LUCY LAWLESS DISCUSSES HER POWERFUL NEW DOCUMENTARY, NEVER LOOK AWAY

Lucy Lawless might be best known as a Warrior Princess, but she turns her attention to another powerful woman with the documentary, Never Look Away.

Lawless makes her directorial debut with the powerful new documentary, Never Look Away. The film focuses on CNN combat camerawoman Margaret Moth walks the razor's edge between sanity and chaos. Her mystery and beauty bewitches lovers and her confidence intimidates powerful men. Moth stares down danger and she confronts those that perpetuate it.

The feature documentary that tells the remarkable story of how Margaret Moth lived her life to the absolute fullest while covering war zones for CNN, and paid a significant price. When she was shot in the head by a sniper in Sarajevo in 1992, Moth lost the lower half of her face, which had to be reconstructed across more than a dozen surgeries. But she wasn't done covering war zones, and refused to let her drastic injuries hold her back. She bravely returned to Sarajevo as soon as possible, and went on to cover multiple subsequent wars for CNN, becoming even more committed to showing the impact of war.

The film details how, in between her work on the frontlines of some of the most violent conflicts of the last several decades, Moth embraced a hedonistic, pleasure-forward lifestyle that included skydiving, recreational drugs and multiple lovers.

Margaret Moth's hunger for sensation, extreme beauty, tenacious courage and mysterious background bewitched all in her orbit, and throughout NEVER LOOK AWAY we hear from former lovers, friends, colleagues and family members, as well as key figures from the television news business, such as iconic journalist Christiane Amanpour, with whom Moth often worked.

As Lawless explores in the film, Moth was a uniquely courageous woman overflowing with contradictions. She endured extreme trauma in childhood, then grew up to seek out the most dangerous situations she could find, and made a name for herself as one of the most fearless operators in a male-dominated field. She brought light and excitement into the lives of all those around her, but it was always on her own terms.

In addition to testimonials from the people that knew and worked with her, NEVER LOOK AWAY showcases dramatic footage from the war zones Moth covered – often shot by Moth herself - as well as aesthetically bold dioramas created by Wētā Workshop which illustrate the physical realities of the extraordinarily perilous environments Moth put herself in.

The film opens on November 22nd in Toronto at TIFF Lightbox (Toronto, ON) - Virtual Q&A on Nov 28 Vancity Studio Theatre (Vancouver, BC)

I spoke with Lucy Lawless when she was in Toronto for the HOT DOCS film festival about why she chose to make this documentary and much more.