Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Lucky’s Brea Grant

Award-winning writer-actress Brea Grant brings us behind the scenes of Lucky. The must-see new film by Grant follows a suburban woman who fights to be believed as she finds herself stalked by a threatening figure who returns to her house night after night. When she can’t get help from those around her, she’s forced to take matters into her own hands.

Pop Culturalist was lucky (pun intended) enough to chat with Brea about Lucky.

PC: Tell us about Lucky and the inspiration behind the film.
Brea: Lucky is about a self-help book writer who starts getting attacked every night in her house, and the world around her seems to think that’s normal. She has to survive on her own. It’s a surreal take on a slasher movie.

The inspiration for the film is how women have to deal with the threat of violence every single day. I don’t know a woman who hasn’t been followed to her car or felt unsafe at some point. It was a cathartic experience for me because I had gone through a scary event myself and was trying to deal with that emotionally.

PC: Not only did you write the film, but you also starred in it. How early on in the process did you realize you would be wearing multiple hats? Was that a challenge?
Brea: I never planned on starring in it, but when Epic Pictures bought the movie they asked me to star in it. They also wanted Natasha Kermani to direct it. It all fell together that way. I did wear multiple hats. The script came from my brain, but once Natasha came on board, I had a partner in shaping the story for production. She and I were able to get the script where it needed to be for both the budget and time constraints we had. I passed it off to her when it came time to shoot. Once we started filming, I wasn’t still writing or doing all these other jobs. I was in every frame of the movie, so I really had to focus on being an actor. But I acted in the first movie I directed back in 2013. I’ve acted in some of the episodic work that I’ve directed and written as well. So it’s not an unfamiliar role for me. I’m used to it. Although I’d rather not do it. [laughs]

PC: You’ve mentioned in previous interviews that the film went through several rewrites, and one of the biggest changes was May’s occupation. Tell us about the rewriting process and why those changes were so vital to you and the story.
Brea: I always start with a vomit draft where I get out what I’m thinking and what I feel like the script is going to be. The more I get into it, the more I can see what’s working and what’s not. I did want May to start with this very strong perspective—one that didn’t quite fit with what was going to happen to her. She has the mentality that you should pull yourself up by your bootstraps and that you should be able to do everything yourself without the need for anybody else. Then she’s faced with this situation in which she obviously needs everyone else. That’s why she ended up becoming a self-help book writer.

There were some other iterations as well. At one point she had a child in the story. We ended up writing that out for budgetary reasons. But once I got the script to a certain place, there weren’t that many different versions of it. A few different people wanted me to try taking the story in different directions, but I didn’t feel like any of them were right for the script. When Natasha came on board, she was willing to fight with me to make sure we got the script I had originally written and that I wanted to make.

PC: You’re no stranger to horror. What is it about the genre that excites you as a creative?
Brea: I’m a fan, so that helps. I like watching horror and watch a lot of it. It’s a genre I’m inspired by and that I want to play in as a creator. It allows us to tell broader stories. It’s a little sprinkle of sugar with your medicine. This movie is about violence against women and the normalization of that violence. This genre is the perfect playground for saying something that people will be able to digest and think about.

PC: What do you hope audiences take away after seeing it?
Brea: You just hope it sparks conversation. This movie has a lot to say on different levels. There are a lot of things that will make people uncomfortable. There are a lot of people who will agree with May. A lot of people will disagree with May. The point of the film is to start a nuanced conversation about where we are with respect to violence against women. The movie is called Lucky, right? She’s obviously not lucky to be in this situation, but in some ways, May is lucky. She does have some privileges. She’s a White woman in America with a fancy house, so there are some things about her that are lucky. The movie obviously has a lot to say about the normalization of violence against women, but it also has things to say about privilege and things to say about the way women see themselves. Hopefully, the film will start conversations where people find things they agree with May on in addition to things they don’t.

To keep up with Brea, follow her on Instagram. Lucky is available on VOD, Digital HD, and DVD.