Special Report: Penny Lane is Dead (2026)

0:00Music Hold your ears folks, it's showtime. People pay good money to see this movie. When they go out to a theatre they want cold sodas, hot popcorn, and no monsters in the projection booth. Everyone pretend podcasting isn't boring. Let it off. Music Music Music Music Music You're also grown up. School's out. Be good. We're always good. You're causing a Katrina.

1:00Why is Kat here? Your dog? Fat? Slut? It goes in for a good knife? You've always been awful Kat, no one knows why. Oh my fucking girl. Kat dropped the cupcake. Penny! I only have some fun. Oh shit. How are you sweetag? It's Angus, it's my boyfriend. If you don't open this fucking door, will you gonna have a fucking problem? Settling moles might be a big one. Who needs that? Hello sweetheart!

2:00Sorry about that lady. This is really bad. Got again, Mound. You're a dafkoeaya. Riiiiiigggggggggggg. What happened? Everything is fine! Aaaaah! The city is so fucked. Pennylight is dead! Pennylight is dead! So I guess you're gonna die now? Hey folks, welcome to a special episode of the projection booth I'm your host Mike White. On this episode I'm talking with writer, director Mia Kate Russell about her feature film debut, Penny Lane is dead, which is now available on Shutter.

3:04Thanks so much for listening and I hope you enjoy this interview. I am so curious about you and how you got into Shoba's, especially going in through hair and makeup. You know, well I started as an actor and I wasn't very good obviously. And I became a makeup artist because I love the idea of building characters and I love stories. So yeah, 20 years as a makeup artist in film, very much working with the actors on creating their journey and their look for the film. And I think that appreciation and also just being on film sets. I wanted to tell my own stories. That's where the five shorts came up. And it's fine because when you're writing and even making a film, you don't realise I don't think you're aware of your own style or even your own personality. And that's probably a good thing. And it's not until you look back at a body of work and you go, oh, maybe I have an issue with my mother or maybe I've written it with this. I'm like, wow, there's some themes going on there. But I don't think you can go into a project knowing that.

4:06It came from wanting to create characters and tell stories. You have, like you said, you've been making short films for a while now. And I'm curious how you made that kind of transition while still working with the makeup program. Not easy. I've been my first film in my 50s. It's always money. It's face-up money is if we had money, what would we do if there was no boundaries? So my first five shorts were all self-funded. Absolutely, like 100%. Most of my cart and crew worked for nothing. I had the same cart and crew. I think almost all of them. So it's like a community of filmmakers. We all work for free on each other's short films. We all help each other out. And that's how the managed to get those ones done. And with Penny Lane, it was just a matter of finding producer who I literally met on somebody else's short film. But like my script. And then when he sent it to umbrella and they liked it, that really fit the ball rolling. Where did the idea for Penny Lane come from?

5:08It comes from my childhood at my grandparents' holiday house in the 80s. And the fact that we were so badly behaved and we were just dickheads. We were absolute teenage Aussie dickheads. We tried to smoke banana leaves once to see if we could get hired. We had done things that we did. And we got away with it because nobody knew. Because there was no mobile phone, no one texted or took photos of anything. We literally would go out and have adventures. And they would stay with us. So it started trying to recreate that adventure. I always wanted to create a really bad female character, a villain, a female villain, which I think I did with Kat. I think there's been a lot of female villains in people's lives that aren't seen on screen. I think there's a lot of great male villains out there. But I wanted to, there's some awful women, awful girls out there. And demons talk to any guy about his 10-inch daughter and will tell you,

6:09I just want to just capture one and put her on screen and stick her in the 80s, which was such a fantastic time period. Have you ever known a cat in real life? Are you kidding? Yes, haven't you? I have. Yes. Yeah, see, everyone has known a cat and they're terrifying. So yeah, let's talk about these women. Are the girls that we see in the film? Who are you closest to? I have my special relationship with all of them. I have to admit, I think Sophia, who played Kat was the youngest and also the same age as one of my kids. And I think because she was the baby on set, I definitely found myself hugging her the most. And cause she had to go the furthest emotionally as well. I'm close with all of them. I went to Fantasia recently with Sophia and Alexandra Jensen, who plays Amy. I was doing interviews yesterday with Bailey. He plays Penny Lane. And the boys, a couple of the guys, I've known for over 10 and 20 years.

