Should Steve Zahn have known years ago when his daughter Audrey was young that a movie like Friday’s “She Dances” starring both as father and daughter was inevitable?
After all, as Audrey, 23, explained in a joint Zoom interview with her dad, “I grew up in competitive dance. I started when I was three or four and started competing in first grade. So, going into this role was actually very easy for me. It was full circle.”
“Yes,” her dad, 58, agreed. “The dance aspect for us was the no brainer, because if Audrey doesn’t do this, I don’t know anybody else that could.”
Her resolve was evident early.
“You know, you sit in a parking lot while these kids are in dancing four hours a day. And then they invite the parents to let you see what’s going on.
“When we saw Audrey dance when she was, like, six, my wife, who was a professional dancer for years, and I looked at each other and went, ‘Well, we’re not gonna have to worry about this one.’ Audrey, to her own credit, morphed into this incredible dancer on her own.
“That’s a decision you make internally as an artist — and then you really dedicate yourself. And she did that. In the last competition I took her to, which spurred this movie, she represented Kentucky at a national dance competition.”
“She Dances” is both serious and sad as the two bond during a bustling Miss Southeast Regional Dance Finals competition.
“The choreographer is Jamie Harvener,” Audrey said. “He was my main teacher from growing up in competition when I was around 11 years old. He choreographed the movie.
“I created my movement style because of his choreography. We speak our own language, and he was the only person that could have choreographed this movie the way we wanted it to be. So it was like old times.”
“I co-wrote this with my partner Rick Gomez who directed it,” Steve noted, “five years ago when I took Audrey to her final dance competition. I was so moved and proud of her. But also it was like in this crazy hotel, and it was insane!
“I kept calling Rick about what was just going on and he was, ‘Hey! There’s a movie here.’ So we sat down and wrote it during COVID lockdown as this comedic journey movie with this father-daughter, with a dance competition as the background.
“We knew that there had to be a hurdle for these characters. Their hurdle is dealing with grief, a death in the family. We don’t yell it at you, we just whisper it though.”
“She Dances” in is theaters Friday