Interview with Mckenna Grace on Her Recent Singles and Film Career

awesome so hi my name is Eve Pierpont and I'm a writer and editor for mixed Down's music feature section I'm here today with the incredibly talented actor musician Mckenna Grace hi McKenna hello okay so with acting you are portraying someone else's story but with music you are portraying your own how does that feel what kind of experiences do you draw from when writing lyrics uh it's it's it's scary and fun uh it's very therapeutic but it's interesting to put my little stories in part myself out there versus these parts of other people's stories because it's so beautiful to be able to tell someone else's story but it's kind of crazy like putting my own out definitely I'm sure uh so haunted house was not originally written for Ghostbusters afterlife correct but it was used for the uh closing credits were you expecting that song to be incorporated into the movie at all oh no I had written it like a year before the film came out and uh I just I wrote it based off of some events that had happened in my life uh and you know it's fun because it sounds like a breakup song but it's it's it's not like a romantic breakup actually for me that it was so so it's nice to be able to write something that can be interpreted so many different ways uh and it was weird because it ended up working perfectly with Ghostbusters right with the plot and everything I was like well Jason would you like to direct this music video Jason Reitman our director of Ghostbusters like do you want to direct my music video he's like oh I'm like insanely busy I would love to but like I can't I was like oh that's all good you know you're Jason Raymond thank you for listening to my song uh and then he comes back and he's like this is really cool can I put it maybe you know if you're fine with it can I put it in the in credits of the film and I was like yeah you know I think maybe I'd be fine with it it's like right yeah I guess yeah totally that's awesome yeah it definitely worked well uh so sometimes we forget that even with a remarkable career like yours people in the public eye go through the same things the general public does what do you have to say to your fans who relate to do all my friends hate me um all your friends probably don't hate you it's just you know we all have that insecurity I I feel like well is it normal I don't know I think it's pretty normal but um I don't know you're loved you're loved I'm sorry that you feel that way and it's it's a really really crappy feeling and I hate feeling it but um I hope that maybe my song helps you a little bit I hope that you have some I don't know to get have a little ounce of hope that you make it out the other side that's awesome yes great advice um can you give me an insight into the story behind post party trauma and when the breaking point came that song kind of portrays ah well you know I the funny thing is um I'm gonna tell you a little secret is that I've never like actually been to a party party I've never been invited to like a like a high school party or a house party or anything like that for me it's more of just going to events or acting or music things and I had gone to um a bunch of those in one week I went to about like three of them which which is crazy for me I'm like whoa the goodness McKenna's party life is kind of going up and so I was just really nervous because usually I'm I'm one of the younger people there and uh you know there's just all of these crazy cool like beautiful people all these like musicians and actors and I'm like oh my God I just like don't belong here uh I don't know why I'm in a room full of super cool people because I just like I'm not that I'm just not that and and and so I just got super freaked out and I cried like every night and I was like I just don't know what I'm doing I don't belong here I just felt like the biggest loser ever and so I was like well you know I'm gonna write a song about it because songwriting is my therapy so I just I figured you know I feel like a lot of people could relate with that a lot of people could relate to that um so I decided to write a song about it definitely yes it's a great song and you're definitely not a loser I I you know thank you you're welcome so do you write all your music yourself or do you work with songwriters and producers and if so who have you collaborated with um I write all my music myself but like with other people because I find that it's um that I write a lot by myself but it's nice to have someone else there to tell you that idea is like or that idea is really good or maybe we could add this in here and so it's just a really nice um collaborative process uh but post party trauma was oh my gosh it's so bad because I don't know their last names but I I was working with um Lowell that's that's like what she goes by is Lowell Elizabeth Boland uh she's such a talented writer uh and then karag I don't what's his last name I don't even know but I work with both of them like 24 7 and then there's also another wonderful writer Rachel canner and Cody Tarpley that I work with a lot for like all my friends hate me uh and um and haunted that no I'm not haunted house I would all my friends hate me you were in Nirvana and I worked with Lowell and herog a lot and then um Lily Kincaid is a beautiful writer and she also is a