Sorry, Baby - Flicks (2025)

What are you up to this fine evening? I was wondering, do you have, like, stuff that makes a fire? Why do you need it? Um, my friends and I, we're gonna make, like, hot dogs. Hot dog sounds good. I'm sorry, we only bought two hot dogs. Sorry Baby is the directorial debut of Ava Victor. Now, she also is playing the lead. So, when I got to talk with her and two of her cast members, I was very curious. How do you go about juggling those two things when it's your first directorial outing? Well, I always sort of said, like, I'm not gonna make a bad movie because I'm unprepared. It's gonna be because I don't innately have, like, the thing I need to have to be a director. But I prepared for, like, years. I, like, storyboarded the whole film. I didn't know that. I know, you should see it. I was about to ask if they'd seen your storyboard. No, just for you, huh? Yeah, just for me. I'm very selfish. Yeah, I did that, and that was, like, a way to almost, like, edit the film beforehand. I worked with an acting coach for months before we shot because I was, I just needed people. Like, I needed a community to talk about everything with. And I also had people around me who understood where my blind spots would be in various moments and would help me. They were both very down. The cast, like, understood that I was doing this, so it just had a different flow to it. Yeah, for sure. Like, it was okay. And I just had playback really close to set so I could run off. You did at least let them look at the playback, didn't you? Even though you deprived them of looking at the storyboard. I mean, a lot of actors don't want to see playback. Mostly when I was watching playback, it was for shape of the shot, so I usually didn't watch the sound. It was mostly just, like, is that the shot I want it to be? So I could give notes and then feel free to keep going. Your reaction to how well she juggled? I think Ava, for one, managed the juggling in a way that was extremely honest and bare, which meant that your performance is extremely, like, in touch and human, but also your outlook on everyone was extremely perceptive. I actually felt that Ava was more relaxed than most of the directors. Well, you were at the end. I know. I was... Yeah, okay, yeah. But truly, truly, I mean that. Like, I was like, you were able to... I didn't feel that you were juggling as much as you were literally shape-shifting almost. Yeah. I felt like we were two actors trying to figure out a scene. Yeah. And that it wasn't this, like... Yeah. All right. Like, in a way, you'd slip in and out, and it was, like, it was more fluid. Thank you. You've been very forthcoming. It was very helpful, and congratulations. Thank you. Flicks with Patrick Stoner explores the craft and culture of filmmaking that enhance our communities for television stations and websites around the country.