As her masterclass kicked off the DFI’s industry incubator, the Australian actress turned filmmaker opened a window onto her work ethic and life philosophy, thus allowing the numerous audience attending to learn from her wisdom.

“My father said that I came out of the womb with jazz hands towards the light.” So Toni Collette opened her insightful masterclass, moderated by film professor and former NYFF director Richard Peña. The pair seemed to have coordinated their looks, both wearing light camel tones with black. Of course, they didn’t but what a wonderful photo op that created and Collette style, both visually and in her insight, perfectly matched her learned and respected moderator.

The Sixth Sense, Little Miss Sunshine and Muriel’s Wedding star proved inspiration for Peña who admitted he got to have a private Toni Collette film festival to prepare for it, allowing him to rediscover work he hadn’t watched in a while and even find new favorites among the Australian actress’s body of films.

Collette admitted that getting her breakout role in Muriel’s Wedding felt “pre-ordained, like destiny,” and that acting in the film was like “a religious experience,” which tha star feels in general when acting. What is that quote, “if you do what you like, you never work a day in your life…” When it comes to Collette, it seems to be her dharma. Or karma, or whatever it’s called.

She also told the story of Abba approaching P. J. Hogan, the director, after watching the film to turn it into a musical. Muriel’s Wedding features the famous dance sequence of Collette with Rachel Griffiths dancing to the Swedish pop group’s Waterloo. As Hogan turned them down, they then found another story and “turned into a little story called Mamma Mia,” Collette admitted.

“I don’t like to have control when I’m working — I like it to get messy,” the actress turned producer admitted, and she also confessed that a lot of her characters are born in the first fitting, as the costume designer has usually had a longer time with the director than she could, as an actress just coming into a production.

She occasionally cursed, and would hint at having had a terrible time working with unnamed people, which I’m sure that if I were to do some research I could come up with names. But I won’t and I don’t want to.

Collette is a Scorpio, which she credits as the reason why she likes to work “inside out and not outside in,” and said acting “feeds my soul, I still get so excited that I found my thing!” She also likes to alternate between drama and comedy, lighter fare because, she said, “it’s exhausting being emotional!”

“Drew and I fell in love with each other,” Collette admitted about Drew Barrymore, with whom she worked on the drama Miss You Already, where she also met her current producing partner, fellow Aussie Christopher Simon. About the difficult head shaving scene, Collette didn’t feel sorry to see her hair go, “I’m not attached to myself, to this” she said, gesturing to her body. She does look fantastic and very toned, even in photos that were featured in tabloids last summer.

The actress has recently also moved on to TV, with the 2019 Netflix series Unbelievable, about which she said “telling a story in 8 hours, instead of ninety minutes is a great gift.” Collette is moving into directing and producing and is next working as a co-writer along with Nick Payne, and director on Writers and Lovers based on the eponymous novel by Lily King. “It’s important in life to keep moving,” she admitted. She also equated acting with meditation, and said that “playing other people has helped me find myself.”

On her first visit to Doha for Qumra 2024, Collette said the city “is so interesting in terms of the influences — at one spectrum you are looking at the future, and then I am looking at the old parts of the city and listening to the prayers.”

Qumra continues through March 6th, with upcoming masterclasses by Jim Sheridan, Leos Carax and more.

Image courtesy of the Doha Film Institute, used with permission.