Beanie Feldstein knows how to build a career. The 26-year-old actress has appeared in two of our favorite films the last few years, Lady Bird and Booksmart. She also had a memorable role in one of our favorite new sitcoms, What We Do in the Shadows. And later this year she’ll play Monica Lewinsky in the new season of American Crime Story. But before that we’ll get to see her in another leading role. She stars in the upcoming adaptation of Caitlin Moran’s best-selling novel How To Build a Girl. And the first trailer for the coming-of-age story promises rock ‘n’ roll, fame, and a whole lot of style.
“Johana Morrigan (Beanie Feldstein) is a bright, quirky, 16-year-old who uses her colorful imagination to regularly escape her humdrum life in Wolverhampton and live out her creative fantasies. Desperate to break free from the overcrowded flat she shares with her four brothers and eccentric parents, she submits an earnestly penned and off-beat music review to a group of self-important indie rock critics at a weekly magazine. Despite being brushed off initially, Johana clamors to the top of the ’90s rock music scene by reinventing herself as Dolly Wilde—a venerable, impossible-to-please music critic with an insatiable lust for fame, fortune, and men. It isn’t long before the rapid pace at which Johana’s life is changing becomes overwhelming and she runs face-first into a devastatingly real, existential crisis: Is this the type of girl she wants to become? Or does she need to start over and build again from the ground up?”
If we had this trailer described to us we would have wanted Beanie Feldstein to play Johanna/Dolly Wilde. She’s funny and endearing, and she owns the screen every time she’s on it. She can also still pull off playing 16.
But she’s not the only big-name actor in this film we love. The movie also stars Alfie Allen, Paddy Considine, Chris O’Dowd, and Emma Thompson. And a lineup like that is how you build interest for your movie.
How To Build a Girl, directed by Coky Giedroyc, will be available on VOD May 8th.
Featured Image: IFC Films
