“As a kid, I witnessed the process of my dad making films and the extraordinary cast of characters that came together to make it happen,” she said. “I found myself drawn to the nomadic and creative life that that implied. … What led me to actually having the opportunity to do it was a combination of luck, timing and stubbornness.”
Over the years, Amy has worked behind the camera directing feature films, television episodes, and music videos, including The Guitar in 2008 and Jeff Buckley’s Everyday People in 2016. She also spoke to HuffPost in 2008 about the importance of amplifying women’s voices in a male-dominated industry.
“I think it’s easier for women to submerge their voice. I think that women innately have wonderful things to say but to accommodate others it’s easier for us to put our own voice aside,” she said. “Even the loudest women are loud for a reason because they can’t be heard. I just had a daughter two months ago and I hope that whatever I do has a positive influence on her chances of not having to fight so hard.”
Amy’s personal life has also been in the public eye. According to The New York Times, she was married to Scottish photographer Mark Mann from 2000 to 2004. Four years later, in 2008, she married Matt August just six weeks before the birth of their first child.
“It was actually easier to figure out when to direct a movie and have a baby than it was to figure out when to get married,” she joked to Observer. The pair went on to have twins before eventually divorcing, a topic Amy reflected on in a 2022 interview with Ageist.
When asked about raising children on her own, she explained: “I would say there’s sort of a cost and benefit in many ways. It’s very easy to kind of point the finger at the other person that’s staring across the kitchen table from you when you’re doing parenting in the same house. And when you’re not, you have to take a lot more responsibility for the culture of your home in a way that’s pretty autonomous. And it’s made me have to look at some of my own instincts in a different light.”
