Pitch Perfect actress Rebel Wilson directed, produced and starred in The Deb, an 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 night film, explained why her next directorial efforts will only be musicals. “When I was a teenager, it was a pretty dark time, and I got to see a musical at 14 years of age, because my dog auditioned for it,” she recalled.
The dog didn’t get the gig, but Wilson got hooked on musicals. “I saw these people dancing and singing on stage, they were so colorful and joyful, and that really helped me through my teenage years,” she added.
Wilson said she’s had two offers to direct musicals in the near future. “That’s why, if I’m directing more movies, it’ll only be musicals and bringing joy and positivity to people,” she insisted.
The Deb is a musical comedy set in rural Australia, and is produced by Amanda Ghost, Len Blavatnik and Gregor Cameron via their company Unigram and sister company AI Film.
Adapted from of the original stage musical of the same name, The Deb was produced in partnership with Rebel Wilson’s Camp Sugar Productions and Australian producer Bunya Productions. The comedy follows lovable farm girl and high school outcast Taylah Simpkins, played by Natalie Abbott, who is certain the upcoming Debutante Ball, or “the Deb,” is her one chance for a makeover.
But when her cynical city cousin Maeve (Charlotte MacInnes) is exiled to Taylah’s drought-stricken town Dunburn, she thinks the ball is regressive and disrupts the status quo. But in their search for the spotlight, Taylah and Maeve dig deep to find self-acceptance, and a date to the Deb.
Wilson told the TIFF audience the idea to direct her own movie came as she worked on Universal and Working Title’s adaptation of Cats, with the Australian actor playing as part of song and dance numbers Jennyanydots in the feature.
“I went up to the director and said, ‘I’m just not sure you’re doing it right,’ and a female producer who’d witnessed the exchange came over to me and said I think you should direct a movie one day,” she remembered.
At first Wilson wasn’t convinced the director’s chair was for her, but when she chose to attempt a directorial debut, she looked for inspiration to Australian classic movies like Muriel’s Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
“I thought, well, if I’m going to do a movie, it has to be Australian, it has to have a koala and it has to feature plenty of bush,” she added.
The Toronto Film Festival wraps on Sept. 15.
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