Yes, this did happen to me. And some might respond to that by saying, “Oh my god, that’s so awkward, I’m so sorry that happened to you.” But I’m glad I had this experience. Not only was it an honor that my mother trusted me enough to ask, but this story seems to resonate with a lot of people who have been caretakers.

Yes. It was quite purposeful. Parker’s mixed identity was a key plot point of this story, so the voice inside of her needed to reflect that as well. Personally, I was coming off a lot of projects where the directors had white-only casting, so I knew I wanted to make something that had POC representation.

Yes! She is! Not sure what the question is there, but yes, she absolutely is. Initially, it was merely going to be subtext, but the actors encouraged me to add this little tidbit, because it does add a bit of tension. A lot of queer people even avoid lockers rooms, fearing that they will be labeled as a predator. So as Parker sees her mother half-naked, she is going to overthink this, she is going to go the extra mile to make sure her mother is comfortable and that there is explicit consent, even if this woman literally changed her diapers.

I mean, I loved working with everyone. But a highlight for me was directing Aubrey. There was a moment in the script where she really has to scream at the top of her lungs and then basically mime the act of strangling someone. She was very shy and didn’t want everyone staring at her. Yelling does kind of bring the attention of everyone on the set. Everyone wants to watch. So I did what any professional would do – I screamed in solidarity. Full out. Shrieking on the floor, arms to the sky, everything. I had so much fun.

I talked with PJ, my brilliant, supportive cinematographer, in length about this. We wanted the equivalent of a Russian submarine, a void, and a spaceship. My production designer, Cynthia Speaker, did a great job bringing that to life. She had to make a bright studio into a black, endless void with a shoestring budget. That meant the black rugs had to be moved for every shot because we didn’t have enough to cover the whole floor. I should really send her flowers or something.

There’s a part of the story where three different Parkers attack their common enemy. We have a shot where they all storm the camera with a battle cry, like total bad asses. We had to perfectly time the screams and synchronized running, all while making sure the actors didn’t slam into the lights or the camera we couldn’t afford to replace. In case you couldn’t already tell, I like telling actors to scream. It’s cathartic.

Oh, yeah, for sure. Do you know how I found out that you’re not supposed to drink alcohol if you’ve had your Gallbladder removed? I pooped my pants on a Pride float in front of thousands of people.

Oh, yeah, I just laughed it off. I made a lot of drag queen friends that day. Also, it was in a New Orleans parade, so they’ve seen worse.

There are a few brief glimpses of Parker’s dad in a family photo. That’s my actual dad! He has no idea he’s in a film about sticking a suppository up my mother’s bottom, so no one tell him.

I have a question for you, now.

Would you stick it up your mom?