Hollywood Stargirl is a special kind of sequel. While it continues the Disney+ film from 2020, which was only known as Stargirl, it takes a very different direction. In a world where adaptations tend to follow the books closely, director Julia Hart wanted to take the character in a very different direction. Instead of sticking to the small town of Arizona, Stargirl Caraway is heading to Hollywood.
In an exclusive interview with Stargirl herself, Grace VanderWaal, I got the chance to ask her about taking on the leading role from Graham Verchere, who played Leo Borlock in the first film. She shared about what it was like taking on that responsibility and also prepared herself for taking on the bigger role going in.
It was a lot of pressure because the first movie has a lot to do with Leo. The movie is called Stargirl but I feel like I wasn’t the main character. So, just personally, like professionally, I was preparing myself for that amount of work and being in every scene and all that. Just taking on that responsibility. But it was so fun, it didn’t feel like hard work.
Grace VanderWall
She also shared about what it was like finding out that they wouldn’t be following the books but rather taking a different direction. she also highlighted that to her it was “the right thing to do.”
All I know is that I wasn’t really surprised when I was told what it was going to be different from the books. I don’t know what I expected but It felt right, it felt like the right move when I heard about it. I don’t know why, but that makes like perfect sense, that was the right thing to do.
Grace VanderWall
It definitely takes the story in an interesting new direction and offers something unique to those that followed Stargirl’s story in Jerry Spinelli‘s novel, Love, Stargirl. VanderWaal is joined by a new cast consisting of Elijah Richardson, Judy Greer, Tyrel Jackson Williams, Uma Thurman, Judd Hirsch, and more. The film will release on June 3rd on Disney+.
