Riley Keough has been in this field for over a decade. At just 32 years old, Elvis Presley’s granddaughter has made a name for herself as an artist with a large ensemble, known for “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Magic Mike,” “Zola,” and Steven Soderbergh’s “Girlfriend Experience,” earning her an Award nomination Golden Globes.But before she broke out as an actress, Keough always wanted to be a director.
Keough is now at the Cannes Film Festival, where her first film, “War Pony” – the original puberty story she co-directed with her co-producer Gina Gammell – is at its world premiere.
Join Q and Jameel diverse Kring is in Cannes for a Women in Motion chat, where Keough said she cried when she found out that her “war pony” had been selected for Un Certain Regard in Cannes.
“The Cannes Festival gives her a validation,” adds Gammell, who will make her directorial debut alongside Keough. “Oh, he thought he was okay?” So we can continue,” she says.
Keough and Gammell met years ago and became fast friends. They started writing together as a hobby, but in 2017, they founded their own production company, Felix Kolba. “War Pony” is the first project to be done, but they didn’t have a big plan. In fact, the project came about by chance meeting on the set of “American Honey”, where Keough met the guys for two days.
“There were two actors who were hired locally to do a scene with me, and the scene was pushed after lunch, so we ended up with about six hours,” Keough says. “It was just one of those friendships you meet, and right away, I can’t stop talking.” These two actors are Sioux Bob and Bill Reedy, who grew up in Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, and co-wrote the screenplay for “War Pony.” Producers include Willie White and BT Kanti Win Burr Bear.
All in their twenties at the time, Keough, Sioux Bob, Reddy, and Gammell became close friends and began bouncing around an idea to create a project about the indigenous locals who had grown up in the reserve. “It just started with notes in our phone,” says Keogh. “We didn’t really have a goal. … We definitely didn’t think we were coming to Cannes. It was just a fun thing we all did together. Then it turned into a movie.”
Telling the story authentically was crucial to Keough and Gammell. “It was a very personal project for the boys,” says Keogh, explaining that the first-time directors collaborated on every detail with White and Poor Bear, from the writing to the tone to the feel of the camera angles, “so our looks aren’t really present,” she explains.
“It was constantly evolving,” Gammell says, adding that a common “mission” was to “collaborate responsibly and consciously.”
Other filmmakers have gone to the reserve in the past, basically brought cameras and started shooting. For Keough and Gammell, this was the opposite of their experience. “I think that’s typical of the movie,” begins Keough. Telling stories as filmmakers, going to communities, going, ‘Where’s the story here?’ And make your movie. She continued, “It wasn’t how this started.” Because the group came up with the idea organically as friends; The project has unwittingly blossomed over the course of seven years through trusting relationships and a deep understanding of nuance.
“You can’t do something like this without challenges,” says Keough. “We were just trying to lead with our hearts and be as vigilant and responsible in every moment as possible, and we made it. I feel so proud of what everyone could do. It was beautiful.” Gammell adds, “We’re really like a big family now. We have very big, very deep friendships – not only the actors and collaborators, but also their families.”
Keogh and Jamil are first-time directors, and are among the few at Cannes, with the festival’s main competition featuring only three films directed by women.
“I’m curious how many women are in a position to be in Cannes. How many women got the funding they needed?” Keogh says. “From our own experience, that has been very challenging, especially when we compare it to our male friends… We know that many first-time male filmmakers are making a lot more money than first-time filmmakers we know. So there is a deep mistrust in women’s leadership.” ..I think it’s very basic…Women need opportunities.”
Even with her Hollywood roots, Keough says getting a project is tough for a woman. “If I’m having a problem, what does that mean for someone who’s not an actress, and doesn’t have the relationships that I have?” Admirably self-aware, Keough suggests.
She notes that her name helped her get an agent back in the day and gave her more resources than others who tried to break into the entertainment world, but “at the end of the day, you have to step in and perform.” While she is “extremely grateful for the wonderful benefits she has been able to obtain,” when she began her career, Keough felt like she had to prove herself.
“I could have predicted, but I felt like, ‘Oh, well, let’s see what you can do,’ like nepotism,” Keough recalls her early days in auditions. “I’m really sensitive, and that made me really nervous….” Oh, should I go? Sorry to be here. That was my interpretation of what I felt…I felt like there was pressure.”
Today, that is not the case. Keough enjoys a love of acting, which keeps her busy a lot, but she’s also looking forward to continuing to carve out her own path as a director – which has actually always been her goal. “What I wanted to do was write and direct. When I was a little kid, I used to make little films with my friends. I would never act in it,” Keogh says. “Acting was something I wanted to do, but it came later… That was my original desire, to direct and write. .”
Keough and Gammell are currently working on another project, which they won’t reveal, other than Gammell’s teasing about “consumption, greed, America, lust, sex.”
“I don’t want to oversell it,” Keough adds, “but it’s very Shakespearean.”
Watch Keough and Gammell’s full conversation here:
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