From Variety · Daniel D'Addario · · 1m 20s
Trudie Styler knows this hospital story by heart
A TIFF dramedy about a hospital, made by a director whose own family works the wards.
In brief
A TIFF dramedy about a hospital, made by a director whose own family works the wards. Styler took years to commit to 'Up Against It' because the material was personal, not because she was undecided about the craft. Originally reported by Variety.
A TIFF premiere with heart
'Up Against It' premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 12, a medical dramedy starring Antonio Banderas and Eva Birthistle.
Known like the back of her hand
Director Trudie Styler says she knows the story intimately. She means it in two ways at once, one about the work and one about her own life.
“I know this story like the back of my hand.”
Years of circling the script
Styler did not jump at the screenplay. She spent years weighing whether to take it on before committing to direct.
Moved from the US to the UK
She workshopped the script rather than shooting it as written, and one change was relocating the whole setting from America to Britain.
Both her sisters are nurses
Most of the film unfolds inside a hospital, a world Styler grew up close to. Her two sisters work as nurses.
Nursing as a calling
For Styler, the job is about stepping into the hardest moments of strangers' lives and staying there with them.
“It's a calling to want to become a family member to the families who are struggling the most.”
The headline
Styler took years to commit to 'Up Against It' because the material was personal, not because she was undecided about the craft.
