I've definitely had a very elaborate career path and twists and turns and changes I'm in my 30s and I I've lost count of how many jobs or different things I've done she's been a chicken sex she's been a school teacher she's tried pul vating she had a go at Miss show girl as well.
Her beauty pageants um Mrs Australia yeah there's not much Leela can't do fashion designer mother farmer and now filmmaker to do anything like this I think you have to start out naive pretty naive yeah had I known some of the challenges I'd come up against probably.
Wouldn't have wouldn't have started oh what are you doing get out get out you're not the cattle get out I lived in my whole life I know what I'm doing no you're drunk you can't drive get out thousands of others have tried and failed to make films the odds of someone who's not an actor or a writer getting a feature film.
Off the ground are one in 7 trillion it's it's mad there are so many things that could go wrong it takes a particular kind of person to uh pull this kind of Initiative off and that person is called L mcdouall at times throughout filming I.
Was scared I thought I can't do this can't handle all of this pressure but I I couldn't afford to let it fail ow I think there's a huge amount at stake for her she's she's put a lot on the line the finances the family she's put a lot on the.
Line when people say we're crazy I guess we've got one chance that at this life and we want to make a make a difference there's something in me that just I had to tell the story I have to make this movie and I will do anything to make it and get it to work how are you I don't know no of course you.
Don't it's a hard journey and no one knows how to navigate it I guess you could say I'm quite Relentless definitely very single-minded in pursuing a goal but you know I've had people say I'm dumb in the past and it's still a thing now to to I feel dumb sometimes and I've constantly got to prove that.
I'm not I grew up in Walka which is a little Country Town in the New England area of New South Wales School for me was not easy all my life I've just struggled with numbers and letters I don't see a full word I see.
Letters and then I have to try and work out what each letter is and then somehow work out how they go together to make a word it was humiliating to think I'm in n and I can't read and write and it was always so embarrassing to think all the other kids can and I can't why my parents were told that I was simple and I'd probably always be that.
Way so it wasn't until I was in year n um at a new school that I was finally diagnosed with dyslexia and then you know was back to kindergarten and learning how to read and write once we realized that she had this dyslexic problem they worked out how to deal with it and um she jumped in loops and Bounds.
Yeah it was unbelievable do you want me to PO on her yeah growing up with Leela she she definitely tried to avoid speaking in public or being in front of an audience she was really quite reserved uh and shy do you want them brushed out yeah we'll give him a brush I was almost crippling shy I couldn't talk I'd just.
You know sit and listen if there was any reason for me to have to get up in front of an audience I would avoid it like the plague when I first came across Leela she was probably about 15 she was very withdrawn but behind that quiet shy.
Exterior always knew that it was a very intelligent girl waiting to bust out Leela was a very talented seamstress and designer just she made things that were simple elegant and when she was in year 12 she entered the secondary school section of the Australian W fashion Awards when she won the award and her.
Name was announced she was very happy that she she was just terrified dying a thousand deaths that she actually had to walk onto the stage and receive her award everyone was looking at me and I just froze and didn't say anything we get to a point in life where you think I'm really not going to get anywhere in life if I stay like this.
Life's not going to be that great I did want to help her when you see somebody really shy like that you know that you can actually make an impact and and help them along their their Journey Liz used to run some like workshops for girls on you could almost.
Say they were like Department school to help with confidence and and how to present yourself in public Lila coming out of her shell was almost like the butterfly emerging from the Cocoon was just a delight to see her light up and I thought oh God if I can get up and walk around and talk in front of people then I should be able to do.
Anything it was gratifying to see someone change to that extent and it became a pattern that the more she was frightened of something the more she wanted to take it on and run at it head on now six new Farmers from the country's loneliest Corners are out to find the one once and for all a funny thing happened that yeah my.
