Reality is stranger than fiction in Mizzou alum Paula Rhodes' new film

Parenting feels like a revolution every single day.

Even at your best, the world topples over and you hope for enough time and wherewithal to set things aright. Then you wake up the next morning, set unsteady feet on the floor and do it all over again.

Live out these roles and responsibilities against real sociopolitical turmoil, and each note of joy, affection, helplessness and fear is heightened.

University of Missouri alum Paula Rhodes threads these tensions through her new film, "Delicate State." As writer, director, star and half of a close-knit crew, Rhodes folded scenes from her real-life pregnancy into a work of docufiction, a not-so-far-fetched story about the creeping crescendo of a second American civil war.

Labor and delivery

The term "labor of love," so often overused, should be reserved for a project like "Delicate State." The movie is nothing less, yet exists as something more — a labor of anxiety, a labor of possibility, a labor that brought catharsis.

The film's catalysts were both sweeter than any invention and too fraught to ignore. After traversing an uneven road to pregnancy, Rhodes and her husband, actor Charlie Bodin, learned they were expecting.

After establishing a wide-ranging career with work in movies, commercials and voice acting in TV series such as "Doc McStuffins" and "The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy," Rhodes stared down very natural concerns about how — and if — the paths of artistry and motherhood would intersect.

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"I was really nervous about that. So nervous that I’m sure it’s all I talked about to Charlie," she said. "... And one night, he flippantly was like, 'Well, just make a movie then.' "

At the same time, around 2015, Rhodes watched the country turning on itself. The former MU journalism major's ears perked as some reporters and pundits described the conflict and tossed around the term "civil war," almost as if they were cheering the possibility of chaos.

"I knew the power of journalism — and they seemed to be forgetting the responsibility of journalism," Rhodes said. "That how you frame something, how you talk about something, can either breathe it into life or can squash it."

Freshly aware of her own mortality, and watching social contracts slide off the table, Rhodes' mind turned to parts of the world where expected mothers walk through wars everyone said could never happen.

"It made me play out that scenario," she said.

It both was and wasn't hard to envision how the natural, physical changes pregnancy brings might hinder a woman in treacherous situations.

"When you’re at the very end (of pregnancy), there’s parts where you cannot run for your life. You cannot climb out of the way of something," Rhodes said.

The movie she envisioned in her mind evolved as plotlines converged. "Delicate State" took shape as the story of a couple (played by Rhodes and Bodin) whose joyful news is interrupted by the news of the day.

While the work of pregnancy never can be evenly divided, Rhodes and Bodin quite naturally formed a nimble two-person crew, sharing the creative labor on "Delicate State." The pair played to natural strengths, and discovered new areas of competency.

Because Bodin was filming moments in Rhodes' pregnancy as art and life engaged in a dance of mutual imitation, he often manned the camera. She majored in the film's sound design and applied marketing skills from her time at MU to create the movie poster; he became a whiz at handling digital files and footage.

The fluid nature of the story led the pair to work free from a script — but not without a safety net. They printed story ideas on Post-it notes, shuffling them around a whiteboard. With the help of editor Rachael Henry, they identified gaps and transitional scenes.

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At silly and significant moments in Rhodes' pregnancy, the pair would pause in real time to note situations that should be recreated on camera. Filming became both a "coping mechanism and creative outlet," she said.

Collaborating with one's spouse is "both easier and harder" than on a more typical set, Rhodes added. Conflicts came up that wouldn't otherwise, but a shared history and language allow for quick problem-solving, she said.

A unique anxiety settled upon the pair when ideas that Rhodes deemed fantastical — scenes related to our cultural and political climate — jumped off a Post-it note and became reality.

"As both the state of our pregnancy or the state of the nation shifted, which it did a lot, we would add another, or scoot around or take away Post-it notes," she said, adding she hopes never to feel that specific terror again.

The film took longer to finish than the couple imagined — Rhodes and Bodin have two children now — but everything fell into proper place and "Delicate State" released as the world needed a reminder of what we're capable of and what we have in common, Rhodes said.

The film has been championed by festivals and organizations such as Dances with Films, the St. Louis International Film Festival and The Chimaera Project, which boosts the signals of women and non-binary filmmakers.

Tiger, by the tale

On the other side of intertwined personal and professional challenges, Rhodes sees how her time in Columbia prepared her to make "Delicate State."

The lesson which translates regardless of the situation? "How to climb a learning curve," Rhodes said. Learning new technologies and tools at MU, and facing fears that arose in unfamiliar scenarios, readied her to swim the choppy channels of Hollywood.

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"Learning is the thing that takes up most of my career and time. The more self-reliant you are ... the further you’re going to be able to go without having to ask anyone for permission," Rhodes said.

More informally, college demonstrated the joys of making others laugh, of captivating people with a tale well told, Rhodes said. At MU, she became infatuated with "tapping into that magic that is storytelling, in that you can really touch hearts to change minds."

Casting one more glance back at her college self — and at the current students who resemble her — Rhodes wants future MU graduates to be free of the phrase "supposed to." She felt the pressure to enter her "forever adulthood" at 21 or 22, she said, when life has proven the abundance — and length — of possible paths.

This combination of hindsight and forethought informs all Rhodes' work, including "Delicate State," a film-length testimony to a collective need to keep turning, even as the world wildly spins.

"Delicate State" is available on demand, including via Amazon, Apple TV and iTunes. Learn more about Rhodes and the film at http://officialpaularhodes.com/.

Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Reality is stranger than fiction in Mizzou alum Paula Rhodes' new film