Sundance 2024 | A star is born? After time away, Maisy Stella makes her film debut with ‘My Old Ass’
The Hindu
A star is born? After time away, Maisy Stella makes her film debut with ‘My Old Ass’
“Who’s that girl?” has been a common refrain from Sundance Film Festival goers walking out of “My Old Ass” this week in Park City, Utah.
Its star Maisy Stella, 20, will be a familiar name to some, for her years on “Nashville” playing Daphne Conrad, for her viral video singing Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend” with her sister Lennon Stella (31 million views and counting), and for being someone Billie Eilish has said inspired her to start singing. But to a certain subset of cinephiles, Stella is a complete discovery and an exciting one at that.
Both designations work, in a way. Stella is reintroducing herself in her first film role after taking a few years off to just be a normal teen. She started on “Nashville" when she was 8 years old. At 15, she took a break from acting.
“I went back to school and made sure my head was like nice and screwed on and just went to prom and did all that stuff,” Stella said in an interview with director Megan Park this week at the festival. “The second I turned 18, I was just like, I missed it so much and found such a new appreciation for it.”
Her turn in “My Old Ass,” the sophomore feature from Park, is about a girl heading off to college who finds herself in contact with her 39-year-old self (played by Aubrey Plaza). The film is a funny and emotional charmer that has left more than a few moviegoers wiping tears away for the last 30 minutes. Much of that has to do with Stella’s authenticity as Elliott, who is figuring out how she wants to be in the world.
“I think the best thing she ever did was take a break for a second after Nashville and just, like, be a normal human,” Park said. “A lot of kids that have been acting from such a young age, that’s the only thing they know, and they don’t have as much life experience. And Elliot is just like a normal girl. Maisy has that perfect mix … she is one in a million.”
Park met Stella through their mutual friend Maddie Ziegler, who plays one of Elliott’s friends in “My Old Ass.” Ziegler and Stella have been close since they were children.
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