wonderful musical Music musician she has a Spotify thing so people should listen to Lily Kincaid and Nathaniel Mott I'm trying to like wrap my brain for all the people that I've worked with so far that I've released music with because they're just all so talented but those are like my main people who I love so much oh that's awesome and then speaking of your Nirvana um have you always been a Nirvana fan yeah I'm a really really big music person I think that music is just such a big part of my life and uh just every part of it even with acting you know I always listen to music to get into character and so I just listened to a ton of different types of music but Nirvana is always um I had a little a little place in my heart because my dad um just the other night I'm working on a film right now and just the other night I was riding home um with the director and the producer of our film and we all started talking about Nirvana and then we turned on um I don't even know what it's called it's like in the Pines or something and I think that that's them covering that song I have no clue but I just know that song and I I started like getting teary because my dad used to like play that on the guitar for me whenever I was little so it's just special to me I don't know my dad would always play Nirvana on the guitar so sometimes I hear little songs like oh [Music] but yeah I'm a big Nirvana fan awesome yeah so am I uh what's your favorite song by Nirvana I don't know you know like like as a little In the Pines thing it like held a little special place in my heart um I think I really like right now all apologies um hmm All Apologies is really good I really like um I'm having to wrap my brain because I'm having total brain farts right now because I've been like on a total different side of music recently I've been listening to like a lot of TV girl and um like big thief and so I'm on like a total different um place I really like all apologies um Heart-Shaped Box is a classic uh you know I've gotta reference it um and I'll put um and then the Pines that holds a little special place in my heart I don't know why I'm like having a total brain fart thinking of any song names right now I'm like whoa I'm like such a I feel like such a poster I'm like I listen to Nirvana all the time but I can't think of like any of my favorite songs I'm just like where am I do not worry it happens to all of us what's going on uh so a sequel was announced for Ghostbusters afterlife what Adventures will Phoebe and her friends take on next I have no clue I'm caught I'm like constantly drilling Mr Jason I'm like so what am I gonna get a script you know when I I haven't gotten a script yet I have no like inkling to the story all I know is I'm trying to beg Mr Jason not to make me cut my hair up to here again I'm like please look it's got ten so long thanks Mr Jackson but I genuinely have no clue like it's not even one of those little actor things but it's like oh my God I can't tell you it's just such a little secret but it's like no no idea I wish I knew hopefully I'm like I'm constantly messaging him so hopefully I'll know soon because hopefully so as someone working in Hollywood for the past 10 years how does it feel to work side by side with titans of the industry like cignery Weaver Bill Murray and Chris Evans what have you learned from them um it's it's really crazy because it's it's it's like I said I I feel like the biggest like loser and I'm like not a cool person so I'm like standing next to these people and I'm like how am I like how am I here in this room right now like how did I end up here it's just I don't know I have such a passion for what I do and I really really love acting and music and so it's just so weird to be able to stand next to these incredible icons that I've been watching or listening to for my entire life uh it's it's so strange especially to just have a conversation with these people and be like hey I don't know if you know but you know I've only been on this world for like 16 years but I have literally been watching you every year of those like it's just so weird um but just being able to watch them act and interact with their actors or or just do anything is such a learning process because I'm just standing there like watching and I'm like whoa they're so cool look at them act how quickly they get into character look at that joker and improv that they just did that's just so natural and it's really cool to watch people be in their natural element like that oh I'm sure it's very surreal um so you have a filmography that Rivals a lot of other actors even at the age of 16. like having your childhood take place on film and television sets where there are things you appreciate about it things you didn't yeah absolutely I mean there's like a give and take with everything uh I I personally I I always wanted to do acting and my parents I'm lucky to be one of the child actors that like really chose this path um and my parents are always saying you know like every other week it's like you know if you don't want to be doing this you don't have to we can just stop you can take a break and like I'm not having this conversation I'm fine I don't want to stop I love being here this is like everything I've ever wanted and honestly I feel bad I feel like my mom always comes with me to um every set of like oh geez