One More Shot’s Emily Browning wants to party like it’s 1999

Among the many tabs saved on Emily Browning’s computer are clips of 1990s Australian kids TV programs.

“Like Mulligrubs and all of Mr Squiggle, I’m obsessed with watching them, I’m obsessed with all that stuff,” the Melbourne-born, now LA-based actor told The Nightly. Browning is still even into the one character still giving 90s kids nightmares.

“Often this will come up in conversation, that kids TV was so messed up in the 90s and I’m like, ‘Oh, look at what we had in Australia’ and I show them EC, the faceless doll from Lift Off, which is truly terrifying,” she said.

Browning is in a nostalgic mood, although she’s the first person to tell you she’s always in a nostalgic mood.

“I was about to say I read an article the other day, but that would be a lie,” she started. “I saw a headline the other day which said, Are Millennials the Most Nostalgic Generation?.

“We’re the first internet generation, and there’s something about the idea that we can look everything up, almost everything (from our childhoods) were recorded. The internet is still a new kind of technology in our lifetime, and that’s made us obsessed with what it can do in a way that doesn’t affect Gen Z.

“It’s still amazing to me.”

When it came to getting in the zone for her latest film, One More Shot, Browning, who has been in Class of 07, Sleeping Beauty and American Gods, didn’t need to do the prep work, because she already spends enough time swimming in 90s accoutrement.

The film is set on New Year’s Eve, 1999 at a house party with a group of thirtysomething friends. Browning plays Minnie, a doctor who’s having a bad day, turns up to the party hoping to rekindle something with her ex-boyfriend Joe (Sean Keenan), only to discover that he’s on the verge of proposing to new squeeze Jenny (Aisha Dee).

It’s all looking rotten for Minnie, until she realises the bottle of old tequila in her hands has time-travelling powers, transporting her back to the moment she rings the doorbell, resetting her night, and her quest to win back Joe.

One More Shot, which also stars Ashley Zukerman, Pallavi Sharda, Hamish Michael and Anna McGahan, and premiered at SXSW in Austin, is swimming in 90s nostalgia. The constant references to Y2K, Minnie’s strappy red glitter minidress, the music (oh, the music!), it’s enough to transport anyone back 25 years.

“I remember that time aesthetically because it’s still my aesthetic north star, which was another reason why I wanted to do this film. That vibe is my favourite.

“I remember my room was painted bright blue and I had clouds painted all over the walls,” she recalled. “I had blue blow-up chair, the Spice Girls posters, the way everything looked is seared into my memory.

“I am kind of obsessed with nostalgia, just a little bit!” she said, laughing. “With this film, I feel like they don’t really make the sort of low-to-mid budget indie-ish rom-coms much anymore, like they used to in the 90s and 2000s, and I love those kinds of movies.

“So, this was a real draw for me, not only that the film is set in 1999, but Nick (Clifford), the director, was like, ‘We want it to feel like a movie that was made in 1999’.”

There was also the fulfilment of one of her life-long dreams, although Browning didn’t realise until she saw the completed film, and noticed a song by Spiderbait has been laid over a car chase scene.

“I realised that was actually one of my main acting dreams as a kid,” she confessed. “I wanted to see myself on screen while f--king sick song is playing. That’s my favourite needle drop in the film.”

The time loop device is a beloved narrative feature that sets up endless possibilities – where only on person knows that this has all happened before – but allows for expedited character growth.

There’s also the question it poses to every viewer, if you could go back, what would you change?

“I’m a chronic overthinker so those questions are always in my mind,” Browning said. “I spend so much time thinking about how I would’ve done things differently or how I would like to be doing things differently that I end up not doing anything.

“That was my way into Minnie, I find that very relatable as a woman in my thirties who cares very much about her career, but also maybe wants to have a family one day. I’m always thinking about the Sliding Doors thing.”

Sliding Doors is one of her favourite what if/time loop movies. Another is About Time, the Rachel McAdams and Domhall Gleeson rom-com (“That’s one of my mum’s favourite movies ever, I’ll call her on any weekend and she’s like, ‘Oh, I’m just watching About Time’”), but that film also has a cautionary tale.

“I don’t know if there’s a way to do it that’s altruistic. If you can choose to change something about yourself, I absolutely would. But I do really love my life, and love my husband and I love my dog.

If I could be guaranteed that I would still end up in this life, but with 200 amazing new skills, then, yeah, I would,” she reasoned.

One More Shot is streaming on Stan on October 12.