“You don’t get to see that many women onscreen who are flawed and complicated – and also ordinary.”

So says Rebecca Daly, director of new drama, Mammal. The movie charts the complex and intriguing relationship between Margaret (Rachel Griffiths) – a woman who had long ago abandoned her son – and a young delinquent Joe (Barry Keoghan). Daly, whose previous feature The Other Side Of Sleep also dealt with isolation and ambiguity, says that the Freudian undertones of the film arose organically.
 “What started the story was an idea about a woman who didn’t raise her child, or didn’t know how to raise her child and be a mother,” she explains. “When she takes in Joe, he’s a surrogate for her son. The key relationship in the film is Margaret and her son, even though he’s not there.”
The film’s title is a reminder of the primal nature of connection, relationships, and desire.
“’Mammal’ brings to mind reproduction and sex and instinct,” says Daly, “and mammals also have this particular relationship with their young, as the mothers feed them milk. It’s all very visceral.”
Griffiths, known for her strong and sassy roles in Muriel’s Wedding and the TV show Brothers & Sisters, plays against type. Margaret is a melancholy and enigmatic creation. It’s a masterful performance, one Daly had to trust Griffiths would deliver, as the actress was cast without reading for the part.
“I’m sure there are directors who can audition Rachel Griffiths. I’m not one of them!” laughs Daly. “We sent her the script; she loved it. She’s a mom and very outspoken. I knew she would talk about the uglier sides of motherhood very easily.”
Daly worked closely with Griffiths and her co-star Keoghan. But she kept the two apart; she wanted their relationship to evolve onscreen.
“They’re such different actors and have different energies,” says the director. “Barry is a more low-key. He’s so naturalistic, whereas Rachel comes from a slightly different background. She lifted him and he grounded her. They balanced each other really well.”  
The actors’ comfort with each other and their director was vital – particularly when it came to directing physically intimate scenes between 23-year-old Keoghan and 47-year-old Griffiths.  “It was at the very end of the shoot when we did those scenes, and then we did them chronologically which helped build up that dynamic. Then I’d say we dealt with them with a lot of humour. We laughed a lot!” says Daly.
Daly is already working on her next project, tale about a small Christian community which has a crisis of faith when a mysterious man appears. But the director is taking some time to appreciate the deep and powerful impact Mammal is having.
“We had one woman who saw it at Sundance and had been abandoned by her mother as a child. She had a particularly strong response. For me, it’s those personal responses that are the most interesting and powerful to hear.”

Mammal is in cinemas from April 1