Let’s put this out there first; Beanie Feldstein is a favorite and I was utterly delighted by her latest feature, How to Build a Girl. The film actually marks her very first solo starring role, telling the story of Johanna Morrigan, a bubbly and determined teenager who scores a gig working for a music magazine. Johanna does have some success with her early articles but soon comes to realize that her star power and cashflow would rise far faster if she wrote snarky  reviews, panning one musician after the next. As things start to spin out of control, the movie challenges Johanna to decide if this is the kind of person she wants to be or if it’s time to rebuild and start anew. 

With How to Build a Girl hitting select drive-in theaters, digital and cable VOD on May 8th, I got the chance to hop on the phone with Feldstein to discuss her experience making the movie. She spoke about what she finds so inspiring about Johanna’s journey, the icons she’s got on her very own “God Wall,” if she’d be interested in making a sequel based on Caitlin Moran’s follow-up book How to Be Famous, why she always thought she was a Ravenclaw, and so much more. Give the full conversation a read for yourself below!  

Was there any hesitation for you when this opportunity first came up and what would you say was the most daunting challenge that came with the role?

BEANIE FELDSTEIN: Oh my god! That is a hard question to distill because I think there was something on every single page that daunted me. Well, I know there was because I had to speak on every single page and I was doing it in a Wolverhampton accent. [Laughs] There were so many daunting aspects if I'm being honest. Of course the accent and the regional specificity of it was very daunting to me, but also just something as obvious as the wardrobe. There were so many different aspects to Johanna Morrigan that I had never explored before as an actor and were so frightening.

Her exploration of her sexuality and her incredible quick brain that speaks in monologue, but there were so many different aspects of it. But that's also what made me kind of ache to get the part. I was like, ‘I have to try,’ because I've never been so intimidated by a script, but in a way, that really ignited that I loved that idea of a challenge. Every day I woke up and I was like, ‘Oh my god, I have to wear this costume today,’ or, ‘I'm working with Emma Thompson today!’ The challenge was completely different every day, but always, always present.

How about this being your first solo starring role? Did you find that any of your past experiences on other movies were especially key to preparing you to be number one on the call sheet and in almost every single frame of this movie?

FELDSTEIN: Yeah, it was really daunting and it was a very stark contrast because we wrapped Booksmart on, I think a Sunday or a Monday, and I was in London on Saturday of the same week and went to Wolverhampton the next day. It was so kind of out of body honestly to not have my partner in crime. Even in my childhood when I would do musicals, I was always used to being part of a huge community, a big cast. I was often the supporting role and I got to be along for the ride. And in the beginnings of my career I was in Neighbors 2, which was this group of girls, and then Lady Bird and then of course Booksmart. And I always had a partner. 

I mean, [Johanna] has so many beautiful relationships in the film with her brother and with John Kite and there's so many beautiful connections, and her father, that she makes in the film, but she is often alone and going through this experience and these coming of age moments by herself. I mean, honestly, something as basic as not always having a scene partner! So many scenes being completely alone or just me and the dog! [Laughs]

I think the biggest thing I took would be from watching Saoirse [Ronan] on Lady Bird. I think I will never forget watching her and she's so gregarious and effervescent and just delicious in every way. But I remember thinking she's equally as a part of the cast as she is part of the crew. Not that they're separate things, but because she was in every single day, she was so close with everybody and so giving of her time to everybody and giving of her time to me and to everyone else in the film, and such a remarkable leader.  And even though she's younger than me, I will always look up to her because it was such a beautiful, beautiful representation of how to lead a project, how to lead a film and I will just never forget it.

And then again with Kaitlyn [Dever], I think we really learned together and together we took that journey and she is the exact same way. She couldn't be more giving or more committed or more collaborative. And so I tried to take those experiences and those two girls that I love so much and emulate their leadership.

I just caught up with Kaitlyn too, and getting to talk to you guys back to back and hearing more about your approach to setting the tone on set, I love it.

