00:00:00: You based this film on kind of personal experience.

00:00:03: Would you like to tell a little bit how you decided to turn the scurrying experience into a film?

00:00:08: It wasn't the intention when I first started writing, Like i'm gonna make a film out of this...I just couldn't write about anything else!

00:00:14: Like it was just this moment in time where I felt my hypervigilance had come to a precipice that was losing my mind.

00:00:21: Then from there part of the writing process and therapy And getting trained as a witness advocate is all part actually confronting it.

00:00:30: And then, you know someone at Sundance had seen one of my short films because I was in LA just writing scripts trying to be a filmmaker and they said what are you working on right now?

00:00:38: I said...I just wrote this seventy-page like vomit thing.

00:00:41: Like.

00:00:41: that's what i'm working on Right Now!

00:00:43: They said okay Just submit It To Us Let's See.

00:00:45: Once I got into the Sundance Directors Lab Maybe I could Actually Make This.

00:00:48: maybe this is A Movie I Could Actually Get Off The Ground.

00:00:51: Then It Was Long Years Of Not Getting Financing getting an Actor not getting An Actor.

00:00:56: Covid.

00:00:57: it broke My Heart So much that I just...I put it on the shelf.

00:01:01: It's too hard to finance in

00:01:03: America."

00:01:04: Made my first film, Soft and Quiet?

00:01:05: I was lucky that Channing saw that.

00:01:07: then he asked me what I was working on.. I had Josephine!

00:01:12: Had a role for him in Josephine And He signed onto That and said okay let's go make this then now i'll get the financing.

00:01:18: with Channing Tatum You do your best as writer.

00:01:21: an actor comes In.

00:01:22: they build This person even bigger.

00:01:25: The really great thing is that Chaning father to a daughter.

00:01:28: And so I am not.

00:01:30: the best i can do is with what?

00:01:32: I think in my imagination while I'm writing.

00:01:34: and then he brings this really realistic idea of like who This man Is, we brought them all together.

00:01:40: We just really talked A lot about To be a dad trying to navigate into What's right for your kids even though you know You might Be messing up but Trying to be there For him.

00:01:50: and So we kept talking About Like what's Damien's experience With male violence?

00:01:54: how does He deal with Male Valence himself as a?

00:01:57: And so how is he approaching this?

00:01:59: That's how my dad was written.

00:02:00: I think that's why it took me a while to wrap My head around him actually being American.

00:02:04: in the script He's written as foreign-born because i think you come The u.s.

00:02:08: You have A certain underdog feeling also Being brazilian, Also being very physical So he's a sporty guy and so kind of like Translates To that.

00:02:16: we had many different actors attached at different.

00:02:18: Wagner Was Attached At a point and Like schedules Couldn't Align In the end.

00:02:22: but i Think once i talked to Channing and realized How HE WAS raised who's also raised in a very similar dynamic.

00:02:28: He was raised really, in a heavily Latino neighborhood of Florida.

00:02:32: he sees himself as an underdog being from the South In a city like LA and I think that is how he connected to his character.

00:02:41: Whenever there are anger or frustration it so that she is safe.

00:02:45: It never out-of-mal intent Really trying to protect people you love And this is just how he knows what to do Being a man himself and seeing male aggression the conversations, and then it really was.

00:02:57: how do we take the shine off of him?

00:02:59: You see magic might when chanting Tatum.

00:03:00: So gain thirty pounds no makeup be in sweats eat salt in the morning get puffy look like a normal dad.

00:03:06: so that Was also just part Of the physicality of it.

00:03:09: bond with Mason.

00:03:10: make her feel very close to you so she reaches for you Instinctively daughter.

00:03:14: would I have them spend A lot of time With each other before The film started but not ever with Gemma.

00:03:19: It's Just two of Them That did rehearsals together Before the film Started at

00:03:23: Dakota.

00:03:24: after story is also this element of rape culture and male violence, which has already ingrained childhood that the little girl suddenly sees interactions between boys and girls in a different light.

00:03:35: And questions where male violence actually starts.

00:03:39: and it's very grounded.

00:03:41: Violence against girls are somehow alright then often even tolerated or romanticized like oh he does because he likes you!

00:03:47: Did you want to make this part your story?

00:03:49: Do you think there isn't an essential cause for male violence?

00:03:53: basically thought that women are a legitimate target.

