Written and directed by Heather Graham, the comedy Half Magic is a story of female empowerment, in which three women turn their frustration over male dominance into a sisterhood, where they can lean on each other as they learn to love themselves without defining their own worth through the men in their lives. At the center of the story is Honey (Graham), an aspiring writer who just isn’t having her voice heard at work, and her personal life is also reflecting that. With the help of friendship and a female sexual empowerment class, Honey, Eva (Angela Kinsey) and Candy (Stephanie Beatriz) learn that you don’t have to give up your identity to achieve your personal and professional goals.

During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actress and filmmaker Heather Graham talked about wanting to make a movie celebrating women and friendship, the biggest challenges in getting this film going, having her voice heard, as a female filmmaker, what she most enjoyed about playing Honey, putting together this cast, funny moments on set, what she enjoyed about the experience of directing, her hope to do it again, juggling three different writing projects, and doing the British TV series Bliss, from David Cross.

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Image via Momentum Pictures

Collider: Congrats on this movie! Half Magic is just so much fun!

HEATHER GRAHAM: Good, I’m so glad you felt that way. That’s awesome! I get sick of watching movies where it’s about some woman being treated horribly and some guy has to save her. I just wanted to make it about the women as the heroes. It’s celebrating their friendship and there’s a happy ending. It’s cool!

You wrote and directed Half Magic, along with starring in it. What made this the right first feature for you to step behind the camera on?

GRAHAM: I’ve been watching a lot of stand-up comedy, and the stand-up comedy that I really love is when people tell personal stories. Maybe they exaggerate sometimes for humor, but there’s something about it that has a grain of truth from that person’s personal experience. So, I wanted to tell a story about how I grew up religious and how I had a fear and shame around my sexuality, and how I got over that and came to see my sexuality as a spiritual, beautiful thing and accepted myself. I also wanted to deal with sexism in the world and in the workplace. I wrote about this sexist boss and sexual harassment in Hollywood, and all of these stories happened before the movie came out. In the past, when women would complain about stuff like this, it would be like, “Oh, my god, she’s such a complainer! I don’t want to hear this!” Now, I feel like people are listening to it and taking it more seriously.

I spoke to Greta Gerwig about making her writing and directing debut with Lady Bird and she told me that she’d never wanted to act in it because she didn’t want to direct herself. Had you always wanted to take on one of the roles in Half Magic? Did you write the film knowing that you’d play this character?

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Image via Momentum Pictures

GRAHAM: I think I wrote it thinking, “Oh, I could act in this, and maybe I’ll get a director.” And then, my best friend, whose name is Michael Nichols, read the script and said, “Why don’t you direct it ‘cause this is a personal story and you could tell it the best?” I was nervous about it ‘cause I’ve never done it before and I didn’t actually grow up thinking, “I want to be a director,” but this is a story that’s not being told. I don’t see men writing scripts about this subject matter. So, I just decided that I was going to do it. It is scary when you are acting in your own movie, and my friend helped me, but it’s really actually fun to watch the other actors. I would totally, in the future, direct and not act in it. It’s fun to tell a personal story that’s real to me. Someone told me, “When they turn the camera on you, just tell the truth,” you can’t get more truthful than just telling your own personal story. It’s something that I believe in. It’s scary because you’re like, “Okay, I’m not just an actress in this.” It’s not like every single thing in this story happened to me in real life, but some of it did. The themes are all things that I really care about, so you feel more vulnerable putting it out there.

What were the biggest challenges you faced, in getting this film going?

GRAHAM: The biggest challenge was getting the financing. It was so hard to get the financing. People say things like, “Oh, nobody cares about this woman’s story.” They put these numbers through a grid and there’s certain movies that make money. They’re like, “Oh, there’s there female leads. Unless you have the three top movie stars in Hollywood, you’re not gonna get money to make this.” It was very, very hard to get the money. We got some financing a few years ago, and then it fell through. And then, we got this financier named Bill Sheinberg and, thank god, he gave us the money. It took years to find the financing.

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Image via Momentum Pictures

As a first-time filmmaker who’s also a woman, do you feel like your voice was heard and listened to, throughout this process? Was there anything you found yourself having to fight for?

