Elisabeth Rohm Is Back Behind the Camera for Lifetime, Directing "Switched Before Birth"

For Röhm, the project was personal. “I felt very privileged to be [allowed] to direct something about IVF because I really went through my own journey,” she shared while promoting the film. “It was painful and difficult, and these actresses really captured what is deeply personal to me. It's like lightning in a bottle, [watching] these two act together in this movie.

"Statistically speaking, 15% of couples will struggle with getting pregnant naturally," she continued. "I was one of those. It’s not a federally regulated industry, so it’s hard to say percentage-wise what kind of mishaps, or how many times a mishap like this one will happen, but it’s frequent enough that we really hope that this film makes you take a good, long, hard look at the fertility industry.”

Röhm, who made her directorial debut with Lifetime’s Girl in the Basement (2021), can’t help but feel grateful for the behind-the-camera opportunities the network has provided. Still, while directing Machado and Samuels, she found herself once again bitten by the acting bug. “Well, if I [got] to act with women like this, I’d want to be acting,” she laughed of her career switch. “But directing … I feel really privileged that Lifetime has the Broader Focus program and Tanya Lopez created this opportunity for me to pivot in my life and career. I really love directing, especially when you get to direct a friend like Justina Machado, who I starred opposite, and Skyler and all the actors in it. I have a big place in my heart for directing right now.

“To be honest, I probably would have accepted any job from Lifetime,” she added. “I have deep gratitude to the network and I'm excited about developing other projects with them. Actually, Justina and I have some exciting things we're working on together.”

“I don't necessarily think you have to be an actor to be a great director,” Machado said of Röhm when MediaVillage inquired about working with a friend. “But I do think [it’s] a big plus. There are things that actors- turned-directors understand. I feel like there's an understanding of how to deal with different personalities on set -- how to speak to people on set because they know how they like to be spoken to and dealt with. That always helps [when] somebody has been there.

“Then when you're working with a friend, you're even freer and more vulnerable," she continued. "I felt I could be freer and not be judged by certain things that I thought or was thinking. Nothing was a dumb question, or nothing was something they didn't have time for. Elisabeth and I are dear friends, we met doing Family Pictures a couple years ago for Lifetime. Just being able to work with somebody that I already have such a great rapport with [is] a lot easier and fun, as much as we had to cry.”

“I think there's always a benefit having someone direct you who’s been in your shoes,” Samuels concurred. “But there are actors-turned-directors, actors who are friends, and then there's Elisabeth Röhm. Elisabeth is my biggest girl crush of all time! She knows this and I announce it wildly to the world. [We] met her over Zoom last year and I got off the call and said to my reps, ‘Yeah, I want to grow up to be her, so let’s figure out how we can be best friends'.”

“I absolutely adore this woman and what she’s done,” she added. “How absolutely poised, creative, intelligent and thoughtful she is in everything that she does. No question, this was some of the hardest work I've done in my career to date. This is the closest character I've played to myself, which is a lot more challenging than I anticipated. I couldn't have done the work without Elisabeth. She gave me permission to take up space and be free in a way that no one has before. That’s a gift moving forward. She’s my acting guardian angel always and a magical person.”

While the film's subject matter is heavy, Röhm believes it's what lays at its core that makes it special. “It’s a love story between these two,” she explained in closing. “Lifetime’s so good at making not just movies, but movements, and this is a movement in a sense. But really a love story between friends and the friendship between them is felt -- navigating grief and finding each other through it all.”

Switched Before Birth will be telecast Saturday, October 23 at 8 p.m. on Lifetime.

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