Sophia Fuller: Tell us a little about yourself; how did you get started in filmmaking?
M. W. Daniels: I got into filmmaking in 2011. I was a musician before that and a composer. Someone wanted to make a video for one of my tracks that I was doing at the time. I did that and it kind of spin-boarded from there. I was acting in films as well, even though I don’t particularly like acting myself. I just learned how to write scripts through the years. I worked with a guy for about three years and then a friend introduced me to Nicolai Kornum, who I have been working with ever since. He is a director of photography, sound editor, and really a teacher. He was a great teacher for me, like a guru, I suppose. It’s been almost ten years, we have been working together. This all came up in 2018. I got professional sound on the films finally–before they were just the camera, so you’ve got the annoying clicks all the time when you watch the films back. And then that steps it up. He [Nicolai] really taught me how to write the scripts properly, and then I taught myself how to direct properly. It’s been a long journey, but I have learned a lot through those years. It’s a long time. Nicolai is amazing. Without him I think I would have given it up by now, to be honest.
SF: What inspired the story behind Lizziehead?
MWD: I’ve never done comedy before, so I thought I would try my hand and just see what happens. If it’s rubbish, it’s rubbish and if it works, it works. It was indirectly maybe something like Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge was a big inspiration. Smack the Pony, which was like a comedy back in the nineties, as well. There were a few things that inspired Lizziehead, but it’s just a story out of my mind. Charlotte Gould plays Lizzie. I’ve worked with her a couple times before and she is really funny. So I figured I wanted to write a comedy for her because she seems to be tailor-made for comedy. So it was inspired by Charlotte as well. There was never anyone else to play Lizzie; it was always going to be Charlotte. A lot of things inspired me to write Lizziehead. The UK Office–I never got along with the American Office–I got completely into the UK Office and it’s a favorite of mine. Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is an American show with Larry David. That was a big inspiration–he’s a genius. So there were lots of things. The story has a lot of ideas in mind. I can’t say too much because, to anybody who hasn’t seen the film, I could give it away easily. I kind of wanted to make her an outlaw-type character that doesn’t really care about things. I wanted to make her quite nihilistic, in a way, as well as quite happy and uplifting. It’s a very weird story. It’s kind of got that surreal humor that I am inspired by.
SF: The character of Lizzie is unlike anything I have seen before; can you talk about the character development for her?
MWD: I wrote the film in 2019 and it went through so many changes. We ended up with version fifteen that we filmed with. So it’s come a long way. I am infamous for adding stuff and editing out stuff–that’s the way I work, which may be difficult for some actors. It started off being called Weird One and it developed from there. I did some other films over those years and kind of put it on the back burner. I brought it back out in 2021 and started to mold the character more with Charlotte. She is brilliant; she molded this character and became Lizzie. The character developed almost up to the day of filming and she developed it through filming as well. Once we started, she knew who she was and found her thing. She could use the character to inspire. It was called Weird One and Nicolai said to me, “People are going to think it is weird straight off. You don’t want to tell people that it’s weird.” So we came up with Lizziehead and it stuck. It’s an awkward name but, after a while, it rolls off the tongue. So the development of everything took a couple years. Charlotte did amazing, just like all of the cast. They all did well with their characters.
SF: What filming techniques or visual styles did you favor during production?
MWD: That’s more of a Nicolai question, really. We wanted it closer like TV because it was originally filmed for a series. That was my initial idea. It could possibly carry on. We filmed it close so it has an intimate feeling to it because there is so much emotion and stuff going on; we didn’t want that widescreen thing. There were no special effects; mostly everything was done in the old style. There was some air use in there, somewhere, very subtly. The way the visual effects were developed all the way through, me and Nicolai would sit down and we would go through: how we are going to film this, camera shots, what we’re going to do. So we go through things quite methodically. We try to leave no stone unturned, so to speak.
SF: What do you think distinguishes Lizziehead from other short films?
