Elsie Fisher and Emily Robinson (right) in Eighth Grade.

Social Media Editor Zack Abrams recently sat down for a conversation with Emily Robinson, CC ’21, who recently starred in the A24 film Eighth Grade. Her current film out is Private Life. Read on to find out what it’s like working with literal middle schoolers and whether or not Bo Burnham ever helped her grab something from a high shelf. 

Name/Year/Hometown/Major?

Emily Robinson, Sophomore in CC, Hopefully Creative Writing, and New York City

Why creative writing?

I love stories, I’ve always loved reading, and I just wanted to take college as a chance to allow myself to explore different forms of writing.

How did you get into acting?

When I was younger we had a neighbor who was a model and she had two kids and she was taking their pictures at her modeling agency and said “Oh, Emily should do this too!” and I was like “Sure!” so I started modeling and then realized acting was a thing, so I told my parents I wanted to try it and they said “Sure, fine.”

I was eight when I started acting and I started doing commercial work and some theatre and then slowly became more serious and it was only when I worked on Transparent that I realized that I wanted to do it forever.

What kind of commercials? Are there any terrible ones out there?

Everyone has done incredibly embarrassing commercials; I did a fair number. The one that aired for the longest was this Hebrew National hot dog commercial and we had to film it from different angles and whatnot and by the end I had had to bite into forty-five different hot dogs. At the very end [the producers] were like “Do you want to eat one?” and I said “Sure!” because I didn’t want to say no, so I took a bite and then went to the bathroom and threw it out. I was like “I can’t ever eat a hot dog again.”

What’s your work/school balance like?

It’s up in the air. I don’t really know what it is because it’s constantly changing. I’m not normally filming while I’m in school, it’s more auditioning and writing. Right now I’m developing a script with a company that I don’t know I can talk about… yet, officially, but I’m doing that right now while I’m taking classes. When I’m in school I’m in school, pretty much.

I have a movie that premiered at Sundance and has its New York premiere at New York Film Fest this Monday, so I’m going to go to that and that’s somewhat work-related I suppose.

Cool, what’s it called?

It’s called Private Life, it’s by Tamara Jenkins who did Savages and stars Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn. It’s a special one. I play Molly Shannon’s daughter in it, which is a dream because she’s perfect, and it’s about fucked-up family dynamics and pregnancy.

Oscar Season is revving up, are there any movies you’re excited to watch?

The one that’s coming to mind right now, just because it came out this weekend and I haven’t seen it yet, is Assassination Nation. Hari Nef is in it, who’s a Columbia grad. I also really want to see Blaze, because Ethan Hawke is having a moment and also Alia Shawkat is amazing. And the science fair movie that’s out right now! [Interviewer’s note: it’s called Science Fair.] It looks so touching and beautiful.

What was your audition like for Eighth Grade?

I was on tape for it in L.A., because I was there at the time, and then some time passed (not that much time, but some time) before they called and said “Hey! You need to be in New York right now.” and I said “Ok, cool.” They flew me out to New York and I met with [director Bo Burnham] and [star Elsie Fisher] and Chris Storer, who was one of the producers, and basically we read through two scenes, improvised, and talked for a bit. It was in this weird production office in the Lower East Side and I sat there waiting outside for literally two minutes and Bo came out and said “It’s yours!” and asked for my sizes. I was the last person cast in the movie.

Really! Interesting. Why do you think that was?

They were having a really hard time finding [her character] Olivia. Bo and Elsie have the most beautiful, respectful, lovely relationship and because Olivia plays this really positive force in the movie I think Bo was looking for someone who had that kind of relationship with Elsie. It’s a particular type of chemistry that, thankfully, we had. I think that’s why they made me come to New York for the audition because I left back for L.A. in between that and filming, but they wanted to make sure that that chemistry was there and was natural.

Did you find the role difficult?

To me, she’s a super empathetic character. It wasn’t that difficult because I think that having a person like Elsie that you’re watching and reacting off of — in those scenes, Olivia only cares about taking care of this girl that reminds her of what she used to be like and who she still is, in a way. I think I was so focused with empathizing with her and understanding what she’s going through and wanting to take care of her that it wasn’t too difficult to access.

What was it like working on set with children, since so many properties cast older actors as children?

I didn’t have the chance to work with many of the middle schoolers but doing press I had the chance to be with them a lot, and they’re all so confident and kind and talented and fabulous. Elsie is also one of the most capable and nuanced actors you’ll ever encounter. She’s so mature and it was a pure delight. It was really fun not having people try to play an age but rather existing as you are, which is the way it should be.

Did Bo Burnham [who is 6’5”] ever help you get anything from a high shelf?

[Laugh] …No. But he’s exceptionally insecure about the fact that he’s tall. He’s the best. He also comes from an athletic family so [the height] runs in his family but he’s not athletic… he’s just a beautiful genius dork who does magic tricks.

Were you aware of his comedy before being cast?

Oh yeah, I was such a fan. We filmed [the movie] and then a few months passed, they edited the film and then we had to go in and do ADR [voiceover work] and when I went in for that I brought my copy of his book of poetry [Egghead] that I had been wanting him to sign since I first met him but wasn’t going to ask him to do… so I was like “Hey Bo, I’m so sorry and I suck but… like please?” and he was like “Yeah, Emily, fine, of course!” I’m a big fangirl but he was very chill about things and makes things not weird.

I think what’s beautiful about the movie is that it is so autobiographical, emotionally. Kayla’s [Fisher’s character] anxieties are exactly what he was feeling in life, her questions about the Internet were all stuff he was going through in his personal life. He says this beautiful thing; the way he now, in hindsight, makes sense of how he happened to write Kayla with a single dad is because he felt like a scared kid on the Internet but he also felt like an out-of-touch dude that didn’t know what he was talking about. He is both of those characters.

Do you have a favorite class this semester?

This semester I decided I just wanted to have a great class load so I’m in mostly creative writing classes. I’m in a class called “Writing As Collecting” and one of my assignments — I’m going to bring in a collection from when I was younger and I have to present something about it and talk about it for ten minutes. I’m going to do it on a collection of already-redeemed gift cards. It just feels like childhood.

Image via A24, Elsie Fisher, and Emily Robinson