I know it’s only the end of January, but trust me when I tell you Maddie Ziegler’s new movie is a special one. I had the opportunity to catch The Fallout at SXSW 2021, and the movie has been on my mind ever since. Had it received a 2021 release, it likely would have been a favorite of the year. Now I'm hopeful that will happen in 2022.
The film marks Megan Park’s feature screenwriting and directing debut. Ziegler stars alongside Jenna Ortega as Mia and Vada, respectively. The two aren’t especially close, but when they find themselves in the high school restroom together during a shooting, the shared experience sparks a strong connection that plays a significant role in their efforts to cope with what happened, move in new directions, and attempt to forge forward.
Ziegler’s got a staggering list of accomplishments for someone who’s only 19-years-old, and she shows no signs of slowing down while trying to make the most of both of her passions, dancing and acting. Yes, Ziegler stepped into the spotlight courtesy of her jaw-dropping skills as a dancer, but while exploring that craft, she discovered her strong pull to another form of performance. While on Collider Ladies Night celebrating the HBO Max release of The Fallout, she recalled:
“When I was younger, I was just like, ‘Oh yeah, dance til I die. That’s it. That’s my path forever.’ For some reason, that was all I could think of until I started doing music videos with Sia, and I kind of realized, ‘Oh, I’m literally playing a character in all these music videos and I’m becoming these different roles,’ and a huge part of the rehearsal process was not just the movement, but the actual intention behind the emotions. And then I was like, ‘Okay, yeah. This is definitely something I want to do,’ so I started auditioning and started getting little roles here and there, and then one day it kind of just happened where it consumed me and I was like, ‘I want to be an actor just as much as I want to be a dancer.’”
Ziegler does have a number of acting credits to her name at this point, but a project like The Fallout is a rare gem with the potential to make a massive impression, and possibly open the doors to even more opportunities in the acting realm. During our chat, Ziegler looked back on her audition for the role of Mia and explained how Park went above and beyond for her during that process:
“I got the audition and I read the script and immediately fell in love with it, and was just so connected to it and I couldn’t stop thinking about this movie. And then before I went in for my audition, my team was like, ‘Oh yeah, Megan wants to call you just to have a conversation and make you feel comfortable before you come in,’ which is rare. People don’t have to do that. That’s really nice ... This is Megan’s baby. This is the first movie that she’s written and directed, so she’s taken such an amazing approach with it. And so we talked, and she was just kind of giving references and [inspiration] and just making it really fun and exciting, and then I went in and did my audition and I kind of left being like, ‘Oh my gosh, this really could be it.’ I felt really good about it.”
Clearly Ziegler had reason to feel really good about that audition; she booked the role! But while the audition nerves might have been in the rearview mirror at that point, she still faced a significant amount of pressure tackling such challenging subject matter on set.
“It was very heavy and every day walking into set I really had to just not let myself freak out, not let my perfectionist get in the way and just really dive into this role and trust my partner, which was Jenna, and trust Megan. I very, very, very much am so glad that we had a safe environment to be in. Megan made it [so] comfortable. Very much just like, ‘You guys cool? You feel okay?’ So many conversations leading up to it that made us feel safe enough to go there with our performances. And of course, I was nervous. I was so nervous just because this subject matter is so important and needs to be talked about and needs to be portrayed in movies, and I just wanted to bring Megan’s vision to life because it’s so important.”
Ziegler hit the jackpot when it came to scoring a wildly talented co-star who’s on the rise in a very big way, Jenna Ortega. It’s only the beginning for Ortega as well, but with a lengthier filmography to her name, she had a lot to offer Ziegler on this set. Here’s what Ziegler said when asked for something she saw Ortega do on The Fallout that she’s eager to apply to future projects:
“Oh my god, everything. She’s perfect. I love her! I would say when we were doing the bathroom stall scene, which was the heaviest scene we had to do and was literally the last scene before I wrapped, which I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, we ended on the heaviest scene.’ Just seeing the way she gradually got to the point of having a breakdown — we were this close to each other. I was watching her and I was in shock. I couldn’t even comprehend how amazing she was and how she went there. She really went there so intensely, and I was just in awe. And I very much have tried to kind of keep that in mind when having to audition for different things or film different things, I’m just like, ‘I have to just let everything fly and go there like Jenna did,’ because it was pretty special.”
Eager to hear more from Ziegler on her experience working with Ortega and Park on The Fallout? Be sure to watch her episode of Collider Ladies Night at the top of this article or listen to our uncut 40-minute conversation in podcast form below. Ziegler also takes the time to look back on her journey from Dance Moms to Sia’s music videos to starring in one of the biggest releases of 2021, Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, and so much more.