CHICAGO– It’s time for the gals to party down. The new film “Booksmart” is the story of two best friends who are outside their popular group in high school, and decide to blow it out on the last day of Senior Year. Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein are the dynamic duo, and the film is a funny expansion on breaking down barriers.
The film is also the directorial debut of actress Olivia Wilde, and was written by Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel and Katie Silberman. It involves Molly (Beanie Feldstein), a high achieving academic but clueless when it comes to connecting to high school hijinks, except for her personal connection to her best friend Amy (Kaitlyn Dever). Molly decides that before both of them go to college, it’s important that they have a typical high school party experience, which leads to a night they’ll never forget. The film is part “Superbad” and part “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” with the added perspective of two friends who know their lives are about to change forever.
In Chicago: Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein for ‘Booksmart’
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com
Beanie Feldstein is no stranger to “Senior-itis.” Her last prominent role was as Senior Year best friend Julie, opposite Saoirse Ronan in the Greta Gerwig directed “Lady Bird” (2017). She began her career in 2002 as a child character on “My Wife and Kids,” and made her film debut in 2016 in “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising.” She is also the sister to actor Jonah Hill. Kaitlyn Dever is a veteran performer, having begun also as a child actor in 2009, and collecting over 25 TV and film roles since, including characters in the films “Short Term 12” (2013) and “Beautiful Boy” (2018), in addition to being a regular in the TV series “Justified” and “Last Man Standing.”
In Part One of a Podtalk with Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, Beanie Feldstein (speaking first) and Kaitlyn Dever talk about the directorial contrasts between Greta Gerwig and Olivia Wilde, and their character traits in “Booksmart.”
In Part Two, Feldstein and Wilde reflect on family, being in a long-running sitcom and writing in yearbooks.
 | By PATRICK McDONALD |
