‘Tight conditions’: How Netflix managed to get Mackenzie Shirilla to be in film about her crime

A big question a lot of us have had since watching The Crash on Netflix, is why on earth Mackenzie Shirilla agreed to the prison interview part of the doc. She doesn’t exactly come across well. It would seem as though remorse isn’t something she’s really familiar with.

Mackenzie Shirilla has always maintained that the 2022 car crash, that killed her boyfriend Dominic Russo and friend Davion Flanagan, was an accident. The Netflix documentary shows evidence that was used against her in court, which suggests the opposite: She drove into the wall on purpose.

Mackenzie Shirilla, who is now 21, was found guilty of murder in August 2023. She was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years, but told there was a high chance she will spend the rest of her life in prison.

In the Netflix show, Mackenzie Shirilla gave her very first interview, from prison. In it, she appeared with a lawyer next to her but off-camera, and she was seen telling producers she wanted it to be “clear I have excessive remorse”. I’m not sure she knew that would make it into the final edit, and if you have to literally say that instead of being able to illustrate and show it, I think that speaks volumes.

Anyway, speaking with Tudum, director Gareth Johnson and producer Angharad Scott have spoken about how that interview came about, and what Shirilla was really like.

via Netflix

The Netflix crew was given ‘tight conditions’ in which to interview Mackenzie Shirilla

Gareth Johnson and Angharad Scott said it “took considerable effort to secure” the first ever interview with Mackenzie Shirilla, and upon arrival to the prison to film, there were “tight conditions”. It would seem she only said yes, if there were elements that were in her control.

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Gareth Johnson said: “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.” Angharad Scott added: “It was extraordinary, after months of research for the story, to finally sit down and put to Mackenzie all the questions everybody else has been asking.”

They were given conditions for the interview. They only had one single hour with Mackenzie Shirilla, and her lawyer had to be present throughout.

At the end of the interview, Mackenzie Shirilla had an exchange with her lawyer, and said: “I don’t want to force anything and just say too much or sound crazy.” She then turned to the camera and added she wanted the interview to be “big on the no intent” and show that she has “excessive amounts of remorse”.

The filmmakers clarified it was deliberate to leave those moments in, as it showed the audience the conditions Netflix had been given to interview Mackenzie Shirilla under.

“I thought it was important that the audience understood the circumstances that interview was held under,” Johnson explained. “She has every right for her lawyer to be there. She is in part of an appeals process [where she and] her parents are very much fighting the conviction.”

In a similar interview with USA TODAY, Angharad Scott recalled there was a “nervous energy” in the room as Mackenzie was finally able to share her thoughts unimpeded by the strict rules of a courtroom. Throughout the interview, she maintained her innocence. “I got the sense that she wanted to really use this opportunity to [share her story],” she said.

The Crash is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.