Best friend Ash uh signed me up for a reality TV show called farmer wants a wife with without me knowing cuz she was always like I I don't think I'm going to ever going to be Lucky in Love um it was just a a playful joke between her and I I guess and it was just I didn't know if she'd ever actually go through with it even if she did get.
In and I get this phone call saying you've made it into the final 10 of farm ons a wife my dad said he'd disowned me if I did do it he was just mortified at the fact that I could possibly go on such a ridiculous show but in the end yeah she she backed herself she went no let's do it like what have I got to lose with.
This but maybe school teacher Leela will give our curious farmer a lesson in finding love how you going good how are you sit down Lea it wasn't an easy thing for her to to put herself onto the show and be vulnerable we go question question time I found it quite interesting that that she actually was brave enough to do that and that's when.
I realized that that my mission had had been accomplished like obviously go a build of Friendship with someone first um you know hang out with them hopefully that friend could become something more but she ended up being one of the three that got selected to go back to the farm and yeah in the end he did select her to be his his family wife so Lea was it a.
Huge shock that Devon chose you I was a little bit shocked but I had kind of feelings that he was going to pick me but I didn't want to get my hopes up about anything but that wasn't a real romance it you know it was all staged and then yeah another funny thing happened where the very next day after we finished the.
Final day of filming and I was introduced to a handsome young man and and he was a actual farmer and it was Shawn I guess Lea and I just hit it off we had that connection that felt like it was going to be the one we come home back to the Family Farm And yeah got engaged and married relatively.
Quickly and he's just so supportive and never judges anyone um to so to have meet someone that doesn't judge you um it was very unusual for me cuz I'm I'm quite full on um which can scare people away a lot and he wasn't scared at all which was is unusual our farm here at maruna and tun is 3,000 Acres I'm the sixth generation.
Of our family farming the lands and now we've got two children Vincent and Vivian and yeah we're got our little happy farming family ch ch hey girls there you go in the community that we were living in we started noticing that mental health was quite severe we started experiencing and losing people within our community to.
Suicide I started seeing patterns that were the same as what my father went through of of mental health issues when I was growing up I used to drink too much when I was younger I felt like I had the blues all the time like and so I thought jeez I I better go and.
Help so I got on medication I'm not allow to drink alcohol and I reckon I'm 98% right now I've never looked back Dad having bipolar in some ways it was a good thing because Dad was quite open about talking about you know your mental health and to really look after.
Your brain and what's going on in it so I've been on medication since I was 20 um for depression and anxiety sort of lucky that I had a dad that could talk to me because he said there's nothing embarrassing about being on medication and there's nothing wrong with.
It Lea's mom attempted suicide and my uncle he died by Suicide so I guess that was kind of a driving Factor behind us you start asking the question why why is this happening you know how can we fix this problem how can we stop it when someone does die by Suicide we don't don't talk about it like it's.
Still a too subject if we can create a better environment that we can talk about it maybe that might save help save someone's life so we started running mellow in the yellow a big lunch party in the middle of a canola crop the goal of the event is to start.
Conversation around mental health and the idea worked the first year we had about 90 people come but as the events progressed over the last 10 years it's become quite successful raises quite a lot of money and we sell out at 300 people um every year now do you do want a cup of.
Tea is anyone listening to me so when you start an event you need to publicize it to get people to know that the event's on and to get your sponsors publicity so a friend said to me oh these women that do these you know Mrs Australia competitions they get heaps of publicity maybe you should have a go at.
That Leela's never been a Glam girl ever as we grew up she was a complete tomboy and she felt uncomfortable going to the ultimate Glam pageant the hair the fake tan everything ball gowns but she did it yeah and she pushed herself it was just another example of her drive and her willingness to to not let anything stop her.
Obviously I was advocating for farmers and and Rural mental health when I won heaven forbid which was quite a shock it opened a lot of doors for me to get guest speaking positions good day I'm Leela and welcome to my journey as Mrs Australia International 2017 I got to go to America and compete.
