Patricia Arquette<\/strong> has been to dozens of movie premieres, and has even stepped behind the camera before, directing two episodes of her series Medium<\/em>. But the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of Gonzo Girl,<\/em> her feature directing debut, is going to be a new thing entirely. \u201cI\u2019m going to be pacing like an old-school dad outside the delivery room,\u201d she tells Vanity Fair.<\/em> \u201cThe thing is you have no one to point the finger at when you\u2019re the director. It\u2019s a different kind of accountability that\u2019s kind of scary. But I do believe doing things that scare you is how you grow.\u201d<\/p>\n The movie, which premieres at TIFF on September 7, originally came to Arquette as an actor. For the adaptation of Cheryl Della Pietra\u2019s<\/strong> novel, inspired by her time as Hunter S. Thompson\u2019s assistant, Arquette was offered the supporting role of the writer\u2019s longtime manager, Claudia. \u201cIt didn\u2019t really speak to me in that way, but I thought it was a really interesting story,\u201d Arquette says. So she passed at first, but the Oscar winner kept thinking about the project, especially given how pivotal Thompson\u2019s work was to her growing up. When the original director had to step down, Arquette seized her moment, crafting a confident directorial debut set inside this wild, whirlwind world.<\/p>\n Gonzo Girl<\/em> is a fictitious story, following a young aspiring writer (Daisy Jones & the Six\u2019s<\/em> Camila Morrone<\/strong>) who goes to work for a famed gonzo writer named Walker Reade (Willem Dafoe<\/strong>). She\u2019s the eighth assistant he\u2019s had, but Alley is hopeful that she can learn from the talented writer as she pursues her own writing career. But what starts out as a fun adventure quickly escalates into psychological power battles, with Walker seemingly more interested in partying than writing. \u201cAll the fun, and joy, and kind of charismatic stuff that ensues, and then the nightmare that ensues,\u201d as Arquette puts it.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/64f8d14bba42b2603ed19741\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/FL-Gonzo-Girl-BTS.jpg\")