Five Raindance Revelations with Brianna Lee for ‘The Troll’

In an age where a single comment can spark outrage, destroy reputations or fuel obsession, The Troll takes that anxiety and pushes it to a terrifying extreme. Making its World Premiere at Raindance Film Festival, writer, director and star Brianna Lee’s debut feature dives headfirst into the toxic relationship between online fame and anonymous cruelty, asking what might happen if the person on the receiving end finally decided to fight back.

Part psychological horror, part dark satire, the film follows social media superstar Killa B as she spirals after reading one particularly vicious comment. What begins as a bruised ego soon mutates into something far more dangerous, as the influencer becomes consumed with tracking down the stranger hiding behind a keyboard. Drawing inspiration from the pressures faced by women in the public eye, The Troll blends vibrant visuals, uncomfortable humour and escalating tension into a cautionary tale for the digital age.

For Lee, the project is especially personal. Having built an audience through comedy videos and social media while simultaneously forging a career as an actor, writer and filmmaker, she knows first-hand the strange contradictions of living in an increasingly connected world. That experience fuels a film that is both sharply observed and unapologetically unhinged.

To celebrate the film’s World Premiere at Raindance, we caught up with Brianna Lee for the latest edition of Five Raindance Revelations to discuss cinematic magic, creative influences, and why sometimes the best way to create opportunities is simply to make them yourself.

Brianna Lee writer-director and star of ‘The Troll’

1. Tell us about your film and why you felt Raindance would be a great place to unleash it on London and the UK.

The Troll is a psychological horror-thriller about a pop star who snaps after reading a single comment and takes revenge on the anonymous internet troll. It’s wild, it’s diabolical, it’s cartoonish; it’s a commentary on the danger that lies within the anonymity of the internet. We all have access to each other like never before, but for some reason we often choose to hurt and bully each other. The Troll paints the picture of a world where a female celebrity – already struggling under all of the impossible pressures we put on women in the public eye – finally cracks and takes matters into her own hands instead of letting one more stranger viciously tear her down for no reason.

Raindance felt like the absolute perfect place to premiere this film. Not only does it champion independent filmmakers, but it has always embraced bold, original voices that aren’t afraid to go there and take risks. The Troll is weird, loud, colorful, dark, and completely unapologetic. It feels right at home at Raindance.

2. What moment made you realise you wanted to create films, not just watch them?

When I was 14, my friends and I would go home after school, write silly characters, plots or sketches, and film funny videos. We’d fall all over each other laughing and show them to our friends. Soon, we were putting them on YouTube. We were making movies, and playing roles we created for ourselves. It was always my dream to be an actor, but when I saw that it really wasn’t outlandish to simply write and create your own scripts and films to be in – instead of waiting to be cast in something – it was game over. Basically, the moment I realized if I wanted to be regularly acting, I just had to create opportunities and films for myself to be in, I never looked back.

3. What’s one film that fundamentally changed the way you think about cinema?

Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet. No exaggeration, I have watched that movie at least 100 times. I used to watch it over and over again, and then eventually I moved on to Moulin Rouge. Same director, Baz Luhrman, put the same kind of spell on me. Grease was the movie that made me want to be an actor, but Romeo & Juliet showed me how powerful a cinematic experience can be. It showed me that a movie can change the way you feel. A good movie can sit with you for days.I would watch Romeo & Juliet and every SINGLE time get emotional from the performances and story, blown away by the colors, sets and cinematography and completely swept into the world. That’s magic. Movies are magic.

4. If you could collaborate with anyone in film history, who would unlock the most exciting project for you?

This is an easy answer: Rod Serling. He is my single biggest influence as a writer. The Twilight Zone was the bible in my house growing up, and so much of my inspiration comes from him. Even just getting to sit down and pick his brain for an hour would be a gift. Imagine getting to collaborate on a TV show or movie with the GOAT. I’d do that in a heartbeat.

5. What’s something making this film revealed about yourself that you didn’t know before?

For one, I learned how little sleep I can run on and if I have enough adrenaline I can make it through the packed filming schedule we had. A deeper thing I learned about myself was that when you’re creating a character or role for yourself, a really freeing,
and almost animalistic approach to writing dialogue is to go into character, look at yourself in the mirror, and just let it flow. What the character wants to say starts coming out on its own. I’d never done that before writing The Troll, and it was one of the coolest creative experiences I’ve had to date.

Lee’s answers paint a picture of a filmmaker who approaches cinema with genuine enthusiasm and curiosity. From filming sketches with friends after school to creating her own starring roles rather than waiting for someone else to hand her an opportunity, her journey reflects the same independent spirit that festivals like Raindance have long championed.

It’s also clear that The Troll sits at the intersection of several lifelong passions. The heightened visual storytelling she admired in Baz Luhrmann’s films, the moral and psychological questions explored by Rod Serling, and her own experiences navigating online spaces all seem to converge in a film that feels uniquely personal while tapping into a very modern fear.

Perhaps most revealing is her discovery that characters sometimes have a voice of their own if you’re willing to listen. That instinctive, almost improvisational approach to writing mirrors the chaotic energy that appears to drive The Troll itself, a film unafraid to be loud, strange, funny and unsettling all at once.

As audiences at Raindance discover Killa B’s descent into obsession, they’ll also be getting their first glimpse of a filmmaker who clearly has plenty more stories to tell. If The Troll is any indication, Brianna Lee won’t be afraid to make some noise while telling them.

The Troll trailer