‘The Lord of The Rings’, FKA Twigs, and Glory Kickboxing: The Work That Made Olivia Curry

Olivia Curry is a multifaceted professional as both an editor and director, and played a pivotal role in the early stages of Picture North, assuming the position of editor and helping establish the company's initial post-production operations.

Beyond her contributions to the film industry, Olivia leads a dual life as a professional boxer recognised on the global stage. Her extensive involvement in sports fuels her passion for storytelling with a particular focus on delivering narratives about the relationship between individuals and their bodies.

Olivia sat down with LBB to discuss iconic MTV music videos, her career as a professional boxer, as well as her proudest work so far.

The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…

More than any single video, I remember the joy of coming home from middle school and multitasking by doing my homework while secretly watching MTV before my parents got home. The music video budgets in the early 2000s were on another level, and I remember being enamoured by the scale of the production design and the ambition of what I was seeing on screen as a curious tween in videos like Missy Elliott’s ‘Work It’ or Britney’s ‘Toxic.’​

The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…

I wanted to go to film school, in all honesty, because of watching the behind-the-scenes featurettes on the ‘Lord of the Rings’ extended edition DVDs. As dorky as that answer is, I’m convinced I’m not alone.

But later in life, when I was delving more into what commercials could do, I remember being inspired by Nabil Elderkin’s ‘The Game Before the Game,’ a Beats headphones spot made for the 2014 World Cup. Scenes of professional athletes getting mentally pumped up before the big game were interspersed with detail-oriented moments of fans around the world getting ready to watch them. I loved how specific the production design and actions in those scenes felt, and how well they built anticipation.

I eventually became a professional boxer, and the song featured in this spot (‘Jungle’ by X Ambassadors) is on my pre-fight playlist to this day. I listen to it when I get to the arena on a fight night because it so clearly reinforces that feeling of being ready to perform.

The creative work that I keep revisiting…

I have four female directors whose work continues to inspire me – Eliza Hittman, Andrea Arnold, Céline Sciamma, and Lynne Ramsey. Although they all have distinctive voices, I admire the way these women take their time letting a narrative unfold and how they choose to focus on moments that feel specific and small to reveal important truths about their films’ characters.

My first professional project…

I shot a lot of extremely low-budget nightclub promo videos, music videos, and non-profit videos on my DSLR when I was first dropped into the workforce after film school. But one of the first times I was ever on a professional set was as a PA, as Anthony Bourdain’s personal driver on his Chicago episode of ‘Parts Unknown’. After set I often drove him to Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and we talked about combat sports and politics. What a gift!

Filling my early twenties with experience in every area of filmmaking – from line producing to camera team to AD-ing to post – got me ready to eventually take the lead as a director and editor and really understand how a great set functions.

The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like that…

The first time I saw a commercial that used a celebrity’s AI-generated doppelgänger , I decided I was wholly uninterested in directing a fake version of anyone, famous or not.

The piece of work that still makes me jealous…

I really loved Hiro Murai’s ‘Sad Day’music video for FKA Twigs. I’m obsessed with how they built out a narrative through wushu-inspired choreography, showcasing how body movement can demonstrate emotion, and how martial arts can resemble dance in a way that turns violence into something beautiful (or maybe it’s the other way around – the song portraying love as violence).

The creative project that changed my career…

When I first started out at Picture North, the production company where I’m currently rostered, I was actually brought in as a freelance line producer. On the side, I directed and edited a short doc-style piece in collaboration with Glory Kickboxing and an acquaintance of mine, a professional fighter. That demonstrated to Picture North that I had a unique creative perspective on sports work and the follow-through to actually make a go of directing. Luckily for me, they’ve supported me ever since.

The work that I’m proudest of…

As a director, I’m proudest of the Boxraw piece that I was able to make while casting many of my good friends from Chicago’s boxing community. It was a small but mighty project that I hoped would feel like my experience in the sport, and I think we achieved that. As an editor, I recently attended Mountainfilm for the premiere of a short doc called ‘Rock Faced It All’, about a woman with Parkinson's who got into competitive rock climbing to manage her disease. Whether in personal creative work or the commercial space, I’m particularly fascinated by work that digs into the universal experience of living with, understanding, and sometimes battling with our human bodies.

I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…

I’ve learned that, even (maybe especially) in the commercial space, I need to set some boundaries about which companies I support with my work. A client who really goes against everything I personally believe is not one that I’m a good fit for, even when I have bills to pay. I’ve learned to say no to projects that would really keep me up at night.

The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…

I directed a piece with Olympic ski racer Lindsey Vonn, who was a childhood hero of mine. It was a real full-circle moment to be able to interview someone I had looked up to most of my life.