Christine Luby didn’t take the traditional route into Hollywood. Raised in the woods of New Hampshire with no industry connections, she built her career from the ground up—first in London, then in Australia—before making her feature directorial debut with Netflix’s This Little Love of Mine, which became the #2 most-watched film globally on Netflix during its opening weekend.
Since then, Luby has quietly become an in-demand directors in the international streaming space, building a slate that spans Netflix, Disney+, Peacock, Tubi, and Fox. Her credits include The Curious Case of Dolphin Bay for Disney+ (Australian Directors Guild Award nominee), Netflix’s Dive Club, and now You, Always!—her latest film to air on Netflix and another step in a meteoric directing career that includes nearly 100 production credits over two decades.
Before stepping behind the camera, Christine spent years as an Assistant Director on blockbuster productions including Aquaman, Elvis, The Wolverine, and Peter Rabbit—giving her rare large-scale production experience that informs her visual, highly orchestrated directing style.
You took a non-traditional route into Hollywood—growing up in the woods of New Hampshire, training as a contemporary dancer, and building your career from London to Australia without industry connections. What were the biggest challenges and turning points in transitioning from Assistant Director on major blockbusters like Aquaman, Elvis, The Wolverine, and Peter Rabbit to directing your own features?
-Well speaking of non-traditional, it’s empowering to realize that there’s no one way to ‘make it’. You define your own success and are in charge of your own career. No one will believe in you more than yourself and you have to be delusional about your own success until others see it. The industry tends to put you in a box, so it was a challenge to transition out of AD’ing, but for me, I drew a line in the sand once I started directing and never looked back. I also think the ability to pivot is important, and as the industry changes, so must you, otherwise it’s easy to get left behind. I’m excited for the changes to come and how I’ll continue to pivot.
Your background as a trained dancer clearly influences your filmmaking, with an emphasis on rhythm, movement, and emotionally charged visuals. How does that dance training shape the way you approach blocking scenes, pacing romantic moments, or creating chemistry on screen in a film like You, Always!?
I’d say my dance training influences all areas of my work, in knowing how to play with space, timing, proximity and physical gesture. The smallest movements can have a huge impact and I delight in playing around with this. I’m also obsessed with blocking and for You, Always, I worked closely with my cinematographer, who’s also a Steadicam operator and we are always dreaming up interesting ways combining blocking with camera movement.
The pacing really comes together in the edit, when we find the perfect music track and can sync it all up – I find that endlessly satisfying. Like for the second part of the awkward dinner scene in You, Always, my editor and I found this bass heavy track with an incredible beat and while it’s an unexpected choice, it informs the scene in such an interesting way.
You’ve amassed nearly 100 production credits over two decades, largely as an AD, before making your feature directorial debut with This Little Love of Mine. What did that large-scale AD experience teach you about leading a set that you apply differently now as a director?
-The larger sets taught me me to dream bigger, to be really clear in my vision and to take big budget tricks and apply them to my sets. For instance, on Peter Rabbit, we were shooting an interior train sequence and the train set was set upon tires, which allowed it to have a natural rocking rhythm to it. So on one of my films, I had a rowboat scene and placed it on tires and it worked a treat. I also never schedule Scene 1 on Day 1 as I like to give the cast and crew a chance to ramp up into it and you don’t want to film a really important scene before people even know each other’s names!
You, Always! follows Dr. Jen Bell as she navigates friendship, motherhood, career, volunteer work in Marine Search & Rescue, and a romantic dilemma between her longtime best friend Ethan and a charming author, Patrick. What drew you to this story, and how did you want to portray the emotional tugof-war between steady, familiar love and whirlwind passion?
-I think it’s interesting to explore that moment when you’re at a crossroad in life and the dilemma of choosing one path over another because it’s only in hindsight that you know if you made the right choice or not. I’m a person who tends to be decisive at my own crossroads and so I respected Jen’s journey in figuring out what’s best for her and moving in that direction. I also love a good love triangle and it’s a theme I’ve come back to again and again.
The film is set in beautiful Far North Queensland, with Jen’s life deeply tied to the community, the ocean, and her MSR volunteer work. How did shooting in that location influence the visual style and tone of the movie, and what did you want audiences to feel about the sense of place?
The film was scripted for Cairns and it was my third time shooting in that neck of the woods. I find Far North Queensland endlessly inspiring partly because it’s so isolated and because its natural beauty is breathtaking. Time moves a little slowly up there, ‘island time’ if you will and so there’s often moments where we let the film breath in order to take it all in. Tonally, I wanted it to feel like a destination romance, but that it should be the kind of place you want to live, not just visit for a vacation. A place so relaxed and comfortable, you might not want to leave.
Romantic comedies often lean on tropes, but You, Always! seems to explore more mature themes—like timing in relationships, letting go of an idea versus fighting for it, and personal growth through doubt. How did you approach balancing the light-hearted, feel-good elements with these deeper emotional layers?
-It was really important to me that our characters weren’t in their twenties and we dealing with relatable issues like dating after divorce as a single Mom and all of the pressure that comes with that. Jen doesn’t have a perfect life, it’s stressful and busy and her house is messy. In the first 10 minutes of the film, we have a naked bottom, penis slang, a jet ski sequence, a CPR rescue and a cleaning montage inspired by Deadpool and Wolverine, so I was elevating and subverting tropes as much as I could within the genre. As for the balance, it’s a largely intuitive process that’s only revealed once you get into the edit. Thankfully for this film, it really came together and the high and the lows fall in all the right places.
