You may recognize Eva Victor as Rian from “Billions” or for their sharp satire writing for “Reductress.” This year, they’re poised to make their mark as a director with their debut feature film, “Sorry, Baby.”
The critically acclaimed A24 project, which premiered at Sundance in January, follows Agnes (played by Victor) through five pivotal years as she navigates and rediscovers herself in the aftermath of a sexual assault. The film is a stunning portrait of friendship, resilience, and joy. Yet during a post-screening Q&A at Independent Film Festival Boston’s closing night at Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, MA, Victor revealed that the film was never meant to be anything more than a personal journal entry.
During the pandemic, while on break from “Billions,” Victor found escape through television and movies. They were familiar with visual media through creating their satirical shorts online, but they were “excited to dive into something that felt a lot slower.” So they escaped to a cabin in Maine in the dead of winter “and wrote [the script] with my cat and kind of just gave myself the privacy of, kind of like that therapy thing of writing a letter to someone but never send it.”
However, when they started to show the script to family and friends, their loved ones were so moved by the emotionally compelling story that they encouraged Victor to share it with the world.
Part of what makes “Sorry, Baby” so captivating is its balance of humor and sincerity, a blend that comes naturally to Victor, a former comedy writer. “My comedy background was at a satire website in which the rule of writing was we punch up, we don’t punch down. Which in the comedy world means we make fun of institutions and people with power,” they explained.
“The film tends to make fun of moments of the absurdity of life,” they added, “how we fail people and how institutions fail people, and in everyday little ways and in big ways too…it’s about finding the humanity and the weirdness in how everyone is weirdly trying to do the thing they think is best, but is failing.”
Victor points to Natasha (played by Kelly McCormack), one of the film’s more absurd supporting characters, as a prime example of this paradox. “She seems the most outlandish, then eventually, hopefully, has a moment where it all kind of makes sense why she’s acting so deranged. You get a sense of, maybe she’s been through something really bad, too, or something scary. So the comedy, hopefully, feels truthful.”
That truthfulness is also reflected in the emotional linchpin of the film: Agnes’ friendship with Lydie. The story hinges on their chemistry and the mutual care they show one another. Victor even compared casting Lydie to “casting a romantic lead.”
They found their Lydie in Naomi Ackie (Mickey 17). “I met with Naomi, who was like a dream, so kind, so warm, so trusting. And then we read together, I think there was a real special feeling when we read together. It was very easy. And I loved her accent. I felt so inspired by how she talked,” Victor shared. They were so moved by Ackie’s performance that they even adapted parts of the script to better match her interpretation of Lydie.
Victor built on this critical foundation through deliberate choices in the production process. They scheduled a key friendship scene at the very start of filming and structured the narrative chapters in reverse.
“The film obviously has this violence in it, but the film is really about friendship and about what it feels like when someone listens really well and can carry you through really difficult times,” Victor explained. “It always made sense to me to have you meet Lydie and Agnes as friends before you find out anything that went down. And I wanted to give Agnes a chance of being someone to everyone before you find out why she has her oddities. It felt really important to prioritize their friendship over any violence, and also set the tone that this film is about joy.”
After reminiscing about filming the movie in the charming seaside town of Ipswich, about an hour from the theater, Victor was asked what’s next. With a smile, they replied, “I’m celebrating this one, y’all.”
While Victor has no immediate plans to write or direct another film, “Sorry, Baby” is certain to leave an indelible mark on anyone fortunate enough to experience it.
Featured Image Courtesy of A24
