Horse Girl stars Alison Brie as a young woman who loves horses. To say anymore before you’ve seen the film would spoil a fascinating story, we’ll let’s keep things limited to the straightforward question we asked Brie and director Jeff Baena, who co-wrote Horse Girl:
What makes a horse girl a horse girl?
“You don’t have to grow up riding horses but I think you have to be focused heavily on horses,” Baena told MovieMaker. “There’s a sort of typical horse girl, which I think is a girl that grew up riding horses, generally doing English-style riding, and sort of feels outside of the sort of normal social spectrum.”
“They’re not alphas, they’re not betas — they’re almost like omegas, floating above and outside of that,” Baena continued. “And then I think there are a bunch of girls who tend to just love horses, on their Trapper Keeper, drawing little horses and stuff. They probably have a rich fantasy life.”
Brie added: “I think the part of it that we responded to is this idea of them being outside the normal social structure in a high school or middle school because they have other interests. They are super content living their life focused on those interests… There’s a very mysterious confidence that comes with having these other interests.”
She said Horse Girl examines, “what happens if that girl kind of just isolated herself within those interests and now we’re seeing her in her mid-30s, having never created really meaningful relationships with other people outside of those interests, and now she’s a bit disconnected from the world of her horseback riding as well?”
You can listen to our full interview with Baena and Brie right here:
Or on your favorite podcasting app, while riding a horse:
Here are highlights of the episode, with timestamps:
2:00: Alison Brie and Jeff Baena interview begins.
2:45: How the film suffered from skepticism and misunderstandings, and how the Duplass brothers helped make it a reality.
3:40: How much did Jeff Baena and Alison Brie want the film to be open to interpretation?
4:20: Alison Brie: “We certainly designed it so that upon multiple viewings people might pick up a little bit more of what we feel like is the through-line to the story.”
5:30: “A major crux of the film is how terrible it can be to not be able to trust your own mind.”
7:10: A tech issue arises and is handled in a humorous fashion.
10:30: Jeff Baena:”I feel like genre’s kind of like the bumpers at a bowling alley…”
12:28: What is a horse girl, exactly?
14:50: Your host is scared of horses.
Horse Girl is now in theaters and on Netflix.
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