Danica McKellar and Timilee Romolini on their film Broken

So she just did a great spread in Stuff Magazine. But that doesn't means she's an airhead. Or one of those typical cute Hollywood actresses. If she were, I wouldn't be writing this about her now. Danica Mckellar is probably better known as Winnie Cooper from that great show for kids on the verge of losing their virginity called The Wonder Years. Besides making Danica Mckellar and her sister Crystal McKellar stars in the teenage world of crushes and teen romance, The Wonder Years launched a television career that includes roles on The West Wing, Strong Medicine, and genre faves Babylon 5, The Twilight Zone, and a thriller called Path of Destruction for the sci-fi channel. Besides being a still working actress and being hot, she's also a talented director. Her short film Broken is currently hitting the festival circuit, and along with friend, actress, and producer Timilee Romolini, Danica is showing the world what she's capable of directing from behind the camera.
Broken is a short film written and directed by Danica McKellar, produced by Danica McKellar and Timilee Romolini, and starring solely Timilee Romolini...

Danica directed a short called Speechless in 2001. So Broken is her second directing gig. While Speechless was a drama, Broken has recently been entered into a bunch of horror film festivals, including Screamfest L.A., and gained entry. Timilee Romolini is an actress with a long list of TV and film credits. These two women have created a completely uniquely female film. It's about a woman, played by Romolini, who loses her family to a tragic accident. Broken explores what happened when you mend a broken heart. Literally.

Timilee: Broken is about a vulnerable spirit with the strength to carry on. ..we can't mend a broken heart. We can patch it up â€' live with it, but there are some occurrences in life that take a piece of us.

Danica: It's about the pain and beauty of a broken heart, and the universal need to mend it! Broken started off as a dream that Timi had that involved a real broken heart- I was so taken by that image that I wrote a script around it and asked Timi to star in it.

Timilee: I have this quote that I always say: 'Physical pain is of no consequence to me, emotional torment runs through me like a fire in the desert.'
The story of Broken comes from childhood. I created it as a tool to heal. All too often I had my heart broken as a child...or maybe I was just born with an old soul - a wounded spirit...but I felt (feel) pain deeply. Every night before I would go to bed I would pretend to cut open my chest, remove my heart and sew it back together. Pretty intense for a kid, but I never saw it as intense or morbid. It was just my way of mending what broke that day so that I could survive to the next. I STILL visualize that symbolic gesture to this day...every time my heart breaks. 9/11 â€' watching footage from Hurricane Katrina and feeling helpless to those dehydrating and scared children & elderly â€' the loss of my beloved Pubba (grandfather) this year. Broken is extremely personal reality for me. I am entirely grateful that I was finally able to 'act it out' in a more tangible way and share it with an audience.

Okay, so, Broken may not be straight horror. Danica herself refers to it as a 'Drama/Fantasy. I think it's difficult to categorize because it's so short,' she says. (it's 6 minutes long) 'It's too short to fall into the storytelling patterns we're all too familiar with, so since it involves a bit of sadness, a bit of love, and a bit of gore- who knows where it belongs in the lexicon?'

When Timilee first conceived Broken, it didn't actually take shape until Danica hopped on board.

Timilee: I had two scripts â€' one with special effects (ala Amelie ... or Tim Burtonesque) -, which would be very expensive, but my favorite of choice; and another without special effects â€' though involving more than one location. Two people approached me to do the film, to me there was no choice. Danica was a close friend, she understood the message and symbolism without explanation and was passionate about it. She said, 'I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is and this is what I am prepared to do...now'. Who could ask for more?! â€' She immediately penned an endearing script to fit her budget and did such an amazing job of detail from story board to set design to her infinite talent of vision that all I had to worry about from that point on was relishing my opportunity to LIVE out my fantasy.

I remember the day I finally decided I HAD to do this short. I was going over in my mind about keeping this one as a solo piece, or trimming it down and making it a collection of mini shorts or... I was undecided because I had no money. Then something (else) made me think of Danica and I called her. Before I knew it I was back in thought about my short and began spewing the story at her. I get so passionate about this story that I went on forever with every little detail before I finally caught myself blabbering on and on and I thought - 'poor thing â€' she's either bored to death or thinks I'm completely nuts with talk of cutting out my heart to sew it back together'. Needless to say, she was neither bored nor disgusted. She got it and she loved it and I love her for loving it!

Danica and Timilee don't necessarily need to have their film hit the video stores. They're happy with what they've made because it's evoked so many emotions in so many people.

Timilee: I just want people to feel more love and compassion in this world.

Danica: I like the process of watching my filmmaking with real audiences and learning what their response is. You learn so much as a writer and director by giving it away to audiences, so I am not sure that I'm hoping for much more than that. I'm not fervently searching for my first feature to direct!I'm still learning and growing, and every now and then when I'm inspired, I'll direct something like this. A few years down the road I'll probably pursue a feature, but for now I'm happy with my acting and keeping filmmaking somewhat as a hobby.

So, we're pretty familiar with Danica McKellar the actress, Danica as Winnie Cooper, and Danica in her hot Stuff Magazine layout.. but what about Danica the Director? What's she like?

Timilee: You'd have to work with Danica to appreciate just how vast her knowledge is of filmmaking...and because she is also a talented actress, she made for a brilliant director

Danica: What's inspired me as a director has been other directors I've worked with, much more than the types of films I've acted in.

Women in the Director's chair: what's the deal?

Danica: I've worked with many female directors in television, like last week on CBS' How I met Your Mother- Pam Fryman is one of my favorites. Also, Leslie Linka Glatter on The West Wing. Were growing in number, slowly but surely.
Timilee: It's habit, and until more and more females take on the role and prove how coveted their work is by an audience, they will continue to be the minority against that norm.

What can we expect from Danica and Timilee in the future?

Danica: I've been super busy acting this year, and that is still my main, and first, love!I'll know when an idea or script comes along is right, just like I knew with Broken.

Timilee: I'm concentrating on getting myself another TV series at the moment because that is where I've found my greatest success but I am open.

Like any film, especially a gore-drenched one, there are a few interesting stories about production!

Danica: We used real lamb hearts for the broken heart. The centerpiece of the entire movie they were the cheapest prop â€' a buck each at the butcher's.

Timilee: Alongside beef and pork in many meat sections of supermarkets, you can find lambs hearts!!Near the very end of our 21 hour long shooting day, the cops were called twice, and we were almost arrested for disturbing the peace and not having permits. THANK GOD we were shooting this just days before Halloween.

Danica: I was terrified we would be shut down before we finished, but Timi was great with them and after a minute or two hey were laughing and just told us to keep it down and finish up.

Timi: I convinced the cops that it was simply a 'home movie' that we were making for my niece's Halloween party. We were doing the morgue scene at the time so I looked liked death â€' which worked well for my defense! Of course after 21hours of shooting, we ALL looked like death!

On one last note; Timi's performance in Broken is especially tragic and unnerving!.

Timi: I dedicate my performance in Broken to the life and cherished memory of my Pubba, Patrick Farchione.

Visit the official website of Broken and the official website of Danica McKellar