. And, Imean, I don't know what I
expected.
I got deluged, naturally.Everybody wanted to tell me
their experiences. And so nextthing I knew, I yeah. Yeah. You
(08:25):
know, I couldn't speak toeverybody who wanted to speak to
me.
I think I ended up speaking toabout 70 different people. Like,
it was a lot. It was way toomany to ever use all their
experiences in the film. Youcan't. You know, you would just
it would be an overload.
So I think I winnowed it down tolike five people ultimately
(08:46):
whose experiences kinda hewedmost closely to what Maggie, who
is the main character in themovie, what her experiences were
gonna be. So everything that yousee in the movie, which is
streaming now across Canada andacross The US and across Mexico
on kinda all the major streamingplatforms, Amazon Prime and
(09:07):
Apple TV, if you see this movie,you can look at any experience
that this child has ofsynesthesia and know that
experience was told to me bysomebody who had that actual
experience. Nothing is 100% madeup. There may be modifications
and like things that aremassaged slightly to like work
(09:28):
on screen. Because sometimes youdon't have all the information,
so you have to fill in the gapsa little bit, if this makes
sense.
But there's nothing in you can'tjust make stuff up. That's
that's how you be you ask, howdo you be authentic? The way to
be authentic is ask people,okay, what did you experience?
Now I'm gonna write this down.Now I'm gonna test it out on
(09:49):
audiences and see, is thisworking for you?
And if people are if it'sresonating with people, then you
know you're doing your job. Andit can never be fully like,
you're never gonna resonate witha 100% of people. Like, there's
a super quick example that Ialways give is there's a scene
in the movie where Maggie'ssynesthesia, which is not always
(10:10):
a pleasant thing becausesynesthesia isn't always a
pleasant thing, where it makesher nauseous and she throws up
because she's overstimulated andall the things that lead to
that. One of my neurodiversityconsultants that was working on
the film with me and she hassynesthesia and knows a ton
about the topic. And she lookedat that and said, you know, that
(10:31):
scene did not work for me atall.
I don't know what was going on.Whereas the other person or not
sorry. Not the other person whowas also a synesthete and also a
neurodiversity consultant andalso had worked on the film with
me was like, Oh my God,something like that happened to
me when I was a kid. And it wasthis loud sound and it gave me a
migraine and made me throw up.So, you know, you're never going
(10:56):
to resonate with everybodybecause, like, you can't, but
the best that you can do is doyour do your due diligence in
trying to be as authentic aspossible and resonate.
I don't wanna say with as manypeople as possible, but as
strongly as possible with thepeople that you are trying to
resonate with, which in thiscase is neurodivergent people
(11:19):
and the people who love them,people who wanna understand
them, people who wanna say,okay. I don't really get what's
going on with my daughter, but Iknow she experiences stuff
differently. So what is sheexperiencing?
Gino Akbari (11:33):
The film takes us back to 1997 with the Hale-Bopp
comet in the sky. Why did youchoose that moment in time as
the backdrop for Maggie's story?
Nicola Rose (11:47):
97 1996 and 1997 were the two years that the Hale
Bopp comet was passing by Earth,and I used that as a sort of
anchor event to sort of bookendthe story. There's a lot of
reference to outer space andspatial phenomena. One of the
characters is an astronomystudent. Maggie has a doll that
(12:12):
she talks to, you know, whennobody is looking, who is like a
little space Barbie. So outerspace is sort of a constant
background character in thisfilm or or like a background
presence, whatever you wannacall it.
But, you know, I also I was verykeen to take it back to a time
when the characters wouldn't,like, constantly have devices in
(12:33):
their hands. And, you know,there's so much in this story
that would have been lessinteresting or less impactful or
would have been resolved so muchmore easily if somebody could
have just Snapchatted somebodyelse or if somebody could have
just, like, looked it up andgoogled, what am I experiencing?
(12:53):
Oh, synesthesia. Okay. Okay.
Done. You know? It's like a fiveminute movie. It's a lot easier
it's a lot easier to let thestory be a story that takes
place in its own at its own paceif everything is not so easily
at the character's fingertips.And I think, you know, which is
(13:14):
not to say that no storiesshould be set in the present
day.
I think some stories work waybetter in the present day. My
first feature was set in roughlythe present day that worked well
for that one. For this one,there was just something about
it that I wanted to feel alittle more like a memory and a
little more like something thatdidn't necessarily quite just
(13:34):
happened last week, but happenedmore like when you were a kid.
