Connie Stevens said Thursday that she has been making observations about her environment for years.

“On stage, I can tell how many young people, how many older people ... how hard I have to work to get them all like one body, and give them something to walk away with,” the director said by phone, en route to a rehearsal for a concert in Palm Springs, Calif. “I observe people all the time, how they react in traffic.”

Additionally, Stevens said, she observed directors and worked with them from a young age. She said she used her childhood observations about people in Boonville in her film “Saving Grace B. Jones,” scheduled to premiere in the city on Nov. 21.

The film — whose stars include Michael Biehn, Tatum O’Neal and Penelope Ann Miller — is based on her time in the city during 1951, Stevens said. She arrived at the age of 10 after having witnessed what she described as a brutal murder in New York.  It began as a wonderful summer and ended with a gigantic flood, she said. The experiences she had were unforgettable and resurfaced as she drove past Boonville after Sept. 11, 2001, on her way home to California, she said.