Hannah Fidell Talks ‘A Teacher,’ With Kate Mara, Writing A New ‘Euphoria’ Meets’ ‘House Of Cards’ Series & More [Deep Focus Podcast]

Indie filmmaker Hannah Fidell is circling back to her roots. While she has made relationship dramas like “6 Years,” the Netflix comedy, “The Long Dumb Road,” and directed plenty of TV (“Casual,” “The Act,” “Sorry For Your Loss“), her latest project is the most ambitious of her career.  It’s a remake and reimagining of her own work, her 2013 directorial debut “A Teacher,” about a female teacher who has an affair with one of her students and the implosion of those events. 2020’s “A Teacher,” now a 10-part FX series, is much different. Influenced by the events of #MeToo and her own personal experiences, “A Teacher” changes the perspective and point of view of the film and reconfigures it to also give space and agency to the victim, in this case, Nick Robinson. Starring Kate Mara as the teacher, “A Teacher” also expands the story, in Fidell’s view, more of a proper beginning, middle, and end, but also with a long epilogue about consequences and the impacts of abuse.

READ MORE: ‘A Teacher’: Hannah Fidell’s FX Sexual Predation Series Compels With Complexities & Consequences [Review]

Next up for Fidell, she directs one of the key episodes of the Pamela Anderson/Tommy Lee sex tape series, “Pam & Tommy” for Hulu, starring Lily James and Sebastian Stan as the infamous ‘90s paramours. Directed principally by Craig Gillespie, Fidell is working on the show, as indie filmmaker Lake Bell revealed on Instagram that she’s helming eps.

READ MORE: ‘A Teacher’ & The 65 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2021

“I’m doing the Pam Anderson backstory episode,” Fidell revealed. “I can’t even begin to tell you how great that show is already. Getting to watch Craig Gillespie direct, it’s the best. He’s so good. It’s such a treat as another director to be able to see someone else on set working because DGA rules [say], you can’t have another director on set, so it’s a real joy.”

READ MORE: Craig Gillespie on Pushing The Limits Of ‘Cruella’ & Porn Industry’s Debt To ‘Pam & Tommy’ [Interview]

As you’ll be able to tell from this conversation, Fidell was not at all daunted about being a director, writer, and showrunner on a huge 10-episode series. She absolutely loved the experience, the assistance, and collaboration of her writer’s room and fellow directors who helped (Andrew Neal and Gillian Robespierre). In fact, she’s trying to return to TV immediately and is currently writing a new series (presumably in development, but not announced, as she did talk about pitching the series).

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“I thought I would never go back to high school after ‘A Teacher,’ but I’m back in. How did I pitch it at the time? It’s ‘Euphoria’ meets ‘House Of Cards,’” she revealed. “So, it’s about growing up in D.C.”

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She didn’t reveal much more, but I filled in the blanks. We’ve seen the D.C. perspective a million times, I posited, but rarely from the perspective of teenagers whose parents are absolutely consumed by the Washington beltway and all the surrounding politics and how that might affect them socially and emotionally. “Exactly,” she said. “So, the stakes are very high.”   Check out the entire conversation below.

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