Interview with Screwdriver film director Cairo Smith: 'Divorce is an outcome from a relationship failing'

I was lucky enough to have an incredible relationship with our lead actors during filming, one with a lot of trust and a lot of room to explore possibilities in performance. Coming from theater, it was very important to me to secure a rehearsal period for the film before we started shooting. We worked out of the media office in the CSUN library, which was basically just a basement, and for a week we ran through the whole script and built the characters together through various exercises. When it came to shooting, all that work paid off immeasurably. I think the biggest difficulty inherent in this script is the amount of torment that the character of Emily undergoes, and the amount of time she spends being subjected to emotional abuse. AnnaClare Hicks, who plays Emily, had an incredibly tough job. She had to be authentic with those feelings and those emotions during a take, then find a way to get herself back out of it once we cut. That’s something the actors and I all worked together on, and I’m really grateful for the supportive environment they helped create on set.