Exclusive: Director and Stars Talk ‘The Boy Downstairs’ At TFF Premiere

Interview with Deirdre O’Connell

Tell me a little bit about being here in Tribeca.

It’s very exciting, I’m so happy for this movie. This movie is like ‘The Little Engine That Could.’ It’s a movie that was dear to my heart from the first time I read it, so I’m so excited that it got this far. It’s really a beautiful thing.

Tell me a little bit about your casting

Most of my stuff is with Zosia. And we had a fantastic time together. The relationship in the movie became the relationship that we actually have, where we just have a great chemistry and it was a big pleasure to work with each other. It’s an interesting story about those two women because they’re so different in age, but they find each other and there’s just something at that moment in life that they help each other with.

Was it fun to shoot in New York?

Yes, it’s always fun to shoot in New York.

What other projects do you have that you’d like to share?

I’m doing a play called ‘The Fulfillment Center’ at Manhattan Theatre Club that starts rehearsal in a couple of weeks and it’ll be in June and July there and I love it.

Tell us a little bit about it.

The play is about a fulfillment center. I don’t know if you’ve ever ordered from Amazon, but the places that pack all the boxes. This is the story of a woman who finds herself living in a campground and getting a job at Amazon packing boxes. That’s the simple version.