It's it's not really a kid'sfilm, but I want it to harken
back to like when when we werekids, when whoever's seeing it
might look at it and say, oh,yeah, that feels like something.
Even if I didn't experiencethat, it feels like something I
experienced.
I I go back to something thatGreta Gerwig said about Lady
(13:57):
Bird, which is set in roughlythe same it's like six years
later. And she used a certaingrain of film because she wanted
it to feel like a memory thattook place in the early two
thousands, like when she was inhigh school. And it did feel
like that time, like she's acouple years older than I am. So
I felt like she got itaesthetically right somehow in a
(14:18):
way that's hard to quantify. Butshe, you know, she wanted it to
look and feel like a memory.
And that's what I was going forhere. Now we shot on digital, so
not with Grain, but with thingslike characters using Walkman
and listening to audio cassettesand writing things out longhand
and, you know, not being gluedto iPads and stuff like that.
Gino Akbari (14:42):
Nostalgia. I think for me, it was magical.
Nicola Rose (14:45):
Thank you.
Gino Akbari (14:46):
Yes. I just thought the whole reference to the comet
and the flame and the color hasadd, I thought it married very
well because I thought it wasactually magical. That is what
attracted to me. I'm notneurodivergent. I'm just almost
an outsider here.
So for me to watch that, learnabout it, and full disclosure, I
did not know what it was. Cool.
Nicola Rose (15:08):
It is because really interesting. Okay.
Gino Akbari (15:11):
Yeah. It was because of this interview, this
that I had an opportunity tolearn about it, watch it, But I
thought that was brilliantbecause it made it so magical,
the happy moments. Was
Nicola Rose (15:23):
That's actually so good for me to know because
here's this person, you, whodidn't know what synesthesia
was, who wasn't part of thatcommunity, and it made sense to
you. So that's heartening forme. It's like, oh, okay, this
makes sense, even to somebodywho's not already initiated.
Gino Akbari (15:39):
No. I thought it was personally, as an outsider
in this case, brilliant becauseit was almost like a beautiful
mind. I did not take anythingnegative from it. I took
everything positive and therewas a sort of this magical touch
to it where I'm in awe and I'mlike, wow, she can see these
colors. We can't, I can't.
(16:00):
So that came across
very
nicely. So,
Nicola Rose (16:04):
yeah. That means a lot to me to know that it makes
sense to somebody who doesn'texperience it. And I have a lot
more I could say about that, butbasically, you.
Gino Akbari (16:12):
Yeah. No worries. So so Maggie's character feels
layered and real. How did youdevelop her emotional arc? Which
parts of her are drawn from yourown life, if any?
Nicola Rose (16:27):
You know, very little, actually. I was thinking
about that because a lot ofpeople assume that the character
is based on me, and that's anatural assumption. I'm actually
if anything, as a child, I wasprobably a lot more like her
little sister. I was very loud,very musical, very probably a
little obnoxious, probably a lotobnoxious. You know, Maggie is
(16:51):
more shy and cautious andtrepidatious and doesn't, you
know, she keeps her cards closeto her chest and doesn't
necessarily want people to knowwhat's going on with her unless
she trusts them fully.
If anything, she's a little morelike my sister and her sister is
a little more like me, which isinteresting. But, you know, the
(17:13):
emotional arc of that charactercame almost entire I mean,
what's on the page is what's onthe page, which is the words you
see on the screen and a certainamount of screen direction
saying, like, she says thisflatly or she says this
trepidatiously or whatever, butnot too much. But so much of the
pretty much a 100% of thecharacter's emotional
(17:36):
particularity came from ShailenMartin, who is this brilliant,
intuitive, canny 17 year oldactress who actually just 15
when she played Maggie, whobasically just like colored in
the lines herself. Like,everything up there. Like, yes,
I directed her.
Yes. I said, okay, let's go thisdirection with this, and let's
(17:56):
try less of that and more ofthis and whatnot. But basically,
she's so intuitive and so almostjust like just sort of like a
baby animal, just all these rawinstincts she has about what to
do that you don't really want tomess with anything she does. You
kind of you know, I felt asthough I was there to shape and
(18:19):
guide occasionally, like, say,okay, let's pull back here or
let's do more of this there.But, basically, just let her be
let her be what she was.
