Rachel Sennott says she plans to direct her first feature film
Having wowed audiences with her performance in 2018’s low-budget drama Shiva Baby, and more recently in the A24 slasher/comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies, actor and writer Rachen Sennott has plans to direct her own movie.
Having co-written the upcoming queer comedy Bottoms with director Emma Seligman, who also directed Shiva Baby, Sennott has begun working on a feature script that she aims to direct herself. Regarding directing credits, Sennott has only co-directed several minute-long sketches at college, so this upcoming project would mark her directorial debut.
Speaking in Interview Magazine with Personal Shopper actor Kristen Stewart, who has herself directed several shorts and music videos, and will be directing her first debut with the upcoming The Chronology of Water, Sennott discussed her creative plans and aspirations.
Referring to a memory that she regards as “shameful and embarrassing”, in which Sennott was tweeting in real-time during sex with a partner, the actor/writer stated: “I’m writing a movie that I want to direct that’s about that period in my life.”
On her plan to helm the film, however, the Bottoms actor joked about the impact directing could have on her appearance. “This is going to sound so vain, but I barely even have time to work out when I’m acting, and my skin is breaking out. If I was directing and acting, I would look fucking crazy.”
Reflecting on the difference between Shiva Baby, which had a budget of less than half a million, and Bottoms, which has roughly $15m behind it, Sennott recalled: “I remember the difference between Shiva and Bottoms. For Shiva, everyone was so close together that you could be like, ‘Emma?’ [Seligman, the director] And she would be there.”
“In Bottoms,” Sennott continues, “it would be like you’re on the opposite sides of a football field. You’re taking a bus to a van to get to set. And you’re like, ‘Where is everyone?'”
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