Wildflower Star Kiernan Shipka On Its A-List Cast, Adult Sabrina, And Changing Christmas Movies With Red One – Exclusive Interview

You were great in “Wildflower.” I also love your work as Sabrina and have to give a shout-out to “The Blackcoat’s Daughter,” which is great.

Oh, let’s go, my fave. I love “The Blackcoat’s Daughter”!

In “Wildflower,” Bea goes through such an evolution in her perceptions of her parents’ disabilities. Tell me about her journey and what connected you to the project.

I loved her arc a lot. I loved that at the beginning of the film she was hardened and resigned to a life that she told herself she was going to live, and by the end, we see someone who is very brave and fearless and has decided to chase a dream. That journey, and everything she had to do and experience to get there, plus a very life-altering thing, was very compelling to me.

I love seeing someone become more fearless and doubt themselves less. That’s something that I’m trying to do, something that I think everyone is, or a lot of people are trying to do in variations throughout their life — overcome a sense of self-doubt. That’s what I loved about her. I loved that she was equal parts responsible, mature, and wise beyond her years, and in other arenas, entirely her age. I thought that was really interesting, so I loved her and I love the story.

What was it like to star alongside such a stacked cast of legitimate TV comedy legends, like Brad Garrett and Jean Smart?

That’s final-level pro-ness. Those actors are so incredible and amazing. When I talk about it, I’m [still] like, “Oh my God, they did the movie.” It’s amazing. It was a really small movie, a small shoot, and everyone showed up and had so much to give, and it was amazing to watch. It was amazing to watch Jean and Jacki [Weaver] go at it, and you could tell that everyone was a part of this because we all loved the project and the script was so beautiful. 

These incredible actors show up, like Jean Smart, or Jacki, or Alex Daddario, everyone ready to play. Everyone knew there wasn’t much time, so they jumped right into it, did what they do best, and found so much humanity and life in these characters. That’s the heartbeat of the film; it’s incredible. We got so lucky with the people that wanted to be a part of it.

I was in a coma, sitting there, looking around, thinking, “This feels like a family. This feels baked in [on] day one of everyone being around each other,” or day two, or whatever it was.