Tara Miele is a writer and director in both film and television. Her directorial work includes the backdoor pilot “Green Arrow and The Canaries,” episodes of “Arrow,” “Batwoman,” and “Hawaii Five-o,” as well as four micro budget feature films. She is also known for creating the viral video “Meet a Muslim” to combat Islamophobia, which has been shared around the world over 45 million times. Miele is a graduate of Ryan Murphy’s Half Foundation and the CBS Directing Initiative. She aims to create more socially conscious work in an effort to build bridges and conversations.

“Wander Darkly” will premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on January 25.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

TM: “Wander Darkly” is about new parents, Adrienne (Sienna Miller) and Matteo (Diego Luna), who are on the verge of breaking up when they get into a devastating accident. In the aftermath, Adrienne believes she has died and is just witnessing what came after, and Matteo has to convince her that she’s very much alive. He tries to make sense of her head by telling her their story. Together, they sort out truth from fiction as they renegotiate their past.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

TM: My husband and I were in a pretty bad crash several years ago — we’re fine, but I had blacked out after the impact and in the days afterwards, I was pretty concussed. At one point, I was laid up on the couch and calling to my six-month-old daughter in her bouncer nearby and she was ignoring me because six-month-olds do that, but for a moment I was sure that I had died in the crash and that I was just witnessing what came after. We would never move into the house we had just bought, and my mother would raise our children. The moment passed, but the idea that the end could come so quickly and unforgivingly shook me.

Several weeks later, my husband and I were on our way to recovery. We were at my mother’s house for Thanksgiving and everyone was fighting about the turkey and our kids were crying, and in all the craziness, I was struck by this overwhelming sense of gratitude for these messy, delicate little lives that we were living. We were so lucky for all of it. I wanted to share that feeling. That’s how “Wander Darkly” was born.

W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?

TM: I really want people to watch the film with others so they can experience it communally and ideally, at the end of the film, feel more connected to each other than they did when they walked in. I want people to be reminded of the value of the people and the love in their lives. I want audiences to watch this and go call their moms, or go home and have sex, or kiss their kids, or hug their dog!

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

TM: This film felt so hard to make, on set we joked that we were making “The Revenant.” Of course, like many indie films, we had a tight shooting schedule and an ambitious script — car crashes, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, dolphins! — to accomplish in a short period of time. But I would say the biggest challenge was communicating and crafting the specific, genre-bending, nuanced tone of the film at every turn.

It often felt as if we were writing a new language and every day figuring out how it worked. We had to navigate the difficult continuity of jumps through time and space, while allowing room for the actor’s crucial and beautiful work. We had to establish a sense of naturalness within elaborate pre-built moves and shot plans, be fantastical and grounded, funny and heart-wrenching, and — no matter what — emotionally honest.

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made. 

TM: I first brought the idea to producer Lynette Howell at 51 Entertainment. I knew the brushstrokes of what I wanted to do, and she encouraged me to spec it. After I wrote the first draft of the script, Lynette was the first person I sent it to. She responded and developed it with me over the course of a year and brought on her producing partner, Sam Housman. We went out to actors first, and then worked with Endeavor Content to take the package out to financiers.

Lynette and Sam had worked with Shivani Rawat and Monica Levinson at ShivHans Pictures previously on “Captain Fantastic” and felt they would be a perfect fit, so we took the script and package to them. They responded positively to the material, so I took a meeting with Monica and Connor Flanagan, ShivHans’ Head of Development, and walked them through my look book and my vision for the film, and ShivHans came on as financiers and producers.

W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

TM: My junior year of college, a friend dragged me to a student film screening and it changed my life. I had been acting and directing as a theater major but was feeling a little lost. I had always been a storyteller, always loved connecting with audiences, and had always been a fan of movies, but from afar.

It had never occurred to me that it was something I could do until that night, while I was sitting in the back of the theater watching these short black and white 16mm films flicker on the screen. It was as if someone had pulled back the curtain on the Wizard of Oz. I could see the construction of the work, and it hit me like a beacon. I knew right then that I would make movies for the rest of my life.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?

TM: The best advice I’ve received was on screenwriting, and it came from the late, great Bruce Paltrow before I’d ever written a thing: “Get your ass in the chair and get the pages out.” This philosophy has guided my approach to every aspect of filmmaking — focus on the work in the moment, don’t obsess, complete the draft, the take, the scene, the edit, and move on. Just do the work.

The worst advice I’ve received was on directing, when I’d only directed one student film, from a well-meaning producer: “It’s really hard for women to direct. You should produce. Women have an easier time producing.”

W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?

TM: Don’t be perfect — be brave. Try things that might fail big. And on top of that, try to enjoy it. Enjoy the risk, the question, the uncertainty of whether or not your crazy ideas will all work. That place of discovery can be so uncomfortable, but it is where all the good stuff happens.

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

TM: It’s impossible to pick one, but because I shout out Maya Deren in “Wander Darkly,” I feel it’s worth sharing that Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon” was one of the first experimental films I saw in college, and really drove home for me how film functioned differently than theater as a storytelling tool.

The way Deren uses film to traverse time and space seems obvious to filmmakers and audiences now, but at the time was revelatory. I also love how timeless and modern her images still feel, and her inherent indie spirit — making something out of nothing is something I’ve had to do for most of my career.

W&H: What differences have you noticed in the industry since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements launched?

TM: The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have been incredibly effective as a part of a larger movement of research and diversity efforts that have brought attention to and have attempted to combat discrimination against women in the industry. I have a picture on my Instagram from September of 2015 of 35 female directors sitting in my living room for a salon. At the time, most of us could not get hired at a level where we could make a living. Four years later, thanks to these movements, the USC studies, and the diversity programs, we’ve been given opportunities to prove ourselves, and are not only working but are directing pilots and studio features.

I’ve also seen many more women working in below-the-line positions on set in traditionally male-dominated departments. We certainly made a concerted effort to be conscientious of representation when hiring crew on “Wander Darkly.”