Jeong Park/Netflix ©2020

(NEW YORK) — Radha Blank is sharing her life with the masses in the new Netflix film The Forty-Year-Old Version.

Directed, produced, written and starring Blank, the film — which was the winner of the Directing Prize at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival — follows Radha as an up-and-coming NY playwright searching for a breakthrough before she turns 40. Blank tells ABC Audio that she was definitely hesitant about putting her real life on display.

“The character is named Radha Blank. So, I’m pulling from a lot of personal stories,” she says. “My family’s legacy as artists are in the film. We’re shooting in my apartment. And so, I am very exposed in the film.”

Blank reveals that being so exposed even made her have some second thoughts.

“And there were moments when I was like, ‘Oh, maybe we should have gotten another apartment, or maybe I should have lost another 30 pounds before we started filming,'” she explains.

Yet, it was the “things that scared” her that Blank says “probably [made] the film feel authentic.”

“And so when I go into the edits, even though I had… those fears or concerns, I’ve looked at the material as the director, who is kind of standing outside of the project saying, ‘This is what we need, you know?'” she says. “So, yeah, those fears were there. But ultimately, whatever is going to serve the storytelling I’m willing to kind of throw in there.”

The Forty-Year-Old Version, also starring Peter Kim and Oswin Benjamin, is now available on Netflix.

By Candice Williams
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