Posted at 7:00 a.m.
In interview with The Pressthe 21-year-old actress, who we saw in particular in The breakaway and Tomorrow of menadmits she struggles to keep a cool head when big names like Stephen King, Reese Witherspoon and Seth Rogen publicly praise the show.
And yet, the main interested party is not a newcomer to the industry. On the phone, she recalls that she has already toured with “Oscar-winning people”, as in 2013 in The Book Thief (The book thief) with Geoffrey Rush, who was crowned best actor in 1996 for shine.
“Before, it had no effect on me, but today, for some reason, I see it in a different way, she confesses. When I learned that Seth Rogen loved Yellowjackets, I was like, “I can’t believe he watched me play!” »
He’s an actor I admire. It warmed my heart to see his tweet. I was in shock! It’s weird…
Sophie Nelisse
When she landed the role of Shauna in Yellowjackets in 2019, Sophie Nélisse on the contrary remained calm, although at her Californian agency, “everyone was tripping”.
“I was sure they were telling me that because it was their job to say that,” says the actress, who had been burned two years earlier, when she found herself a finalist for the Aurore d’Aurore awards.Infoman. She was cited for And at worst we’ll get marriedin a category entitled “Liquid Paper”, that of the role that a performer would benefit from striking off his CV.
“The worst thing is that at the end of the shooting of the film, everyone came to see me to tell me how well I had worked, how remarkable it was, blablabla, she remembers. Since then, I’ve been trying to take some and leave some. The compliments, I stopped believing in them. »
In survival mode
PHOTO KAILEY SCHWERMAN, SUPPLIED BY SHOWTIME
Sophie Nélisse in Yellowjackets
In Yellowjacketsan unclassifiable series from the American network Showtime which finally lands in French on Crave on Sunday, the actress plays Shauna, one of the members of a New Jersey soccer team in survival mode after the crushing, in the middle of nowhere, of the plane that was to take them to the national junior championships.
The story is told on two separate timelines.
On the one hand, we follow their perilous journey through the post-crash forest in the heart of the 1990s; on the other, we explore how some of them try, 25 years after being rescued, to lead a normal existence.
“Shauna is at first glance a reserved girl, but very intelligent, indicates Sophie Nélisse, who is found in brunette in the series. In the hierarchy of the secondary, she knows her role: it is to be the best friend of Jackie, the most popular girl. But after the crash, when they have to survive in the forest and there is no longer any social hierarchy, she begins to assert herself. She finds her way. She begins to put her foot down. »
Skeptical at first
Also starring Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis and Melanie Lynskey (who plays Shauna as an adult), Yellowjackets begins its harvest of selections and accolades. It could soon be crowned best series of the year ahead of Succession, This Is Us, The Good Fight and Squid Game at the Critics’ Choice Television Awards.
By her own admission, during filming last year, Sophie Nélisse did not believe that Yellowjackets can achieve unanimity. Psychological thriller? Horror drama? Fantasy epic? The actress didn’t know what to think of the astonishing mix of genres.
I was very skeptical. It’s in my nature. It was not at all what I expected. Sometimes I’d read the scripts, and I was like, ‘Well, let’s see! I thought it was going in all sorts of directions.
Sophie Nelisse
The filming of Yellowjackets spanned a few months in Vancouver. tomboy assumed, Sophie Nélisse dreaded spending so much time in isolation with other actresses.
PHOTO COLIN BENTLEY, SUPPLIED BY SHOWTIME
Sophie Nelisse
“I generally like to hang out with guys better, because with girls it’s a little more bitchy. In filming, it can become competitive. I know something about it. But on Yellowjackets, it was not like that. I have never learned so much from other girls. Both at the human level and at work. It’s really cliché, but we were really a family. We were together all the time because we had nothing else to do; it was COVID! On weekends, we went on road trips, because Vancouver is such a wonderful place. We still write to each other every day. »
Shooting in Poland
Sophie Nélisse will reunite with her acting partners next summer, since Showtime recently ordered a second season of Yellowjackets. Meanwhile, the 21-year-old actress is set to fly to Eastern Europe in April to shoot in Irena’s Vownext feature film (in English) by Louise Archambault (Gabriella, It was raining birds). In December, the film received financial support from Telefilm Canada.
Adapted from a play by Dan Gordon, this historical drama will paint the portrait of a Polish nurse who managed to save 12 Jews during the Second World War.
The triumph of Yellowjackets should open many doors for Sophie Nélisse in the United States. But the one we discovered in 2011 in Mr. Lazhar, by Philippe Falardeau, prefers to minimize expectations. “It should get me more auditions, but I don’t feel like I’m going to start taking on one role after another. It is something that will be established in the long term. »
The first season of Yellowjackets is available in English on Crave. It will be available in French on Crave and Super Ecran starting Sunday, February 6.