The Crash’s director shares what Mackenzie Shirilla was like, and why she was so ‘understandable’

Director Gareth Johnson and producer Angharad Scott spent months investigating Mackenzie Shirilla for Netflix’s The Crash, and after finally getting to interview her, they admitted that her insistence of her innocence was “understandable.”

Due to the lack of other interviews and the doc taking a more nuanced approach to storytelling, it’s not immediately clear what the interviewers actually thought of her character. However, that being said, there are details that build a pretty good picture of what that room was like.

“She was never interviewed by the police either before or after her arrest. It would be unprecedented if she spoke to us, and luckily she said yes,” Gareth Johnson told Tudum.

Credit: Netflix

Angharad Scott said that the culmination of their work was “extraordinary”, largely because they could finally ask Mackenzie the questions everyone has been wondering.

Rules were strict for the interview. The crew had only one hour to interview the convicted murderer, and her lawyer was present for the entire time.

In a similar interview with USA TODAY, Angharad Scott recalled there being a “nervous energy” in the room as Mackenzie was finally able to share her thoughts unimpeded by the strict rules of the courtroom. Throughout the interview, she maintained her innocence.

“I got the sense that she wanted to really use this opportunity to do so [share her story],” she added.

But there were “frustrations” with the Netflix interview, namely Mackenzie’s lack of memory from the crash itself.

“We still had the opportunity to ask her some hard questions around that,” he told Time. “There’s obviously a lack of memory of the event itself that’s a frustration, and it leaves the black hole still in place. We don’t really know.”

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After the interview, one thing was incredibly clear for Angharad: The damage of this case is not over.

“You just realise that the legacy of these events continues,” she said, “and it will stay with them—all of these people—for the rest of their lives.”

Why did they think the attitude of The Crash’s Mackenzie Shirilla was ‘understandable’?

Though The Crash was in no way biased to or against Mackenzie Shirilla, the creators admitted that her position was “understandable” in the context of her appeals. Both Mackenzie and her parents are still actively fighting the conviction.

“I don’t want to force anything and just say too much or sound crazy,” Mackenzie asks her lawyer in the doc. “I just want to make sure that I’m big on the no intent. There was no intent whatsoever there. I have excessive amounts of remorse for Dominic, Davion, both of their families. This was not intentional, and I will do everything I can to prove that to the world and the families.”

Considering the documentary could be used against her in ongoing appeals, it makes perfect sense that she’d want to ensure she wasn’t making the situation worse.

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Featured image credit: Netflix