KATY BRAND

“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”

Brand’s “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” opened up a lot of healthy conversations and think pieces about sex, sexuality, body dysmorphia and middle age after its June 17 release on Hulu.

And if that sounds like a lot for one film to parse, Brand’s script balances it beautifully. In the film, which bowed at Sundance, Emma Thompson plays a retired, widowed teacher who hires sex worker Leo (Daryl Mccormack) in order to achieve orgasm. But the simple premise turns complex as her fears, expectations, demands, wants and needs spill out, mixing with Leo’s own fears, expectations, needs and sense of self.

“I’m just very pleased about it because of all the kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds, all different countries, all different ages, different genders — I’ve had this incredible spread of feedback,” says Brit Brand, who may be better-known as an actor, with loads of series (“Mongrels,” “Circle Square”) and features to her credit.

“The scenario itself interested me in the sense of two interesting people, two very different people, in quite an extraordinary situation and what would happen in that scenario,” she says. “But also just the wider subject matter of making a comedy about sex and shame and societal pressures and just things that we all feel.”

She’s written another script that’s in development but her heart is in performing. “I love getting up on stage and singing and dancing, and I love a bit of showbiz, you know, stuff that just a bit of razzle dazzle.”

Reps: Manager: Vivienne Clore, London

Influences: Nora Ephron, Billy Wilder, Steven Spielberg

— Carole Horst