You’ve worked with a strong ensemble including Adrian Grenier, Jessica De Gouw, Yasmin Kassim, and Desmond Chiam. What was it like directing the central love triangle and the best-friend dynamic between Jen and Ethan? Did any particular performances or on-set moments surprise you?
In the cinematography, we tended to keep Jen and Ethan in separate frames whereas Patrick and Jen are often in the same frame, pushing them closer together. This is barely noticed by the audience, but does something to the subconscious to pull you into their love story and helps sweep you into why their relationship advances so quickly. I loved working with this brilliant cast and finding the scenes with them. In one scene with Ethan and his love interest Matilda, we ended up in a completely different blocking from where we started and it ended up being my favorite scene. It was challenging in the moment, but really taught me to trust the process!
The trailer suggests a vibrant mix of island life, rescue operations, romantic picnics, and big emotional confessions. How did you use the trailer’s visual language (or the film’s overall cinematography) to capture the “whirlwind” energy of new romance versus the grounded rhythm of long-term connection?
-Once Jen meets Patrick, the script really pushes the gas on their romance so that no one has time to come up for air. Patrick is everywhere and there really isn’t time for Ethan, which forces Ethan to take some time to consider his own life choices. That whirlwind energy really came together in the edit, with my brilliant editor Charlotte Cutting. That pacing is one of the things I’m most proud of in this film and I’m glad it’s reflected in the trailer. That’s a separate team who puts the trailer together, but they did capture all of the moving parts of this film nicely.
This Little Love of Mine became a global Netflix hit, reaching #2 most-watched film in its opening weekend. Looking back, what do you think resonated so strongly with audiences, and how has that success shaped the kinds of stories you want to tell next?
-The continued success of This Little Love of Mine is astounding to me. It was recently released on YouTube (and Amazon and Tubi) after it’s initial release on Netflix and the comments are going off! People are watching it multiple times, so I think it’s become a comfort watch during these challenging times. Falling in love is one of the most special things we can do as humans and so watching others do this in unusual ways never gets old. I get to explore “so how did you two meet” over and over in my films and I never get sick of that either. Most of my films explore relationship dynamics and the pursuit of joy in one way or another!
You’ve built a strong slate across Netflix, Disney+, Peacock, and others, including Dive Club and The Curious Case of Dolphin Bay. What patterns or themes keep emerging in your directing work, especially in feel-good or female-forward stories?
I love exploring a strong but flawed female protagonist (and the challenges she must overcome). Other themes I enjoy are ride or die friendships, reinventing oneself, stepping out of one’s comfort zone and triumph over adversity.
You’re often described as one of the most in-demand yet somewhat underrated directors in the international streaming rom-com space. What do you make of that “quietly becoming the go-to hitmaker” narrative, and how do you stay focused amid the industry’s noise?
Wow, I’ll claim that title, thank you! Success is ultimately what you make it and with streaming, there’s not necessarily a moment you stop and celebrate your wins, in the same way you would with a red carpet premiere, so it’s important to carve out these moments for yourself.
Visibility is a real challenge, especially for female directors. We must prove ourselves over and over again in different budget levels, different genres, at different studios and with bigger cast. It’s pretty rare to see a woman to go from an indie film to a studio budget like we see male directors doing, so we’re out here doing the work, film by film, building ourselves up. That teaches continuous tenacity and resilience. But ultimately I’m happy whenever I get to practice my craft. As for staying focused, it’s about riding the waves and having a life outside of the industry which fulfills you and doing good things for your mental health to fuel the marathon that is a career in this industry.
Many directors talk about the pressure of tight schedules in streaming. This Little Love of Mine was famously shot in just 16 days. How do you maintain creative vision and emotional depth when working under those kinds of constraints, and was You, Always! a similar experience?
You, Always was shot in just 15 days and as an ex-Assistant Director, I love talking about schedules! It’s a real challenge shooting a film so quickly and as my editor calls it – it’s like directing with your hair on fire. We don’t get a lot of takes and I’m famous for resetting ‘back to one’ multiple times without cutting, which certainly keeps everyone on their toes. I believe in setting the tone on set for the scene we’re about to film, whether that’s a closed set, keeping voices down or creating a vibe with music, scents and energy. That sets it up nicely and then we do our best to find the scene in the time we’re given. We dive in and do the best we can with what we have when we have it and I’ve learned to accept that rather than beating myself up in the edit suite later on. But I’m very much looking forward to more generous shooting schedules where the actors and I can play a bit more!
As a dual US-Australian citizen who has lived and worked across continents, how has your international perspective influenced the way you tell romantic stories that feel both universal and rooted in specific places like Far North Queensland?
I think like a local but act global in my approach. I enjoy the specificity of a location and lean into the way of life there, but I ensure that it’s still accessible for a global audience. For instance, Ethan takes Sophia to “Macca’s” (Australian for McDonalds), but then Jen calls it by it’s proper name “McDonalds” so that everyone gets the joke, even if it takes a second. I also try to see the film through different lenses, so as a Far North Queenslander, the epic views of the area might be familiar and fun to spot, but for an audience member who’s landlocked, it’s spectacular, so I cater to both.
What’s next for you? Are there particular types of stories or genres you’re excited to tackle after You, Always!, and how has your dancer’s eye for movement and emotion continued to evolve in your directing style?
My future projects genre agnostic and range from Horror and Thriller to Action and Period Films, so I have a wide range of interests. I’m forever on the hunt for a dance film or the next La La Land to truly combine my Dance and Directing worlds. But all going well, my next film is a body horror, so stay tuned!
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