Maisy Stella is Aubrey Plaza’s young ass

Most of us would relish the opportunity to go back in time and have a chat with our younger selves: to tell them to be nicer to our parents, or give them a few pointers about the perils of over-plucking eyebrows, perhaps.

Well, that dream becomes reality in My Old Ass, a new comedy drama from director Megan Park. It starts Maisy Stella as the 18-year-old Elliott, an affable teenager whose woodland shroom trip brings her face to face to her 39-year-old-self (or, as she puts it, ​“her old ass”), played with typical deadpan by Aubrey Plaza.

​“I had auditioned for [Megan’s last film, 2022’s] The Fallout and we stayed in touch,” Maisy says from a hotel room in New York, where she’s been busy doing interviews over the last few days. ​“I really, really loved her – I manifested in my journal that I wanted to work with Megan Park. Then I read the script for My Old Ass.

​“It was so ridiculously beautiful and funny, and the character was so special. I was like, I will do anything for this. I was living in constant fear of losing the role because I knew it would be my villain origin story if I did.”

Thankfully, instead of going full Joker, Maisy got the part and instead went toe-to-toe with Aubrey. The result is a properly moving coming-of-age story that’s drier and cheekier than your average fare. Not bad for your first feature film role.

Now aged 20, the Ontario-born, Nashville-based actor is best known for playing Daphne in country music drama Nashville between 2012 – 2018. She bagged the role when she was just eight years old, after a family friend who also happened to be a casting director came over. Impressed by Maisy and her sister Lennon, they decided to chuck them both in the show.

​“It was very cosmic. Every little kid wants to be a movie star. But the real love and understanding of what that means came much later,” she says. ​“I’m from a tiny town outside Toronto, my family isn’t in the business at all. I was plucked out of thin air! How lucky is that?”

Hey, Maisy! Do you see any of yourself in Elliot?

Absolutely. Megan made a choice to keep the integrity of the character and what she’d written, but mesh that with the human that’s bringing it to life. That’s where she gets realness from, and I definitely do relate to her.

Have you had any wild realisations while high on shrooms?

Yeah. I mean, honestly, my sister is always calling me like, ​“I’ve had an epiphany!” But I do get that. When I think about what’s in the movie, those are definitely realisations I’ve had before. When I filmed it, I thought I had way more figured out. But I was a naive little girl!

You’re only 20, but is there anything you wish you could tell your younger self?

In terms of my personal life, I’d go back and tell her a bunch of things. But career-wise, I was auditioning for 10 years straight – I wish I could tell my younger self to not feel too stressed during that time. I was so scared I’d never get to work again after I’d had a taste of it as a kid. My mom drilled it into my head: the second you turn 18, you’re gonna get a job. I was 18 for three months when I booked My Old Ass, so…

What would you tell your older self?

My older self would be like my mom, because I am a carbon copy of my mother. She is way cooler than me. But my mom does this [thing] a lot, and a lot of older women I’m friends with do [it too], where they say, ​“I’m too old to wear that”. They limit themselves around age and I’m like, ​“Don’t you mean you’re old enough to wear that? You can wear that because of your age, not in spite of it.” I hope that when I’m older, if I want to dye my hair blue or wear a crazy, funky suit, I’ll do that. I’m going to be the sickest grandma ever.

Tell me about your friendship with Aubrey…

Dude, we didn’t even try. We just had it. I think we both approached it with such openness and respect, it never felt pressured. Aubrey is one of my favourite people. She was so, so good to me. Honestly, she’s such a secret softie, like an older sister. And I think for her, this movie was really therapeutic. A lot of the things she said in the movie were things that she would say in real life.

Any funny anecdotes from filming?

The whole experience was very campy. Like, we were fully in a lake town and the experience was so cheeky to me. There were so many things that were just so ridiculous, like us literally actively avoiding bears the entire duration of filming, or me skinny dipping all the time and hoping leeches didn’t cling on to me.

What’s your dream role?

I really want to do some dramatic acting. I know it sounds kinda cringey, but I really do like crying! And I would love to do something that has, like, a shit ton of weight to it, a real grit and darkness. Elliot was so beautiful because she was written to be so bright and, with so much love, but she still kind of has this weight – but not a darkness.

What’s the last thing you watched that made you cry?

I cry at everything. But The Perks of Being a Wallflower – I did not remember it being the saddest movie ever made. Past Lives, too. And oh my God, Moana! That is a cruel movie. Cruel. I was so fucked up over it

My Old Ass is at the pictures now would you believe.