00:03:57: The

00:03:57: way I think about approaching any piece of art is, i'm just supposed to tell the truth.

00:04:02: as I see it and feel it That's an artist job.

00:04:06: It's not trying to problem solve, its just portraying these people like they do.

00:04:11: Rape isn't epidemic, but global epidemic.

00:04:14: we have accepted in this world is everywhere.

00:04:17: RAPE CULTURE IS EVERYWHERE Especially in America.

00:04:23: It's just who are these kids?

00:04:24: How were they raised, where are they raised?

00:04:26: you know always coming from character But the problem is there already exposed.

00:04:31: That's how you build the world.

00:04:33: it kind of no surprise I think what the surprises Is that people with this movie finally have a place to talk about sexual assault.

00:04:41: There is no space in society anywhere To speak about sexual Assault.

00:04:45: i noticed This very quickly as A child.

00:04:47: anytime i brought it up or tried to Talk About With Someone was Very Quickly Shed Down.

00:04:51: Makes People Uncomfortable understandably, but because of this it just stays silent.

00:04:55: It never gets addressed and it continues to grow into supersede.

00:05:00: I mean we have a huge problem.

00:05:01: in the US The Epstein files had been released.

00:05:03: not as single person has been prosecuted for them makes no sense explain.

00:05:07: This is such an epidemic And yet its like No resources are given to us.

00:05:11: The thriller element Is sort of inherent In the fear that people face with sexual violence every day.

00:05:18: We look over our shoulder or were careful where put out body.

00:05:22: That's a thriller already.

00:05:23: I find that interesting because my first film then, I made...I thought i was just making a drama and Then My friend came to the test screening.

00:05:30: He said you make a horror film And I said oh it didn't mean To Make A Horror Film maybe?

00:05:34: Just see The world is Horrific!

00:05:36: I think It's the same with Josephine.

00:05:38: I never intend to attack a certain genre although my taste in cinema tends to be Drama thrillers.. I just Thinked that Maybe I gravitate towards those genres Because that's how the World Feels to me.

00:05:48: it feels very dangerous.

00:05:50: I think the darkness can really take over our minds.

00:05:53: When you try to understand the darkness, The Darkness Can Take Over Your Mind too!

00:06:05: A woman remembers when they were a little girl and their mother told them, hey, Dairy Man don't go with anybody because then want to hurt you.

00:06:26: She's maybe in the age where this discussion would have happened or what happen?

00:06:29: Yeah

00:06:30: it is really good question And its an important questions Because whenever your making film like this You never wanna harm that you're trying to help harm something else.

00:06:38: After first audition I met with Mason parents.

00:06:40: Actually i met with few of my parents.

00:06:42: I meet with mason parents first actually cause I sort had feeling You know..I talked through how was gonna do everything and she obviously not watching the sexual assault.

00:06:50: She's obviously not seeing anything, she is not there.

00:06:52: when she goes around a tree The key grip is hitting blocks together for her eye line.

00:06:57: in the background and in the sex scene we use VFX.

00:06:59: There's that practical physical element of it.

00:07:02: I asked her parents what does she know?

00:07:04: Like What did she understand already?

00:07:06: And they said... And so I said, okay well all that you guys talk to her how you wanna talk to here.

00:07:22: You know your

00:07:22: kid."

00:07:47: of herself.

00:07:48: At times she was very angry at someone or if you felt betrayed and then we would assign each one to different scenes in the film.

00:07:55: so when she's punching Channing saying like that's not fair, She wrote about a time where her sister drew over her favorite drawing And To Her That A Real Betrayal Like She Felt Really Really Like It Was Unfair And Like it Really Hurt Her And No One Was Doing Anything About It.

00:08:09: And They Everyone Dismissed Her And She Wrote About Being So Excited About It.

00:08:13: Thats What I Used For That Scene To Help Her Calibrate Where She Was Kind Of emotionally in each moment.

00:08:18: And then we just really tried to keep it very, very light for her on set.

00:08:22: Channing was very instrumental at this like keeping it really fun and I think even the crew members.

00:08:27: you know when did this project get rich?

00:08:30: People do this project because they have a connection with the film.

00:08:32: When Mason would walk by ya'know The Crew had high-fiveed Her.

00:08:36: there's a trampoline that They Would all go jump On With Her.

00:08:38: You Know We Just Tried To Keep It As Fun as Possible For Her.

00:08:41: Thank you so much yeah thanks.