What would you do should you may meet an older model of your self? Would you wish to know the small print of what is to return in your life; the alternatives you made, good and unhealthy; each heartbreak; and whether or not your goals got here true? The movie My Outdated Ass presents its protagonist with simply that situation. A strong psychedelic mushroom journey brings 18-year-old Elliott face-to-face along with her wisecracking 39-year-old self, who cautions her to spend extra time with household, recognize the individuals in her life, and keep away from a sure love curiosity.
When Maisy Stella acquired the script for writer-director Megan Park’s sophomore movie—a follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut The Fallout—the younger actor’s life modified in a matter of seconds. She was fully invested. It was daring and attention-grabbing storytelling and felt like a contemporary model of the basic coming-of-age tales she grew up loving. It additionally completely depicted the youthful era right now, one thing Stella admits may be very tough to do in an ever-changing, internet-fueled society.
Stella had by no means been extra passionate a few position in her life. She needed to play Elliott. It was only a matter of whether or not they have been going to let her do it.
It had been a couple of years since Stella’s final appearing position as nation singer Daphne Conrad on the hit present Nashville, and he or she spent the hiatus targeted on music, writing and producing her personal songs. In 2017, she launched her debut single “Driving Free” for the DreamWorks animation collection Spirit Driving Free, after which she and sister Lennon Stella collaborated on the tune “Whereas You Sleep” for The Fallout‘s soundtrack. It was then that her curiosity in Park started.
“I fell in love with [Megan] from studying the script of The Fallout,” Stella tells me through Zoom. “She’s from a city over from me [in Canada], and we simply actually related on a distinct stage.” Stella auditioned for The Fallout, however the position finally went to considered one of her longtime BFFs, Maddie Ziegler. Nonetheless, it was the start of a incredible inventive friendship between Stella and Park.
The 2 exchanged numbers and talked typically, bouncing concepts off each other. Park was writing a second movie, and Stella was manifesting her involvement in it. “That is nearly actually embarrassing to say, however I’ve pages from my diary from two years in the past, writing ‘I am in Megan Park’s subsequent film,'” she tells me. “I can not clarify to you. I used to be pining for it.” Park hinted at being thinking about Stella for the lead position, Elliott, so Stella went via the complete audition course of, competing in opposition to hundreds of different actresses to land the half. The three-6-9 manifestation approach she discovered on TikTok labored. Or possibly the 20-year-old was a transparent standout who completely embodied the intense and irreverent spirit of Elliott. I’ve a hunch it is the latter. “These couple months have been essentially the most nerve-racking months of my life, but it surely all labored out fortunately,” she says.
You possibly can say it actually labored out. The movie premiered at Sundance earlier this 12 months, the place it acquired a standing ovation and was rapidly snatched up by Amazon MGM Studios in considered one of this 12 months’s largest gross sales on the competition. Final month, Stella and Park have been honored with the Breakthrough Award at Selection‘s Energy of Younger Hollywood celebration.
In a star-making flip reverse Aubrey Plaza, Stella’s efficiency is certain to put her firmly on many “ones to observe” lists.
Elliott was a personality that Stella felt a connection to out of the gate. She was across the similar age as Elliott on the time of filming and was experiencing quite a lot of the identical realizations that include coming into maturity. “This little chunk of a film is the visible illustration of the wake-up that all of us have,” she says, referring to the second we lastly see our mother and father as simply individuals determining this factor known as life for the primary time too.
She is not your typical brooding or mysterious protagonist, both. Elliott is shiny, lovable, and confident, and he or she has a wry humorousness—very like Stella herself. Park wrote Elliott with a sure fluidity that was interesting to the actor. “I truthfully did be taught loads about myself within the making of [this movie]. It was truly crucial for me to do it. I felt much more open in quite a lot of methods,” she says.
Stella was two weeks into filming the challenge when Plaza signed on to play Elliott’s older self. She has fond recollections of sitting with Park on a dock in Canada going via lists of potential older Elliotts. They may have gone considered one of two methods: go for a Stella look-alike or go for particular chemistry and humor. They selected the latter, which paid off in dividends. “She was such an unreal decide and such a cool alternative, and I used to be so excited,” Stella tells me with a giddiness in her voice. “I’ve all the time been such a giant fan of hers. I simply assume she’s so stupidly cool. … I used to be past stoked to be her child self.”
The 2 had one evening to hang around earlier than they began filming collectively. Plaza rolled as much as the place they have been staying in a paddleboat in full camp counselor mode—a becoming entrance for the movie’s Muskoka Lakes, Ontario, location. “It was only a bunch of us hanging, and he or she was simply looking at me. I felt her eyes,” Stella laughs. Not a lot was spoken between the 2 about their shared character or how out-there the idea was. The pure chemistry was simply there from the get-go, they usually ran with it.
As for the movie’s idea of getting to fulfill your older self, it is a arduous go for Stella. The query alone offers her a very unhealthy intestine feeling. As somebody who genuinely will get stressed excited about even only a week forward of her, she prefers to take issues daily. “I believe that might actually simply squash the enjoyable out of life,” she says of having the ability to know her future.
Subsequent up, Stella has the thriller Flowervale Avenue with Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, which was filmed in Atlanta shortly after My Outdated Ass. Although she will’t say a lot in regards to the plot of the movie, she will wax poetic about her co-stars all day lengthy. There was Hathaway’s motherly inclinations on set and dedication to the work, which left Stella flabbergasted, and McGregor’s heat and humor.
The one method Stella can describe the 2 back-to-back movie experiences is “insane!” Folks preserve warning her it isn’t the norm, however the unbelievable expertise she is working alongside and studying from shouldn’t be misplaced on her. She says, “I really feel like a bit of clay that’s being molded by each expertise with these individuals.”
Stella might not wish to know what’s in retailer for her subsequent week, month, and even 12 months, however I am fairly certain the longer term is shiny for the breakout star.
My Outdated Ass hits theaters on September 13.
