When lovesick musician, Owen (Spike Fearn) is given the wrong number for his dream girl, he teams up with driven psychology student, Emily (Angourie Rice) to find her. Together, they spark a hilarious campus-wide frenzy that tests their own hearts and ambitions along the way.
Finding Emily is a hilarious new rom-com from director Alicia MacDonald, and before the film hits Australian cinemas on May 21, Nick L’Barrow spoke with Spike and Angourie about how the films chaotic energy gave them freedom as performers, and why the British charm of the story makes it stand out against other rom-coms.
Nick: There’s a chaotic energy to this film that I found so charming. I’m curious to know what the chaos of a character or story gives you as performers? Is there a sense of freedom that chaos gives you?
Spike Fearn: Yeah, I think so. Chaos is kind of fun, especially when it’s not done all the time and done in a fun way, like this film. I think Alicia [MacDonald, director of Finding Emily] was so great at letting us run around and play with that chaos. I think the chaos of the movie, and the charm of that chaos is kind of the heart of the movie.
Angourie Rice: I saw the film for the second time last night, and something I really noticed was how many two shots we did. And in the two shot, you do have that freedom to step on each other’s lines and interrupt each other because you don’t have to worry about coverage or continuity. So, I think the way that Alicia really prioritised the two shots just meant that we could play and have fun, which I loved.
Nick: I also found the setting of Manchester carried a lot of immersive energy too. Both of you have done projects where you’re on these giant built sets or with green screens everywhere, but I’m curious to know what the tangibility of being in such a vibrant location like Manchester gives you as actors?
SF: Speaking for myself, and I don’t know about you [to Angourie], I’ll always search for stuff like that. Like, if you’re on a gritty, rainy street somewhere, it’s better than staring at a tennis ball or something like that. Not that I wouldn’t do that, there’s just something so nice about being in the real, real world. And it’s not like we could shut down Manchester a lot of the time, so real people would come in and bring life into it as well. I guess that was captured really well.
AR: Yeah, there was a moment too – – I keep coming back to this scene where we shot on that curb, but it really sticks out in my mind because it was cold and raining, and there was karaoke happening, and it was the end of the night! Our green room was a closed kebab shop with, like, vinyl booths and fluorescent lighting. So, it just felt like we were really in it all of the time. It was so immersive for us.
Nick: I feel like all of these elements put together brings this nostalgic, 90s rom-com feeling to the film. And as much as I do love the 90s American rom-com, there is an inherent British charm to this film that I feel encapsulates that nostalgia even more. What do you feel it is about that British charm that worked so well for this story?
SF: There’s no charm like the British, man!
Nick: Us Aussie’s get it!
AR: Yeah, we definitely felt that.
SF: Honestly, I think you said it beautifully.
Nick: Fair enough! One of the things that excites me is that this is a 2020s rom-com that’s coming to cinemas, and not going straight to streaming, like many do, giving audiences the chance to laugh and feel together. What does the cinematic experience mean to both of you?
AR: I mean, it’s so fun to see something in a theatre together. And to your point earlier about it feeling so real, I think that’s because this movie was such a team effort from all of the department heads, you know? Rachel Clark, our director of photography, was getting in there with a handheld camera. And the production design brought out all of these textures in the brick and wallpapers. Even the hair and makeup team did such a great job. I had this picture of Goldie Hawn as a reference for my frizzy hair, and that made this feel so real, and chaotic, and crazy. Every facet of this production was committed to making something that felt real, and I think you need the cinema to feel that. Everything that we made for this movie, we had to imagine it being on a big screen. I remember Alicia saying that she was pushed to go, “The movie is not happening on my monitor, it’s going to happen on a big screen”. And I think that affects how the movie will resonate with people. I mean, we got a lot of laughs at the premiere last night!
SF: I’d love to watch it in Australia!
Nick: I can attest to the fact that the audience loved it. We laughed a lot and had a great time!
AR: Wait! It’s super late there now, right?
Nick: It’s just gone midnight!
AR: Thank you for staying up!
Nick: It makes it easy to do when you make great movies!
AR: Ah, thank you!
SF: Thanks, man.
Thank you to Spike and Angourie for their time, and to Universal Pictures for organising the interview. Finding Emily is in Australian cinemas May 21.
