Film school student one day, one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch the next. Rebecca Thomas took the plunge, committed to making her first feature film and the risk paid off big time.
Thomas’ “Electrick Children” features Julia Garner as Rachel, a teen growing up in a fundamentalist Mormon family. After discovering her father’s banned cassette player, Rachel just can’t help herself; she pops in a cover of Blondie’s “Hanging on the Telephone” and is immediately taken, so much so that when she realizes she’s pregnant three months later, she concludes she had an immaculate conception via the music. When her parents insist on an arranged marriage, Rachel makes a run for it and heads to Las Vegas to find the father of her baby – the man she heard on the cassette tape.
In the midst of a lengthy and very successful festival run, Phase 4 Films snatched up this little gem for U.S. distribution. In honor of “Electrick Children’s” run at the IFC Theater in New York City and at the Downtown Independent in Los Angeles, Thomas herself sat down to run through the process of making the film, including the inception of the idea, the curious title, production challenges and blessings, and much more. Catch it all for yourself in the video interview below and be sure to check out “Electrick Children” when it hits theaters on Friday, March 8th.