She was cast for a reason. Theysay 98% of directing is casting,
and that's that's pretty true.And I would say it's pretty much
all her, and I'm just there tosupervise.
Gino Akbari (18:41):
The film shifts between muted tones and bursts
of vivid color and music. Howdid you and your team work
together to capture Maggie'ssensory world visually and
sonically?
Nicola Rose (18:56):
There were a lot of meetings, you know, before we
ever got to set. There were wewere in preproduction for well
over a year, which is actually apretty expedited process, you
know, for people who arefamiliar with indie filmmaking.
Even for an independent lowbudget film, that's still pretty
quick. And, you know, there wereseveral different departments
(19:19):
that had to sort of coordinateand get together in terms of
making all of those, whether itwas the visual stuff, whether it
was the auditory stuff, whetherit was the post production
visuals, or whether it was thecomposition, making all those
things flow together as one sortof one sort of piece. All of all
(19:42):
of them had to coordinate and somuch happens in preproduction,
so much planning.
And then when you get to set, somuch of that actually comes
apart and it turns out, oh no,you know what? That actually
isn't going to happen the way wethought it was going to happen.
So you have to be prepared toroll with punches and find out
that, okay, no, this, forexample, some color lighting
that you thought you were goingto get or some angle that you
(20:04):
thought you were going to get,some camera angle you thought
you were going to get is notgoing to be possible or some,
some kind of lensing is notgoing to be doable. I don't
know. So you end up modifying onthe fly any number of things
that end up, like in the endcoming out different and who
knows, perhaps better than whatyou expected in the first place.
(20:26):
And then a great deal alsohappened in post production with
the anything that you see thatlooks like animation, anything
that's, you know, swirls comingout of her head and, you know,
her drawing stuff in the skywith her finger and stuff like
that, all of that was designedahead of time and then made to
come to life by a visual effectsteam led by a supervisor whom I
(20:49):
worked with one on one, and thenhe worked with the rest of the
team and communicated theworkflow. And so all of that is
to say that so many hands wereinvolved in this, and it all had
to there are just so many piecesof the puzzle that had to come
together to make it one coherentwhole.
Gino Akbari (21:09):
At the heart of that world are Maggie's
relationships. Her first crushon Travis and her deepening
friendship with Wendy. How didyou approach showing the
contrast between those twoconnections, especially through
a neurodivergent lens?
Nicola Rose (21:27):
You know, to me, the most important thing was
that nobody ever quite 100%understood what was going on of
the three characters. Of thethree of them, I would say Wendy
is the most aware by far ofwhat's happening. But even she,
you know, I don't think it's aspoiler to say that here's this
(21:48):
12, 13 year old girl who'sdiscovering that she might be
queer or at the very least,she's got this crush on her
female best friend. And this issomething that she didn't
expect. It comes at her out ofnowhere.
And so she's dealing with herown set of worries and
confusions and feelings that,like, if we told the story from
her point of view, it would be awhole different movie, and it
(22:10):
would be just as interesting, ifnot more interesting. It would
be a whole other story. There'sthere's, like, there's endless
other material there, I'm sure.And, you know, Maggie is sort of
at the apex of the love trianglethere with Wendy on one side,
Travis on the other, and the twoof them never meet. They never
Wendy, obviously, she hearsabout Travis all the time way
(22:31):
more than she ever wants to, butshe never she never actually
comes into contact with him.
So everything was shot veryseparately, and it did feel like
two separate worlds.
Gino Akbari (22:45):
There's also that quiet but powerful bond between
Maggie and her art teacher. Whywas that relationship so
important in her journey towardself trust, and how does it
speak to the experience of beingunderstood without needing to
explain yourself?
Nicola Rose (23:07):
I think there had to be one adult there who wasn't
a parent who looked at her andsaw what was going on and
understood without evennecessarily being neurodivergent
herself. We don't know that sheis. We don't know that she
isn't. I think she might be, butwe don't you know, the question
is never asked or answered. ButI think it's really important
(23:29):
that, you know, I think asadults that work with children,
and I work with children in thesense of being a director who
directs child actors, I have aresponsibility to make sure that
they feel safe and playful andable to create good work and as
(23:50):
though as though they can dotheir best work on set.
