Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Fox Adrift, Hi, Olivia Nash

Hi Director and Star Olivia Nash on Developing Indie Love Story

Hi director, writer and star Olivia Nash spoke to Bleeding Cool about the journey to her directorial debut, casting, challenges, and more.

Director, writer, and actress Olivia Nash is as ambitious as they come when it comes to filmmaking, bringing her vision of love, angst, family, and social commentary together in the indie drama Hi from Fox Adrift. The film follows the intertwined journeys of Lavender Lark (Nash), a guarded yet fiercely creative young writer, and Dylan Odair (Paul Grant), a struggling author grappling with grief and responsibility. Returning home for the summer, Lavender must confront the lingering absence of her mother while searching for her own voice. Dylan, mourning his father's tragic death while caring for his ailing mother, wrestles with fears of failure and isolation. As their paths converge in a small fishing village, the pair discovers love, healing, and the courage to embrace life's uncertainties. Weaving humor, heartbreak, and hope, Hi explores themes of resilience, redemption, and the enduring power of connection through the lens of family, love, and personal growth. Nash spoke to Bleeding Cool about initially filming her proof of concept with Grant, casting in Texas, and filming her most standout scenes.

Writer-Director Olivia Nash on Crafting Her Journey in "Hi"

What was your journey behind making High into a feature film from the short you developed a few years back?

Yeah, so the proof of concept was basically one scene from the film that we shot, so it all started with wanting to do the feature. It didn't come from a short idea first, so I had already written the full feature out, and then I picked the scene that I felt most like giving the feeling to the film, and showcased the two main characters. That way, we could go into trying to raise the financing, and so I put that through a little bit of a festival circuit, and it wasn't too long, but we got some notice from that scene specifically, and that led us into pre-production for the future.

When it came to selling the project, was there any consideration from day one, it was always going to be you and Paul as Lavender and Dylan, or did you consider trying other actors in those roles?

Yeah, it was always going to be Paul, because he came on board very early on. I cast him for a different proof of concept that I shot as well, which that same back-to-back. I shot Hi's proof in October, and then the next month, I shot one of my other scripts, El Delirio's proof of concept, and I had hired him for that. I decided I'm going to do Hi the month before, and I was like, "You know what? I think you would be perfect for Dylan. What do you think? I showed him the script and the scene, and he was all on board. We met for coffee and broke down the character, we shot the scene, we got along together, and from there, I was like, "This is really going to work," and it was always him and me from the start.

When it came to developing the other characters, was it something that required change, or was it just something that was always from what you originally wrote from the beginning?

For the characters specifically, they stayed pretty consistent. I focused on before even starting to write the plot on the flaws each character has, the qualities that they have, and the things that they like. I had that all written out and, in my brain, already before I even dove into the writing process of writing the feature. The characters I knew so well that when we were developing the structure of the story, they became what led the plot.

How did the other casting come about from Chase [Pollock], Charles [Edwin Powell], Brandie [Louck], and everyone else involved?

I did a casting call and was trying to find Texas talent. That's where I started, and we put that out there in a lot of our cast is…Brandi's still in Austin. Paul, at the time, also was, and Chase was in Dallas. Floriana [Azemi] was in Dallas. We were trying to keep it in Texas, but then I made a wider search out for the dad, who is Peter, and it ended up being Charles. I wanted to find the right fit for that character, someone very specific to play that. When Charles sent in his self-tape, there was no question that he IS Peter. He had taken it on, and he understood what this character was really pulling, so then we ended up hiring him, and he's the one out of state.

Was there a particular scene or any aspect of production most difficult to get through?

It's hard because there are different challenges, right? I would say one of the hardest days on set was probably what we call "the book launch party," which is Dylan's launch party. Near the end, it involved a lot of extras, and with the amount of crew and cast we had, we're a pretty small team. A lot of us were busting it out, making sure that we could capture that scene, and that was a wonderful team-building exercise for all of us, but pretty difficult for everyone.

I would say emotionally, I'm trying to think of the two that stick in my mind are a scene with Lavender and Daniel (Pollock) as your brother and sister, and it's a moment when Daniel gives it to his sister and says how he's feeling. I won't go too much into it, so I don't spoil anything, but that scene was pretty difficult, just in the way of feeling it, right? The shooting of it went very smoothly, but for both of us, and I won't speak for him, but at least on my end, I felt like there was a lot there that we had to really pull for and go deep for.

The other scene I would say that sticks out to me, I felt so much in, was Lavender and Peter near the very end. Again, not spoiling anything, because there's a big reveal at the very end of that. The performance Charles gave brought me…I was in the scene. He was in this scene. We felt so much for each other, but when we called cut, I had to thank him for so much he pulled, especially emotionally. Even as I directed and acted in the scene, I knew that we had it in that moment.

Hi is available on-demand on AppleTV and Prime Video.

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