Olivia Cooke Central STAFF   September 12, 2016

Olivia Cooke Central STAFF   September 11, 2016

Chris Lowell, Olivia Cooke and director Wayne Roberts from the film ‘Katie Says Goodbye‘ posed for a portrait during the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival at the Intercontinental Hotel on September 10, 2016 in Toronto. I’ve added 4 HQ photos to the gallery! Enjoy

Olivia Cooke Central STAFF   September 11, 2016

Hi! Olivia attended the premiere of The Limehouse Golem at the Toronto International Film Festival yesterday with her co-stars Douglas Booth and Bill Nighy. I have added 6 HQ photos to the gallery

Olivia Cooke Central STAFF   September 11, 2016

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY – What’s it like to audition for one of Hollywood’s preeminent filmmakers? Olivia Cooke found out first hand, after going through the process to star in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One.

“I auditioned in New York for the casting director, then was flown over to L.A. to read with Spielberg, and mix and match with a bunch of boys over two days there. Then I was flown [back] to New York,” Cooke said at the PEOPLE / EW / InStyle Portrait Studio during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, where she was promoting the films Katie Says Goodbye and The Limehouse Golem.

The actress, who broke out in last year’s Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, said the audition was covered in a “veil of secrecy.” She was later given the script to read at the casting director’s office. “She said, ‘It’s looking good for you, that’s the reason why I wanted you to read the script. Do you like it?’ I’m like, ‘Of course I do!’”

Cooke found out she scored the role three days later, she said, while doing laundry. “I’m just like, ‘What is my life?’ It’s bizarre.”

Due out on March 30, 2018, Ready Player One tells the futuristic story of a virtual universe created in a world crumbling because of economic and environmental trauma. Cooke stars alongside Tye Sheridan, Mark Rylance, T.J. Miller, Ben Mendelsohn, and Simon Pegg, among others. It’s set to be Spielberg’s next film, following this year’s The BFG.

“I think what I’ve learned with Ready Player One is patience and being durable and being prepared for anything,” Cooke said. “Because when you’ve got a tiny, tiny movie, your schedule is set. That you have to make these scenes on that day, we can’t go over. There’s no money to go over. On this big studio movie, there could be five units going on at once.”

Watch the full interview with Cooke above.

Olivia Cooke Central STAFF   September 11, 2016

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – The ‘Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl’ breakout actress is in Toronto with a drama from director Wayne Roberts.

Olivia Cooke is no stranger to the film festival stage.

The actress’ feature film breakout performance came in the Sundance standout Me, Earl and the Dying Girl, in which she played the eponymous “dying girl,” Rachel. Now, she returns to the festivals with Katie Says Goodbye, playing the titular Katie.

Wayne Roberts’ directorial debut takes places in a desert community, where a young woman dreams of fleeing for San Francisco., earning money for her move through waitressing at a truck stop diner and sex work. Christopher Abbott, Mary Steenburgen and Jim Belushi also star as characters that populate Katie’s small town, who both help and hinder her planned escape.

Ahead of Katie Says Goodbye’s world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Cooke spoke to The Hollywood Reporter from England, where she is currently filming Steven Spielberg’s upcoming adaptation of Ready Player One, her first big forray into the world of tentpole filmmaking.

The actress talks to THR about misconceptions about female roles, filming in the desert, her love of indie filmmaking and Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge.

What drew you to Katie as a character?

I loved how hopeful and honest and pure she was even though she comes from a life of great hardship. She comes from a town where you are born there, then you die there. Despite all of these terrible things that happen to her, she remains so hell-bent on being hopeful and positive. It was something I was drawn to because I think I am such an eternal pessimist. [Laughs] I wanted to make her as fleshed out as I could because I think the challenge was that in someone who is hopeful is bringing layers to a person that can be one-dimensional.

How did Katie stand-out in comparison to the other parts that you are given to read?

I think sometimes Hollywood’s perception of a strong, female character is someone with a glossy mane, and she does high-kicks and can fight like a man and is really witty and sarcastic. And those are really fun to play when you get the chance, but there is something so strong innately about Katie that can be conveyed just with a look. She just wants to get out of her small town and start a career, and how she got the resolve to do so is left up for the audience to decide.

Did you have an apprehension starring in a film that portrays sex work onscreen?

Of course. I was really worried that it would be portrayed as passive. As soon as a woman engages in sex — which has completely changed now with amazing female filmmakers and creatives who are re-defining a “modern woman” — but within this small town setting, as soon as you are open about sex or engage in sex that isn’t monogamous, you are then condemned. When you have something like this in a film, it is always going to upset people, but it’s integral to the story.

With Katie Says Goodbye the sex work feels like it is portrayed in a very empathetic way.

I think sometimes when you see sex on film the character is portrayed as someone who has loose morals, which Katie doesn’t. She has never learned shame from sex because she has seen her mother have many different boyfriends. So sex has never been a taboo subject, it has always been more of a transaction. I think she sees it — and it may be naive but I think it’s very pure — as she is making the men happy and she is getting companionship and is being able to find her dream, moving to San Francisco.

How was the on-set experience with director Wayne Roberts?

It was the best collaboration of my entire career. He completely trusted me and I, in turn, completely trusted him. It was a marriage with a push and pull and sometimes we were completely in sink. It was super low budget and it was a shit hole where we were filming. The entire cast and makeup, hair and wardrobe were sharing one tiny trailer and had one bathroom between us all, but we were all so infatuated with Wayne and what we were making that it was just such a happy time. It was like a little commune.

How is the transition from a set like that into a larger film like Ready Player One?

It’s very different. You are just mind blown by what is created and the sets that you are on. Everything is so large. I had been spoiled with what I had done in the indie world because it has usually been just me and the director for a lot of the films. Now this is a huge cast and it’s a lot of waiting around. I am used to doing a two month shoot where every day I am completely living in it, but with this there is a lot of jumping in and out so it has definitely taught me how to endure and to focus. You switch off easy when you do a massive film, like you just go in your trailer and start watching [I’m] Alan Partridge or something.

It is completely more nerve-wracking, as well, doing a massive-budgeted movie. You are working with these massive actors that you have only seen in the movies and you only want to see in movies because you can be such an idiot when you meet them in real life.

When you are taking Katie Says Goodbye through the film festival circuit, starting with TIFF, what are you hoping these audiences take away from the movie?

I just hope that everyone hooks into the story and the performances. So much of our culture these days is about what explosion and laser beam performances can we watch next, and this movie is so grounded and small. So, I just hope people get back to basics and see relationships unfold onscreen again. I hope audiences can shed that visual stimulation with these huge blockbusters and relax into this world that is very small.