And I think if I were an artteacher in an art classroom, I
would feel that I had that sameresponsibility to always have an
eye out to know what was goingon to what's the word I'm
looking for? I would want to tryand be as aware as possible of
(24:11):
what was going on inside thesechildren's minds to try and
support them through what isgonna be one of the most
difficult transitional times intheir lives. And so it was
really important to me that thatcharacter of Miss Dearing being
unusually empathetic. And heractress, Deb McGrath, who is
herself enormously empathetic,said that the one thing she
(24:36):
figured out right away aboutthat character is that she
really likes kids. Like, shelikes them as human beings and
she wants to know what's goingon inside of them.
And I think she does have thatsort of almost clairvoyance of
knowing, oh, you know, this thiskid may have a neurodivergence
or this one may have a maybe a acrush on this one or this, you
(24:56):
know, this one may be havingtrouble here or whatever. And I
think, you know, we're not alllucky enough to come across that
person. I wish we were, but weshould all be so lucky. We
should all be so lucky to have amiss during in our lives.
Gino Akbari (25:13):
Right. When you look at Maggie's synesthesia, do
you see it as a metaphor for thebroader neurodivergent
experience or for what it feelslike to be slightly out of sync
with others?
Nicola Rose (25:26):
Yeah. I think it's even bigger than
neurodivergence, actually. It'sinteresting you put it that way
because I think it has to dowith feeling slightly out of
sync or seriously out of sync.It's not necessarily
neurodivergence, although sooften it does come down to that.
But I know that as a child, Ifelt massively out of sync with
(25:51):
people around me as soon as Iwas old enough to realize that
there were differences betweenpeople.
Because, I mean, there's acertain part of childhood where
you were too young and too sillyand too happy to even, like,
have a clue. But as soon as youdo start becoming more aware of
who's around you and that noteverybody likes you and not
everybody likes each other andso forth, you know, you do start
(26:12):
at that point to feel as thoughto to feel uncomfortable. And I
think, you know, synesthesia, itcould have been just about
anything. It could have beendyslexia. It could have been
autism.
It could have been ADHD. Itcould have been some other
difference that's maybe aphysical difference that's not
necessarily a neurodivergence. Imean, not that that isn't
(26:34):
physical, but talking about adifferent kind of physicality
here. I think anything thatmakes you feel out of sync with
the world could have been thestand in here. And synesthesia
just happened to be one that'sunusually cinematic, so, of
course, I had to go with it.
Gino Akbari (26:56):
And in telling that story, what kinds of
conversations aboutneurodiversity or emotional
difference did you hopeMagnetosphere would inspire?
Nicola Rose (27:08):
You know, what I was hoping would happen, and it
has happened so far a lot oftimes, is that people would
discover by watching the filmthat they themselves either had
synesthesia or had somethingsimilar and they had gone all
this time, you know, maybe wayinto adulthood without ever
realizing. I had a feeling thatwas going to happen. I didn't
(27:29):
realize how often it was goingto happen. It has happened just
about every time the film hasscreened anywhere. There has not
been a single time that somebodyhas not come up to me afterwards
and said, Oh my gosh, you know,I experienced this.
I didn't realize what it was.And you know, maybe they had
heard of it, maybe they hadn't,maybe they didn't realize all
the different ways you couldexperience it. But yeah, there's
(27:49):
just there's what I think is wewe go around with our own mental
landscape looking and feeling acertain way to ourselves. And we
don't necessarily like questionthat because like, why would we?
Why would we?
Why would we say, why do I thinkabout orange when I think about
this subject? Like, we wouldn'tif we have thought about orange
(28:12):
when we think about aerosolspray cans since we were six
years old, why would we goaround questioning that? We
would just, it would just be avague association in the back of
our minds and we're not going tolike think about it. But if
somebody makes us think about itone day, then we're going to
make the connection. Butotherwise I think we take our
(28:32):
mental landscape very much forgranted.
And unless somebody actively,like a therapist or some
something, somebody makes usactively question these things
that we think about, we're notgoing to, like, suddenly take
them out and examine them. So,yeah, hopefully a story like
this makes us do that.
Gino Akbari (28:53):
Now you've spoken about having neurodivergent
traits yourself. How has yourpersonal background, whether
that's neurodivergence, yourartistic journey, or both, shape
the way you tell your stories oreven direct?
