You know her as Juno’s precocious best friend, but a turn in Snow Angels proves this indie actress has got plenty of tricks up her sleeve.
Olivia Thirlby might be a mere twenty-one, but when you meet the brown-eyed beauty, she seems older. Maybe it’ s the product of a childhood spent running around New York City’s Lower East Side (she vintage shopped on her daily walk home from school and when most kids were still asking for toys, requested theater tickets as gifts). While her hometown provided certain career advantages—amazing people watching on the subway, access to the best training—there were times when it made her lose out on roles: “They’d say, ‘Sorry, but we just can’t buy that someone like you is from a small town in Colorado.’”
Lucky for us that wasn’t the case with Snow Angels, a new indie drama starring Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, and Michael Angarano. As Lila Raybern, Angarano’s delightfully quirky love interest, Thirlby brings one of the freshest, most legit portrayals of high school romance to the big screen that I’ve seen in recent years. “The first time Michael and I met, we read through the scenes, and I remember it was kind of awkward getting close to him,” she reveals. “Now I’m pretty used to him. We’ve ended up spending a lot of time together on set and have developed a nice, interesting relationship—we’re very comfortable with each other.”
Thirlby attributes her home-run supporting performance to the flick’s writer and director, David Gordon Green. “He’s one of my favorite people and clearly his talents are immeasurable,” she explains. “There were plenty of times when he wouldn’t yell cut at the end of a scene, which is what brings that beautiful, unsyncopated rhythm to the story. It also forces you to bring a lot to the table and rely on yourself—not just the script.”
Good thing she has got enough talent to spare.
By Caroline Stanley
Photo Courtesy of Gen Art Pulse
