O Julie!

Julie Davis hopped a a plane to Los Angeles days after her graduation and quickly Lesson No. 1: Ivy League diplomas mean squat in Tinseltown. After two rejections from the directing program at the American Film Institute (AFI), the aspiring moviemaker hit on the idea that if she couldn't direct, a job editing film might pay the bills. Fortunately Davis had an easier time getting into AFI's editing program, which she completed in 1991. Indeed, it was a gig editing soft-core promotional spots for the Playboy Channel—and a penchant for frugal living—that enabled Davis to stash away money to realize her dream.

"I was living on $1,000 a month and putting everything else in the bank," she says. "I just went insane clipping coupons." With her parents' blessing, Davis sold her grandmothers diamond ring, tapped funds saved for graduate school and lined up enough investors to assemble $68,000 and start shooting a film. Her breakthrough came when I Love You, Don't Touch Me! was shown at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. The movie tells the story of a 25-year-old virgin struggling with her decision to wait for Mr. Right, not realizing she has already found him. Wrote New York Times film critic Janet Maslin: "There have been plenty of urban, neurosis-strewn romantic comedies inspired by the work of Woody Allen, but Julie Davis' spirited I Love You, Don't Touch Me! has something special: Ms. Davis."

The movie's success led to a 1998 VanityFair appearance in a photo spread of upand-coming directors. "All of a sudden, I was hot," Davis says. Next she directed two more romantic comedies, All Over the Guy (2001) and Amy's Orgasm (2002),in which she also stars.

Her classmates remember the comp lit major as a unique figure on campus. With her very long hair and very short skirts, she stood out among the L.L. Bean-clad crowd. She was the Miami native who brought Candie's high heels to Hanover, recalls friend Annie Sundberg '90. "She had that movie star persona even as a freshman," adds another pal, Anna Cathcart Harvey '90.

"Julie infused eroticism into anything she did," says Annas husband, Pete Harvey '90, who served as a German language drill instructor for Davis. "She could find an erotic way to conjugate 'to be.'"

Small wonder the director's films have been described as "saucy." Davis draws on personal experience for her scripts, including her time at Dartmouth. Like the protagonist in her first movie, Davis never had a boyfriend in college. She was too busy hitting the books (Davis graduated cum laude), acting in plays and participating in the Film Society. After taking a "Creative Video" class with professor David Parry, she fell in love with the medium, shooting short films—instead of writing papers—whenever possible. "I really lived in my mind and my fantasies," she says. "I thought this is a great way to live out all these things I can't play out in life."

In Amy's Orgasm, which Davis also wrote, edited and produced, she plays a selfhelp author who tells fans they don't need men to be happy—then promptly falls in love with a Howard Stern-type shock jock. (Another Big Green alumna also appears in the film: Jenny Bransford '90, who plays Amy's friend.) The opposites-attract tale drew inspiration from Davis' romance with Scott Mandell, who handled postproduction on her first film. Though the pair sparred over creative differences, mutual attraction prevailed; they are now married and have a son, Holden, 2.

In February Davis sold her latest script, The Daily Grind, which draws on her experiences working at the Playboy Channel; a producer is now shopping it around to studios. Meanwhile, Davis still attracts the attention of passersby, thanks to her starring role in Amy's Orgasm. (The movie title was changed to Amy's O for the DVD release.) "I'm noticing more people doing doubletakes, and I am wondering if they are thinking, Is she the person in the movie,'" Davis laughs, "or are they just looking at my pants?" The onetime film-school reject is often invited back to AFI, where she advises students to develop a thick skin. "There is so much rejection," she tells them. "The more no's you get, the more prepared you are going to be."

Screen Tested "All threeof my movies have beena struggle in differentways," says Davis, picturedin her back yard inStudio City, California."But what keeps megoing is I love to do it."

JULIE DAVIS '90, THE BRAINS BEHIND SUCHCOMEDIES AS AMY'S ORGASM, HAS A NEVER-ENDINGSOURCE OF MATERIAL: HER OWN LIFE.

Meg Sommerfeld is a freelance writer inRockville, Maryland.