Producer James L. Brooks, writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig and star Hailee Steinfeld came to Deadline’s big annual awards-season event The Contenders Presented By Deadline last month and thoroughly debunked the idea that a movie that happens to be about a teen should be labeled a “teen movie.”
This very smart comedy transcends the genre and already is getting awards recognition including three nominations for Sunday’s Critics’ Choice Awards — Best Comedy among them plus two more for Steinfeld — and recognition from the New York Film Critics for Craig as Best First Film.
In front of a packed audience of Oscar and key guild voters at the DGA theater, Brooks told how this spec script landed in his lap, why Craig is such a promising talent, how one of the smartest comedies of 2016 would not have been made if Steinfeld had not walked in the door.
Check out my conversation with them above.
