Director’s Statement

With this film, I wanted to explore our fractured political climate and the caricatured ways either side view one another - while somehow also offering an entertaining diversion from the issue itself. Outrage has become an obstacle to healing, and I feared burdening the film with its own weighty thematic ambition would drag it into the very echo chamber it decries. Instead, The Toll Road leans predominantly into its human aspects; its offbeat love story - to tell a simple, charming fable that can still satisfy as that alone.

That said, the narrative is presented in a way that urges against expectation. Familiar, yet not. Norms are shifting, and we are complicit. The Toll Road is transparent about its role as a capital S story: the fourth wall’s broken; the characters presented for our judgment; and the edit affects the action onscreen just as much as the action affects the edit. This is your tale to detach from or to engage deeper with, just as is the case with this moment in time.

And if being pleasantly distracted for 20 minutes by a ‘quirky’ romance is all an audience wants to take home, then that too feels like a victory. At a moment when even bearing witness to the news cycle can be exhausting, sometimes it's ok to come up for air.

I shot it in under 2 days, with an exceptional crew - and I truly couldn't have done so without their willingness to tackle this as a team. The whole process has been an incredible learning curve, and I’ll head back in front of the camera with an even greater respect for those behind.

Please enjoy The Toll Road.

Everybody pays.

Tom Riley