For Laurel Parmet’s first feature film, The Starling Girl, the writer and director told a story that was “emotional and cathartic,” and one that was a decade in the making. It is centered around Jem Starling, played by Eliza Scanlen, a teenager growing up in a Christian fundamentalist community in small-town Kentucky.
At 17, Jem is helping her mother raise her younger siblings, dutifully attending church, and abiding by the strict guidelines set in place for women in the faith. Under the thumb of the community and her mother’s devout discipline, Jem finds her only respite in her passion for dancing and does so with the church’s dance group. When the pastor’s son and youth pastor, Owen (played by Lewis Pullman), returns from a mission trip, Jem is enamored by his tendency to buck tradition. When the married Owen begins paying Jem attention, the two of them become involved in a secret relationship that has devastating consequences. The film’s ensemble cast also features Jimmi Simpson, Austin Abrams, and Wrenn Schmidt.
After The Starling Girl debuted its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Parmet and the cast joined Collider’s Steve Weintraub in the Collider Studio at Park City. During their interview, Parmet shares how her own experiences influenced the writing for The Starling Girl, the cast each discusses how they got attached to the project, and how they prepare for heavier scenes. They talk about being mindful of how they portrayed a faith-based community, having to cut some of Parmet’s favorite scenes to save for time, and changing the score during editing to avoid the film feeling “manipulative and overwrought.”
#LewisPullman #AustinAbrams #ElizaScanlen #TheStarlingGirl
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