Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret Director Kelly Fremon Craig On Why She Loves Making Coming-Of-Age Stories – Exclusive Image
empireonline.com
3 min read
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret Director Kelly Fremon Craig On Why She Loves Making Coming-Of-Age Stories – Exclusive Image
There’s a big wide world of cinema out there, but if you’re putting together a big list of the best, most magical, most reliably leave-you-in-a-puddle-of-tears moving, the coming-of-age movie has to be in the mix. Lady Bird. The Breakfast Club. Moonlight. We’re welling up here.
When it comes to coming-of-age movies, director Kelly Fremon Craig is one of the best. With the incredibly charming The Edge Of Seventeen already under her belt, Fremon Craig’s next project is the Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates-powered adaptation of Judy Blume’s classic novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. In the new issue of Empire, she writes exclusively about her own adolescence, cinematic inspirations, why coming-of-age stories mean so much to her, and how Blume’s books – and this one in particular – shot straight into her 11-year-old brain. Read a short extract of the piece below:
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When I was preparing to make this film, I went back and read my diaries from the 6th grade. Like Margaret, I was a distraught late bloomer. Margaret prays – begs, even – for God to make her chest grow. I did all that, plus some. My mom – into New Age visualisation at the time – told me if I wanted something, I needed to picture it in my mind and affirm it as so. I laid in bed every night for months trying to positive-think my way into a B-cup. Over and over again, I envisioned perfect breasts sprouting from my flat chest like in time-lapse photography.
Fraught friendships were also a hot topic in my diaries. There was always a girl or two in my orbit whose approval I was desperately seeking and could never quite get. These girls were never outright mean, but they had a special way of making me feel bad about myself. It was subtle, artful even: a sideways look, a pause, something slightly off in their inflection. Margaret’s friend Nancy (played by Elle Graham) so skilfully delivers this kind of subliminal negging, any girl who’s lived through adolescence will immediately know it and recall the Nancys in their own lives.
Maybe the reason I’m so drawn to these stories is because some part of me is still trying to work out my own feelings from that time in my life. I’ve made two coming-of-age films back-to-back now, so people are starting to ask me what the deal is. I have to confess, it’s unnerving how easily I am able to relate to adolescent girls, how the minute I close my eyes and remember being that age, the emotions come back to me so vividly I could curl into a ball. Have I made these two films as some kind of extended form of therapy? Embarrassing as it is to admit, it’s possible. But I think there’s also something else at play for me. Films like this haven’t been made a ton. Growing up, they seemed so few and far between. Like Judy Blume’s books, I think they would’ve helped. On some level I am hoping, like her, I can help.
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To read Kelly Fremon Craig’s exclusive piece in full, get hold of the new issue of Empire – on sale Thursday 13 April. Become an Empire member now to access the digital issue in full, or order a print copy online here. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret comes to UK cinemas from 26 May.
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