Elizabeth Wagmeister Senior CorrespondentRiley Keough has been in the business for more than a decade. At just 32 years old, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley has made a name for herself as a performer with great range, known for “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Magic Mike,” “Zola” and Steven Soderbergh’s “The Girlfriend Experience,” which earned her a Golden Globe nomination.
But before she broke out as an actor, Keough always wanted to be a director.Keough is now at the Cannes Film Festival, where the first film she has helmed, “War Pony” — the indigenous coming-of-age story she co-directed with her producing partner Gina Gammell — is making its world premiere.Keough and Gammell joined Variety and Kering at Cannes for a Women in Motion conversation in which Keough says she screamed when she found out “War Pony” had been selected for the Un Certain Regard competition at Cannes. “Cannes gives it validation,” adds Gammell, who is making her directorial debut alongside Keough. “‘Oh, Cannes thinks it’s okay?’ So we can keep going,” she says.Keough and Gammell met years ago and became fast friends.
They started writing together as a hobby, but in 2017, formed their own production company, Felix Culpa. “War Pony” is the first project they’ve brought to completion, but they never had a grand plan.
In fact, the project came through a chance meeting on the set of “American Honey,” where Keough met two day players.“There were two actors hired locally to do a scene with me, and the scene got pushed to after lunch, so we ended up having like six hours,” says Keough.
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