Emma Westenberg.

We live in a remarkable time creatively, thanks to the huge advances in technology that have been made. Just look at film; anyone who has ever wanted to make one, now can, just by picking up and using their smart phone.

And yet the film industry itself can still be a tricky one to penetrate. But despite the many closed doors and unanswered emails and calls, new talent does break through, such as Emma Westenberg.

The Dutch director, born in California, attended the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, as well as the Cooper Union School of Art in New York City.

For the last ten years she has followed the path of many an aspiring filmmaker, directing a number of music videos, short films, and more recently, TV episodes. She is one then who has certainly put the graft in, and it has paid off with her directorial debut Bleeding Love. But how does the opportunity of directing a full length feature come about? “So one of my London collaborators, who I know from Amsterdam, she started a production company and this was one of the projects they were setting up,” she explains, “and they had the script, and Clara and Ewan, so they went out to find a director and I read the script and I gave them my thoughts on how I would approach it, and the filming, and then they went with me.”

But even though offered the job, it didn’t take way from that pinch me moment. “It was definitely really exciting and I think we aligned on the ideas, but it did feel like a sceptical moment like I really didn’t believe it until I was actually on set you know. Because so many things can fall through, it could be anything from the actors to the investment in the film.”

Emma on set directing her first feature Bleeding Love.

And it was a close call where the investment was concerned. “We didn’t have all the money up until two weeks before shooting, so it was really close!”

But even once the finances are secured, that’s not necessarily the end of your problems. It’s not often that a director gets the opportunity to have a major Hollywood star in their debut film, but that’s exactly what happened here with Ewan McGregor on board, playing opposite his real life daughter Clara, who helped out with the actual script. Thankfully for Emma, Ewan isn’t your typical, demanding diva actor. “He was never like “i want to do it this way or that way”, he would embrace a lot of ideas and be open to collaboration and i feel very blessed.“

In fact Ewan behaved like the perfect professional you would expect him to be, but then again maybe having his daughter on set had something to do with that. “He is really a wonderful presence on set,” Emma says, “he is very kind and collaborative actor. I was definitely nervous going into it, but I think that’s why he is such a big star, not only is he a great actor he has a way of making people feel at ease. So luckily it went very well.”

Clearly one of the reasons the elder McGregor accepted the project was to work with his daughter Clara for the very first time on screen. You could imagine then that could come with certain risks for a first time director, having to navigate both an on and off screen father daughter relationship. But luckily for Emma, that wasn’t her experience. “Clara and I really prepared all the scenes, looked at a lot of references and really prepared the character so it was really nice that we had that time together. And we informed Ewan of the developments either through Zoom or over emails with the script changes. Both of them are such professionals and come prepared, they know their parts, know where their characters came from and where they’re going, but additionally they are also father and daughter, so when we were doing improv, or we would have little moments between the scenes, ‘oh that’s actually really nice so let’s use that’, so it was like working with really professional actors, but on top of that having that connection, which was really enriching in that way.”

The stars of her debut feature Ewan and Clara McGregor.

But there was no getting away from the fact that she was directing the one and only Ewan McGregor, an actor with nearly a hundred credits to his name, who has worked on some of the biggest films and with the biggest directors. “It was definitely surreal making a move with him, to have someone like Ewan in my first movie, having grown up watching movies, with him in some of my favourite films, so to have him as one of my main characters was quite a surreal experience.”

Although the 34-year-old director had a great working relationship with her cast, it didn’t make the shoot any less challenging. Bleeding Heart is a road trip flick, that is all location shooting from beginning to end, and shooting in the New Mexico desert in winter certainly has its challenges. “It was definitely a type of run-and-gun type shoot,” she says, “there was a lot of car stuff, where Ewan was just driving the car, with a lot of the car stuff at night in a car park with lights around it, so it was a lot of long nights and on the road for sure. It was ice cold and we filmed it in the winter time, so it gets really cold at night. You start something like this and there are so many things and so little time, but we were very well prepared with the crew and cast, so somehow did it.“

The film has one little surprise up its sleeve, right at the end, as the credits roll. Emma had been listening to one particular track a lot called “Seabird”, released in 1976 by the Alessi Brothers, which she was keen to feature in the film. “It was melancholic and luckily the lyrics matched the story and it ends perfectly with the end of the movie.” It’s a song she uses twice, but wanted to use it again, but there was really no way of doing it, or was there? “I kind of wanted to stay in the world of the Seabird, but I didn’t want to use it again,” she explains, “then the composer came up with the idea to make a cover of it and have them both sing.” So that’s exactly how it ends, with the McGregors doing a duet. “It’s funny how much they are similar in that it’s very broad, open and honest, but they also have a great sense of humour and that their voices are pretty similar too. They really are father and daughter!”

And so, with the film finished, it’s ready for release, but that itself comes with its own challenge for the first time director. “I think the part of the release is something I definitely get nervous about and I’d like to manage that a little better I think. I love the process of making a movie; being on set, the editing, the set design. You’re with other filmmakers telling stories, and that’s really thrilling.” She adds,” But I’m already looking forward to the next one, I just hope people like the movie enough so I can make another one.” On the evidence of her debut, that’s one thing she shouldn’t really be worried about.

Bleeding Love is in cinemas now.