Summary
- Collider’s Steve Weintraub talked to Andrew and Joanna Leeds about Bulldozer at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
- In their interview, the Leeds siblings reveal on-set shenanigans including tricky stunts, finding the emotions for scenes in unique ways, and the police crashing the set.
- Andrew Leeds also discusses previous roles on hit series like Barry and Veep and how they influenced his own direction.
The 2025 Sundance Film Festival hosted the premiere of Bulldozer’s pilot episode, which is borne from the collaborative effort of the Leeds siblings. Joanna Leeds created the show, and it is directly inspired by events from her life, from cheating boyfriends to the mental strain everyday life puts on a person. As such, she naturally takes the lead role as the “undermedicated, chronically impassioned young woman [who] lurches from crisis to crisis of her own making.”
Though she has appeared briefly in shows like NCIS or Superstore, Bulldozer will be a hefty dose of pure Joanna where her acting receives the limelight. Her brother, Andrew Leeds, takes the role of director in the show, ensuring her vision is brought to life alongside the star-studded cast of Mary Steenburgen, Nat Faxon, Harvey Guillén, comedian and actor Chris “CP” Powell, and Kate Burton.
This year, the Leeds siblings sat with Steve Weintraub in Collider’s media studio at the Rendezvous Cinema Center, where they talked about the premiere of their pilot episode. They reveal the stresses of financing the project independently with COVID disrupting their process, getting shut down by the police and dealing with on-set quirks like stunts, screaming, and cranes. Andrew Leeds also reminisces about his previous roles, about how he learned from their directing styles and gained supportive connections that helped them get Bulldozer off the ground. Hear about these filmmaking hurdles and how they overcame them straight from the siblings in the video above, or you can follow along to the interview with the transcript below.
What Is ‘Bulldozer’s Pilot About?
“It was inspired by true events.”
COLLIDER: First of all, congrats on the pilot, but no one will have seen it yet. Who’s going to bite the bullet, and explain how you’ve been describing it to friends and family?
ANDREW LEEDS: She’s going to bite that bullet.
JOANNA LEEDS: It’s me, but heightened 11%. [Laughs]
ANDREW LEEDS: Or heightened 5%.
JOANNA LEEDS: I’d like to say it’s heightened 80%, but realistically, it’s probably 11%. It’s inspired by true events.
ANDREW LEEDS: Then it goes off in its own direction, but it was inspired by true events. It’s basically the story of an under-medicated, chronically impassioned young woman who lurches from crisis to crisis of her own making.
‘Bulldozer’ Portrays Mental Health in a Universal Way
“It’s that universal mental health crisis that we’re all experiencing.”
One of the things about Hollywood is that there are a lot of people who are trying to get work, and often, it’s people writing themselves a role that helps get to another level. How much was that the inspiration? “I want to write something just to show what I can do because I’m funny.”
JOANNA LEEDS: It’s funny, I don’t know that I even had that endgame in mind. It was just, I had to make this. I had to write it. I had to make it.
ANDREW LEEDS: I have a question for you. Do you feel part of why you did it was because of all the pain that you experienced, that the only thing that made it worth it was to write about it?
JOANNA LEEDS: Once you have some distance from things, it’s kind of funny.
ANDREW LEEDS: That’s true.
In your pilot, your character is going through a relationship breakup and stuff like that. How much is everything in it really stuff that happened to you?
JOANNA LEEDS: What’s cool about it is, if any particular ex watches it, it’s not about him because they have all cheated for the most part, give or take a couple. So, that’s good. It’s a combination of all of these men. Also, part of what I wanted to hit on is it has a bit of a mental health element to it. Mental health in cinema usually focuses on one type of mental illness. You see OCD, you see depression, you see schizophrenia, and it has to fit into a box. And so, with this character, it’s that universal mental health crisis that we’re all experiencing and the idea that it doesn’t have to fit into a box and that in the right, unfortunate circumstances, we can all be triggered. That’s a big portion of the show, just the frustrations of life and the injustices and trying to plow or bulldoze right through them.
