Posted in: Interview, Movies | Tagged: Dakota Gorman, quiver distribution, The Girl In The Pool

The Girl in the Pool Director on Flexibility in Genre-Bending Thriller

Director Dakota Gorman (Natural Disasters) spoke to Bleeding Cool about her latest genre-bending thriller in Quiver's "The Girl in the Pool."

Since starting as a child actress in her 2000 on-screen debut in We Married Margo, Dakota Gorman developed into a triple threat not only as an actor but also emerging in her directing and writing, starting with 2020's Natural Disasters, in which she did all three. The actress has also appeared in MTV's Teen Wolf, CBS's Criminal Minds, and Hulu's How I Met Your Father. Along with writing the indie film Aftermath in 2021, Gorman spoke to Bleeding Cool about dedicating herself to the director's chair in Quiver Distribution's genre-bending thriller, The Girl in the Pool, casting, what she learned from Natural Disasters, how acting is advantageous to directing, and her upcoming project Olivia Mabel. The film, written by Jackson Reid Williams, follows Tom (Freddie Prinze Jr), who reflects on one final rendezvous with a woman with whom he is having an affair shortly before that same woman is found dead in his backyard pool. To complicate matters, Tom's wife (Monica Potter) and his family throw him a surprise birthday party in the same backyard.

The Girl in the Pool Director Dakota Gorman on Developing "Malleability" for Thriller

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about 'The Girl in the Pool?'

I liked how unlikable many characters were, which was a fun challenge. The circumstances are absurd, as is Tom's decision-making. It was nice to figure out how to play with that. Freddie and I decided there were a lot of opportunities for comedy. It wasn't a straight thriller, and I love genre-bending stuff, so that was my initial intrigue.

How did the cast come together with Freddie, Monica, Kevin, and everyone else?

Freddie came first. We met to see if we got along and were on the same page. He is one of the most down-to-earth people I know, so that was a nice, fun conversation and set the tone for everything. I have always been a huge fan of Kevin's work, so I'm happy we got to approach him, and he was receptive to the material. We went straight to offer to him. Monica came on two days before shooting. She hadn't read the script yet, but Freddie had her in a conversation. He told her, "Well, you jump into this," she responded, "Yeah." She showed up so willing to play, and she's so intelligent. I don't think she needed to read the script to know, "Hey, this is the humanity of the moment. How do we do that?" and play around with it so she caught up quickly.

What did you learn from your previous directorial experience in 'Natural Disasters' you took into 'The Girl in the Pool?'

You're not always going to get what you want, which everyone knows going into it. Experiencing it is different, and I am learning how to navigate it. I went into this, "Okay, we need a tight blueprint, but malleable, willing to play, and solution-oriented when problems come. Fix them the best way we can and know on set there are solutions, and in post, there are solutions. That's always something I lean on going into any project now.

How do you feel being an actor helped you become a director? Do you feel like you get a unique perspective that other traditional directors have?

Maybe. My general interest lies on the character side versus maybe the aesthetic, and I'm learning to develop that more. That's where I play with the cinematographer. There's a language with actors on how to dig into what is going on moment to moment, and not relying on the technical aspects of that has been helpful because it's years of learning, "Okay, this feels performative" versus "This feels real, authentic, and like living in the experience of these people."

What was your most difficult sequence to film?

The pool stuff is the first thing that comes to mind only because I remember it being cloudy those days. Out of all the days, we didn't have hot water in the pool until the day off because the heater broke. We had to pump a ton of hot water in, and we had tents nearby for Freddie and Gabrielle [Haugh] to run into. It also works with water. We didn't have any rehearsal time, so we choreographed in the hopes it worked with the short amount of time we had. It's not like a face-to-face interaction in a bedroom per se. I'm going to stick with that answer for now.

So, what were your inspirations as a filmmaker?

There's a bunch. I don't know if this project had the foundation to explore what excites me. I'm a huge fan of David Lynch, Todd Solondz, and Harmony Korine. They're wacky shoestring people who laid the foundation for how I look at material. This was a fun experiment to combine with a little bit more of a polished, commercialized feel that Quiver likes to put out.

What can you tell me about your upcoming project 'Olivia Mabel?'

I'm excited to do it. It's creepy but has a lot of genre-bending stuff where it's not relying on horror elements or eeriness, but there are true relationships there. I'm excited about bringing that to life, and knowing it's been on the true crime radar circuit is like this film could be. I can't believe it's happening, and it's all new and recent. That's where I'm at with it now.

The Girl in the Pool, which also stars Kevin Pollak, Brielle Barbusca, and Tyler Lawrence Gray, is available on demand and digital.

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