MWD: I have to be careful what I say here. Anybody who has seen the film will say that’s a hilarious question. It’s a brilliant question, but I wish I could answer it like everyone has seen the film. I think it’s more left-field than a lot of films. I’ll always make a film because films that I want to see don’t exist. Whatever genre it is. Same as music; I’ll make an album because I haven’t heard a band or an artist do that yet. So I made it myself. I suppose it stands out because it is different in a way. That’s really all I can say because anything else sort of gives it away to people. It’s outrageous. The comedy is outrageous. And the comedy has been called controversial, as well, which is kind of strange because I never saw it as controversial. It’s challenging, I suppose; all thirty-six minutes are challenging. Maybe it stands out from other films because of that.
SF: I guess if you’re reading this, you have to watch it to figure out how it’s different from the rest. Without giving too much away, can you discuss the process for filming the bloody nose scene?
MWD: It was choreographed in a way because we had to get it right. Everything was specific in that scene, otherwise it wasn’t going to work. It was quite a few takes to get it right. It was more from the crowd at the garden party. I love them all but they were more difficult to direct than the actors, in a way. It was like choreography to do that scene and make it work. Because it all flows in one sort of movement. The blood was easy to work with. I just had to get it very specific. It was all about the timing of that scene–without giving anything away. It’s also about how good the actors are, and they’re great. Your film is only as good as your actors, first and foremost. A lot of people wonder about the relevance of this scene and people are quite shocked when they realize the reason.
SF: What was the relevance to the scene?
MWD: It’s so difficult to answer because the reasoning was arousal. That’s not the typical answer. Because it’s her cousin, people are like “what is this film about?” So people are a bit horrified about that part. It wasn’t meant to be anything sinister really. But she was aroused and had nosebleeds when she was aroused.
SF: The film has a bit of uncomfortable humor to it in the best way possible. So I can see how that really adds to the tone and the humor of the film, which I can appreciate.
MWD: It’s the edginess of it. It’s uncomfortable and edgy, and I love that. People are not sure whether to laugh or not. Showing my friends the film for the first time, I’m looking over, like, are they enjoying this? Because the room goes silent and then they do laugh at bits. Everyone’s reactions are weird because people are on the edge of their seats and they want to laugh but there is something in the film that keeps that laugh in. And I like that. It’s a great tool to have that and use it in script writing.
SF: Given the content of the film, I’m sure there were a lot of fun moments on set. Are there any memorable or interesting moments that you could share with us?
MWD: There’s lots. I should start by sharing a sad moment in Lizziehead. In the garden party scene, a friend of mine, Laura Demetrius, who was standing over Charlotte’s shoulder at the part with the bloody nose, was killed unfortunately. She died in January in a hit-and-run. She was a close friend of mine, so it’s difficult to talk about. She knew weeks before she died about the awards I won for Lizziehead. She was really proud of the film. Watching the film back after she died, she seems like this ethereal presence now. She was such a beautiful person, only twenty-eight years old when she died. She really wanted to act. So that’s the downside of it. The upside of the filming process was the craziness on set. The day we did the garden party scene was a heat wave. It was stressful running around mixing up stage blood and trying to direct. But it was brilliant. Everybody turned up. We just had a really good time. Even with the extreme parts of the film, everyone was rolling about on the floor laughing. It was always a really trivial atmosphere. That’s how it is on all my films, even those that are dark, everybody is having a good time on set. It’s a cool vibe. So Lizziehead has got some really cool memories. The memories of Laura being there and overacting a little bit–last time I saw her she said she was unhappy that she was overacting on that bit–but she loved that. So there were all those sorts of things that were memorable.
SF: I’m sorry for your loss; it is amazing that she got to see the film and appreciate it.
MWD: She was just so proud that it had done well. And I am so proud that she was around. I only knew her for two or three years because she was in another film I did. But it’s amazing when someone has that impression on you. You could know someone for fifteen years and they wouldn’t have as big of an impression on you. Not having her here is brutal, but you just have to get used to it.
