Opening this weekend is writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig’s feature debut, the coming-of-age comedy The Edge of Seventeen. Produced by Academy Award winner James L. Brooks – the director of Broadcast News, Terms of Endearment and As Good as It Gets – the film is a candid and honest look at what it’s like to be in High School today when it’s filled with social media, text messages, and constant drama. The film is about two best friends Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) and Krista (Haley Lu Richardson) whose relationship becomes strained when Krista starts dating Nadine’s all-star older brother (Blake Jenner). As Nadine learns to deal with High School without her best friend, an unexpected friendship of a new classmate (Hayden Szeto) gives her a glimmer of hope while she struggles to deal with her well-meaning but ineffective mother (Kyra Sedgwick). The film also stars Woody Harrelson as Nadine’s History teacher, mentor, and reluctant sounding board. What’s great about the film is that all the characters feel real and the dialogue isn’t written by committee. Check it out for yourself by watching the red-band trailer.
During my interview with Kyra Sedgwick she talked about making the character her own, what it means to make James L. Brooks laugh, making the relationships feel authentic, and how much fun she had on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. In addition, she talked about making her directorial debut with Story of a Girl, which is about a girl who is involved in a sex video that goes viral.
Check out what she had to say in the video above and below is a list of what we talked about and some images from the film.
Kyra Sedgwick:
- How much fun did she have doing Brooklyn Nine-Nine?
- How the relationships feel real in the film
- How did she take the character off the page to make her real?
- How James L. Brooks like to ruin takes due to laughing on set.
- Talks about her directorial debut.
