Good One star Lily Collias will break your heart quietly

Early into Good One, Matt (Danny McCarthy) begins complaining to his buddy Chris (James Le Gros). They’re driving to the Catskills for a weekend camping trip and were meant to be joined by their kids before an argument causes Matt’s son to bail. “What’s my son so angry about?” Matt asks, incredulously. Sam, the 17-year-old daughter of Chris, sitting in the backseat, replies, “His parents’ relationship ending?” “Are you eavesdropping on us” he snaps back, shocked that his line of inquiry would result in such a jolting response. Sam just laughs and points out that she is sitting a foot away from him. This fleeting moment in India Donaldson’s directorial debut establishes the dynamic between the generations, something that will be probed, upended, and probed again as they take a long hike through nature.

The 19-year-old Collias is excellent as Sam in her first role. Donaldson’s quiet but affecting family drama establishes Sam as smart and forthright while dealing with the outdated behaviour of her companions, men who frequently talk over her and relegate her to the gendered jobs of cooking and cleaning around the camp. Through a subtle physicality, Collias captures the frustration of a young woman reckoning with the fallibility of the adults in her life, and the impact poor decisions can have on others. The naturalistic style of the movie, from its gentle performances to its quiet stakes, helps Collias to enact the complex emotions of a young girl seeing the adults in her life through a different, uglier lens.

Collias, 19, says she was drawn to the role after meeting Donaldson and bonding over a shared interest in films written from a female perspective (prior to landing the part she attended LA’s Lee Strasberg Institute and had a small role in last year’s Palm Trees and Powerlines). Good One is already proving to be one of the most critically acclaimed movies of 2024 and, after it gained buzz at Sundance this year, Collias got her first agent and recently booked a part in Altar, an upcoming A24 horror starring Kyle MacLachlan. She spoke to The FADER about her work on Good One, as well as her plans for the future and why watching the movie with her father proved so emotional.

What first stood out to you when you read the Good One script?

I had met up with India for coffee and we just talked about film and art we loved. She talked about 35 Shots of Rum and The Loneliest Planet. I was already so excited to read her script because I already knew that I loved her taste. I was just so intrigued by the little nuances and how subtle I could already tell the film was and just thinking in my brain of how I wanted to go about it in a way that felt super authentic but that allowed me to portray something really big.

Silence and moments of quiet play a big part in the movie. How do you show what’s going through Sam’s head in those scenes when there isn’t much or any dialogue for you?

That’s something I noticed really early on. There’s so many pages of Matt and Chris talking about pretty much nothing and Sam’s just kind of in the background. India had emphasized to me the fact that regardless of what was going on the focus was on Sam’s perspective. I just wanted to keep it as authentic as possible and make sure we see her in moments where she’s listening, even when they don’t think she is, and finding that balance. I think what’s so interesting about it being in nature and away from an environment they’re all comfortable in is that it really makes everyone have to listen to each other and talk more.

Yeah, everyone opens up and airs things they probably wouldn’t have around the dinner table.

Absolutely. For Sam she sees these significant moments where she comes to understand that these men aren’t superheroes and that they’re actually very flawed. It’s not about her falling out of love with them, but her perception is altered. It’s such a specific thing between a daughter and a dad that I think is so intimate for people. I have had the most shy, sweet, teenage girls come up to me after seeing the film and they’d come up with their dad and it would make me feel so good that they’re both understanding that there is a message here. Older women have come up to me, too, and told me they feel very seen.

Have you had a chance to watch it with your own father?

The first time my dad watched it was when it premiered at Sundance and we sat next to each other. I love him dearly but of course we have our faults and we both have very big personalities. So we clash. But it was really interesting to kind of see what he had learned from it as well. There is a scene where I’m crying and I saw him get emotional. He was just like, ‘I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing you cry even if it’s for a camera.’

What do you think you will take from Good One and use as you progress in your career?

I’ve learned so much. I feel like I have started to understand how the acting world actually works, which is something that they don’t teach you at school. In terms of actually acting, I’ve really learned how to become one with the camera, or at least have a mutual respect for each other. Because I don’t ever want to pretend that it’s not there, because that feels inauthentic. I was really able to let myself feel comfortable with it [the camera] really in my face.

What are you looking for in acting roles? What kind of movies do you want to be making and starring in?

I’m just so excited to work with tasteful, passionate people who really want to tell their story and tell it truthfully.

Do you have a bucket list of directors you dream of working with?

Paul Thomas Anderson is someone who really introduced me to a whole other level of films. He was the first director that when I watched one of his films I immediately had to go and watch everything he had done. Other than that, there’s other cool emerging artists I like. I’m super interested in seeing what Charlotte Wells is doing next.