ANDREW LEEDS: I also think that part of what the show ultimately is about is her trying to understand who she is and what it is that causes her to behave the way she behaves, whether it is mental illness or whether it is physical illness, or whether it is, “I’m just a human being and I wear my heart on my sleeve a little bit more than other people.”
JOANNA LEEDS: And why life is so hard. Like, it’s so hard and it’s exhausting.
Andrew Leeds Discusses the Support of His Previous Colleagues
From Bill Hader to Hugh Laurie, Leeds has learned a lot over the years.
[Andrew], you have worked as an actor on 1,000 things. Specifically, I’m going to shoutout Barry. What did you learn in the different shows that you’ve worked on and the different roles that you were mentally remembering, “For the time I get behind the camera, I want to do this?”
ANDREW LEEDS: I also want to touch briefly on her writing this thing. I don’t know what her thought process was in terms of what she wanted to see from it, but from what I wanted to see from it and why I jumped in to direct it was because she’s in every single scene. She’s also a great director, and she’s directed her own stuff before. I felt like, and I think she felt like, this was a big endeavor, and it needed an extra hand to do it. For me, it was an opportunity to let the world see how talented I know she is and always has been. The script was so good that I would love to be able to help bring this to life.
What was great is that I have had the opportunity to be on some very, very good shows, and I’ve learned a lot watching, whether it’s Bill Hader or Alec Berg on Barry or Michael Showalter on The Dropout or any number of great directors that I’ve had the opportunity to work with. Our DP, [Michelle Lawler], was the DP on The Dropout. I got to sort of collect people as I went along, and actors as well. This cast is amazing. Over the last five years, I’ve worked with some amazing people, and what was so cool is that I got to give them her script, and it’s so rare that people just say, “Whatever you need.” They’re not going to do it unless they love it. And she wrote a great script and people were like, “I’ll show up”. We’re very lucky to have a ton of amazing people.
Just name-drop a few of the people.
ANDREW LEEDS: Mary Steenburgen, Nat Faxon, Allen Leech and Harvey Guillén, Kate Burton, Tim Bagley, and comedian Chris “CP” Powell.
As I was watching, I was like, “Oh, Jesus.”
JOANNA LEEDS: We were so lucky.
It was like a murderer’s row of people in the pilot.
ANDREW LEEDS: They all just basically volunteered. They showed up. Mary Steenburgen had her own wig. She was like, “I’ll do it, but I want to wear a wig. Can I have one made?” And I was like, “Well, I feel bad.” She’s like, “No, I want to do it.” And she did it. As we’re shooting it, literally the day that she’s there, because we’re doing this for no money, as we’re getting her coverage, the cops came to this house. They’re trying to kick us out. They’re trying to bust down the door. My production designer’s holding onto the door while I’m just rolling on her just before we get kicked out. Eventually, we did get kicked out.
JOANNA LEEDS: But then the best part is one of the officers said, “Is that Mary Steenburgen?” He goes, “She’s hot.” I was like, “Oh, well, if we let you talk to her, could we stay?” and he’s like, “No.” [Laughs]
The Cops Kicked ‘Bulldozer’s Crew Out
Even the police can’t shut this production down!
I have to ask, what happened? Did you rent something on Airbnb?
JOANNA LEEDS: We actually had all the correct permits.
ANDREW LEEDS: We had these very big trucks that the neighbors didn’t like, even though we had the right permits. We realized after the fact that we should have been able to stay, but at the time when there are literally eight policeman saying, “We’re going to come in and take the camera…”
JOANNA LEEDS: And physically remove it, which, as you know, the insurance on that…
ANDREW LEEDS: We were like “We’re going, we’re going, we’re going.” So one by one, people would come out with a coffee cup and a wrench while I was still rolling on Mary because I knew this was the day we had Mary. We weren’t gonna be able to get her back.
JOANNA LEEDS: Actually, in that scene, all of my coverage is to no one.
ANDREW LEEDS: From another day because we had to go back.
I wish more people understood movie magic. Like these Avengers movies, oftentimes in an eight-person scene, they’re all doing individual days that are being put together in post.
