Switching it up! Actress Gillian Jacobs is making a major career move and stepping behind the camera.
The Community alum, 35, is teaming up with TNT and Refinery29’s Shatterbox project to premiere her debut short film as a director. “When you’re an actor, you’re responsible for one part of the process, which is your performance. And then, when you step into directing, you’re responsible for overseeing the entire process,” Jacobs exclusively tells Us Weekly. “So it was really great to be able to have a hand and have a voice in every decision that’s being made, and get to hire my collaborators and learn from them … But in this instance, everyone is coming to you to answer questions and to lead them and guide them as a director, so it’s a lot more responsibility. But it’s also really fun.”
Jacobs is also stepping out of her comfort zone by making a horror film, which strays from the comedy projects fans have come to know her for. “The great thing about this film, Curated, is that tonally, it’s very different than what people would expect from me,” she explains. “It’s not comedy and so it’s fun to watch audiences who don’t know anything about it, and I think it will really take them by surprise if they have any preconceptions about what kind of film I would make, based on my acting career. So it’s fun to surprise people as a director and work on projects they made not expect from me.”
But the Love star won’t be acting in Curated and she has her reasons. “I have shied away from wanting to direct anything that I was acting in because I’ve seen first-hand how challenging that is,” Jacobs tells Us. “You know, I’ve worked with a couple of people who have written, directed and acted in a piece and it’s just so overwhelming. So it would be fun to direct an episode of a TV show that I’m not on … But I’m trying to set myself up for success by not acting in the things I’ve directed quite yet.”
Fans can watch Jacobs’ short film here!
