Alicia MacDonald Talks “Finding Emily,” Subverting Rom-Com Tropes, and the Rhythm of the Edit (INTERVIEW)

In Finding Emily, a lovesick student union sound engineer named Owen (Spike Fearn) launches a campus-wide search for a mystery girl after receiving a phone number with a missing digit. Along the way, he teams up with Emily Raine (Angourie Rice), a cynical psychology student who secretly uses his romantic quest as a case study for her thesis on the futility of love. Produced by Working Title Films and shot across Manchester, the film marks the feature directorial debut of Alicia MacDonald.

We at FandomWire sat down with director Alicia MacDonald to discuss bringing an indie sensibility to a studio rom-com, fine-tuning comedic timing in the cutting room, subverting classic genre tropes, and why radical optimism matters today.

Finding Emily Interview

FandomWire: You’ve been working on this film for years, and now that it’s finally coming out as your feature directorial debut, what does it feel like as a filmmaker to be in the middle of this rollout?

Alicia MacDonald: It’s so funny you say that. I was literally just having a moment sitting here in a hotel room in West Hollywood, talking about my first film. It’s surreal and overwhelming. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so vulnerable, raw, excited, and proud of everyone involved. I spent nearly four years on it, and the edit was specifically just me and Phil, our editor, down in the basement of Working Title cutting this thing together. Then you finish it, send it out into the world, and it doesn’t belong to you anymore. Everyone has their own opinions on it, which is really cool, but you just have to let it go.

FW: Rom-coms are so often made or broken in the edit. How did you find your way through the post-production process to nail that specific balance of comedy, romance, and drama?

MacDonald: Comedy-drama is something I’ve been doing for the last ten years in television, and that comedy element was always vital to me. I wanted people to laugh, and I wanted that levity. The rhythm really came into its own once we started adding music. People talk so kindly about the soundtrack, but Phil has such an incredible rhythm as an editor. We wanted the pacing to feel held by the music, with the action landing right on beat so it feels satisfying.

The beginning took a really long time to get right. We originally had three other scenes at the start that took me forever to realize we didn’t need. You only have those first few precious minutes to tell the audience they’re in safe hands. Right toward the end of post, I realized we could cut all the setup and go straight into Owen getting hit by the fairy at the student union. From there, it was just me and Phil trying to make each other laugh with different cuts and finding ways to slip a joke into serious moments to keep the audience hooked.

FW: The film has such a rich, gorgeous look to it, between the color palette and the production design. How did you work with your heads of department to balance those technical elements without losing the grounded reality?

MacDonald: It was a constant collaboration between costume, production design, and Rachel Clark, our DP. We wanted lots of color. Bobbie Cousins, our designer, had a specific palette with this “Manchester red” that he infused throughout the sets. Sara Hassan in costume design brought that through as well, like the red jumper Owen wears at the end. The core pitch to all the department heads was making an indie movie within a studio framework. Our main guiding light through every visual decision was figuring out how to keep it feeling honest and authentic.

FW: What films or visual references helped shape the visual language of Finding Emily?

MacDonald: The biggest reference for me and Rachel was When Harry Met Sally…, especially for the two-shots of Spike and Angourie. We wanted a lot of camera movement, so we used a lot of Steadicam and handheld to give it an energy where it feels like anything could happen at any second. That allowed us to do those classic walking-and-talking two-shots where you get to watch them get to know each other while the city of Manchester exists organically in the background. I deliberately avoided shooting a ton of singles and tight close-ups. Even in the bigger emotional moments, I just wanted to hold the frame and let both actors share the space together.

FW: When you’re directing a romantic comedy, how much of the process is about honoring the traditional steps of the genre versus actively bending them to try something new?

MacDonald: I was always trying to bend them. When I first got the script, I hesitated for a second because rom-coms have gotten a bad reputation culturally for being formulaic. I loved the classics, so I decided the only way to do it was to interrogate every single trope. You look at the meet-cute, the running sequence, the declaration of love at the end, and friends-to-lovers. I told myself that if a trope was going to be in this movie, it had to be there for a character reason, not just because the formula dictates it.

The formula is part of the appeal because audiences know the destination, which means they’re along for the journey. It was about breathing fresh life into those expectations and grounding it in a modern, honest perspective.

FW: Were there any classic rom-com beats that you initially resisted, but later realized were essential to the story?

MacDonald: The running sequence was definitely one. At first, I thought, “Why do people always have to run in these movies?” But as I thought about it, I realized audiences genuinely need that release. There wasn’t any running in the original draft, so Rachel Hirons and I found a way to work it in where it felt romantic but led directly into chaos. Emily runs toward Owen only to catch him at the bar with Fairy Emily, and Owen runs straight into discovering her thesis notes.

The other big one was the “dark night of the soul” sad montage. You know it has to happen when everything falls apart, but we wanted to approach it differently. We stay with Emily while she goes through it, and we let the audience genuinely miss Owen. Then, right at the end of that sequence, we have her best friend Anna pull her out of her sadness with that spontaneous dancing scene set to James Blake. It undercuts the traditional montage and shows that she has a support system. The heartbreak is awful, but she has people in her corner who love her.

FW: Emily and Owen feel like such complete, distinct individuals. Did that character depth exist right away, or was that something you and Rachel Hirons built out over time?

MacDonald: It took a lot of work because the initial script had much less specific character detail. Rachel and I spent a lot of time digging into their backstories. Why does Owen behave the way he does? Why is Emily so guarded? What are their relationships with their parents and friends like?

I added little quirks, like Emily loving weird, obscure documentaries, because those small details tell you so much about a person’s inner life. We worked hard to make sure they felt like real people who had entire lives, careers, and anxieties happening outside of the central romance. That’s why some rom-coms feel hollow, because the romance exists in a vacuum. In real life, everything else is happening all at once.

FW: Beyond the laughs and the romance, what do you hope audiences take away from Finding Emily when they walk out of the theater?

MacDonald: I hope it inspires people to be bolder and less cynical in their own lives. The whole point of these movies is watching people go after what they want with an open heart. I hope it encourages someone to pick up the phone and call their best friend or tell someone they love them.

There’s a line from Emily Weston at the bar where she tells Pervy Martin, “True freedom in this life is knowing you cringe and doing it anyway.” That line sums up the entire movie for me. Life is short, so just stop worrying so much about what other people think and go for it.

Finding Emily is in theaters August 28, 2026.