ANDREW LEEDS: Totally. She came out, and she was like, “What’s going on?” We’re like, “Oh, the police came, they shut us down. We’re going to go shoot down the street at this flower shop.” She’s like, “Okay, well, let me know where to go.” She got in the car and just drove there. This is an Academy Award-winning actress, who was just so generous and just excited to play a character she hadn’t played before.
But to go back and answer your question, when I’m on the set on Barry, I’m asking Bill Hader, “Hey, why did you decide to do that? Why did you decide to let that entire scene play from 200 feet away?” I wasn’t quite as ballsy as perhaps he was in that show. We wanted to deliver something that felt fresh.
I’d argue that Barry has its own unique style and that style would not fit with Bulldozer. It’s two different worlds.
ANDREW LEEDS: Totally. But that was always the question in making this was, “How do you know?” Because this is the first episode. So, how do you know? Should it be handheld? Should it not be handheld? You try to guess and hope for the best. We learned some things. We did some reshoots, and you learn as you go.
Let’s talk about the financing and getting this off the ground. It’s impossible for everyone to get money. How was it for this? Who was the miracle person that came in and said, “I’ll help you?”
JOANNA LEEDS: We have Rhett Reese. We have Rhett Reese’s brother, Caleb Reese, and then the two of us. We each did a third of our own money.
ANDREW LEEDS: Basically Rhett wrote Deadpool.
I’m familiar. He’s made at least $5 in profit from the Deadpool movies.
JOANNA LEEDS: He’s never put his own money into a project. He read the script, he’s a friend of mine, and he really wanted to see it get made. We had obstacle after obstacle. We were about to make it. As we’re closing the deal, the attorney called me, and he’s like, “There’s some virus, so I have to leave the office for three days.” I was like, “Okay, don’t worry about it. We’ll just close it.”
ANDREW LEEDS: There was a studio that was going to give us some money to make it.
JOANNA LEEDS: Originally. So, I was like, “No worries.” And then three days turned into a year and a half of COVID where nothing was being made.
ANDREW LEEDS: Then the studio was like, “Actually, we can’t do it anymore.” It’s just probably harder for her to say, but Rhett really believes in Joanna, and he loved the script and, honestly, he just wanted to see it happen. We knew that the only way that it was going to happen with her starring in it and me directing was if we just did it ourselves. So if we walked into a room, they would’ve been like, “We love the script, so who can we get to play that part and who can we get to direct it?” And all those things. Rhett, I think we can all agree that he’s pretty stupid. [Laughs]
[Laughs] My headline is going to be, “Can we all agree that Rhett is pretty stupid?” – the cast of Bulldozer.
JOANNA LEEDS: I don’t think it’s stupidity. I think he’s just so nice. He is the nicest human being I’ve ever met.
ANDREW LEEDS: Just very supportive. I think we all just know how talented she is. It’s such a hard industry and it’s so random. As he says, “Put my money where my mouth is.” I believe in her and I believe in the script and I believe in the show. I honestly think that if we went to Rhett tomorrow and said, “Hey, what do you think about us just funding the entire three seasons?” He’d probably be like, “Alright.” And I’d be like, “No, Rhett! Don’t do that, Rhett!” [Laughs]
The Leeds Siblings Plan to do Six Episodes for ‘Bulldozer’
“I have, no joke, like a 265-page document of stories I’m just raring to tell.”
It’s really funny, though, Helen Harper is here, and they shot an eight-episode series independently. The show is for sale here, and they’ve already shot all eight episodes. It’s a completely different model. Also, with Kiss of the Spider Woman, which Bill Condon did, they did that with Artists Equity. Everyone worked for scale, every single person, but they all owned a piece of it. When it sells here, they are going to get money.
ANDREW LEEDS: Oh that’s cool. I didn’t realize that’s how that worked. That’s really smart. We’re talking about how to do something similar now and make a season of this thing. She’s writing additional scripts.
How much now have you been writing? Did you decide, “I think I could do a six-episode season or an eight-episode season?” Because it takes time to write. What happens if someone here is like, “Oh, that was really good. Let us make a season. Where are the scripts?”
