Filmmaker Michelle Danner takes on the story behind the most famous rape in American history in Miranda's Victim , starring Abigail Breslin, Andy Garcia, Ryan Phillippe, Luke Wilson, Donald Sutherland, and Mireille Enos. The film tells the story of teenager Patricia "Trish" Weir (Abigail Breslin), who was kidnapped and raped by Ernesto Miranda (newcomer Sebastian Quinn) as she returned home from her job at a suburban Phoenix, Arizona movie theater. It was the early 60s when rape victims were often shamed into silence, and legal recourse seemed impossible -- but Trish bravely stood up and helped bring her assailant to justice, which also led to one of the most influential Supreme Court decisions in the modern era, establishing Miranda Rights. We sat down with Danner virtually to find out what it was like to take on the retelling of such a harrowing and impactful case while working alongside the talented cast. The director and successful acting coach also told us what she wants the audience to take away from the film that has already earned her 'Best Female Director' at the LA Independent Women Film Awards 'I want people to be inspired to keep finding the courage to come forth, to tell their stories if something like that happened...don't keep it buried,' said Danner. Miranda's Victim is now in select theaters and available On Demand.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - I'm Michelle Danner.
00:03 I'm the director of "Miranda's Victim"
00:05 and you're watching Life Minute TV.
00:09 - A girl was grabbed on 7th Street on Saturday night,
00:12 right around the same time that you got out of work.
00:14 - Can you describe the man?
00:15 - Number one looks like him.
00:17 - I did not know the origin of this story,
00:21 "Miranda's Victim", how the Miranda rights came about.
00:24 So when I got the email offering me the job to direct it,
00:28 I was very excited because I knew this was an untold story
00:31 and a great story at that.
00:34 And once I started to dig deep
00:35 and then understood the full scope of it,
00:39 I became more and more excited to tell the story.
00:43 This cast that came about,
00:45 starting with Donald Sutherland who said yes.
00:48 Shortly after it was Andy Garcia and Abigail Breslin
00:51 who does an extraordinary job portraying Trish.
00:55 And then the rest of the cast, you know,
00:56 just fell into place.
00:58 Ryan Felipe and Luke Wilson and the incredible Mireya Noss
01:01 who plays Yola, the mother of Trish.
01:04 There was definitely a vision to cast this cast
01:08 and the fact that so many of them were my first choice
01:11 and said yes, I couldn't believe it.
01:14 I was surprised to know how the judicial system
01:18 gets it right and gets it wrong.
01:21 In 1963, a very courageous woman, Patricia Weir,
01:26 really fought, you know, the constraints of the society
01:29 that she lived in to speak her truth, to seek justice.
01:34 Because she was an 18 year old, very shy girl,
01:37 that she found this strength inside of her
01:39 time and time again,
01:41 because she had to go back several times
01:43 and relive the horrific thing that happened to her.
01:47 I was very fascinated by that.
01:49 It's just so hard to have to keep reliving this
01:52 over and over.
01:53 She's worked so hard.
01:55 She's doing what's right.
01:57 So I want people to just be inspired to keep,
01:59 you know, finding the courage to come forth,
02:02 to tell their stories.
02:03 If something like that happened, don't keep it buried
02:06 because like, you know, Trish says in the movie,
02:08 he's gonna do it to somebody else.
02:10 And so there's a responsibility to really, I think,
02:13 come forth, even though it might be so hard to do that.
02:16 So I'm hoping people will really be inspired to do that.
02:19 Our justice system has afforded you every privilege,
02:25 every protection.
02:26 Hey!
02:27 This is a courtesy, not extended to your victim.
02:30 (upbeat music)