PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — "Who’s that girl?” was a common refrain from Sundance Film Festival goers walking out of “ My Old Ass ” in January.
The comedic and heartfelt coming of-age-film, in which a small town 18-year-old eager to leave for college is suddenly in conversation with her 39-year-old self (thank you, mushrooms), was one of the breakouts of a strong festival. It’s currently playing in select theaters, and will be in wide release on Sept. 27.
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Maisy Stella arrives at the premiere of "My Old Ass" at Tree People on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Megan Park, from left, Maisy Stella, and Margot Robbie arrive at the premiere of "My Old Ass" at Tree People on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Actor Maisy Stella attends a special screening of "My Old Ass" at The William Vale Hotel on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Actors Aubrey Plaza, left, and Maisy Stella, and director Megan Park attend a special screening of "My Old Ass" at The William Vale Hotel on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
This image released by Amazon shows Maisy Stella, left, and Aubrey Plaza in a scene from "My Old Ass." (Amazon via AP)
This image released by Amazon Studios shows Maisy Stella in a scene from "My Old Ass." (Amazon Studios via AP)
Maisy Stella poses for a portrait to promote her film "My Old Ass" during the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Maisy Stella poses for a portrait to promote her film "My Old Ass" during the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Maisy Stella poses for a portrait to promote her film "My Old Ass" during the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Maisy Stella poses for a portrait to promote her film "My Old Ass" during the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
The girl in question is its vibrant star, Maisy Stella. It’s a name that will be familiar to some, for her years on the television series “Nashville” playing Daphne Conrad, for her viral video singing Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend” with her sister, Lennon Stella (31 million views and counting), and for being someone Billie Eilish has said inspired her to start singing. But to a certain subset of cinephiles, Stella seemed like a complete discovery and an exciting one at that.
Both designations work, in a way. Stella is reintroducing herself in her first film role after taking a few years off to just be a normal teen. She started on “Nashville” when she was 8 years old. At 15, she took a break from acting.
“I went back to school and made sure my head was like nice and screwed on and just went to prom and did all that stuff,” Stella, now 20, said in an interview with director Megan Park earlier this year “The second I turned 18, I was just like, I missed it so much and found such a new appreciation for it.”
In “My Old Ass” she plays Elliott, a bisexual teen on a small cranberry farm in Canada who is ready for her life to start elsewhere. But her 39-year-old self, played by Aubrey Plaza, tells her to slow down a bit, to appreciate the things around her in the moment and to stay away from a guy named Chad. It’s a part that many actors wanted.
“I think the best thing she ever did was take a break for a second after ‘Nashville’ and just, like, be a normal human,” Park said. “A lot of kids that have been acting from such a young age, that’s the only thing they know, and they don’t have as much life experience. And Elliott is just like a normal girl. Maisy has that perfect mix … she is one in a million.”
Park met Stella through their mutual friend Maddie Ziegler, who plays one of Elliott’s friends in the film.
“I think about her and Maddie and I’m like ‘so it was like two 8-year-old prodigies just hanging out,’” Park laughed. “You singing and her just chaîné-ing across the floor.”
Stella downplays this, as she does many things (we’ll get to Eilish later). She and Ziegler, the “Dance Moms” alum and Sia music video star, are just best friends. Their extracurricular talents don’t come up very often. But they do get to perform together in this movie, alongside Kerrice Brooks. Without spoiling too much, there is a bit of a dream sequence in which Elliott performs Justin Bieber’s “One Less Lonely Girl.” It’s a song that Stella suggested, and that Bieber and his camp had to approve.
“It was a big deal for our generation,” said Stella. “It like changed who I am today as a person.”
The film as a whole was a dream re-entry for Stella to work on material that she loved with a supportive group, including “Wednesday” actor Percy Hynes White and Plaza, who was only there for a few days but made a big impression.
“She’s the most legit and the most genuinely profound actor,” Stella said. “She genuinely taught me so much about how to be a good scene partner.”
Plaza would ask what she needed from the day and then afterward make sure to text and give her a boost, saying how well she had done.
“In future projects like I will take that with me and like always try to give other people what she gave to me,” Stella said. “It literally made the biggest difference.”
Both Park and Stella were overwhelmed by the response to the film at Sundance, where it was quickly acquired by Amazon MGM Studios (for a reported $15 million) for a theatrical release. Stella, too, was already fielding opportunities.
“Sundance changed me,” Stella said, a few months later. “The experience of it woke me up in such a crazy way… and auditioning for things feels a little bit more exciting when I feel like there’s a little bit more buzz or like there’s a little bit more of a chance that I will be like taken seriously.”
In the spring, she joined Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor in an ambitious (and top secret) film from Bad Robot, Warner Bros. and “It Follows” director David Robert Mitchell.
“I think this early on, getting to do two projects that are so opposite is like winning the lottery,” Stella said a few months later during production. “I am so aware of how special that is and getting to show any type of range is really exciting for me.”
None of this is surprising to Park, who knew she had a star on the rise.
“Maisie’s such the real deal,” Park said. “She’s been very patient and specific… I think everyone’s really excited to see, at least I’m excited to see your long career and what you choose to do, because you’ve been silently influencing so much of culture.”
Stella: “Oh my god.”
“Billie Eilish became a singer because of Maisy. I know this for a fact. Finneas confirmed it,” Park said.
“She would have done it with or without me. I’m not the reason for Billie Eilish… She is a genius,” Stella said.