JOANNA LEEDS: Basically, I leave my house and when I come home at the end of the day, a new episode has written itself. I have, no joke, a 265-page document of stories I’m just raring to tell. But I have written two other scripts, and then the other ones are outlined.
Are you thinking six or eight episodes?
JOANNA LEEDS: I’ll do whatever the people want. I’ll do three episodes and be content. Whatever you guys want.
ANDREW LEEDS: I think six would actually be a great starting point unless someone said they needed eight. Especially because we would obviously be doing this on a budget in some way. When you do think about it, you end up doing a lot of jobs like craft services and editing and things that maybe you wouldn’t normally do if you had a full staff. I don’t know that we could physically…
JOANNA LEEDS: It depends on how much time.
Totally. The other advantage of LA, which is where you shot, is that there are a lot of great actors that are available for a day, if you’re shooting in LA, where they can sleep in their own bed, drive to set and drive home.
ANDREW LEEDS: That’s the other thing is we know if we go out of state, we can get a tax credit or something like that, but you lose access to all those great people. These people, like Nat Faxon, are the most wonderful. He was just like, “I’ll be there. Whatever you guys need.” We felt so bad because we made him come back and do reshoots. He’s like, “I love this.”
JOANNA LEEDS: Those pictures at the end, he came in just to shoot pictures where we look in love. He’s amazing. That actually has been so incredible to see how supportive these very successful actors are who don’t need to come and do favors.
ANDREW LEEDS: It’s a good lesson for us.
Nothing Like Sibling Dynamics to Bring the Emotion to Set
“We told each other to be mean.”
Obviously you had written the script, but when you saw the shooting schedule, what was the day you had circled in terms of, “I can’t wait to film this,” and what were you thinking, like, “How the F are we going to film this?”
JOANNA LEEDS: It was so fast and blurry that I don’t know that I had my attention on…
ANDREW LEEDS: We knew the scene where she gets taken away to the mental hospital was good.
JOANNA LEEDS: That was going to be scary.
ANDREW LEEDS: We planned that for the last day because if she gets hurt, she had to be tackled onto the ground. She got hurt pretty badly.
JOANNA LEEDS: I did get hurt.
What exactly happened?
JOANNA LEEDS: Oh my gosh. I need back surgery. No. Well, I do, but probably not because of that. But it was awful. I’m not a stunt person.
ANDREW LEEDS: You know what’s funny about when you tackle someone on a mat? Mats are hard. They’re not soft.
JOANNA LEEDS: We need a mattress.
ANDREW LEEDS: A mattress would have been great. Anyway, it was just a hard-hitting mat. But we did that in the last day. Also, working together with your sibling is always an interesting experience.
JOANNA LEEDS: I was like, “What if with all those people in a crew, what if I can’t get emotional?” He’s like, “Don’t worry, I will get you emotional.” So behind the camera he’s yelling, “Do your fucking job!”
ANDREW LEEDS: I was screaming at her, and the editor that got the footage, I was like, “Oh, I should’ve mentioned to you…” He goes, “That did frighten me a little bit.”
JOANNA LEEDS: We told each other to be mean. I said “Be mean to me just to upset me.” But that wasn’t the mean I meant for you to do to get me emotional.
ANDREW LEEDS: The thing is, that day especially was so hard because we’ve got this giant crane that’s not in the pilot anymore.
JOANNA LEDS: The beautiful crane shot that we had.
ANDREW LEEDS: Like techno crane. It held us up for three hours, and that didn’t even end up in the pilot.
JOANNA LEEDS: Also, that location was right by Burbank airport. No joke, you had to say your lines really quickly because in 60 seconds another plane was coming.
100%. I can’t believe you got a crane for this, and it didn’t end up in it.
JOANNA LEEDS: We should send you the clip because it was a beautiful crane shot.
ANDREW LEEDS: It was the transition from the, two years later—now it’s four months later. It was above the ambulance, and then it went up and the ambulance pulled away, and then it came down, and she pulled up in the car.
JOANNA LEEDS: It was magical.
We’re at Sundance. What does it mean for both of you to be accepted into Sundance and premiering here?
