If you like to keep up with the most promising rising stars, Thomasin McKenzie better be on your list. She “broke out” with her stellar performance opposite Ben Foster in 2018’s Leave No Trace and hasn’t stopped delivering especially big since. She starred in the Academy Award winning film Jojo Rabbit, was at the heart of a mighty impressive ensemble in Old, she’s in Jane Campion's upcoming awards season contender The Power of the Dog, and also headlines one of my personal favorite films of the year, Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho.
McKenzie plays Eloise in the psychological thriller. She dreams of becoming a fashion designer and is thrilled to get the opportunity to study her craft in school in London. She moves to the big city to start her future, but finds herself caught up in the past. Ellie has the ability to connect to the 1960s, and more specifically to Anya Taylor-Joy’s Sandie, an aspiring star looking for her big break. Ellie is enamored and inspired by Sandie, but soon comes to realize there are some extremely dark sides to Sandie's seemingly dreamy 1960s existence.
With Last Night in Soho now in theaters, McKenzie joined us for an episode of Collider Ladies Night to retrace her steps in the industry thus far and, of course, that had to include discussing what is widely known as her breakout role, playing Tom in Leave No Trace. While one might assume a young star on the precipice of very big things after a film like that would be encouraged to work hard and stay hyper focused on her craft, McKenzie was lucky enough to meet people who supported her acting, but also encouraged her to consider all the possibilities the industry has to offer. Here’s how she put it:
“Something I did when Leave No Trace was released and I started going to different meetings to meet with different potential agents, they kind of made it known to me that I could become a writer or a producer or I could direct. I don’t just have to be an actress. I could experiment in different parts of creating a film. And I don’t think I’m at the stage yet to do that. As I was saying, directing is a big job and I want some more time to grow personally and develop my own voice before I make something, but I’m very excited about what could possibly happen in the future, and not just with acting but I’d like to go to university, I’d like to do lots of things.”
Until McKenzie is ready for more, she’s taking the time to learn with each project and in the case of Last Night in Soho, she learned a significant lesson that will undoubtedly come in handy on future films:
“I think a big thing is to be able to separate yourself from your character. I wouldn’t say I’m a method actress because I think that can be quite dangerous personally, at least for me. I need that distinction between me and who I’m playing, especially when taking on dark subject matters, which I often do. So I think that is it, just to be able to return to myself at the end of the day and to spend time with family and friends and to do things that I enjoy, and not to feel as if I always need to be in that character’s headspace. While filming Last Night in Soho, I thought that in order to give a good performance, if Ellie was suffering then I should be suffering, but that’s not true. I think you do a better job — again, this is me, it’s different for everyone — but I do a better job when I’m actually happy because then I’m not constantly second guessing myself and I’m able to be proud of myself. I’m able to be proud of my work. So that’s really important as well, just to take care of yourself.”
Eager to hear more about McKenzie’s journey in the industry including stepping onto a Hobbit set at a very young age, learning from Foster on Leave No Trace, collaborating with Wright on Last Night in Soho and more? Be sure to catch her episode of Collider Ladies Night at the top of this article or you can listen to the uncut version of the conversation in podcast form below: