Saying Cheers to the Right Choices in a Tequila-Fuelled Time-Loop Comedy, and in General: Emily Browning Chats 'One More Shot'

When New Year's Eve rolled around in 1999 with its blend of Y2K excitement and anxiety — including fears about how the world, or at least the technology relied upon to run it, might crash — Emily Browning wasn't yet a teenager. Thanks to the film The Echo of Thunder and TV series High Flyers, she was also already an actor, however. Over a quarter of a century later, the Australian Ghost Ship, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Uninvited, Sucker Punch, Magic Magic, God Help the Girl, Legend, Golden Exits, The Affair and American Gods talent is back at the last evening of the 90s. In One More Shot, she can't escape it. The Aussie comedy, which premiered at SXSW in Austin before its local debut at the 2025 Melbourne International Film Festival, and will hit streaming later in the year via Stan, is a time-loop movie. Rather than Bill Murray waking up each morning to Sonny and Cher's 'I Got You Babe', Browning resets to the front door of a NYE shindig where the sounds of James' 'Laid' echo from the just-starting party inside.

After a career so far that's taken her to Hollywood and back Down Under on multiple occasions, Browning is making her own return: to Australian film. The last time that she starred in a homegrown picture was in 2011's Sleeping Beauty. The only other local fare that she's had reach screens between then and now is 2023 Prime Video series Class of '07, which is set at a high-school reunion as an apocalyptic wave hits. The Fox with Jai Courtney (Dangerous Animals), Damon Herriman (Together) and Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim) is next, as written and directed by Danger 5's Dario Russo. Genre-wise, Browning is charting new territory in each of her three latest Aussie projects, too, embracing her comedy era.

When you're leading a movie about reliving the same night over and over again — One More Shot's New Year's Eve cycle is sparked by a magical bottle of tequila — then you're leading a film about choices. Whenever the genre pops up, be it with Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow, Happy Death Day and its sequel, Palm Springs, video-game adaptation Until Dawn or TV series Russian Doll, decisions and selecting the right options are always at their heart. That's a theme that aligns with Browning's approach to her career, especially in the two decades after playing A Series of Unfortunate Events' Violet Baudelaire opposite Jim Carrey (Sonic the Hedgehog 3) as Count Olaf. The film hit cinemas when she was just 16.

That kind of fame wasn't her dream, even though she grew up with an avid love of movies. As Minnie Vernon, her One More Shot character, also does as she keeps retracing her steps as the new millennium dawns, Browning learned from it. Her Lemony Snicket experience has influenced how she has chosen projects since. "It's very much feelings-based, and also a desire to not repeat myself — not for the sake of optics or anything, but just because I get bored really easily. So really, I just go towards what interests me," she tells Concrete Playground.

"Of course, there's about ten people in Hollywood who get their pick of any movie they want, and I'm certainly not one of them. And so a lot of it is also what's available to me at the time," Browning continues. "It's a combination of that and things that I love. But I've only done one or two things that I really didn't like and that I did because I needed to work. And I think I'm too — I just don't think I have the constitution for that. And so I really mostly just wait for something to come along that speaks to me in some way, and sometimes I wait for a really long time — sometimes I have huge breaks in work. I mean, I'm so incredibly lucky. There are so many talented actors out there who don't ever get the opportunities that I've been given, and so I feel like incredibly lucky for that, but I just follow my gut. I'm just going with what feels right to me."

In One More Shot, Browning's Minnie is an anaesthetist who's having a chaotic day that she thinks rekindling her on-again-off-again romance with Joe (Sean Keenan, Exposure) will fix. More than that, she believes that plunging into a relationship with him now that he's back from New York will solve her general sensation that something's missing from her existence. Their loaded pal Rodney (Ashley Zukerman, In Vitro) and his wife Pia (Pallavi Sharda, Spit), who are parents to an infant and feeling the stress of the change to their lifestyle, are their hosts — but the night instantly alters for Minnie when she meets Joe's new girlfriend Jenny (Aisha Dee, Apple Cider Vinegar), then swerves again (and again and again and again) when taking a swig of tequila sees her kick off the party from the beginning once more.

Nick Robertson | @nickmickpics

When Class of '07 gave Browning her first taste of comedy as an actor, she was apprehensive. As the series proved, she needn't have been. Browning was also uncertain when One More Shot came her way — especially about playing drunk, one of acting's most-challenging tasks. Again, the same applies. A particular highlight of the Nicholas Clifford (Monologue)-directed, Alice Foulcher- and Gregory Erdstein (That's Not Me)-co-written film, which also features Hamish Michael (Scrublands: Silver), Anna McGahan (Darby and Joan) and Contessa Treffone (Totally Completely Fine) among its cast: Browning's ability, even though every protagonist in every flick hopefully changes and evolves, to convey that shift when those changes and evolutions are firmly in the spotlight — each step along the way, each tweak.

How do you respond when a time-loop rom-com that sparks its temporal trickery with slinging shots hits your inbox? What's exciting about diving into comedy more than two decades into your career? Does a transformation arc change how you approach playing a character in a movie like this? In our chat, Browning also filled us in on all of the above, plus finding Minnie's mix of vulnerability and selfishness, acting tipsy, her journey since her first on-screen credit at the age of 11 and the thrill of making Australian projects.

On How You React When a Time-Loop Comedy About a Magical Bottle of Tequila Comes Your Way

"So every script you get sent, there's sort of a little blurb, like the kind of elevator pitch of the story that's trying to like sum it up in a paragraph or two. I guess that's for the actors who get sent so many scripts that they don't have time to read them all, but I'm just always happy to read a script. The blurbs are also never written by the creatives — they're written by someone at an agency somewhere.

And so I read the blurb and I was like 'romantic comedy about a time travelling bottle of tequila?'. I was like 'aaah, I don't know about this. I'm not so sure'. But then I read the script, because I just like to read scripts, and I got not even probably 10–15 pages in and I was like 'oh, wait a sec'.

I could just tell immediately that the quality of writing was really good. And I found it really funny. And then by the time I was through it, I was really nervous. I wasn't immediately sold, mostly because I didn't know if I could pull it off.

When I first read it, I read it as though Minnie was getting progressively drunker through the whole film. And playing drunk is really, really, really hard to do, and so I was like 'oh, I don't know, this might be too much of a challenge'.

But I really related to the themes of the choices that you make in life meaning that you have to say goodbye to other possible choices, and how do you decide what you want your life to look like — and the feeling of regret, and the kind of grass-is-always-greener feeling. And I really loved it.

And then I when I spoke to Nick Clifford, the director, he just really further sold me on it. And yeah, I'm really excited about it. I feel really, really proud of it now."

On Embracing Comedy After Initially Being Apprehensive Before Class of '07 Gave Browning Her First Comic Role

"I love it. I love it so much. And I love it because it still feels really hard to me. I'm a person who gets bored really easily and I like to be challenged. I mean, I know that's a really trite thing to say. I know everyone says that.

But without the fear of failing spectacularly, I feel like I don't have the — how do I explain this? I only really am able to be my best, most-creative self when I'm under a lot of stress and when I'm feeling really anxious. I guess it's maybe kind of an ADD thing where I just don't have enough dopamine in my brain unless I'm kind of borderline panicking.

And so I think, yeah, comedy still feels really scary, and that's why I love to do it.

And I really also, I really credit Class of '07 and Kacie Anning [Madam], the creator of that show, for opening that up in me — because she really put me through the wringer. We were playing improv games and doing a bunch of crazy stuff to prepare for that show. And she was pushing me. She was like 'you're still too afraid of being embarrassed. You still have to be more of a dickhead'. Like, 'you have to embarrass yourself more'.

And it really broke something open in me, because I think before that I was really terrified of embarrassing myself, and I kind of wanted — I did a lot of straight drama, and I think I got to the limits of what I could do in my career without being willing to embarrass myself.

And so now that's a fun and exciting risk for me — when I read a script where I'm like 'ohh, I'm going to look like a real idiot doing this', that's a pro now instead of a con."

On Playing a Character Whose Change and Evolution Scene by Scene Isn't Just in the Spotlight — It's One of the Key Points of the Film

"It was a challenge — there's so much repetition of setpieces and of moments, but ideally you don't want it to be repetition of the emotion or the acting, because then it becomes a really boring film. So that was a huge challenge, was like 'okay, how do I make sure every loop, the similarities between every loop' — like the literal similarities — 'feel different enough every time we're doing it?'.

And I try not to think too much about how the audience is going to respond to a film. I don't really think that's my job when I'm filming it, when I'm acting. But I definitely wanted to make sure that Minnie, that there was some or a lot of variation between each time loop.

But I think having such a clear transformation arc was really fun, actually. I love playing kind of an unlikeable character, and I just think it's more interesting and more fun. And I think Minnie, the fact that we get to watch Minnie over the course of the film go from unlikeable to a-little-bit-more likeable is really great.

There's nothing more fun, honestly, than playing a character who has no self-awareness. There's something really freeing about it. As someone who's a total people-pleaser, there's something so enjoyable about playing a character who just doesn't give a shit about other people's feelings."

On Finding Minnie's Balance of Yearning and Vulnerability, But Also Selfishness and Recklessness — and Plenty More

"It's interesting. I think so much of that is a credit to the writing.

I'm trying to get better in my work. I'm trying to get better at being proud of myself and owning the things that I'm good at — which I think growing up in Australia can sometimes be a tricky thing, when it's always like 'oh, don't get too full of yourself'. But I have always thought of myself or I've thought of actors as a medium in the way that paint is a medium. Like, I'm a paint colour and a director chooses to paint with me.

And I know I've said this to a few actors and they're completely horrified by it, but an actor has very little control in the outcome of a film. And I think that this is why actors can become such nightmares sometimes, because they have this delusion of control and this need for control, where there really isn't any. It's really a job where you don't get much creative control.

