Films, News, Women Directors

Rachel Griffiths to Make Feature Debut with Female-Led Horse-Racing Drama

Griffiths: Studio 10/YouTube

Oscar-nominated actress Rachel Griffiths is set to make her feature directorial debut. The “Brothers and Sisters” alumna is helming Teresa Palmer-starrer “Ride Like a Girl,” Deadline reports. Based on the story of Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to take home the esteemed Melbourne Cup, the drama is described by Griffiths as “‘Beauty And The Beast’ meets ‘Hacksaw Ridge.’”

Griffiths has been eager to step behind the camera for a long time, and discussed the prospect of directing with “Brothers & Sisters’” producers, but “just as I was getting there, I got pregnant for the third time and felt I wouldn’t be serving the show,” she recalled. She was inspired to make the leap after witnessing Payne make herstory in 2015. “It was an indescribable moment. Everyone remembers where they were during that race,” she explained. “I rang my producer and said, ‘We have to do this one.’ It tapped into so many things.”

The film follows Payne’s epic rise up against the odds. She was “always warned she could never be a world class jockey; not tough enough — not a man. But she fought for every opportunity to ride hard and race fast. Her father, Paddy (Sam Neill), and her family championed her ambition, despite early failures, broken bones, and a tragic family death on the racecourse,” Deadline writes.

“I’m having a moment where these stories are finding a place to land,” Griffiths said. “Women shouldn’t need permission to feel empowered to step up. In this moment I feel it, yeah, step up.”

The former “Six Feet Under” star previously helmed two shorts and three episodes of “Nowhere Boys,” an Australian series. She earned an Oscar nod in 1999 for “Hilary and Jackie.”

Other actresses with feature directorial debuts on the way include Kirsten Dunst and Carrie Brownstein. The former is helming an adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar” and the latter “Fairy Godmother,” a comedic revisionist take on the ubiquitous fairy tale character.


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