As the the mrss Australia which was a experience I did not win um Mrs International in America I was definitely not as poised as U my my competitors um yeah but and and I was much shorter nonetheless it was a great experience hello how are you.
Good I've just gone back teaching for a little bit and I just felt like there was something not wrong right I didn't feel 100% all the time so I thought oh I'll go to the doctor and get a checkup and um I had cervical cancer that was quite far down the track which you know was a little bit scary yeah yeah no no they've been great thank you my.
Gynecologist said if you know this was a month or two months down the track you'd probably be terminal not just yet and that was a very confronting thought that like I've got cancer um my kids are so little what if I die you know they're never going to remember me I had the surgery and it all seemed.
Fine they got everything and after I got through all of that I started to think yeah life's very fragile and it's fleeting we're only here for this amount of time so why not you know have a real crack so I've got to really use my life to make a difference what can we watch tonight on Co hit us all in.
2020 we were stuck at home and I noticed the one thing that we were doing was sitting on our couches watching television there's nothing about farming so that's where sort of the little Epiphany came in that what is a way that we could spread the message of mental health in farming communities and potentially reach a wider audience and.
What better way to do that than through entertaining people with a movie SS good really growing up films were my way of learning about the world and learning about different cultures and experiencing Humanity cuz I couldn't read books I don't Lea knew a lot about making a film I know I didn't.
My closest thing to being on a film set was farmer once a wife i' I had no experience in script writing I'd had no experience in acting no money no actors nothing so it's just an idea and just sort of Grew From there so then I thought to help me understand how to write a script or.
Learn about this film World I'd go and do a few acting classes I just made up a resume saying I'd you know done all these courses and sent it in and somehow they passed it and let me in hi so the acting course that I teach a brave is designed ultimately for professionals most of the ones that come.
In have had either experience on screen or they've done some pretty sort of extensive training I know some of you but other people don't know you obviously and I just want to get a sense of what training you've done and I got to Leela and I said so you know what experience have you had and she said none I'm a farmer and I stopped like.
That and I was like where what I have no idea how you actually blagged your way in here but whatever you did is obviously akin to the skills you need to your way through a scene so I had to get up and do a scene where we all had to get up and do the same scene and I'd like to thank you for carefully selecting me as your ma of Honor I know.
You had some other choices but you're like my sister um and I love you and she literally I mean she blew me away because she was so authentic um and the work was just present and that's the best sort of work it's disarming I really wanted to write the.
Script because it was going to save me money and be written by someone who knew what the life was like so I had an idea in my head about what I wanted the story to be about the key character in this story is a wife that had lost a husband to suicide and then has to manage the farm to manage the kids to manage the.
Finances to manage a you know alcoholic father-in-law during Leela's writing process of of the script she would immerse herself into the character she'd sent me a few videos of where she'd written and recorded herself where she was genuinely distraught why why didn't you talk to me why did I not see his pain I hate you so much for leaving.
Me I took the script to a number of different Studios and production companies and government organizations and I just you know knockback after knockback so I thought if no one else is going to make it then I'm going to do it the hardest thing's been finding the money to fund a movie ourselveses we' put in around.
500,000 I guess it's a way of having some skin in the game and believing in the message and if we can't back ourselves who else will it is a big gamble yeah definitely is and it probably would make a lot of people uncomfortable but if this film makes a difference and I Sean I can save one.
Life then what's $500,000 this is water okay as long as we can use this water somewhere that's our body of water I'll be happy so the next thing was to find a director so I met Simon Lyndon while working on a short film and we really bonded let's have a look down there so I asked Simon to direct the film right across the.
Water down low and we can get a beautiful wide there set up the you in front of the the windmill Simon's a great great actor he's won an AFI he's directed a few short films and he's written a few scripts and then we got fire and water and sky and Earth and we've made a Terrence Malik film one of the reasons why I connected.
