Pitch perfect Actress Rebel Wilson directed, produced and starred The Deban Australian musical comedy that had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Saturday night.
And Wilson, who was on hand for a post-screening Q&A at Roy Thomson Hall for TIFF’s closing film, explained why his next directorial efforts will be all musicals. “When I was a teenager, it was a pretty dark time, and I saw a musical when I was 14, because my dog had auditioned,” he recalled.
The dog didn't get the job, but Wilson became hooked on musicals. “I saw these people dancing and singing on stage, and they were so colorful and joyful, and that really helped me through my teenage years,” he added.
Wilson said he has received two offers to direct musicals in the near future. “That's why if I direct any more films, it will only be musicals and I will bring joy and positivity to people,” he insisted.
The Deb is a musical comedy film set in rural Australia, produced by Amanda Ghost, Len Blavatnik and Gregor Cameron through their company Unigram and affiliate company AI Film.
Adapted from the original stage musical of the same name, The Deb was produced in collaboration with Rebel Wilson's Camp Sugar Productions and Australian producer Bunya Productions. The comedy follows adorable country girl and high school outcast Taylah Simpkins, played by Natalie Abbott, who is certain that the upcoming Debutante Ball, or “the Deb,” is her only chance for a makeover.
But when her cynical city cousin Maeve (Charlotte MacInnes) is exiled to Taylah's drought-stricken town of Dunburn, she sees the dance as regressive and disruptive to the status quo. But in their quest for the limelight, Taylah and Maeve dig deep to find self-acceptance and a date with Deb.
Wilson told the TIFF audience that the idea to direct his own film came to him while working on Universal and Working Title's adaptation of Catswith the Australian actor playing the part of the song-and-dance numbers Jennyanydots in the film.
“I went to the director and said, ‘I’m not sure you’re doing this right,’ and a producer who had witnessed the exchange came to me and said, ‘I think you should direct a movie someday,’” she recalled.
Wilson wasn't initially convinced the director's chair was for her, but when she decided to attempt a directorial debut, she looked to classic Australian films such as Muriel's Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
“I thought, well, if I'm going to make a film, it has to be Australian, it has to have a koala in it and it has to have a lot of vegetation in it,” he added.
The Toronto Film Festival will conclude on September 15.