FELDSTEIN: It's so important! First of all, this is a passion project. We had very little time and not a huge budget, and everyone working on the film was there because they loved the story and were so committed to bringing Johanna to life. But also there were so many very vulnerable moments in the film and I just remember being like, ‘If I don't truly love these people and know these people and we're not creating this together, I will never feel comfortable enough to go there when we start to roll the cameras.’

In every way, whether it's deeply humiliating humor moments or really emotional, like when she's self-harming at the end, there's so many twists and turns emotionally and tonally that the film takes, that if we weren't all on the same ride together, I never would have felt vulnerable enough to go there, I don't think. But I felt so supported and so, I don't know, it was such a collaborative process with the entire crew and creative team that it was really, really special.

This really is a huge character arc for a single film. For you personally, is there any one part of Johanna's journey that really hit home for you?

FELDSTEIN: You know, I really do believe I am like a true beginning of this story of Johanna Morrigan. I love the world, I listen to Abba and Annie, and I often run into things and I would probably less get hit in the face by someone else, but definitely hurt myself by running into a wall or something. [Laughs] I am equally as optimistic and klutzy and passionate. So I definitely felt very connected to the beginning of her journey when we first meet her in the film. But it was really meaningful to play the version of herself that she lands at at the end, and specifically delivering that final monologue which is, as you know, a direct to camera address, which I think may be the most nervous I've ever been working. Well, maybe not that bad. [Laughs] 

When I first read that monologue, the way it made me feel and the gut punch to my soul that I felt when I read it was so meaningful to me that I remember just wanting to capture it and communicate it as clearly and simply as I could. My younger self was maybe more of the beginning of the story, and my current self, I think, is more of the energy of where she lands at the end of the film, which is this is who I am today. This is who I am now for now and I accept who I am, but I also am ready to grow. I'm ready to acknowledge my mistakes.

I don't want to get too far ahead here, but have you guys ever talked about adapting the next book? It could be cool to see you grow with the role!

FELDSTEIN: I know! Oh my god! So How To Be Famous came out right when we were filming the movie, and I didn't allow myself to read it and I'm actually staring at it on my bookshelf right now. But I didn't allow myself to read it until after we wrapped, and I started reading it on the plane home from England. So I literally went right into the next chapter of Johanna's story. I mean, I would love to. It's equally, if not more intimidating, the next book [laughs], but equally as brilliant and exciting. I would follow Caitlin anywhere. She's a feminist hero and she's not only said to young women, ‘I see you,’ but she also says, ‘You're made of magic.’ And it's that step that I feel like I've never heard before as myself or seen before as an actor of not just saying, ‘I see you and this is your experience and I'm acknowledging it and including it,’ but going to the next step to say, ‘It's magical and it's important and it makes the world turn even brighter.’

You really feel that at the end of the film! One specific detail that really got to me was the idea of the clothing transformation. To be completely honest, I've been sitting here in sweatpants for the most part and the day after I saw this movie, I actually got dressed!

FELDSTEIN: Yes, I love it!

For you, is there any go-to article of clothing that gives you a boost when you put it on or makes you stand up a little taller?

FELDSTEIN: Totally! For me, it's a headband. I know they're back in, but for me they were never out. Ask anyone that knows me. I've been wearing headbands consistently for over 10 years. So yeah, I always get a little spring in my step when I put a headband on or a little barrette. Definitely a hair accessories girl. It was fun to rock all of Johanna's hats, but I'm more of a headband girl myself.

A silly question, but what is the key to getting a hat like that to stay on your head perfectly?

FELDSTEIN: [Laughs] Well, you know, I never wore it without the wig, and the wig definitely was more voluminous than my own hair. So it stayed in place most of the time.

On the topic of little details, one of my favorite sets in this movie was Johanna's room. We spend a whole lot of time with the folks on her wall, but was there any little piece of set dressing that said a lot about her that you hope that people catch?

