Dolby Creator Talks

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, with Director Mary Bronstein

October 21, 2025

Writer/Director Mary Bronstein and Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Designer, and Re-recording Mixer Filipe Messeder join us to discuss “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” — the searing and darkly funny new indie film from A24 about the dark side of motherhood. Featuring a tour-de-force performance by Rose Byrne, the film made quite a splash when it premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

By using sound design, it's not so much what a score does… it's world building. It's building the world that she lives in and some of it is in her head… When you see it in a theater, some of those cues are making your chest bones rumble. In a quite literal way, it's happening to you. And in the same way that it's happening to her… So it's taking her inner world and it's externalizing it for the viewer.

Mary Bronstein, Writer/Director, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”

Despite its relatively small budget, quite a lot of work went into the sound design of the film, with a sometimes unconventional, yet wildly effective approach to sound as a storytelling tool. Be sure to check out “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” now playing in select theaters (and nationwide this Friday) in Dolby Atmos® where available. Please subscribe to Dolby Creator Talks wherever you get your podcasts. You can also check out the video for this episode on YouTube. Learn more about the Dolby Creator Lab and check out Dolby.com. Connect with Dolby on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Open on YouTube