Nicola Rose (29:09):
You know, it's been evolving ever since I made my
first feature film, Good ByePetrushka, which was not
supposed to be aboutneurodiversity, but I kept
hearing from autistic viewerswho had identified with the main
character. And if you hear thata few times, think, okay, well,
that's interesting. But Istarted hearing it enough that I
(29:29):
thought something interesting isgoing on here. Although, as far
as I know, from from having beentested, I, am not autistic
personally. I do have some otherneurodivergences.
I apparently have ADHD fromtesting, and I I did discover
that I had synesthesia as achild, although I don't have it
(29:52):
anymore. So that was somethingthat I discovered along the
course of doing the research forthis movie. So that was perhaps
one of the more interestingpersonal discoveries that I
made, you know, making thismovie because here I am
thinking, I'm making this moviethat's, like, a complete
fiction. This has nothing to dowith me. I just made up a story.
And it's like, no surprise. Themore you think you're writing
(30:14):
fiction, the more you'reactually writing by yourself.
It's it's like it's always thatway.
Gino Akbari (30:21):
On the production side, what was your favorite
scene to direct, and why did itstand out for you?
Nicola Rose (30:28):
My favorite scene to direct. There are a few that
I can't say without giving awayspoilers. So just thinking my
way through it here. I think oneof my very favorite scenes to
direct was an early one where,it's it's early in the story
where Maggie asks her father.She asks him a question.
(30:53):
She says, why am I ugly? And heresponds in a very unexpected
way. And it goes in a directionthat ends up it ends up bringing
back like a sort of motif thatcomes back a few more times for
the for the rest of the story.It will it will sort of come
back to her every time she looksin the mirror, which her looking
in the mirror is also a motif inthe story and her being unable
(31:15):
to come to to quite come topeace with what's in her
reflection. And that was such aninteresting that was such an
interesting scene for me todirect because I didn't expect
any of the ways that the actorswere going to play off of each
other.
And so the ways that PatrickMcKenna playing Russell, the
dad, and Shayelin Martin playingMaggie dealt with each other and
(31:38):
bounced off of each other inthat felt so real to me and felt
so authentic and interestingthat I felt as though I could
have watched that scene play outfor days and it could have still
been interesting. It was I Iknew where it was going. I had
written it, and I was stillsurprised by where it went,
which is just a testament to howhow well they do what they do
and how much nuance there is tohow they play their characters.
Gino Akbari (32:06):
Getting an independent film like this made
is no small task, of course. Didyou face challenges convincing
others of the importance of apositive coming of age story for
a new diverse audience?
Nicola Rose (32:19):
I don't think it was necessarily difficult to
convince people of that. I thinkwhat's difficult to convince
people of in general is thatindependent films should be made
at all because, you know, theyare not, let us say, known for
making large amounts of money.There is no money for them
unless you well, it depends onwhat country you're in. There
(32:40):
are some countries. Canada caresabout them a little more than
The US does, and France caresabout them very much.
You know, it's all relative, youknow, because people in Canada
will say, oh, it sucks to makeindependent films in Canada.
Nobody cares. Think, yeah, butin The U. S, you have to ask
your friends for money. There'sthere's, there's no agency at
(33:00):
any level of government in thestate and the city.
Cares. Nobody cares. Nobodywants you to make anything
artistic ever. Now I amoversimplifying this grossly,
but I also don't think I'moversimplifying it too much. It
really depends where you are,and it really depends what
you're trying to do.
I think what is difficult onceyou've actually gotten past the
(33:21):
hurdle. Let's say that peoplehave given you money or have
invested money and they knowthat it may not come back, but
they're hopeful that it will.And they've they've given you a
certain amount of funds to makeyour film. I think I've run into
a surprising barrier withconvincing people that stories
about a young child areimportant and that stories about
(33:44):
girls are important. As I've hadit put to me a couple times, you
chose the wrong sex and youchose the wrong age.
And that's something that I finddisgusting. And I find that
attitude disgusting. I don'tunderstand how anybody can
wholesale look at one whole sexor one whole group of age and
(34:06):
say, these stories areworthless. I understand that
we're dealing with we're dealingwith a movie economy where
Disney and Marvel rule the dayand there is nothing else. But
it's wrong because it excludesall other points of view.
It's almost exclusively justsuperhero movies, retreads, and
(34:31):
sequels at this point. And whatthat does is it shuts out
99.99999% of other stories thatmight be told. And are they all
going to be good? No. Are theyall going to be worthy of being
told?