JOANNA LEEDS: We’ll start crying. It’s such a huge deal. I feel so incredibly lucky. You mentioned earlier in the interview, it’s so hard to get even a small break on something. So, to get this opportunity is huge.
ANDREW LEEDS: Our premiere is tomorrow. What’s so exciting is that we get to watch it with a big audience and to see what that is. We have no idea what that’s going to be.
JOANNA LEEDS: We haven’t even had a screening for friends and family. We’ve had nothing.
ANDREW LEEDS: We could just sit at our computer until the end of time. We sent it out to people, but to get to see it with an audience is really thrilling. This is the Sundance Film Festival. I used to come here in college. I used to come just to watch movies and think, “Oh, wouldn’t it be amazing to one day get to be here?” I never really thought in a million years that that would be able to happen. So it was all thanks to this person.
JOANNA LEEDS: All thanks to this person.
It’s almost like you like each other.
ANDREW LEEDS: Sometimes.
JOANNA LEEDS: And sometimes we don’t. We definitely revert to those childhood dynamics. Do you have a sibling?
I do.
JOANNA LEEDS: So maybe you know what I’m talking about.
I 100% know what you’re talking about.
ANDREW LEEDS: But it’s really special to walk around these streets and see pictures of old things that premiered here and to get to meet other films.
JOANNA LEEDS: Also, it truly is special to get to be here with your sibling. That’s crazy that we both worked on a project.
ANDREW LEEDS: And that we lived to tell about it. [Laughs]
JOANNA LEEDS: That too.
Andrew Leeds Learned a Lot From His Previous Roles
He’s made appearances on hit series like Barry, Veeps, and The Patient.
[Andrew], you did a lot of one-episode appearances on, like, 1,000 shows. Which is one that you have strong memories of, or is there one that you were so excited to be on?
ANDREW LEEDS: My favorite experiences were Veep. Veep was incredible, mostly because of that group of people. First of all, there’s a rehearsal process, which is amazing, and they sort of improvise, and then they rewrite stuff. Any time you’ve got to act with somebody like Julia Louis-Dreyfus or Steve Carell, Hugh Laurie comes to mind, these people, there’s just something about them. Acting with them, you don’t feel like you’re talking to an actor. You feel like you’re talking to the real person. It’s just an amazing experience. [They are] people that I look up to.
The Patient was an incredible experience. It was so unique because there were so many scenes with no dialogue. There would be days when they would just follow me around filming, just walking down the street, putting up photos of Steve, because we’re trying to find him or riding my bike or whatever it was. That was a really interesting experience. Also, learning all the Hebrew stuff and learning how to play the guitar and all that stuff. And Barry was amazing because it’s like a work of art in a certain way, but in a weird, comical way.
The other thing about Barry is when something like that is in the zeitgeist and everyone’s watching, you’re getting in front of every casting agent without getting a meeting. They’re just seeing your work.
ANDREW LEEDS: Yes. And getting to act with Henry Winkler was great. It was great. I will say The Dropout was particularly fun. The people there were great. It was just a fun world to get to exist in because it was just such a weird story. Everybody else there is pretty much playing a real person, and I wasn’t. My character was just like a made-up person, so I kind of got to just make something up and they kind of let me do it.
This is a question for both of you. Besides this pilot, if someone has never seen your work before, what’s the first thing you want them watching and why?
JOANNA LEEDS: Phone voice number one, in episode 305 of Person of Interest.
ANDREW LEEDS: [Laughs] I would want people to see her in Bulldozer.
I think you’re great in this.
JOANNA LEEDS: I’ve done guest spots on NCIS, Superstore.
This is purely her.
JOANNA LEEDS: This is the type of acting I want to do.
Listen, you are very, very good in this, and I really hope people watch this. I hope studio people see it because it’s clear that you’re funny, and you’re really good in this. [Andrew], you didn’t suck. You were okay as a director. [Laughs] You didn’t ruin her performances.
ANDREW LEEDS: I appreciate you. That was the goal.
Special thanks to our 2025 partners at Sundance including presenting partner Rendezvous Capital and supporting partners Sommsation, The Wine Company, Hendrick’s Gin, neaū water, and Roxstar Entertainment.
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