In Shush, young mum Ruth's love for baby Fia is undeniable. But under the strain of loneliness and a difficult domestic existence, she impulsively makes a drastic decision to set off with the baby, without telling anyone. This tense psychological thriller that asks how far we would go to keep our loved ones close, and who can we really trust?
I'd never really thought of myself as a writer, but an unusual experience happened to me when my son was small and I suddenly had the urge to get it down on paper.
That first draft of Shush was written in a flurry and when I sent it out to a couple of people in the industry to gauge a reaction, everyone was enthusiastic. I then got connected to an unbelievable powerhouse of female filmmakers, Jane Moriarty, the director and Jo Halpin, our producer. It’s a cliché but they were honestly such a dream team. We’ve had a brilliant collaborative relationship from the start and they really made me feel like anything was possible.
The shoot itself was an incredible experience, seeing the sets and characters that I’d imagined in my mind brought to life. I was pinching myself on set most days, having this talented cast and crew, all showing up day in, day out, at the crack of dawn, to make it all happen. We were lucky to get some brilliant actors on board including Mark Huberman, Bríd Ní Neachtain, Micheal Tient and of course, our gorgeous babies Bella and Capri Dixon Neville who both played baby Fia. We worked with twins as it gave us more flexibility and we were also able to do longer shooting days that crucially worked around nap times (theirs, not ours)! Shooting with babies was definitely a challenge at times but thankfully Jane and I had loads of tricks up our sleeves as mothers ourselves and the girls’ parents were amazing support too. Their mum Jenny Dixon is also an actress so she really understood life on set.
With our main protagonist Ruth, I wanted to write a character that is at once totally knowable but also deeply complex. She’s painfully lonely and insecure, but with baby Fia she becomes the most important person in the world. It was a unique experience to have access to the inner life of the character from the point of view of being the writer, as well as the actor. The length of time Jane and I had worked together on the project also gave us an easy shorthand when it came to the shoot. We both knew the story intimately and shared a vision of what we were trying to achieve. It was really important for us that Ruth would be a strong presence, and I really think everyone will have their own view of her and the choices she makes, right or wrong. People will definitely want to talk about it afterwards to compare opinions.
Shush is a tense drama that will really play with your emotions. From the reaction of people who’ve seen early cuts, I know we’ll have audiences on the edge of their seats.
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