No. Am I even saying that thisone is? Not necessarily, but I
would hope that it is because Iwould hope that it would
resonate with people who havefelt weird and who have felt
(34:52):
different and who want to seeneurodiversity represented on
screen.
Gino Akbari (34:57):
And once you were on set, how did you create an
environment where the emotionalhonesty of the story could
really shine?
Nicola Rose (35:07):
You know, the best thing that you can do as a
director is stay as calm aspossible all the time, which is
difficult because you are alwayson the clock, and you always
have point zero zero zero onefive seconds to complete
everything. But if at allpossible, if you can keep that
information hidden from youractors so that they feel calm,
so that they feel playful, sothat they're able
(35:29):
psychologically to do their bestwork, you will get the best
results. And so it's that yourjob is to make them feel as
relaxed and as comfortable aspossible and as though they're
not at work at all and as thoughthey have all the time in the
world. And they absolutely donot, but you want to give them
impression that they do. But,yeah, if you are stressed and if
(35:50):
you are showing your stress, andwe're all guilty of it.
I've been guilty of it. Everydirector is guilty of it. I
think if if if you show yourstress, you know, the actors are
going to also be stressed, andtheir stress is going to be what
kills the scene, unfortunately.So you owe it to you owe it to
(36:13):
everybody not to not to let thatbe known.
Gino Akbari (36:17):
So since the film's release, what kind of feedback
have you received from audiencesand especially from people with
synesthesia? Has any responsestayed with you?
Nicola Rose (36:28):
Yeah. You know, when you do something like this,
I think when you createanything, you even though, yes,
there might be people aroundyou, you might have a team
around you, and obviously, thisthis sort of thing takes a huge
team, you are in a sense doingit in a vacuum because you're
(36:48):
not hearing the wider world'sreaction to it. You're only
hearing if you're hearing anyreaction to it at all, it's from
a small group of people thatyou're working with. So you
don't really have a very clearidea of what you've made. If
anything, you have a verydistorted idea of what you've
made.
You have no clue what you'vemade. So I was very gratified,
(37:10):
very shocked to receive some ofthe most beautiful critical
reviews I have ever seen. Ithought, you know, I didn't
think, but I usually don'tactually, but you know, if
anything, I, I, I was expectingto, I was expecting to hear, you
know, this is kind of weird. Idon't know. It's an indie, it's
(37:32):
low budget.
Like it tries. I'm not reallysure what it is, whatever. I
don't know. I just figured itwould be something in the middle
of the road. The criticalreception.
First of all, it is very hardfor independent films. And I
mean truly independent filmshere. I'm not talking a
$2,415,000,000 dollar,25,000,000, $35,000,000 budget
(37:52):
indie films with an actualstudio that are not independent.
I'm talking about truly indiefilms that are made for sub
$1,000,000 that are made for sub$500,000 that are made for
nothing. It is so hard to getthem reviewed at all.
We have had 16 critical raves.And yes, the publications are
(38:14):
small because publications likeThe New Yorker, publications
like The Hollywood Reporter,publications like Variety,
publications like The LA Times,they do not look at these things
except in the rarest andweirdest of circumstances. And
by the way, that's wrong becausesmall voices will never be
amplified. As long as thatcontinues, it is absolutely dead
(38:36):
wrong. They owe it to everybodyto look at small work, but I'm
not going to change that.
So I'm just saying it. Nobody'shearing me. It's fine. Whatever.
You guys heard me.
If nothing else, the point isthe people who are willing to
look at it, I think they'redoing heroic work because even
if they say it sucks, even ifthey say this is the worst thing
(38:59):
I have ever seen, they'reamplifying small work and there
is no way other thanword-of-mouth for small work to
be known about. They're doingsomething incredibly important,
even if they pan the work. Sothe fact that I don't know how
many reviews we've had now. Ithink it's 16. I don't know.
That's for a tiny indie film.That's a big number. I mean,
(39:22):
it's not because you look at,you know, you look at a big
major release, big major studiorelease that has 350 reviews,
250 reviews, something likethis. You know, you're lucky if
you get 10. We have 16.
They are all like. They're sopositive that they read as if I
paid off the critics to writethem. I can assure you I did not
(39:44):
because my net worth is about$10, but it is has just been a
gift, and I have been sograteful. I cannot even tell
you. I did not expect that.
