Olivia Cooke on Dying Young in “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl”
This is the story of three teens...the story of Greg,
Earl and Rachel , a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of high-school
senior year and all the crazy journey on finally getting to know themselves
fully. The film’s head-on approach to
the complex issues and emotions it tackles is not typical for teen movies where
it is not just about first love or any of the usual things. It’s about a young
man realizing what kind of person he wants to be and having to consider what
could happen if one loses someone just as you’re getting to know them.
Headlining
the cast of “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” are three young actors at the
beginning of their careers: Thomas Mann as Greg, Olivia Cooke as Rachel, and RJ
Cyler as Greg’s best friend Earl.
Rachel is an unusual girl even before her illness,
and her troubles merely accentuate her singularity. “Rachel has never been
focused on being popular,” says director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. “She is an artist
and young artists are often outsiders, and now she’s maturing quickly. When you
that think your life is about to be cut short why not spend it with people as
genuine as Greg and Earl?”
Cooke’s
innate ability to inspire compassion made her perfect for the role, says Mann.
“She just feels so right as Rachel. You automatically care about her as a
person, which is what the character needs.”
The
young actress is best known to audiences for spooky thrillers like the recent
movie “Ouija” and the television series “Bates Motel.” But while she
acknowledges the visibility those roles have given her, she was glad for a
chance to break the mold. “This is a story about relationships and I’ve never
done that before,” she says. “Rachel has a lot of dignity. She cares about how
she is perceived by other people. You see it in the way she dresses and the way
she holds herself. It’s not just about looking pretty; it’s about wearing her
artistic self on her sleeve.”
Rachel’s
pride underscores the difficulty she has dealing with the changes forced on her
by her illness. The actress chose to shave her head for scenes when Rachel is
undergoing chemotherapy, rather than wear a bald cap. “Shaving my head was more
personal and more real than anything I’ve ever experienced,” she says. “I felt
stripped of my dignity. I did it with help from RJ and Thomas. I had my hair in
a bunch of pigtails and we each took turns cutting them until it was about two
inches long all over. When we started shaving it, I was laughing at how
ridiculous I looked, but as we finished, I started to sob. It made me feel very
vulnerable and isolated. Women take a lot of their identity from their hair.”
One
of the most significant moments in the movie is when Greg learns to make a film
for someone else, for Rachel. With this
film, he’s not only matured as an artist, he has soaked up one of Rachel’s
great lessons: that it’s OK to be quiet for a while. “Greg and Earl’s final film for Rachel was
in flux until the day the scene it appears in was shot. It never fully came
together until the day we used it on set,” says Gomez-Rejon. “When I saw the
finished cut, I cried my eyes out. It was so honest, so beautiful and it
expressed everything I was feeling in a five-minute short.”
Discover
what it truly means to be selfless when “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” opens
September 16 in cinemas from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by
Warner Bros.
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