she needs a break because I just I love to go go go constantly and then and then I burn out and then I take like a week or two and then I'm like okay when are we doing the next thing you know I just I love to constantly be going um but I think it's uh a beautiful and a weird thing uh for me it's it's strange you know I post things or I put out tick tocks and people are like I swear you were just nine and I'm like I haven't been nine for like seven seven years you know I haven't been nine since I was nine uh it's been a long time so it's weird because I feel like people don't entirely have a concept of time whenever uh a lot of the stuff that I've done has been whenever I was so young and then with covid there was a long break and now I'm a teenager it's like whoa when did this happen and I'm I'm also like whoa when did this happen so it's um it's been interesting I really love it and as I've gotten older I've gotten a lot more of an appreciation for acting and the beauty of film and storytelling and I I really want to move into directing and producing and writing and all sorts of things so it's it's it's been crazy it's been beautiful it's been nice I love it and there's just so many firsts firsts that I've had that have been captured on camera you know it's it's strange to be able to say like that was the first time I ever did that and now it's in a film so that's just weird and cool I don't know that's awesome I'm so glad to hear that you kind of have that support behind you um so your film credits go all the way back to 2013 with the film Goodbye World what's it like to remember that time and think about where your career is taking you now was a music career always the plan do you feel like acting will overtake a back seat to music in the future I overcovered I really I've really got into music because acting it all kind of slowed down for a while for everybody um I had been in the middle of shooting handmaid's tale and then all of a sudden the world shut down and I didn't do anything for eight months which was crazy because like I said I usually like to go go go go go go and constantly be doing something so I was just like what do I do with myself what do I do with myself so I started learning more instruments I always have a ukulele on me I love like playing music but no I never thought that I would be a musician I never thought that I'd really release music but now that I'm doing it it seems like it's always been a part of my life even though it hasn't uh it's it's really cool and special and I love getting to release music um but no I I never really thought that I would and I I over overkilled it I really did start thinking like wow I love this like what if what if I do kind of want to just become a musician like I just I I Adore this and then I finally got back onto set and I was like oh well this is why I love acting you know like it was every day I was doing music and I was like wow I honestly am like this might be my main thing but then I was like oh yeah this is why this is why I act like I love being here so much there's nothing I love more than being on a set but I I would always I would love to always continue to make music awesome yeah your voice is so great so thank you for coming out with the songs that you did uh so were there greater challenges to your role in The Bad Seed returns compared to other roles what makes this movie special um what was really special because my dad and I wrote the script um and I got to produce it and I've been producing projects for a long time but this is the first one that I've produced that has actually come out so far uh so that's really special but yeah that was really cool to be able to be um on the other side of things as a producer and as a writer uh and it was really cool to get my first like taste of that and to be able to be like well I want to be doing this a lot more this is so cool uh bye it's challenging to come back to that character after like four years and to try to get back into it but um you know it was it was special and it was cool and I'm really glad that I got to have that experience great good uh so what was your approach to the material in the handmaid's tale given the timing of its airing would it have been different if reality wasn't imitating art what's your what do you think is our fascination with the dystopian genre and fiction um well I I think that approaching handmaid's tale I had never seen it before uh and you know I joined the show and 2020 I think early 2020 before covet happened and a lot of stuff has happened since then and so it's just it's crazy uh to watch the show become ever so increasing relevant which is scary and crazy but I'm honored to be a part of something like it yes definitely uh how has your craft changed when it comes to television in the streaming era clearly the show you're on is a success in that realm but has the way you prepared or approached acting been affected by this new TV landscape I you know it's I think I mean I think that everything really um I don't know I'd have to think back because thinking about it I I don't really know I think that there's been a lot of things that have changed in acting especially with the streaming era but I find that that's been most of um when I've been a part of acting that that at least I can really remember and really think about uh because you