I don't know what I did expect.I wasn't expecting, like,
something horrible, but I wasnot expecting this.
Gino Akbari (40:05):
Looking back, what did making magnetosphere teach
you that will influence yourfuture projects?
Nicola Rose (40:14):
Be kind to people. That's it may sound like a
little bit of an enigmaticremark, but each project in its
own way reminds me whether bypositive or by negative
reinforcement that being good topeople is the only way to do
(40:34):
your work well because there isjust absolutely no excuse ever
to be any other way. And thatyou can make or break somebody's
experience. You can make orbreak somebody's life by being a
force for good or a force forbad in their world during an
experience where they'revulnerable, where they're
acting, where they're directing,where they're doing something.
(40:56):
You owe it to everybody aroundyou to be a good person.
Gino Akbari (41:00):
And finally, if a young neurodivergent girl is
listening right now, dreaming oftelling her own stories, what
advice would you give her?
Nicola Rose (41:11):
This is gonna be a surprising one. I would say
cultivate other interestsbesides the arts. I'm not saying
don't write it down. I'm notsaying don't make a movie. I'm
not saying don't write a story.
In fact, I am explicitly sayingdo those things. Do write it
down, whether it's a movie,whether if it's a book, whether
it's a graphic novel and youlike to draw. I don't know. Do
(41:31):
it. Write it down.
Make it. But also make sure thatyou diversify and spread out
your interests among otherthings. Make sure that you are
interested also in a physicalactivity. Make sure that you're
interested also in a science.Make sure that your interests go
beyond the arts because limitingyourself to this one thing is
(41:51):
not necessarily healthy.
And I have found that out thehard way. And as an adult, I'm
still working on learning todiversify my interests.
Gino Akbari (42:01):
That is great advice for anyone, and I would
just like to add something herebefore we wrap up. You said a
few times during this interviewthat the movie was made for
people with neurodiversity. I'mgoing to say that from my point
of view, I think the movie wasmade for everybody else other
(42:22):
than them because I know what itis now. I never knew that. And I
think movies like this are meantto move and inspire and bring to
our knowledge about topics likethat where we didn't know.
I had zero clue what synesthesiais or the word existed. I knew
(42:44):
autism and ADHD but I did notknow that this existed. Now I
know and my wife will bewatching it and my 14 year old
daughter will be watching it.Yeah, the message and I mean
that because the message is foreverybody else. Now I can walk
around and when somebody saysthat, know exactly what you mean
and what it is.
So thank you for delivering thatmessage to people like me as
(43:10):
well.
Nicola Rose (43:10):
Thank you. I mean, oh my gosh, you know, I didn't
set out to make an issue film ordeliver a message. I really
never do, but I think if work isgood or for that matter, if work
is bad, sometimes people taketheir own messages from it. It's
really not a comment necessarilyon the quality of the work so
(43:33):
much as it's a comment on themulti multi multi functionality.
It's the word I'm looking for.
I think what I'm saying is athousand people will see the
same film a thousand differentways, and it can have a thousand
(43:53):
different effects on them andinspire them to do stuff that
might have no logic to it, butfor whatever reason, you know,
when I look back at some of thethings that inspired Magneto
Sphere or Good bye Petrushka forthat matter, because I keep
forgetting I made this otherfeature film, like, few years
ago that apparently was about anautistic girl, although I
(44:16):
didn't, like, mean to do that.Hey. So that's what happened.
When I when I think of some ofthe things that inspired that,
gosh, especially with GoodbyePetrushka, they have no logical
connection to what actually cameultimately the result of which
(44:36):
is so so far away from anythingthat might have launched the
idea. You end up on a very, verydifferent route is what I'm
saying.
Gino Akbari (44:46):
Nicola, thank you for joining us.
Nicola Rose (44:48):
Thank you, guys.
Gino Akbari (44:51):
If you enjoyed this conversation, please rate,
share, follow, subscribe, andleave a review on your favorite
podcast app.
If you have any questions, ideas, or stories
you'd like to share, please feelfree to contact us. Our website
is neurodiversityvoices.com.Please fill out our listener
(45:14):
survey form. We'd love to hearfrom you.
Until next time, take care, stay curious, and
keep celebrating the beauty ofdiverse minds.
Thanks for listening to the Neurodiversity
Voices podcast.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.