Gracie Otto: ‘The more women in power, the better’

Australian filmmaker Gracie Otto chats about her famous family and why she is jumping into the director’s chair in the hope that it will amplify women’s voices in the entertainment industry.

Like many Australians, Gracie Otto is currently obsessed with real estate. Having just bought her first apartment in Sydney, the filmmaker has been spending her time in lockdown pottering around her new home, debating what furniture to buy and watering her bonsai plant.

“I feel like an adult,” the director, producer and writer tells Stellar with a grin.

“I was living across the road in a studio, so this is a big step up for me. It’s a very tiny, small apartment – I’m not, you know, making the big bucks.”

“I’d rather be in a tracksuit in my ugg boots, sitting behind a monitor, than in front of the camera.” (Picture: Manolo Campion)

“The worst thing you could do is to say things that you think are funny in front of a bunch of people who don’t laugh.” (Picture: Manolo Campion)

The 34-year-old has built up an impressive CV – in 2005, she directed her first short film, Tango Trois. This was followed by a number of short productions as well as acting in her first feature, Three Blind Mice, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2008.

She then decided to broaden her directing range; her debut feature documentary on British producer Michael White, The Last Impresario, premiered to much acclaim in 2013.

She has also directed numerous commercials and runway videos for big fashion labels, and has recently directed several episodes of TV shows Bump, The Other Guy and The Moth Effect. Her first feature film – Seriously Red, starring Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale – is currently in post-production.

“I definitely think it’s getting better [for women in the entertainment industry].”(Picture: Manolo Campion)

“The more women that get up into higher roles and take on more women, the more it can even out.” (Picture: Manolo Campion)

“I like to change it up. I really like doing it all,” Otto says of her diverse portfolio.

“I like very serious things that are more profound… and then I like ridiculous humour.”

Humour is a big part of the director’s DNA. While living and working in Los Angeles during her late 20s and early 30s, she completed a course in stand-up comedy and took to the comedy circuit.

“It was really good for my self-esteem because the worst thing you could do is to say things that you think are funny in front of a bunch of people who don’t laugh,” she says.

Gracie Otto (right) with her famous father and sister, Barry and Miranda, and Miranda’s daughter in 2005. (Picture: Getty Images)

“Everything else is really easy after that. I like doing things like that: that are hard. My stuff is definitely not political, I’m just self-deprecating. But the comedy space is very tricky now [in terms of] what you can push and what you can get cancelled for. So I don’t know if it’s the best idea for me.”

One of her better ideas, Otto says, was switching her acting career for directing. Coming from an acting dynasty [her father Barry and older sister Miranda are notable actors], it was perhaps a given that she would follow in those footsteps. And while she starred in a few films sporadically over the years, she always knew the director’s chair was where she would end up.

“I don’t know if I was that good at acting,” she laughs.

“I thought maybe I’d rather be in a tracksuit in my ugg boots, sitting behind a monitor, than in front of the camera. I don’t mind [acting], but I’m not as driven. I definitely think my mind has always been in directing and telling people what to do.”

An image of AIR Studios in Montserrat as seen in Under The Volcano. (Picture: Supplied)

In her latest feature documentary, Under The Volcano, Otto focuses on the life and work of music producer Sir George Martin and the recording studio he opened in 1979 in the shadow of an active volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat.

Some of the world’s biggest acts – including The Police, Dire Straits and Elton John – recorded albums at AIR Studios before Hurricane Hugo damaged it beyond repair in 1989. This was followed by a devastating volcanic eruption six years later.

“The first day we went [to the studio], I was kind of hoping that they might say it’s too dangerous. You can see the volcano and you can hear it, and the police make you park your car facing out in case it erupts, so you can run and jump in your car and drive out. Once they say that to you, you’re like, ‘Oh my God. Should we really be down here?’ Like, people haven’t been down here for 20 years,” she tells Stellar.

Gracie Otto features in this Sunday’s Stellar.

“Some of the greatest music in the world was recorded there. I’m just fascinated [with] that period and I’m always curious about the other periods of time that I didn’t live in.”

Otto is also passionate about telling women’s stories. Her production company, Dollhouse Pictures (which she founded with fellow Australians Rose Byrne, Krew Boylan, Jessica Carrera and Shannon Murphy) aims to tell female-driven stories.

“I definitely think it’s getting better [for women in the entertainment industry],” she says.

“It’s like in any industry – when a man takes on an internship with someone, they usually like to take on another man because they know how to relate to them better. So the more women that get up into higher roles and take on more women, the more it can even out.”

Under The Volcano is available on all major digital platforms on September 1.

Originally published as Gracie Otto: ‘The more women in power, the better’