Odessa A’zion Wants to Do Everything

The Story

Odessa A’zion is a hugger. The 25-year-old springs from a sofa on the rooftop terrace of the Chopard Suite at the Hôtel Martinez for a welcome embrace amid a dizzying 24 hours at the Cannes Film Festival. The night before, A’zion made her Cannes debut by hitting the Palais red carpet to face a crush of photographers while standing alongside actor Connor Swindells, French legend Isabelle Huppert and Chopard’s Caroline Scheufele. They then made their way to Carlton Beach for a late night Chopard Trophy ceremony during which A’zion and Swindells were honored by Huppert as next-generation talents in front of Demi Moore, Chloe Zhao, Stellan Skarsgard, Ruth Negga, James Franco, Riley Keough, Nicky Hilton, Xavier Dolan and others. A’zion gave a speech — describing the experience as “really weird, crazy and surreal” — stayed for dessert and ducked out for a cameo at the hottest party in Cannes for her I Love LA co-star Jordan Firstman’s directorial debut Club Kid. Then it was time for bed to get few hours of rest ahead of a full day of Chopard press to honor the occasion, accessorized by sparkling diamonds and a breathtaking view of the French Riviera over her shoulder. Post hug, The Hollywood Reporter spent 20 minutes with the Marty Supreme star to talk about her Cannes adventure, how Josh Safdie’s film changed her life, what she learned from the backlash surrounding her Deep Cuts casting and why she’s fiercely protective of her personal life.

What was your first thought when you woke up today?

“Oh fuck, I have to get ready for all these interviews right now.” The second thought was, “I still don’t understand what’s happening.” I wasn’t able to process any of it, except for maybe a little bit last night when they played the clips. That made me think, “What the fuck is going on?” It was so crazy, weird, insane and really cool.

I’m a sucker for a good clips reel. You said last night during your speech that watching your own highlight reel was “horrifying.” As an actor, is it hard to watch your own work?

I was so embarrassed. I used to always think that the thing to do was never watch your work because everyone says that, so I wouldn’t. And if I did happen to watch something, I would always think to myself, “Oh my God, I fucking suck. What am I doing?” Now I’ve learned that it’s important to watch your own stuff. That doesn’t mean that I’m rewatching projects over and over, but I do watch it at least once when it comes out.

It’s like being an athlete, right? Athletes watch their plays to see what worked and what didn’t work. I feel like acting is the same thing. It’s important to know what works for you and what doesn’t work for your performance, even if it’s just for yourself. From watching myself, I have learned what facial expressions didn’t work and what comes off wrong in the moment. While I’m filming, I will only watch playback if I feel like I didn’t get something right or if I need an idea for a certain direction to go toward.

When you saw all the clips of your projects, what were you most proud of?

Marty Supreme. That was the first time that I ever watched something I’ve done and thought, “OK, that’s not bad. That’s OK.”

Oh my God. I don’t even know how to describe it. Josh changed my life. Every director I’ve worked with who believed in me enough to cast me in their project has seen something in me, and I’m so grateful for every single one of them. But it’s a different thing to be a part of a movie like that. It’s hard to talk about without sounding like I’m putting down other things because I’m not. I really am grateful for everything I’ve been a part of, but Marty Supreme feels like something that was written for me without them knowing it. It sounds so cheesy to say.

I’ve never played a character with so many different layers and so much going on. I was talking to [writer Ronald Bronstein] when we were filming and I said, “Thank you. This is such a gift to give an actor by allowing them to do six different emotional turns in the span of two minutes.” She was so fiery but also submissive. I’m so grateful that he trusted me to play a character like her. I’ve always wanted that; she gets fucking shot, she gets kidnapped, she gets pregnant, she has a baby, so much goes on in. I don’t know when I’m ever going to play someone like that again. It was just so special. All of it. Josh was on my list of people I’d love to work with, same for Timothée and A24. Since it was more visible, that means more people have seen it and it will hopefully help with other things.

Just because the character had so many layers that I was able to do, hopefully that means people will think of me for projects with a submissive character or an insane character who is out of touch with reality or playing someone who is a manipulative ass bitch. I love screaming my head off in a movie and bawling my eyes out. It’s so fun.

The first project that you signed on to after the success of Marty Supreme was Deep Cuts. I was impressed with how quickly you withdrew amid the controversy and how you addressed it. What did you learn from that experience?

Here’s the thing: I was really upset about that situation. I don’t know a lot of people who will read the book until they’re actively filming because there’s just not that much time and we’re all moving around so much. I didn’t think to read the book. I had read the script once. I went in for the female lead and I didn’t get it. Way later, they offered me the second female role. I didn’t think to go back and read her name because that’s the only time anything is mentioned in the script. Her last name was said once. I literally had no idea. Unfortunately, no one at A24 or on my team clocked it or thought to say, “By the way, the character…” If they had, I would’ve said, “You guys are out of your minds. Why would you come to me with that?”

It’s not right. Representation in Hollywood is so important and there are so many other roles that I could play that aren’t that. It’s not a role for me. It was really frustrating and that sucked and people can think whatever they want but I had no idea. I was happy when I learned about it because it popped up for me when I saw a tagged photo of myself and said, “Wait, hold on. What?” I literally called them right away and said, “I’m not doing this.”

Interesting that you caught it yourself on social media. How closely are you paying attention to comments and online discourse?

I’ve engaged before and I just feel like honestly, at this point, it’s really weird. People assume that when you’re in the public eye, you know everything about the world at every time in your life. You have to give people room to grow and learn. You can’t assume someone knows everything about everything at all times. I’m always learning new shit every day. You learn about people and events and news that happens in the world and you say, “Oh, I didn’t know that.” Or, “I don’t agree with that.” You know what I mean? We have to give each other room to grow, and not try to stick it to people so fast. It’s not cool to do that. But you can’t control the internet. It really sucks, but you can’t.

One thing the internet loves to do is remind everyone that you don’t work with a stylist or hair and makeup artists. How does that work for Cannes because that was a big carpet you stepped out on here. I know you were dripping in Chopard jewelry though…

I know, that was crazy. That was all Chopard because they let me borrow some stuff. And the suit was Jonathan Anderson for Dior because he let me borrow some clothes as well. I’m wearing him again today.

Thank you. Honestly, most of the time it’s all really last minute. I like to wear what I like. That doesn’t mean I’m happy with it all the time. Because I don’t have a stylist, sometimes I don’t know where to find clothes but I like expressing myself outside of how people see me in movies or shows. Sometimes it’s important to feel like yourself, and other times I like to get out of my comfort zone.

Original report

The Hollywood Reporter

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