**Mimi Cave Reflects on Directing *Holland* and Collaborating with Nicole Kidman**
Director Mimi Cave opened up about her experience directing *Holland*, a film starring and produced by Nicole Kidman, while she was still in post-production for her 2022 horror debut, *Fresh*. The project, based on a screenplay by Andrew Sodroski, had been on the Black List since 2013, and Cave found herself deeply drawn to the story.
Growing up in a town similar to the film’s Michigan setting, Cave felt a strong connection to the characters and their world. “The town I grew up in was not too dissimilar from *Holland*, so I just felt a real kinship with them,” she shared.
The film follows Nancy Vandergroot (Kidman), a high school home economics teacher who suspects her optometrist husband, Fred (Matthew Macfadyen), of infidelity. With little evidence beyond her intuition, Nancy teams up with shop teacher Dave Delgado (Gael García Bernal) to uncover the truth, keeping audiences guessing until the very end.
Cave made a deliberate decision to shift the film’s setting from the present day to the year 2000, deviating from the script’s original timeline. “The script, when it was written back in 2013, was set in the present day, and I chose to set it back to 2000 because it felt to me like some of the themes they were dealing with, in terms of Dave feeling like an outsider, felt more of that time,” she explained.
The slower pace of technology in the early 2000s also added a layer of tension to the story. “There was a lot of her unfolding everything that happens, having to go to the library, going to Ask Jeeves or whatever, and it’s a slow dial-up [connection]—the slowness of needing urgent information just added a tension to it that felt fun,” Cave noted.
Originally, the team planned to film the movie’s climactic scene at Holland, Michigan’s famous Tulip Time parade. However, logistical challenges led them to Clarksville, Tennessee, instead. “We really kind of took over the town. I think it ended up fitting better, in a weird way, because the Holland we created was an elevated, more surreal version of Holland, Michigan,” Cave said.
One of the film’s biggest challenges was maintaining audience uncertainty about Nancy’s suspicions. “It’s a lot of instinctual choices and consistently checking in with the audience’s point of view,” Cave explained. “Hopefully, there’s a moment in the movie where you don’t know who to believe, and at the moment of the parade, it could go in any which way.”
Working with Nicole Kidman was a highlight of the experience for Cave. “With her, she’s a dramaturge—really, really sharp. She has studied more scripts than any of us,” Cave said, praising Kidman’s dual role as both producer and actor. “Before shooting, she’s involved, not in a heavy-handed way, but in a way that’s pinpoint surgical, looking at what could be helpful in the script. As an actress, she’s very interested in what the director wants, so the moment we start shooting, she steps back from the producer role and really allows herself to be caught up in the actual role.”
After premiering *Fresh* at Sundance, Cave is excited to bring *Holland* to SXSW, a festival she believes aligns with the film’s energy. “My hope is that the experience of watching this is a fun escape from everyday life, and you can just jump into the movie and let yourself get carried into it and not ask too many questions,” she said. “South By has that fun, irreverent energy to it.”
Audiences won’t have to wait long to experience *Holland*, as the film is set to premiere on Prime Video on March 27.