know I've been doing this since I was so young so there's a lot of parts that I'm like oh I remember shooting on that but not necessarily the world or the behind the scenes or really truly understanding um the film World which now I do but uh yeah yeah it's it's definitely strange to watch and to um see just how influential um I find more that social media is really straight have been strange to watch for me how influential it has become over um television and film it's definitely crazy but uh I don't know preparing for a film I haven't really changed much I think that I'm just kind of growing as a person and as an actor and um hopefully growing more into becoming a better actor as I as I get older uh but I don't know not not that I can distinctly think of I mean everything kind of changed after stranger things but um besides that no I I've seen differences but it hasn't really changed how I've tried to perform definitely I would agree that social media it is crazy how it plays a role in like just the acting TV movie world uh do you prefer movies in their set piece of work for uh formulation or do you prefer the extra time and space that an episodic show allows for in terms of bringing a character to light well over the summer was my first time doing uh like an episodic thing that tooks I I was shooting from late April to about three weeks ago and um that was that was the longest project I'd done in a while and it was really cool to be able to think about how I was acting on the first episode and then how much of an arc and growth that I had not only as a character but as a person because I was looking back and I was like whoa I've learned so much from my co-stars and about acting since I've been here and I wish that I could go back and redo the stuff that I did in episode one um well I came in like halfway through the season but like episode five or something like that versus nine I wish that I could go back and redo it but I think it'll be interesting to see just how um much of a story or Arc that I had um it's it's definitely two very different worlds and I've been doing film mainly um for a while now and so I am definitely open to doing more uh stuff like that it was it was really beautiful to be able to see and be a part of but I don't know if I prefer one over the other I just really love doing stories that I care about honestly that's that's always been my thing is that's why I think that the streaming process or social media hasn't really impacted the way I prepare for a role because I I don't I've never really done this for for money or something that I would hope would be like massive I just really love doing stories that I that I like or stories that matter you know that's awesome uh so some actors don't enjoy watching themselves on screen would you say you feel similarly [Music] depends I really like to watch what I do I I always watch it at least once I always at least once at like the premiere or whenever it first comes out uh sometimes sometimes for like press tours or if you have multiple premieres then you end up watching that film like 15 times and then you're like oh my God I'm so sick of watching my performance like please I can't watch this anymore and then you start nitpicking it so I think that it's nice to watch it at least once just to see what I did but there's like a few things that I was really excited to see like I was super excited to see Ghostbusters and handmaid's tale and I'm so excited to see what I shot over the summer because I feel like I learned so much and also I'm like oh my God that story was so crazy I need to watch this so there are things that I get super excited to see then there are others where I'm like oh God I feel like I did not do well in that I don't want to watch it but then you know I usually always watch everything at least once yeah I feel like you have to um so what shows are you enjoying the most right now hmm I haven't had much of a time to um watch a lot of TV or film lately uh but oh What shows have I been watching I mean everybody's watching stranger things right now I feel like I don't even need to say that I was watching the newest season um but I really really enjoyed yellow jackets and Severance I thought that those shows were so good like I just loved them uh I I watched White Lotus with my mom and thought that it was really sick and then I got to work with Jake Lacy over the summer and I was losing my mind because he's so cool uh but I feel like lately I haven't I I've been so so busy that I haven't had a lot of time to watch TV or film so I just watch a i i watch um like YouTube at the end of the day whenever I come home I just watch like a Mindless YouTube video just to like be like okay I'm detoxing from like the long work day and now I'm chilling and now I'm gonna go to bed or I write I've been writing a lot of scripts so there's just like I watch I'll watch like YouTube or cooking show at the end of the night just to kind of like detox and chill out yeah those are definitely good choices for like relaxing all right well thank you so much for doing this interview it has been a pleasure and I hope you have a great rest of your day and good luck with everything of course pleasure

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Length: 24min 22sec (1462 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 21 2022