Park: “I’m your hype woman.”
Stella: “You really are, to the point where I just sweat.”
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This story first ran on Jan. 24, 2024 as part of The Associated Press’s Sundance Film Festival coverage. It has been updated with details about its acquisition, release and Stella's new project.
Maisy Stella arrives at the premiere of "My Old Ass" at Tree People on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Megan Park, from left, Maisy Stella, and Margot Robbie arrive at the premiere of "My Old Ass" at Tree People on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Actor Maisy Stella attends a special screening of "My Old Ass" at The William Vale Hotel on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Actors Aubrey Plaza, left, and Maisy Stella, and director Megan Park attend a special screening of "My Old Ass" at The William Vale Hotel on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
This image released by Amazon shows Maisy Stella, left, and Aubrey Plaza in a scene from "My Old Ass." (Amazon via AP)
This image released by Amazon Studios shows Maisy Stella in a scene from "My Old Ass." (Amazon Studios via AP)
Maisy Stella poses for a portrait to promote her film "My Old Ass" during the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Maisy Stella poses for a portrait to promote her film "My Old Ass" during the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Maisy Stella poses for a portrait to promote her film "My Old Ass" during the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Maisy Stella poses for a portrait to promote her film "My Old Ass" during the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
LONDON (AP) — A British teen pleaded guilty Monday to murdering three girls and attempting to kill 10 other people in what a prosecutor said was a “meticulously planned” stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, entered the surprise plea as jury selection had been expected to begin at the start of his trial in Liverpool Crown Court.
The July 29 stabbings sent shock waves across the U.K. and led to a week of widespread rioting across parts of England and Northern Ireland after the suspect was falsely identified as an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat. He was born in Wales.
The attack occurred on the first day of summer vacation when the little girls at the Hart Space, a sanctuary hidden behind a row of houses, were in a class to learn yoga and dance to the songs of Taylor Swift. What was supposed to be a day of joy turned to terror and heartbreak when Rudakubana, armed with a knife, intruded and began stabbing the girls and their teacher in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England.
“This was an unspeakable attack — one which left an enduring mark on our community and the nation for its savagery and senselessness," Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor Ursula Doyle said. “A day which should have been one of carefree innocence; of children enjoying a dance workshop and making friendship bracelets, became a scene of the darkest horror as Axel Rudakubana carried out his meticulously planned rampage.”
Prosecutors haven’t said what they believe led Rudakubana — who was days shy of his 18th birthday — to commit the atrocities, but Doyle said that it was clear he had a “a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence.”
Rudakubana had consistently refused to speak in court and did so once again when asked to identify himself at the start of the proceedings. But he broke his silence when he was read the 16-count indictment and asked to enter a plea, replying “guilty” to each charge.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and additional charges related to possessing the poison ricin and for having an al-Qaida manual.
Rudakubana faces life imprisonment when sentenced Thursday, Justice Julian Goose said.
Defense lawyer Stanley Reiz said that he would present information to the judge about Rudakubana's mental health that may be relevant to his sentence.
The surviving victims and family members of those killed were absent in court, because they had expected to arrive Tuesday for opening statements.
Goose asked the prosecutor to apologize on his behalf that they weren't present to hear Rudakubana plead guilty.
He pleaded guilty to murdering Alice Da Silva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6.
Eight other girls, ranging in age from 7 to 13, were wounded, along with instructor Leanne Lucas and John Hayes, who worked in a business next door and intervened. Fifteen other girls, as young as 5, were at the class but uninjured. Under a court order, none of the surviving girls can be named.
Hayes, who was stabbed and seriously wounded, said he still had flashbacks to the attack and was “hugely upset at the time that I wasn’t able to do more.”
“But I did what I could in the circumstances,” he told Sky News. “I’m grateful to be here, and by all accounts I’ll make a full recovery, at least physically. … I’m going to be OK and others won’t be, and that’s really where I I think the focus of attention should be.”
Police said the stabbings weren’t classified as acts of terrorism because the motive wasn’t known.
Several months after his arrest at the scene of the crime, Rudakubana was charged with additional counts for production of a biological toxin, ricin and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism for having the manual in a document on his computer.
Police said they found the evidence during a search of his family's home in a neighboring village.
The day after the killings — and shortly after a peaceful vigil for the victims — a violent group attacked a mosque near the crime scene and pelted police officers with bricks and bottles and set fire to police vehicles.
Rioting then spread to dozens of other towns over the next week when groups made up mostly of men mobilized by far-right activists on social media clashed with police during violent protests and attacked hotels housing migrants.
More than 1,200 people were arrested for the disorder and hundreds have been jailed for up to nine years in prison.
In this Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook, Southport stabbings suspect Axel Rudakubana appears on the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court, where he has pleaded guilty to killing three young girls and wounded 10 other people in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP)
People queue at Liverpool Crown Court in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 where Axel Rudakubana is charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.(AP Photo/Jon Super)
A prison van believed to contain Axel Rudakubana arrives at Liverpool Crown Court in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 where Rudakubana is charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.(AP Photo/Jon Super)
A prison van believed to contain Axel Rudakubana arrives at Liverpool Crown Court in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 where Rudakubana is charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.(AP Photo/Jon Super)
FILE - Police officers watch members of the public outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Aug. 5, 2024 after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club the week before. (AP Photo/Darren Staples, File)
FILE - Tributes are seen outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, Aug. 5, 2024 after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club the week before. (AP Photo/Darren Staples, File)