How ‘Sorry, Baby' writer-producer-star Eva Victor made the year's most exciting debut

San Francisco Chronicle​

4 hours ago

The Oscar-winning producer of 'Moonlight' really wanted to get in touch with Eva Victor.
Adele Romanski and her producing partner Mark Ceryak were 'kind of obsessed' with the short, comedic videos Victor was putting out on various social media platforms. Titles of some that still exist online include 'when I definitely did not murder my husband' and a series called 'Eva vs. Anxiety.'
Romanski and Ceryak started bugging their Pastel productions partner Barry Jenkins, certainly the most well-known name of the bunch, to make the first move and send Victor a direct message. But they had to ask themselves a big question first: Would that be weird?
'We had to negotiate whether or not that was appropriate for Barry, a married man, to send Eva a DM,' Romanski said. 'We were like 'yessss, do it!''
What started as a curiosity about a distinct voice, someone whose observations about the world and society were hilarious, sharp and undeniable, just a few years later would become one of the most exciting debuts in recent memory. 'Sorry, Baby,' which Victor wrote, directed and stars in, is a gentle film about trauma. It's also funny and strange and fresh, a wholly original statement from an artist with a vision. And there's a cat too.
The film opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles and expands nationwide in the coming weeks.
A boost from Barry Jenkins
It's a wild turn of events for Victor, who goes by they/she pronouns and who never dared to dream that they could possibly direct.
Victor grew up in San Francisco in a family that cherished and pursued artistic endeavors, even if it wasn't their primary careers. At Northwestern University, Victor focused on playwriting — it was something they could have control over while also pursuing acting. After college it was improv, writing for the satirical website Reductress ('Woman Seduced by Bangs Despite Knowing They're Bad for Her,' 'How to Cut Out All the People who are Not Obsessed with Your Dog'), some acting gigs, like a recurring role on the Showtime series 'Billions,' and social media, where their tweets and videos often went viral.
But there was an itch to work on something longer form, something beyond that immediate gratification of virality. Jenkins' message came at the right time. Then at Victor's first meeting at Pastel productions, he planted a seed of an idea: Maybe Victor was already a director.
'He said something that very profoundly impacted me: That the comedy videos I was doing were me directing without me realizing it,' Victor said. 'It was just a different scale. That kind of stuck with me.'
'Sorry, Baby' was born out of a personal story that Victor had wanted to write about for a while. After the general meeting, they had a renewed sense of purpose and went away one snowy winter to a cabin in Maine to write, with their cat, movies and books as companions. The screenplay, in which a New England graduate student named Agnes is assaulted by her thesis adviser, poured out of them.
'I wanted to make a film that was about feeling stuck when everyone around you keeps moving that didn't center any violence. The goal was to have the film and its structure support the time afterwards, not the actual experience,' Victor said. 'I really think the thing it's about is trying to heal and the slow pace at which healing comes and how it's really not linear and how there are joys to be found in the everyday and especially in very affirming friendships and sometimes, like, a sandwich depending on the day.'
Somewhere along the way Victor started to also believe that they were the best person for the job. They were the only person standing in their way.
'The less focus there was on me as the creator of it, and the more focus there was on how to tell the story as effectively as possible, the more comfortable I became,' Victor said. 'I understood exactly what I wanted it to look and feel like.'
Learning to direct
But there was a lot to learn. Before the shoot, Victor also asked Jane Schoenbrun, who they'd met once for pie, if they could come to the 'I Saw the TV Glow' set to just watch. Schoenbrun said yes.
'It was a completely wonderful, transforming experience of friendship and learning,' Victor said. 'Jane is so confident about what they want in their films and it was a real honor to watch them so many decisions and stay so calm.'
Empowered by what they'd seen, Victor assembled a 'dream team' of experts, like cinematographer Mia Cioffi Henry who also teaches at NYU and an editor, Alex O'Flinn, who teaches at UCLA. Victor rounded out the cast with Lucas Hedges, as a kind neighbor, 'Billions' alum Louis Cancelmi, as the thesis adviser, and Naomi Ackie as her best friend Lydie – the first person she talks to after the incident, the one who accompanies her to the hospital, and the one whose life doesn't stop.
'We built the schedule in a way that allowed us to have all our friendship fun scenes at first,' Victor said. 'We kind of got to go through the experience of building a friendship in real time.'
Ackie immediately connected to the script and thought whoever wrote it, 'must be the coolest.' The reality of Victor, she said, did not disappoint.
'They don't realize how magnetic their openness is,' Ackie said. 'There's something extremely honest about them and curious and playful.'
A Sundance sensation
Romanski and everyone at Pastel productions knew they had something special, a gem even.
'They're chasing something tonally that I've never seen anybody go after before,' Romanski said. 'It's the blend of both a very, very specific, personal comedic tone and also a true sense of artistry.'
But nothing's ever guaranteed until you put it in front of a public audience, which they did earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival where it quickly became a breakout sensation, with standing ovations and the screenwriting award, whose past winners include Lisa Cholodenko, Kenneth Lonergan, Christopher Nolan and Debra Granik.
'You just don't know. Then on the other side, you know,' Romanski said. 'We felt it with 'Aftersun.' We felt it with 'Moonlight.' And we definitely felt it with 'Sorry, Baby.''
And like 'Aftersun' and 'Moonlight' before it, 'Sorry, Baby' also found a home with A24, which promised a theatrical release. Among the giants of the summer movie calendar, in which everything is big, bigger, biggest, 'Sorry, Baby' is the delicate discovery.
'I wanted it to exist in this space between reality and escape. I wanted it to be this immersive thing,' Victor said. 'It's a sensitive film. I hope it finds people when they need it. That's my biggest wish.'