SF: That must be very hard. I’m sure she was so proud.
MWD: Thank you.
SF: If you could go back to the filming process, is there anything that you would want to do differently or change?
MWD: There’s lots of direction that I wanted to change. I feel like I rushed some stuff. There was a lot I learned from it. It’s like when you are doing music. You listen back and realize you could have done certain things better. It’s the same with films. When the film is done, you can’t go back and change things. There are lots of things. I wish I had more money to extend it and make it a feature or an hour, at least, to get more of her story out. I wanted to do more with the family thing, but there wasn’t time or funds to do that. That happens with a lot of films. When it’s done, it’s great, but a year later you find things you want to change. And that’s just what it’s like.
SF: That’s understandable. It’s a constant learning process and you’re always learning new things.
MWD: Filmmaking is really like that. You are always picking at stuff, whether it’s the script or the film. But once it’s done, that’s it usually.
SF: What is the most important takeaway or the message you wanted to give to anyone who viewed the film?
MWD: You’ve seen it so you know all about it. It’s difficult to answer because I don’t want to sound cheesy. It’s really not to take things too seriously, but that can be in any genre of films. It can be the most brutal film ever, but you don’t want to take things too seriously. It’s just a film. I think Lizziehead probably makes people think about things a little bit. Reviews have philosophized over it a little bit and, based on the content, I don’t really understand what they’re going on about. It’s cool that people see deeper and read deeper meanings into this than the person who created it. I just see it on the surface as I’ve done it. There’s a lot of meanings people will take away from it. They want to be on Lizzie’s side because she’s not a bad person at the end of the day. She’s fun, even if she’s a bit nihilistic. She’s got heart and there is a lot of love there. I think people would maybe be inspired to write their own film. That is the biggest achievement: for someone to be inspired by your film. It’s a big honor. If someone decided to write their own outrageous dramedy, that would be amazing.
SF: From your years of experience, what guidance do you have for people looking to get into filmmaking?
MWD: The best advice is what Phoebe Waller-Bridge gave: “People should just write.” You just have to literally put theory into practice and start writing. Even if you think it’s rubbish, at first, you’ll start editing it and making it better. One day, you’ll be sitting somewhere away from your script and it’ll be in your mind. When you get home, you’ll pull it out and start to tinker with it. It becomes obsessive like that. People should watch tutorial videos because they’re priceless. They can show you how to write scripts properly, how to exposition, work out the film, and try to make things flow. You’ve got all these tools and they’re essential before you do anything. You can learn so much there.
SF: That’s really good advice. What’s next for you in your career?
MWD: I am doing a film right now, but I don’t like to say what it is. It’s not superstitious; I just like to keep it a secret until I’ve done it. It’s more of a surprise to people when it happens like that instead of announcing it on socials and giving out the name. If you do that you are almost telling them the film before it’s even been made. I prefer to sit on it until it’s actually finished, and then I can announce the film is done. That’s how I like to do things. It’s not about keeping it mysterious; I think it’s just because it’s such a job to make the film. It’s a big weight. And I am doing a film right now that’s bigger than Lizziehead. Lizziehead was like a half weight and this is a full weight. But it’s a good challenge to have. Apart from that, just music really. There’s a Lizziehead soundtrack that came out and it’s on a digital label called Milksack, which is really cool. So just more music and the new film that is a work in progress. I also want to start writing a book, which has been a dream for decades. Once the film is made, I’ll let you know about it. If people were shocked by Lizziehead, I don’t know how they would react to this. That’s all I can say about it. I’ll keep it a secret for now.
SF: That sounds good! We will keep an eye out for it when it comes out!
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Author Biography
Sophia Fuller is a University of North Carolina Charlotte student majoring in both communications and film production with a minor in film studies. She has a passion for all things film-related and is currently interning with Film Matters.
