When the screenplay was ready for another set of eyes, Victor sent it to the director Barry Jenkins, who’d followed them on Instagram with an encouraging note that Victor should feel free to send him a piece of work when they were ready. Victor also had a champion in director Jane Schoenbrun, who let Victor shadow them on set while filming last year’s I Saw the TV Glow. “It was amazing,” Victor says of studying Schoenbrun (who also uses they pronouns) at work. “They’re so confident and so funny. They taught me antidote lessons to what my issues are. I came in feeling someone needed to give me permission to [direct]. And then I saw them being like, ‘I’m supposed to do this.’ It was a real eye-opening experience of, ‘Oh, directing a movie can look a lot of ways.’”
The feeling was mutual. “Eva shadowing me on TV Glow was one of the most generous gifts I’ll ever receive,” Schoenbrun tells Rolling Stone over email, describing their time together as “a really fun and special experience that bonded me to Eva for life.” Schoenbrun also heaps praise on Sorry, Baby and Victor’s startlingly honest performance. “I believe they’re a true star in the sense that there’s no one else on earth with anything close to their style — that strange mix of psycho charisma and deadpan awkwardness,” Schoenbrun says. “Watching the film as a friend, it’s easy for me to take for granted how brilliant their performance is. But when I step back and see the magnitude of their accomplishment in front of and behind the camera, I’m just truly left in awe of their bravery and wit and artistry.” {read}