God, or the Creator Supreme, gave us the intelligence to make nachos, the attention span to watch double features in a dark room, and the mobility to bring nachos to watch double features in a dark room. How do we pay for it? Having to encounter a cool girl at least once in our lives. Not Cool Girl™ for the male gaze. The cool girl that is effortless in presentation and attitude that your presentation and attitude becomes just slightly more performative for that raised desire for approval. You think the Gen Z expression is soul-piercing? Try being in the same room with a cool girl.

The eye-catching title of director/writer Hanna Gray Organschi’s latest short film might be deceiving, as if there is a guy to worry about in this film. What it really is about is that weird party mix of insecurity and curiosity that Frankie (Carys Douglas) has when she has a shift with Angie (Victoria Pedretti), an older single mother at a bowling alley. Either because it’s true or because she wants Angie’s attention, Frankie announces that she’s ready to lose her virginity. Angie, who raises no more than an amused eyebrow, is game to help.

Ahead of its virtual premiere on Saturday, November 15 with a following Q&A session with Organschi, Douglas, and Pedretti, I reached out to Organschi for some quick words about being a teenage girl in the ’90s.

BOSTON HASSLE: This is a fun short film, especially for anyone who’s been a Frankie that has worked with an Angie. I was wondering if these characters were based on anyone, and how you crafted these characters around the issue of losing one’s virginity.

HANNA GRAY ORGANSCHI: Frankie and Angie are fictional characters, though in imagining them I certainly drew from experiences I’ve had, dynamics I’ve been a part of, and a whole slew of feelings I’ve felt. I spent most of my teenage years mesmerized by cool older girls. I didn’t know if I loved them, was in love with them, hated them, wanted to be them, maybe just wanted to impress them? It was like reverence coupled with longing and frustration. A messy stew. Embarrassing to talk about, even more embarrassing to feel. In terms of crafting the girls’ dynamic, I was curious about examining how virginity and sex affect power dynamics. Particularly between two girls with an obvious, baked-in power dynamic. I think Frankie hopes losing her virginity will help her get closer to Angie. Will Angie be impressed? Jealous? Will she even care? 

BH: The film takes place specifically in Connecticut ’92. Is there a particular reason for that time and place, and how did you use it for this film?

HGO: I’m from Connecticut and have family in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and my work explores the people I know and is set in the places I’m from. I feel this sort of epic fascination with my own tiny pocket of the country. Obviously it’s shaped me and formed my worldview. As for the year, 1992 is so evocative. This culture clash moment. Progressivism butting up against an entrenched traditionalism that didn’t wanna budge. The fashion, the music – they’re sexy and rebellious. I’m a ‘90s baby, and I’ve spent a lot of time projecting my adolescent self backward into that period. Frankie’s an exploration of a version of myself in a particular moment in time that I am endlessly curious about. And on a practical and creative level, I’m working on a feature that’s set in 1992, so my producing partners, Tara Sheffer and Elizabeth Woodward, and I wanted to get a feel for what it’d take to pull off this period.

BH: I liked how their dynamic isn’t completely clear, which I think makes Frankie’s feelings for Angie feel a bit amorphous. How were you able to create that kind of admiration/friendliness with a measured distance?

HGO: Carys [Douglas, who plays Frankie] had strong instincts about the fascination and pull Frankie had toward Angie. Carys’s understanding of Frankie, coupled with her willingness to ask questions, investigate and challenge the script, and push back on some things, is what brought the character into sharper focus for me. In the end, Carys brought a kind of searching, vulnerable coolness to Frankie that really helped shape that dynamic with Angie. And in Victoria’s hands, Angie right away had this profound depth. Seemingly effortless, but also arrestingly human. Carys and Victoria just really got the material, and the film lives by that.

BH: You’ve worked with Victoria Pedretti before. What is your collaborative style like with her?

HGO: I love Victoria’s brain. She’s a complete chameleon and just so, so good at her craft. I don’t think we’ve ever explicitly discussed this, but I feel like we both take our work extremely seriously at the same time that we want play and levity to be infused in everything we do. I trust her to tell me when she doesn’t like or understand something. And we laugh a lot.

BH: Sometimes I hear a line and feel a dagger to the heart. For me, it was when Frankie asks, “What’s the difference between fine and bad?” Seeing Angie’s face really sealed the deal for me as that scene. Can you explain a little bit more about how you set up this conversation between the two?

HGO: This was the scene, the moment even, that I built the whole story around. I knew I wanted to get us here, and that if I could, we’d have a movie.

BH: You’re working on your first feature film. What can you share?

HGO: I’m working on my feature RUBBER HUT, which is about an ex-Pan Am stewardess who opens a drive-thru condom kiosk in her conservative, tight-knit Rhode Island town and pisses a whole bunch of people off. It’s a lot of fun and I’m very excited about it.

BH: Lastly and obviously, f*ck that guy! Do you have any favorite movies that have a great “f*ck that guy” moment?

HGO: How have I never thought about this!? I mean, what comes to mind… Thelma & Louise, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Call Me By Your Name, Cruel Intentions, Pretty in Pink. They all evoke that feeling. Those feelings.

F*CK THAT GUY premieres virtually Saturday, 11/15, 3:00pm – click here for ticket info