Nancy Meyers Week
Its Nancy Meyers Weekat Vulture.
Because itsThe Holidayseason, andIts Complicated.Somethings Gotta Give.
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This interview originally ran in December 2019.
Rachel Handler will begin her screening ofThe Holidayon December 18 at 7 p.m.
The premise ofThe Holidayis both extremely simple and blisteringly complicated.
The kids are obsessed with Amanda You look like my Barbie and are thusly determined to impress her.
During a hot-chocolate break, Sophie and Olivia demand that Graham do Mr. Napkin Head.
Graham, humiliated, eventually agrees to put a napkin over his face and pretend to smoke a spoon.
A post shared by Punk Princess (@miffz_)
Howd you first hear about the role?
Id only been with the agency I was with for about a year at the time.
Id done a little advert, and we got this email about this audition.
Obviously in the early audition process they dont really specify too much about what the film is.
I dont think it listed a director or anything like that.
It was just, Feature film, looking for a girl.
There were so many girls in these auditions.
I think there were about 2,500.
We didnt have much.
We were still getting out of a lot of the issues of homelessness, things like debts and such.
So all Id ever known was living in poverty.
Wed never experienced anything of the sort.
It was very crazy.
So they had to sort of whittle it down and they did auditions all around the country.
But when we found that we got the job, it all happened very quickly.
There was a lot of paperwork to sort out.
It was only a few months after that, that we were flown out to America for wardrobe fittings.
Did Jude or Cameron or Nancy come to the auditions?
Obviously at that time I had no idea who she was, I was 6.
For the last audition, she was there and she was so incredibly hands-on with everything.
Just amazing, just fantastic.
She was always like that, very hands-on and lovely.
What do you remember about your first day on set?The film was filmed back to front.
Where everyone is awkwardly dancing.[Laughs.
]Yes, thats the one scene in the film that all of the main characters are together.
But it was crazy.
My dad was really good at showing me their work and more underground things that theyd done.
He wanted me to realize they were humans and not just these actors.
So I walked onto set and he just stood there.
It was such a nice first day because we were all dressed up.
It was the loveliest first day Ive ever had on set.
How did Jude and Cameron and Kate and Jack treat you guys?
Were they parental towards you?Honestly, they were incredible.
They had all the time for us in the world.
Jude used to pop his head round the door when we were doing our schooling and things like that.
He used to sit and chat with my dad.
We did act like a family a little bit, and I think that shows in our relationship onscreen.
We were all so close and that wasnt just for when the cameras were rolling.
We were always just chatting, making jokes, and having a really good time.
I dont know how they put up with us, to be honest.
What was Nancy like as a director?
What sort of tips and direction did she give you?Nancys very, very clear.
Her brains fantastic, honestly.
The way that her mind works.
It was just complete improv she wanted it to come across as natural as it could be.
The direction she mostly gave us was, What would you do in this situation?
When youre working with kids as young as me and Emma were things change.
Youll fall off your chair its so funny.
That was completely improv, that was a onetime thing I said.
Hes held that against me for 14 years now, which is great, wonderful.
Wed sit in there and annoy her.
She was so down-to-earth, and so bubbly and fantastic, and intelligent and great.
She always had something to say to us.
She never seemed annoyed with us.
So we never really saw her like that.
We always just sort of saw her as, Oh, its Cammie.
I think we used to call her Cammie quite a lot.
But the tent scene was so special.
It was all very hands-on for us.
It kept us very interested.
What do you remember about filming the Mr. Napkin Head scene?
Awful, absolutely awful.
To this day?Oh yes.
My partner at the moment finds any excuse.
Like hes introducing me, hell be like, Oh, this is my girlfriend, her names Miffy.
She was inThe Holiday.
Just all the time.
All the time, its awful.
So I know that scene has always stuck with people, which is insane to me.
Because at the time, we just thought itd be some cute little throwaway.
They werent going to trust young kids with mugs of liquid while theyre running around.
Quite a lot of the little moments in that scene were just seeing how we acted together onscreen.
We just did whatever came naturally, and I think thats probably the loveliest part behind it.
Did you observe anything fun about the on-set dynamics between the main cast?
And we got to hear about scenes we werent in.
What was your relationship like with your onscreen sister?Me and Emma got on really, really well.
When was the last time you spoke to her?We didnt really speak after the film.
I think her family life took a little bit of a different turn.
We both just took very different paths and we never really spoke after that.
I just hope shes doing really, really well.
I cant find her anywhere.
What was it like to wrap the film?
Were you emotional?Everyone was on set for the last day, for the wrap day.
And we had to fly back to England so we couldnt go to the wrap party.
So we were not doing okay that day.
Wed made all these lovely friends that we werent really going to see ever again.
Its just the most thoughtful thing in the world.
It really shows what kind of people they are off-camera.
Ive still got the jacket as well.
I think my dad especially had a good night.
He made the most out of the free Champagne.
]Fantastic night for him.
We had this white carpet down Leicester Square, and it was fantastic.
I would love to talk to them, especially Jude.
Id love to have a chat with him and see whats going on.
I know a few years ago that he mentioned that he would like to know what were doing.
But apart from that, Ive never really spoken to the cast.
I did speak to Nancy Meyers though, for quite a few years after the film.
Whatd you speak about?Ive actually spoken to her on Instagram about two, three weeks ago.
Obviously as Ive grown up, things changed for me, and Nancys obviously an incredibly busy lady.
God knows why she even replied!
But yes, I reached out to her.
And it was only a couple of weeks ago.
Shes always been so involved in everything that I did.
Shes a lovely lady.
What is it like for you to have people approach you to this day about this movie?
Or is it fun for you?Oh, I love it.
Sometimes its quite young people that are like, Oh, are you that girl from that film?
That can get slightly annoying, because Ive stated it quite a few times, yes.
But Ive also met just the loveliest people that have said that they follow me because of the film.
I met a lady through Instagram who based her wedding aroundThe Holiday.Insane.
I love still being able to talk about it.
How do you think you inspire people?Its very common for young actors to come from wealthy backgrounds.
At the time, my dad wanted to keep my background hush-hush, the poverty that we lived in.
Ive come from a pretty rough place.
The fact that I did a film affected me quite a lot with bullying growing up.
So getting involved in the punk scene was just incredible.
People dont care about where youre from or what youre doing.
There was no rules.
It was just Do you, be happy, and forget what anyone else thinks.
So your relationship to the movie wasnt always positive?I used to hate it.
During that stage, I couldnt watch it, would have a go at anyone who brought it up.
I was a weird-looking, slightly cute kid.
But my dad is a single parent, hes got another two kids, my brother and sister.
It was causing a lot of arguments and fights.
What are you up to right now?I do a lot of music stuff, at the moment.
I play a lot of gigs.
My partners in a band as well, that gets to tour around America and things like that.
So I get to go to a lot of his shows.
