there are always going to be issues, but that’s the
nature of it. It’s kind of fun – I’m never afraid of any
confrontation. I’m a fighter ... but I always have to
combine lovers and fighters in my collaborations
because there can’t be too many fighters, and with too
many lovers not enough gets done!”
KREW: “I’m a lover.”
JESSICA: “I’m a diplomat.”
GRACIE: “I feel like I’d be a lover ... I was the good
girl at school!”
KREW: “Rose is a fighter, for real.”
(Rose laughs. A discussion about high school ensues.)
KREW: “Did you know Shannon got married in
Thailand recently and I was the celebrant?”
SHANNON: “But she’s not a real celebrant! I said to
her: ‘Look, I know I got you to MC but could you
also be the celebrant? You’d be so great during the
ceremony and no-one will know because you’re such
a great actress. We had already been legally married.”
ST: “Have any of you worked directly together?”
KREW: “Rose and I have done a play and a TV show.”
ROSE: “It was an ABC show called Fallen Angels
that we did years ago and we did an episode together
where we played lesbian lovers!” (Everyone laughs)
KREW: “We were 16.”
ROSE: “We met when we were 13, in high school
and I was her bridesmaid [in 2012].”
KREW: “Gracie and Jess have known each other for
years and years and have worked together.”
JESSICA: “We did a lot of international travel
together last year for The Last Impresario.”
KREW: “And we all put money into Gracie’s film.”
GRACIE: “Oh yeah, thanks!”
KREW: “We all partied randomly in Paris one night.”
ST: “How important is it to have support from friends
when you are working in different parts of the world?”
ROSE: “I think it’s paramount. Krew has been working on her
screenplay for over a year, funding it and developing it with
a producer, and slowly, organically we started to talk more about it
and she would run things by me to a point where we were like:
‘Why don’t we just do this together?’ I enjoy supporting Krew and
she enjoys having a fresh set of eyes on her work.”
KREW: “In turn, I’m often there doing lines with Rose or going
to previews of her play and offering up other thoughts and giving
her honest opinions on what she’s doing. It’s so natural for all of us
to suppor t each other, so coming together for this was just label ling
something that we’re already doing. It is a hard industry: it’s hard
to make money, it’s hard to get ahead, it’s hard to stay interesting
and relevant and it’s great to be able to go: ‘Cool, we’re stronger as
a group than we are as individuals in terms of getting creative and
telling stories that are unique and different and that speak to us.’”
JESSICA: “Being creative people, you get stuck in your head a lot,
you question the things you do and your validity and your opinion
and you feel everyone around you is doing the same. So this is an
opportunity to get clarity and confidence. I have so much more
confidence knowing I have these four amazing women around me
who each have incredible success in their own right and will
continue to have success, but are also there to support each other.”
KREW: “I think it’s healthy; it’s quite a meditative thing to be
able to come and story tell within the confines of this collective.”
ST: “How will you keep in contact around the world?”
ROSE: “Skype, Viber, emails. We all travel a lot.”
(They call out various cities they regularly find themselves: Sydney,
Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong, Berlin, London.)
KREW: “It’s nice. I prefer we don’t all live in Sydney because we’re
all over the place, so it’s a 24-hour connection.”
ST: “I imagine your stories won’t just be about Australian women.”
ALL: “No rules!”
KREW: “It will be everything and anything that grabs us.”
ST: “What do your partners think of the Doll House?”
SHANNON: “Dan [husband, actor Dan Wyllie] hates it [she
laughs]. No, he actually asked to join.”
ROSE: “That’s so cute.”
SHANNON: “Seriously, they’re 100 per cent behind us.”
ST: “Sitting here together you all look like a gorgeous girl group. So
who would play what if you were a girl group?”
KREW: (Playing air guitar) “Gracie would be on the bass.”
GRACIE: “Can’t I be drums? No, Shannon would be drums.”
SHANNON: “Am I angry?” (They all laugh, and a debate ensues.)
JESSICA: “I think Rose and Krew would be singers. I’d be the
back-up dancer.”
ST: “Who has inspired you throughout your career?”
GRACIE: “I like women like Miranda July and Julie Delpy. They
all collaborate with other people and wear more than one hat,
which I feel is something that is part of this group.”
ST: “Reese Witherspoon has talked about how she formed her production
company because she was sick of getting typecast in roles and wanted to
find her own stories to produce. What do you think of that?”▲Gracie Otto
wears a
Christian
Dior jumpsuit,
$9,200, and
belt, $780.VOGUE.COM.AU – 167