So much with this film is because I I had been having some pretty severe personal uh mental health struggles of my own I understand what the farmer character was going through quietly wanting to take his own life I'm what's known as a recovering addict I had um an opiate addiction for.
3 years um from the age of 27 to 30 I I played a a character in a movie who was a hero addict you try it to uh work out how to play him and the next thing you know you've got to you've got a habit and and it's hell much you using you know I got a handle on it.
It's I didn't think I'd be alive if if if Hugh Jackman hadn't have you know basically paid for me to go to rehab and and and helped me out um when I was pretty much living on the streets we became really close friends as you do and drama school and he put his heart and Sal into helping me get well know we've never questioned each.
Other in the way like we've had our little a little tiffs along the way where we were no but where we just sort of we always come out the other side we're still here still it felt important to me very early on to to be really upfront about the good Bad and the Ugly in my own life can tell and so I just told her pretty.
Much everything she she looked at me and you know she said I trust you you know you're going to have you here yep Simon and I probably are an odd match together to make a feature film together because he's never directed a feature film and I've never produced a feature film squatting or sitting y we definitely took a Leap of Faith with one.
Another I I don't think in her head she was ever going to be the lead role in it and I remember the phone call her telling me that I was like holy doly you ready I was really scared to do it cuz I didn't want to let the women I was representing down by being a bad actress Simon he was like no you're.
Doing it you don't have a choice in the matter you're doing it plus we don't have the money to get an actress I'm sorry it's okay she was always going to play Alison she had the character she had the strength she had the screen presence she you know she was dead set Alon from Ro guy.
AC so finally we did kick off we started shooting it was a six we shoot there's definitely surre real to see over 50 60 people there on on on the farm H day and it wasn't perfect every day on set there were days where she was clearly a.
Beginner might not be great first take but we we'd always get it by the end she blazed it once she got into a rhythm she really blazed it you've had a stroke what you're you're an you scared me there was a point to towards the end of the shoot where they had run out of money and we had another week to.
Go definitely some days I thought why why am I doing this um why have I put this pressure on my family and myself and my husband and you know there's been nights where I'm up all night trying to get things done and I don't have time people get very skeptical uh you.
Know in a crew are we going to get paid and they get nervous you know they got mortgages to pay and everything else hey Johnny come out there was a a lot of anxiety in the McDougall family on that day Sean was really beautiful actually he called a meeting and he was quite emotional he said just you know we've.
Come this far we've got you know 10 days to go please let's finish the film we can't pay you this week but we the banks just promised we'll have the money you know in 10 days if you could just if you could just hold on for me you could see these guys who are really skeptical just drop all of that and just go and give them a hug say no ways let's finish.
This and true to their word everyone did get paid in the end I am so proud of my friend Simon Lyndon who's directed a really really beautiful and an important movie called just a farmer I highly highly recommend that you see it so I I'm so proud of you man you you put your arm around your sister today's the day it's the premere.
At the aster in Melbourne and I'm pretty nervous it's finally going out to the world to be seen her performance has been a revelation it's a it's a serious performance anyone who sees it is like why wow okay she was struggling with his mental.
Health and he didn't get help and he got so sick that he lost himself the sensitivity she's got on screen is is absolutely Exquisite stunning this is the girl that wouldn't have said budo a goose in earlier days and here she is starring in a.
Movie she has come a long long way I think Lea took to acting like a fish does to water she'd said to me I feel comfortable this is one thing that i' I've really feel passionate about I feel good I feel like I'm good at it maybe I would like to do some more acting I really enjoy it I think now.
I've probably found a career path that sort of combines all of the things that I've done yeah I think I've found something that really makes me happy do you think you'll make another movie maybe I've got the bug I think I think you should make a horse movie a horse with gold Pony I think there's big.
Things coming for Leela left I think we'll see her in more acting roles she'll be able to sort of pitch ideas to networks and all sorts of things if that's what she wants to do I thought you said left I think she's going to have many more stories to tell she come back and do that again.