7:11So actually, all really good mates. What about horror attracts you? I don't know. I'm wondering if it was my grandpa's gory stories as a child. I think kids are more protected now. And I can remember being so little. My grandfather's fetish, my chin on his knee, while he told me the most disgusting stories of head falling of corpses. And like mold growing on vomit. It was so visceral and disgusting. I was fascinated. It could have started with grandpa's plea stories. I've always been, in fact, I love a murder scene. I go to bed now watching True Crime. I sleep. It's true crime plays while I sleep. I'm better at what it's doing to my brain. I think you get to an age where you stop fighting it. And I'm not going to pretend I watch romcoms or I've seen the latest film. I don't. I pretty much only watch horror. So you're talking about, if you have money, all of the problems will be over.

8:14How did you get funding for Penny Lane? We took the script to Fantasia. The girls, the women in Fantasia love the script. And there we were introduced to upgrade. And a guy called Sam Zimmerman, who was then working at Shutter. And those two meetings with those payfold just set the ball rolling. Why did people got to know us and got talking? It happened really quickly. Obviously there were things going on behind the scenes that I didn't know about. So no one told me we're doing it until all the money, people and all those legal things had been done. But for me, once my producer, Andre said to me, we're going ahead. Everything moved so fast. And it was wild. And I just want to do it again and again. It was great. What was the actual shoot like for you? I live in Melbourne. I mean, he filled in Adelaide. So I'm so used to Melbourne cast and crews. And I was working with actors besides the two of the guys.

9:14I've never met before. And I was meeting for the first time on the shoot, besides you and I talking now in Zoom. And the crew, I didn't know. So one of the producers in Adelaide, we had the same crew that did talk to me and then bring her back. So they loved this producer. So he was one of our producers. She got this crew on. And it was like being the first day at school, hoping the new school likes you. And I literally walked in through all these changes. And I was like, hi. And they were like, hi. And I'm like, oh my god. I hope this works well. I hope you like. We hope we get along. And of course, it was just the coolest fucking people. And I don't know. Aussie film crews, you were just when I hang out with every day. We worked hard. We played hard. No one complained. And it was fucking freezing. The girls didn't complain. Bailey within his baby blue jumpsuit under a tree. And we tried to hit her up. And we're like, darling, you're going in the room. And she's like, I'm fine. I'm fine.

10:14So rest. Everyone definitely got down there. And we had a laugh, which is so important. We just laughed and made jokes and played music from most of the shoot. It was awesome. How was that different for you to be going into a future rather than a short? It was different because with the shorts, I used to love the same cast and crew with my shorts. So there was a lot of short hand talking in Maggie Mae. Like I said, the actress, OK, lie in the floor. I'm going to put a maggot in your eye. And she was like, cool. And then when you're on a feature and you with professional actors that you don't know. And suddenly you're going to intimacy coordinator and this legality. And you can't just add a someone lying the floor. I'm putting a maggot in your eye. There's a whole process you need to go through. So it was different, but I was so protected. It was weird. I felt like a baby bird and my producer for protective of me. And it was so weird because someone was making me tap the coffee.

11:16And every time I'd move room, they'd bring me a chair and they'd put the monitor in front of me. And I'm like, this is weird. You don't get this as a makeup artist. You get your own coffee. You get your own seat. So yeah, it's different in that way. You're traded really well as a director. And I can really get used to it seriously. It's a bit of a shock to the system coming home after that. So yeah, it was completely different. But he was a very enjoyable and welcomed difference as well. Did anything need to change from the script to the final film as you were making it? Yeah, second week of pre-production in Adelaide. They said to me that we're really sorry, but the first person that did the script break down. And the schedule, he was no longer working on the film before I got there. If you made a mistake and you need to take out six pages from your script. And I was like, what? And they're like, yeah, we don't have time to film it. You need to lose six pages. And I was like, what the fuck?

12:17And I literally said to the producer, drive me to the bottom shop. And she did. And I got my black Russian ingredients. I went back to the house. I was staying in and I poured a drink and I put my headphones on. And I said, just don't fucking talk to me for just give me 30 minutes. And within 30 minutes, I took out six pages. And I literally took out six pages from the third act. And then I said, OK, this is the script back again. I don't want to talk about it again. Because once you're in that process, you've got the foot head. And when they say to remove something, you're like, oh, shit. If I take out six minutes from this bit, all the beats change. And my midpoint is gone. So that was something I had to really adjust to. But if you've got no choice, you've got to adjust to it without complaining of being an arthol about it. Because nobody wants that to happen. You just have to adapt and think on your feet. And then how did the film either stay the same or change during the post process? It stayed the same. And we were lucky because we were shooting over the night.

