Director Julia Hart's Hollywood Stargirl is the follow-up to her 2020 film Stargirl. Both movies center around the titular unassuming musical teenager who finds herself impacting far more lives than she would ever expect. Much like the original, the new film is an incredibly sweet-natured and kind-hearted production that highlights the power of music and friendship above all else while still grounding itself in the real world.
CBR recently attended a press conference for Hollywood Stargirl ahead of the film's June 3 premiere on Disney+. Grace VanderWaal, Elijah Richardson, Tyrel Jackson Williams, and Judy Greer spoke about what drew them to the film and how the production -- and the friends they made on set -- helped them all contend with the pressures of trying to film a movie during a pandemic.
Hollywood Stargirl is Grace VanderWaal's second stint as the titular Stargirl, a unique girl who seems to resist the trials and tribulations that most people just accept as part of their lives. Considering the success of the first film on Disney+ and returning to the character, VanderWaal explained, "It was very exciting because, you know, I feel like after seeing everyone love Stargirl, it really made me appreciate and be honored even more to play the character."
VanderWaal continued, "So, it was very nerve-wracking, but I just feel like I just slowly grow more and more love for her and just so happy to get to play her. She's growing up. She's seeing the world and experiencing different things. So, she's still her, but I think that the difference in this film [is that] she's just maturing and kind of defining that word of maturity and what it really means to her."
Providing a contrast to the surprisingly put-together Stargirl is her more put-upon mother, Ana, played by Judy Greer. Reflecting on what drew her to the project in the first place, Greer admitted with a laugh, "Well, the first movie really sucked me in. I hadn't seen it -- sorry, everyone. I got offered the role [of Ana], and I was like, ‘Oh, I'll check this out.’ My husband and I watched it and just were crying and laughing. We loved it, and it had such a warm heart. Then I had this really great Zoom meeting with Julia, and I fell in love with her."
While the film doesn't incorporate any aspects of the pandemic into its plot, the cast explained how it was still a factor in their lives while filming. The project even gave Greer something to do during the extended lockdowns that affected most corners of life. She explained, "We shot this during the pandemic, and I personally just really needed to get out of my house like the rest of us... I wanted to be around people that had really big hearts and had a lot of love, and I felt that I was going to get that with this group. And I was more than right about that."
Elijah Richardson, who previously appeared in Falcon and the Winter Soldier as Eli Bradley, plays Stargirl's newfound friend and love interest, Evan. It wasn't hard for Richardson to get into the mind of the ambitious character, who revealed that "Honestly, I think that we're exactly alike. I think we're exactly alike. We have the same passion. Tyrel and I actually clicked in the chemistry reading like it's nothing... He automatically felt like my brother. So, when we got on set, we were just like, you know, we were just saying lines at that point."
Williams, who plays Evan's older brother Terrell in the film, concurred, explaining how the filming "Felt so easy and seamless. Like, from the first chemistry read, from the first auditions on. As soon as we got on set, it was just like, 'Oh, it's going to be like this? We have nothing to worry about." Though Richardson did reveal that filming during the pandemic was a little tricky for himself and the younger cast, and they had to adjust to having primarily known each other digitally to suddenly being on set together. "Eventually, we started to hang out more," Richardson said, "And we started to realize that we had a lot of things in common. You know, we all like food, so we went out to eat. After a while, we started to click. It didn't start immediately, but yeah."
"I think it was also a kind of a side effect of the pandemic," Williams noted. "We met for the first few times a few days before we were about to get started shooting. So, we knew each other as like, Zoom squares. When we were, like, actually together, with each other, we were like, 'Hey, I can see your whole body now, and you don't have a mask on. It's a little scary.' But after a while, we were just like, 'Oh, yeah, this is what it's like to like interact with people again." This natural chemistry translates to their roles in the film, with the younger cast, in particular, finding a sweet rhythm that helps make the film as special as it is.
Stream Hollywood Stargirl on Disney+ starting June 3.
