What if we had a world that catered to families rather than individuals? What if, in our artistic pursuits, we left room for care? There is so much regarding women’s health and motherhood that is not shared. We just assume it’s a part of life, and we should just be grateful. Yet a lot of women I know who become mothers are blindsided by the process. I feel motherhood is not as valued onscreen, even though it is one of the most incredible aspects of life, whether you’re a mother or not.
So when I saw “Another Happy Day,” it really immersed in what it feels like to be a new mother during the postpartum period. For me, this was very enlightening, as I have not embarked on motherhood yet, but it may still be a possibility for me. I’m grateful to Nora Fiffer for her film, and grateful for our conversation. “Another Happy Day,” which stars Lauren Lapkus and features Carrie Coon, who were both EPs on this project, is now streaming on most online platforms.
What inspired this project?
When I became a mother, I was really surprised by the difficulty of the logistics of parenthood. It completely blindsided me, even though I thought I was prepared for the postpartum period. People say that it’s like the shortest time, but the longest days, and I was really interested in what time was doing to my brain and my experience of life. I wanted to represent the postpartum period in film because I had never seen it represented onscreen in an honest, raw, and funny way. I also really wanted to expand time because that is what she’s going through. That’s what new parents, particularly mothers, are going through. It’s this most relentless state of being on call or on.
Let’s talk about your cast, starting with your lead. How did you find Lauren Lapkus for this main role, and how was it working with her in this particular project?
It was a dream to work with Lauren. I know her from way back, since high school. Because I’ve known her for a long time, and I know how funny she is, I also suspected and believed that she had this capacity to play the range of this character that was sort of untapped in the roles that she had been given and earned over the years. So I started writing with Lauren in mind. Imagining her for this role was totally hopeful and wishful. It’s not like we were in touch all of the time. So when I was happy with the draft after thirty versions, I sent her the script.
I was writing for years, as one tends to do when they have a little child. It took time. So when I reached out to Lauren, I was finally in a place where I felt good about the script. Initially when I started the project, she hadn’t had a child. And then when the film got more legs under it, she had. So she deeply connected to it, and then fortunately, came on board. I think this role was literally made for her, but also I feel that it completely exemplifies her range, which I think was previously undiscovered.
Becoming a mother brings a whole other layer to it.
And now she has two, which is wild. That’s how long it takes to make a movie, and then I have two also.
I also loved the actress Marilyn Dodds Frank, who played Joanna’s aunt. Can you talk about working with her as well?
This role was written for her. She’s extraordinary. And she’s kind of like the best kept secret of actresses. Marilyn and I met doing a play together that ran for a long time at the Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago. I played the younger self, and she played the older self. So we became very close, and developed this co-dependent friendship, not unlike the one in the film between Joanna and Miriam. When I writing the film, I had her in mind. What is so special about working with Marilyn is that she has such a theatre vocabulary, and Lauren has such a strong film and television vocabulary.
So the two of them arrived on set both with humility and curiosity about the other. They both were ready to learn and rise to the other, endowing the other one with their expertise. So they worked beautifully together, each eager to lift for one another. Because I wrote this for both of those particular actors, I had a certain vocabulary with Lauren, and a very different vocabulary with Marilyn. And that was really fun to find, because they couldn’t have had more different processes. It was so exciting to see how compatible these different styles were.
Can you talk about your producer team? And of course Carrie Coon, who is so amazing, being a part of it.
This film was true grassroots indie. I’m constantly making work in theater, and making independently made projects. So to develop an experienced team was a new venture. I credit the lead producer Jessie Holder Tourtellotte with assembling such a great team.
I knew Full Spectrum Features, so I reached out to them hoping that the whole organization would come aboard, but the film was too baked at that point. Thankfully, Eugene Sun Park said that he would independently come on as an EP, and he was a helpful resource who provided guidance throughout the process.
As for Carrie, she was a dream come true in every way. She was incredibly game, humble, hardworking, and all of those things. Both Lauren and Carrie came on as executive producers for a few reasons. One, because it’s an independent film, and to have stake in the film is really important too. We knew that it lent legitimacy to the film to incorporate them as leaders on the project as well. They are both parents now of two, so it felt really important that the project was female-led all around. All four of those women, myself included, are mothers. Eugene is a father, and an active one at that. It was really important to load the team with parents, especially since we were prioritizing childcare and eight-hour days. It was just part of the ethos of the film from the beginning, and I think it made the project attractive.
I think that’s great, and I hope it’s the future for filmmaking.
Me too, and thank you. I feel like we have to set a precedent. And if a small independent film can do it, then why not any other film? To amplify that message, I really insisted on putting the child care providers in the opening credits so people would see that in order for people to show up to set, someone needed to care for the children. That was a priority here. If we’re going to tell a story about the struggles of new parenthood, let’s lend some visibility to the people who make it possible to raise children and work.
Can you go into a little bit more about the impact you’re hoping this film will have?
Yes, thanks for asking! It’s early yet because the film hasn’t officially been released, but we’re in conversations in a very grassroots way. We are talking to individuals who are in the healthcare field and asking them how we can share this film with their networks. For example, there’s a midwife here in my town who is really an advocate. And there are two things that are happening right now. One is that she is informally coordinating a group of her patients to go see the film in the theater. And what happens with an event like that is great, rich conversation. It makes the film an intentional experience with a professional lens.
And then, here where I live in New Hampshire, we’re in the early stages of talking with the fire department because they have EMTs who they’re trying to train for obstetric emergencies. Pairing medical advocacy with narrative fiction is sort of a dream, because we see how the import of narrative fictional characters unlocks some kind of truth that we can connect to, and then we can apply it from there. There are so many different ways in the health field and educational field to start thinking about how we support people in the postpartum period.
Your cinematographer Christopher Rejano has worked on so many Chicago film productions, and he is so good. Can you talk about your process of working with him?
Chris Rejano was an incredible partner on this film. It was my first time I was working with him. My foundation is in the theater, and something I always keep an eye toward is stretching myself in my art, and that can also be applied to the film world too. With this film, it was my first time writing and directing a feature, so I’m certainly stretching. And for Chris, he mostly works in genres like horror, thrillers and procedurals. So he was very interested in making a comedy, as that was a genre he hadn’t worked with as much. He brought such beautiful palettes to his work. I mean, the way that he studied Lauren’s face before we got to set was amazing. He took the time to really consider how to light her, and make her look as gorgeous as a painting, as it was portrayed in the film, which isn’t necessarily how comedy is treated. It was a nice marriage of styles, he and I. We both knew we had so much to gain from each other as a unit. We really trusted each other, consulted each other, and gave each other space. I can’t wait to work with him again, he’s absolutely terrific.
What do you hope people see in your film?
I think of this film as the one I wish I had seen before becoming a mother. I think there is simply something simply powerful in representing an experience that doesn’t meet our eyes very often. From an artistic side, I really want people to experience time in the way that Joanna experiences it. That camera is very still because she can’t move. She can’t get out of the chair because her baby is on her, so neither do we, the viewer. We’re stuck there too. We don’t get to get up and see what’s in the silverware drawer. We’re really experiencing what she’s experiencing. As uncomfortable as it is, I hope people will go on that journey and experience that kind of tension and release. And by going on her journey, I hope that people have a wider perspective on the postpartum experience and consider it more deeply. This is actually a time in life that is unlike any other. And I also hope that people laugh. The invitation is to come and to laugh at the absurdity, and to actually find the pockets of joy.
The other hope is that we keep moving in the direction of taking care of our people better on set. It takes a lot of effort and it takes budgeting, and really convincing people to simply to take care of your cast and crew. But it is important to do what should be done. I hope what we’ve done is precedent-setting, and that we’ve set a new kind of standard. Carrie and Lauren felt the eight-hour days really made the difference, and I agree that the duration of work time made the greatest impact on people. We were not hurried or rushed. We were creative and nimble. We were simply prepared and knew that we had eight hours, and therefore ,just like you budget money for it, you budget time. It’s how I want to work now, and I think it’s how a lot of people want to work. It’s a lot of preparation, but it is so worth it.
And finally, how was it working with the Chicago film community?
Chicago is my hometown. That’s where I had my daughter. She was born in Evanston and we shot in Chicago and Evanston. But I have not lived in Chicago for about eight years, so it’s really a treat to come back to what has always been an artistic home to me. It was also really special to work with some of the day play actors who I had revered on stage. To assemble that kind of cast was really delightful, because I had either worked with them in theater, or had wanted to. So it was a great way to build a team.