13:19We would send the rushes of that night to editor in Melbourne. And by the end of that day in Melbourne, he would send us back a rough cut of what we shot the night before. And we shot in order of the film, which was amazing. So I would turn up to set, say, at 6 p.m. And we'd have dinner and the actors would all go around to me. And I'd show them what we shot the night before. And that'd be so excited. And because we were looking at that, we'd go, OK, now we're going to shoot what happens next. And that really helps. And then that must have made your whole post process go so much smoother that you had the rough cut already in place. 100%. I mean, basically shot the script. And a couple of producers said to me, we have shot the script. And I'm like, yeah, because I think isn't that what happens because of my first feature. They're like, no, you don't understand. We don't always shoot the script. But yeah, the script is going to be a lot of work. And the future, they're like, no, you don't understand. We don't always shoot the script.

14:19But yeah, the film is literally the script. Besides those last six pages. Tell me about the music. I really like the music in the film. It is a music from my childhood. It's also the music I play in the car now. One thing I am proud of in Australia, besides our horror film, is our Aussie rock. I love ACDC. In my mind, the film opened with ACDC. I didn't realize that they're the most expensive band in the world, which is wild. And it was literally half a million dollars to get one phone. And they're like, we can't do that. And then the music budget had to get halved. And they're like, okay, you can have 40 seconds of this song and 20 seconds of this song. And I was just, ah, so yeah, look, I would, I love the music in the film. I would have had so much more if we could have opening up with the angels in the 80s. The angels would sing this song. Am I ever going to fill your face again?

15:19And the pub bogans would scream back. No way. Get fuck, fuck off. So everyone in Australia hears that song. Knows that chant. And it's such an Aussie bogey thing that we probably don't know. It's called an in joke for Aussie when we watch it. So when you start the film, Aussies are going to, you know, oh my god. This film isn't to be taken net seriously. We're starting with that joke. And I hope some Americans, you know, people out of Australia know that. I don't know. It's a real Aussie culture theme. It's a big nod. I know it now. And everybody listening to this now knows it. So your message is getting across, which is fantastic. Good. I'm glad I get it out there. How did the film go over a Fantasia? It was fantastic because someone passed out. And that was the highest compliment that I can get. It happened near the end of the film and a certain scene. I was there with the adactors. Somebody stood up and I thought, like, someone's walking out of the film. And then I realized, you know, they're not standing up.

16:19There's actually a guy on the ground and people around him. And then the staff with there and then the paramedics were there. And then I'm like, fuck people watching the film. They're not watching the film. So we started like trying to get people to watch the film again by going, woo, woo, at the screen. And I went over to make sure the guy was okay. Because you know, the mother inside me was like, hang on, maybe some of this had a fucking heart attack, you know. And I ran over and I'm like, is he okay? Does he need food? And we're like, he's fine. He's fine. And they made up like, oh, he said he didn't have his dinner. And I thought, bullshit. Because I know when that happened. So I mean, I saw him get walked out by the paramedics. So he was fine. And then I went back to, this is going to be a high point of my life. I've had kids that I've made a guy pass out at my horror film. Gold the darn, this onion downhill from now on. Ms. Russell, thank you so much for your time. This was such a pleasure talking with you. Oh, thank you. That went so fast. You have a good day. You have a good day.

17:46I'm I ever gonna see your face again. Jam cars and taxi's like a wax works on the moon. Carry on, girls, pass me. But none of them are used. I'm I ever gonna see your face again. I'm I ever gonna see your face again. If I don't shoot near me, I got no place to go. Wait at the bar. Maybe you might show, I'm I ever gonna see your face again. I'm I ever gonna see your face again. I got to stop these tears that's falling from my eyes. Go walk out in the rain so no one can see you cry.

18:50I'm I ever gonna see your face again. I'm I ever gonna see your face again. I can stop the memory that goes climbing through my brain. I can no answer so the question still remains. I'm I ever gonna see your face again. I'm I ever gonna see your face again. I'm I ever gonna see your face again. And I ever gonna see your face again And I ever gonna see your face again And I ever gonna see your face again And I ever gonna see your face again

19:55And I ever gonna see your face again And I ever gonna see your face again I everplant aosed ya please again I've ever broken aosed ya please again I've everhen on aвой again I've everplant aosed ya please again