And so I think that I just am trying to tap into exactly what I imagine Minnie feels in the moment, and I get that from the script. I know that sounds like kind of a cheap answer. It makes it sound like I have no agency. But I'm a real overthinker in every other area of my life — but when it comes to work, if a character feels right and if a story feels right, something clicks for me where I'm really not thinking very much.

I'm not a studious actor. I'm not poring over the script every day. My favourite thing is to get in there and talk about the scene with the director and with the other actors, and then just do it. And when I'm doing, I'm not thinking about it at all."

On the Difficulties of Acting Drunk — But Only Really Needing to Act Tipsy Here

"One of the ways that Nick Clifford reassured me about taking on the role was by telling me that she doesn't get progressively drunker. She actually resets for every loop. So really, Minnie is only ever tipsy, which is a lot easier — because I think that there's a broader area to play with with tipsiness.

Some people, you can tell if they're tipsy — some people, you can't. Minnie is an anaesthetist. She's in a very serious profession. She probably went to a great school and her job means that she's taken very seriously. So I feel like Emily's normal personality-level silliness is probably Minnie's tipsiness. So I wasn't really thinking about playing tipsy. I was just thinking about playing Minnie being maybe slightly less reserved than she normally would be — or than she would be at work.

The only moment in the film that I really felt that I was playing inebriated in some way was the scene with Sean in the bathroom, where Minnie does a line of C-Word's [Michael] cocaine. I've had conversations with a lot of people who were on cocaine, and I found that much easier than playing drunk — because essentially, a person on cocaine is just talking a bit faster and a bit more excitedly and animatedly, but really they just don't give a fuck what you have to say. They just want to hear the sound of themselves talking.

And I was like 'yeah, I can do that.' That's a lot easier to act than drunk. Whereas drunk is like — when I see a great drunk performance, I'm really, really, really impressed by it. People think it's impressive when actors cry easily. I'm like 'no anyone can do that'. When someone can play drunk, that's when I'm really — I think that's really incredible.

I don't know if I can really do it, to be honest with you."

On Browning's Path From Making Her Screen Debut Almost Three Decades Ago in The Echo of Thunder Through to Now

"That was my first acting role, and it kind of happened by accident. It was very random. A friend's parents saw me in a school play and knew a casting director, and the casting director was looking for an eight-year-old girl — and it kind of just happened.

Before then, I loved movies so much. I loved movies. All I did was watch movies. But I just didn't think — I never made the connection in my mind that that was a job you could do. And then it just happened, and I was like 'cool, I guess this is my job now'. And it meant that I got to be out of school for a few months of the year, and it felt more interesting to me than school did.

But I think from the beginning, I was like 'well, this is what I do now, I guess'. And then I remember doing Lemony Snicket when I was 14, and I loved that experience, but it was my first time in LA and it really freaked me out in a way that was like 'I actually don't think this is the life that I want'. I was there, I was in West Hollywood, and I was meeting all these young actors who seemed so — they just seemed to not have any other life outside of making films and it just all felt a bit yuck to me.

And so I actually kind of quit for a few years, and didn't start again until after high school. But even that, it's only really in the last few years, since COVID, that I've really felt like I fully committed to wanting to be an actor — which is crazy because I'm in my mid-30s now.

But it took me a long time. I was very afraid for a long time. The idea of being famous has always been terrifying to me. I'm only now at the point where I'm like 'okay, I think I know myself well enough and I can let myself accept the fact that I would like to be successful'.

I still don't want to be famous. I still have no interest in being — like, I don't want to be in superhero movies, really. But I would like to do this for the rest of my life, and I would like to be able to do really interesting roles. And that means learning how to play the game to some degree, I guess, which feels gross, but I think it's just part of it.

I've spent a lot of time leaning in and then pulling back, and hiding from the scarier elements of the industry — or the elements that were scary to me. And now I finally feel like I'm at a place where I'm like 'okay, I want to do this for real', even though I have been doing it for real for a long time. But I finally feel ready for it."

On Coming Home for a Project — and One More Shot Being Browning's Australian Film Since 2011's Sleeping Beauty

"Honestly, other than my gut, it's the fact that I get to come home. It's a huge drawcard to be able to work at home. And honestly, more and more recently, so much of the most interesting stuff that I've been reading has been Australian stuff.

So it's been a really lucky thing — especially during the strike and everything, when a lot of my friends just had to wait it out. And the fact that I was still able to be reading stuff in Australia, I feel really, really lucky for that, that I have this other — it's not a second career, it's all part of the same career, but the fact that I can come home and work is really, really incredible, especially now considering that everything's a bit more global now. With streaming, people see things from all over the world and you can be anywhere.

I'm not going to take a job in Australia just because it's in Australia, but if something is in Australia that I already love, it's going to make me even more excited about it.

I think One More Shot — and The Fox as well — are both things that I'm incredibly excited about. And they both happen to have been made here, which is really cool. It makes them even more special."

One More Shot screens at the 2025 Melbourne International Film Festival — and will stream via Stan later in 2025.

One More Shot images: Ben King/Stan.