FELDSTEIN: Oh, that’s such a good question. Well, this is sort of an odd thing to say, but I loved it. It always made me laugh. Her mattress was like a trampoline. It was so springy. The character is so free and the way that she sort of lived in my body was so Flopsy Mopsy. The second I started speaking as her and moving as her and when the cameras would roll, my arms and legs felt like Silly Putty. I don’t know, she’s so loose and silly and Flopsy that when I first flopped on the bed, I started hysterically laughing because it's so springy in a way that I think matches her personality. [Laughs]

This also might sound like a silly detail, but is it tough to convincingly type on a typewriter?

FELDSTEIN: You know what? My mom gave me a working typewriter, I think, from graduation from high school that I have in my apartment in New York. It's beautiful. And so I actually have a typewriter. I mean, I don't use it all the time also because it's really special and it's hard to get all the ink and everything, you know, if it broke or anything. But I don't use it too much. But I do think that it came fairly naturally to me. The thing that was hard was that the sound of it was always competing with the lines. So we would have to do a take with me faking it so that we could get the audio. [Laughs] That was the hardest part, is because they're so loud!

That didn’t even crossed my mind! Has working on this movie made you rethink artistic criticism at all? Or maybe just look at it in a new way than you did before?

FELDSTEIN: Definitely How To Build A Girl made me look at the world differently, honestly. It is such a beautiful subtle examination of what it means to be critical, whether it's in the context of art or just in your life, or of yourself. I tend to be a pretty forgiving person in general, but it taught me to be more forgiving of myself and to try to be less critical of myself and fold all of your mistakes into the fabric of who you are, but not let them define it. And I think we could all use that reminder for sure.

Absolutely. I can relate to that a little too much! As a huge Richard Linklater fan, I’ve got to ask about Merrily We Roll Along. Is there anything about that first shoot that gave you new clarity on what it might be like to work on a project like that for 20 years?

FELDSTEIN: I think all I can say is I just feel so incredibly lucky and Stephen Sondheim is on my God Wall. He is sort of like the heartbeat of my humanity, his music, and I just could not feel more honored.

In that case, who else is on your God Wall?

FELDSTEIN: Oh! Such a good question! Carole King, Barbara Streisand, Sandra Oh, Melissa McCarthy, Eleanor Roosevelt, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig.

This list is making me so happy.

FELDSTEIN: I don't know. I could go on forever, but I'll leave it! [Laughs]

I’ll leave it at one more question; I don't want to take up too much of your time. I know you have probably a ton of interviews to do!

FELDSTEIN: I'm running a press junket from my house, Perri! [Laughs]

Seriously, I'm so impressed because it's not easy pivoting with everything going on, and what I’ve seen the PR folks do lately is so impressive and appreciated.

FELDSTEIN: Yeah, I just love this movie so much and I feel like, honestly, looking forward to watching something and all the incredible content that's been coming out has been so healing for me to have that to look forward to and relax at the end of the day and take in all this brilliant art that's been coming out. So, I just love this movie so much and I think it’s sort of a shot of compassion and passion, and I think we could all use that right now. Of course, it's such an unprecedented time, but it is such a joy to talk about this movie because it really lives in my heart.

You should be super proud of it. I'm glad you're pounding the pavement so we get the word out. To wrap this up, is there any one quality of Johanna that you really want to keep for yourself now?

FELDSTEIN: Well, I think she is the most free and brave character I've ever gotten to play … and I never considered myself a brave person. I always was like, ‘I could never be a Gryffindor.’ Everyone’s like, ‘You're Gryffindor!” I'm like, ‘I'm not brave at all! I'm a Ravenclaw!’ But I did feel brave when I wrapped this film. I thought, ‘Beanie, you moved to England for three months. You worked in a store in Wolverhampton to learn an accent. You woke up every morning prepared and ready to take on whatever the day brought you, which was sometimes a sex montage and sometimes acting with one of your heroes, Emma Thompson.’ The list goes on and on. But I did feel more brave and I think she is incredibly brave and so many teenage girls are.