TheWrap Oscar magazine: \u00ab\u00a0I was really attracted to the fact that there weren’t any villains or antagonists or bad guys,\u00a0\u00bb the 18-year old New Zealand-born actress says<\/b>
\nA version of this story on Thomasin McKenzie and \u201cLeave No Trace\u201d first appeared in the Actors\/Directors\/Screenwriters issue of TheWrap\u2019s Oscar magazine.
When she was a young girl in New Zealand, Thomasin McKenzie wasn\u2019t sure what she wanted to be when she grew up. But she knew what she didn\u2019t want to be.
\u201cMy grandma told me that one day she asked me if I wanted to be an actor, and I listed every single thing I did want to be: vet, firefighter, teacher, zookeeper\u2026 \u201d the 18-year-old star of Debra Granik\u2019s \u201cLeave No Trace\u201d said. \u201cAnd at the end, I said, \u2018I do not want to be an actress.’\u201d
In part, that was because McKenzie\u2019s mother, Miranda Harcourt, was an actress and her father, Stuart McKenzie a theater and film director. But by the time she was 13, she\u2019d embraced the family business after playing a girl repeatedly raped by a policeman in a film called \u201cConsent: The Louise Nicholas Story.\u201d \u201cIt was a really heartbreaking story, but I came out of it thinking that acting gives me an incredible opportunity to have my voice heard,\u201d she said.
Also Read: ‘If Beale Street Could Talk,’ ‘Leave No Trace’ Nominated for Top Independent Spirit Awards
In \u201cLeave No Trace,\u201d McKenzie plays a girl whose father, a vet suffering from PTSD played by Ben Foster, has raised her off the grid in a forested area. It\u2019s a quiet film, but one in which the familial bond between father and daughter is palpable and deeply affecting.
\u201cI loved the simpleness of it, and the fact that it was the complete opposite of a Marvel film,\u201d she said. \u201cThere weren\u2019t any explosions \u2014 it was truly following the life of a dad and a daughter. And also, I was really attracted to the fact that there weren\u2019t any villains or antagonists or bad guys. Everybody was trying to do their best.\u201d
The challenge was physical, with McKenzie and Foster learning to live in the wild. \u201cIn the rehearsal we were making fires, trudging through the forest and stuff, which I love,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I definitely got some blisters and a few cuts, one of which I\u2019ve still got a scar from.\u201d
But the film also presented an emotional: It was the first movie she\u2019d ever made in America, and her parents were both working in New Zealand at the time. \u201cI had a close family friend with me, but it was hard being away from my family,\u201d she said.
Also Read: ‘Leave No Trace’ Film Review: Debra Granik Returns With Another Subtle Powerhouse Drama
And then there was one extra factor, because the last Debra Granik movie to star a little-known actress in her teens was \u201cWinter\u2019s Bone,\u201d and the actress in question was Jennifer Lawrence.
\u201cYeah, that did add some pressure,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe people kind of expected something from me, I guess. But I tried not to focus on it.\u201d
She laughed. \u201cI\u2019d just be stoked if Jennifer Lawrence has seen \u2018Leave No Trace.’\u201d
To read more of TheWrap\u2019s Actors\/Directors\/Screenwriters issue, click here .<\/p>\n