Vanities Opening Act
Thomasin McKenzie speaks with V. F.’s
Britt Hennemuth.
You broke out in last year ’s Leave No
Trace, playing a teen who lives off the
grid in the Oregon forest. Did it teach
you anything about disconnecting?
I was banned from using my phone
for a couple weeks as preparation for the
film, which was eye-opening. I’ve
always had a conflict with Instagram—it’s
an amazing platform to express yourself,
but on the other hand, it’s a trigger for a
lot of mental illnesses, constantly
comparing yourself to people. I learned it
doesn’t deserve all your time and energy.
That Debra Granik film still has a
rare 100 percent favorable rating
on Rotten Tomatoes and earned you
awards buzz and your choice of
Hollywood roles. How do you pick
your projects now?
I gravitate toward projects that
have a strong message led by talented
people with really specific visions.
Who’s on your bucket list to work with?
Olivia Colman and Rooney Mara.
And I love [director] Jane Campion.
Your father is a director and
your mother is an acting coach. Was
there ever any doubt that you
would go into the family business?
My parents always made it clear that
acting isn’t as it seems in the media—it’s
a hard job, and you’re often very
vulnerable. At the beginning, I was acting
more for pocket money and time off
from school. But when I was 13, I did
a film called Consent about rape and the
abuse of power in the police force,
and it made me realize that acting can
be a platform to make a difference.
You’ve gravitated toward films with
heavy subject matter, like the
World War II dark comedy Jojo Rabbit
and the true-crime drama Lost Girls.
When Jennifer Lawrence (another
discovery of Granik to whom you’reoften compared) was filming
Mother!, she set up a “Kardashian
tent” that played the reality show
on a loop to decompress between
takes. What would be in your
tent? How do you clear your head?
I’m currently filming Edgar Wright’s
Last Night in Soho, and it’s absolute
madness, so I’ve been playing a lot of
Sims. That’s been my portal back
into my own world. Today my laptop ran
out of battery, so I have to start at
level one again. It was a rookie mistake.
This fall you’ll be seen in
Netflix’s The King, a who’s who of
young Hollywood with Timothée
Chalamet, Robert Pattinson, and
Lily-Rose Depp. What was the
most memorable part of being on set?
On my first day we were doing a big,
important crowd scene with Timothée,
and there was a problem with one
of the props—a mechanical bird wasn’t
working—so everyone was freaking out.
It was incredibly hot, I’m wearing this
massive wig, but it was still super exciting.
I was only on set for two days, but it’s a
very different role for Timothée, and I’m
really excited to see how he approached it.
Your Jojo Rabbit director and
fellow New Zealander, Taika Waititi,
is known for his humorous turns
in the Marvel universe. Any chance
we’ll catch you saving the world
onscreen soon?
It’s not the kind of genre I envision
myself in, but you never know.FA N
She has the makings of a
power performer, both
wise beyond her years and
spontaneously fresh.
—SCARLETT
JOHANSSONThomasin is too talented
to be real. In fact, she
might have been sent here
from the future to teach
us what acting is.
—TAIKA WAITITIShe dazzles you with
the presence of an artist
who sees and feels
on a level you are only
beginning to sense.
—BEN FOSTERThe prolific poet with a brooding streak gets a fresh
look in the upcoming Apple TV+ series,
starring Hailee Steinfeld as Emily Dickinson.
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