Elisabeth Moss and director Josephine Decker talk about their film, Shirley, in a Q&A originally presented after the 2020 BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express screening. ‘I’m a witch, didn’t anyone tell you?’ When we first meet Shirley (Elisabeth Moss), soon to become America’s queen of horror fiction, she seems to be no such thing; just a sad, drunken shut-in, married to a cheating English professor (Michael Stuhlbarg) and blocked as a writer. But with the arrival of Rose (Odessa Young) and her teaching-assistant husband Fred (Logan Lerman), Shirley reveals herself as a far crueller and more sophisticated creature, seducing the innocent girl into becoming her companion and accomplice in the new mystery novel she is writing. Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf is clearly a touchstone, but Josephine Decker’s psychodrama goes further, blurring the boundaries of biopic and fiction in exploring the cruel forces that can feed creativity. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/subscribetotheBFI Claim an extended BFI Player Subscription free trial (UK only) - subscribe using code BFIYOUTUBE: http://theb.fi/player-subscription Watch more on BFI Player: http://player.bfi.org.uk/ Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BritishFilmInstitute Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/britishfilminstitute/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BFI