News Club Interview: Daina Reid

Confession time: I’m a certified Handmaid’s Tale tragic. Loved the books, am quietly addicted to the TV series. So when the big series finale dropped last night, I was glued to the telly. It’s also why when we were casting around for potential guests for The Call Sheet, Daina Reid was at the top of my list…

So, who is Daina Reid?

It might not be a name you instantly recognise, but as one of Australia’s most accomplished TV directors, her fingerprints are all over so many programs so many of us love. 

From Offspring to Secret Life of Us; Paper Giants to The INXS Story - if there was a seminal piece of Aussie TV in the last couple of decades, there’s a good chance Daina had a hand in it. 

And now, as one of the regular directors of the global juggernaut that is The Handmaid’s Tale - she has some amazing stories to tell.

Like that time she directed John Malkovich, or got her start as an actor alongside Kitty Flanagan and Magda Szubanski. Or how she almost hung up on Oscar-winning director Jane Campion. 

She’s also got some fascinating insights on prevailing as a female director as well as how streaming services have changed the game, and what that means for Australian stories. 

So buckle in for a wide-ranging conversation that’s a bit of a name-dropping (an occupational hazard when you’re Daina Reid) but mostly a thoughtful exposition of how the magic is woven behind-the-scenes.

You can listen to the conversation here or tune in on YouTube - and hit subscribe while you’re at it. And scroll on for my highlights of our conversation.

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Interview Highlights

Highlight 1: On her first day directing The Handmaid’s Tale

Diana Reid: You kind of have this thing when you're young, you go, "When I'm grown up and older, I won't be scared anymore. I won't be nervous anymore. It'll all be good." I'm here to tell you - that first day, when it's about to start and I look over and the car rolls up and Elisabeth Moss gets out of the car in her red dress... I almost wanted to collapse into the freezing cold snow. It was very, very nerve-wracking. [But] I guess you, like most jobs, take it one step at a time. And you break it down into scenes, and you break it down into moments, and you start.

Highlight 2: On why she loves Demi Moore’s ‘The Substance’

Daina: I always talk about at dinner parties and bore everyone - I talk about internalised misogyny as something that's very, very unresolved.

Bryce Corbett: What do you mean by that?

Daina: Well, I just think women can be their own worst enemies...And I think it's because of generational trauma and learned behaviours, and it being competitive...for hundreds, thousands of years, hundreds of years... And Demi Moore, in the lead role, really went for it. It's self-hatred. And the way we punish ourselves.

Highlight 3: On how to make Aussie stories resonate

Daina: We do run around and chase our tails and try and guess [ what works internationally]. And people in Canada, talking to me about Offspring and discovering it after so long… they loved that we weren't trying to get an international audience. That's us just telling the story of a family in Fitzroy…

I always say, "Let's get out in the landscape," ’cause that’s the point of difference. I know I wanna see that when I’m watching Nordic Noir - I wanna pretend I’m in Scandinavia for the night, you know? And I think that’s really important for us to have. I know Western Australia is shooting more than they ever have over there, and we’re getting to see that landscape. Even doing Run Rabbit Run - getting out and shooting in the landscape - I think that’s a really important thing to do.

Truth is what people want from Australians. And kangaroos.

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