Alexandra Chando may have rolled in on the wave of Angelenos moving to Austin during the pandemic, but she’d actually already lived here more than a decade prior, when she played the lead role of identical twins in The Lying Game, which was filmed in Austin 2010-2012. When the show got canceled, she headed back to Los Angeles but tells Austin Lifestyle, “I decided to make my way back here. I was unhappy in LA and felt that after 13 years there, things had run their course, and I needed a fresh start. Austin has a great filmmaking community and I wanted to tap into that.”
And she did. Alexandra recently made her directorial debut with The 8th Day, which takes place in Texas. “My quick elevator pitch of the film is always ‘it's a female heist movie, set in 1994, in West Texas,’ but the proper logline is: Two small-time thugs, an old woman living with a dark secret, a young woman desperate to get out and a check cashing store full of money will all intersect in a small Texas town… In eight days.” The film was released in theaters and on demand on March 14 and and is currently available on all streaming platforms. She says she was drawn to the film because “The writer/producer of the film, Suzanne Weinert (also local to Austin) brought me the script after I mentioned I was ready to direct a feature. As an actor myself, I'm always drawn to characters first and with this script it was no different. The female characters were especially intriguing to me as they felt strong, yet flawed and so very human and I felt like it would be fun to play in the early 1990's. When I was prepping the film, I was inspired by so many of the great movies that came out of the 90's and wanted to pay homage to them. I also love to point out that all of our producers (including our investor) are women who live in Texas--which made this project that much more special for me.”
Alexandra’s friend Lindsey Morgan, a native Texan who also moved back about four years ago, is an actress in the film. When asked if it’s easier or harder to direct a friend Alexandra says, “I think with Lindsey in particular, it was easy because we help each other with our self-tape auditions all the time, so we already had a comfort and trust there. We've developed a shorthand, so I never felt like I had to be super precious when we were talking about scenes or I was giving notes.”
Going forward, Alexandra hopes to work both in front of and behind the camera. “I love both, especially when I'm acting in comedy, but there's nothing like the feeling of directing for me,” she says. And, she hopes to do both from here, saying, “I love the energy here--even when I step off the plane, I can feel it. I love that I can have a better quality of life--spend more time outdoors, get out on the lake. I also love the community of people I have here--I feel very fortunate to have found some incredible friends who feel like family,” adding, “I'm looking forward hopefully a next wave of film and TV production here in Austin. We have such talented artists here and the ability to create and film projects at home would be a dream.”