GRAHAM: In the first round, when our financing fell through, I felt like they were just like, “Get bigger stars! Get the biggest stars you can get!” And that was frustrating. When Bill Sheinberg financed the film, he was much more supportive of my vision. He wanted me to express my vision. He just became incredibly supportive and wonderful. His family is this cool Hollywood family, and I just was really lucky because he’s a wonderful person. There are these creepy guys in Hollywood, but he’s not. He’s an honest, great guy. He was tough on the casting and he told me, “You should do this,” or “You should do that,” but as we kept going, he gave me more and more freedom and just really supported me. We have a great relationship.

What did you most enjoy about playing Honey?

GRAHAM: I just wanted to celebrate the fun I have with my girlfriends and just be real about some of the issues and things that I’ve gone through. I was like, “If I’ve struggled with this, probably some other people have, too.” I know other women I know have struggled with these things, and I think some men have, too. I remember talking about it once with this journalist, who was this Asian guy, and I was like, “You know when you grow up and you have a feeling of fear and shame around your sexuality?” And he was like, “Oh, you grew up Asian?!” I feel like there are a lot of religions that get you really freaked out about sex when you’re a kid, and it’s a journey of how you get over that, as an adult. When they tell you that sex is bad, you grow up feeling like sex is bad, instead of going, “Okay, I need to make good choices and love myself.” I think people come at situations a lot by just putting fear in you.

I love how different these three women are, and how different three of you are, as actresses. It makes it so fun to watch you together. How did you come to Angela Kinsey and Stephanie Beatriz?

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Image via Momentum Pictures

GRAHAM: To be honest, they auditioned, which is crazy. They were just amazing! Even though they both have never played those characters before, I feel like they are that kind of spirit. They both have this strength about them, and they also have a vulnerability. They both do really good drama and really good comedy acting, and that’s hard to find. It’s hard to find someone that can make all the dramatic beats feel real, and also find the humor in these situations.

There are some pretty wild moments in this movie, with each of these women. Did that lead to any particularly funny moments on set, either when you were acting in any of these scenes, or when you were directing the other actors?

GRAHAM: Angela was pretty scared to do a sex scene because she’s never done one before. She was terrified. It was funny. I think she might have drank a little tequila in the other room. And it was with Jason Lewis. I mean, that’s a dream come true.

What did you find that you most love about directing?

GRAHAM: I felt like I was a mom, in some ways. I was this loving parent and I just wanted to support everyone around me to do their best work. In some ways, I felt like I had more control than I normally do, and in other ways, I felt like I had no control and I was just watching these other talented people do their jobs. It just felt so fun. I just wanted to tell a story that was inspiring. There are so many great movies out there that are depressing, and I just wanted to tell a story that was inspiring and made you feel good, after you watched it.

Do you have any idea what you’re going to do next, as an actor and as a director? 

GRAHAM: I’m in this British TV show, called Bliss, that David Cross wrote and directed. We may do some more seasons of that. Hopefully, that will come to the U.S. And I’m writing some new scripts. I have one script that I wrote, called Chosen Family, and I’m writing a TV show about how cancer is big business. I’ve also just optioned a book. I have three projects that I’m working on.

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Image via Momentum Pictures

Is it more daunting to write and set up a TV series than make a movie?

GRAHAM: It is, but I feel like people are so brave to greenlight things in the TV world than they are in the movie world. In the movie world, people want to make these big tentpole movies that are superhero movies or sequels, and they’re not necessarily going, “What’s a cool, interesting, original story that we’ve never seen before?” In TV, they take more chances. That’s why I’m writing a TV show, too.

Do you see a point where directing could take priority for you, or do you want to keep a balance, in front of and behind the camera?

GRAHAM: I feel like directing was taking this amazing drug, which was scary and stressful, but I’ve gotta take that drug again because it was so good. I hope I get to do it again. There are so many factors. It’s easier to get an acting job than to get a directing project greenlit.

At this point in your career, what is it that gets you excited in a project?

GRAHAM: I really want to do things that empower women, and sadly, there’s not that many things out there that do. If you’re a massive female star, you can do it. But if you don’t have the ability to greenlight a movie, you end up in a lot of supporting roles, playing somebody’s wife or girlfriend. I guess I wanted to write the roles that I wanted, and give them to myself, so that I don’t have to audition for them. I’d also be happy directing things that I’m not in. I hope I get to do it more, in the future.

Half Magic is in theaters, on-demand and on digital HD on February 23rd.

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Image via Momentum Pictures