Hailee Steinfeld might have been homeschooled, but she can relate to Nadine Byrd, the angst-ridden suburban high-school junior she plays in The Edge of Seventeen.
After all, the broad questions prompting Nadine’s neuroses — about who she is, where she fits into the world, and what the future holds — are the same ones the young actress admits she’s pondered in recent years, as well, albeit in a different setting.
“Her experiences are in an environment that I wasn’t necessarily in, but that didn’t remove me from those experiences entirely. I still have gone through them,” Steinfeld said during a recent stop in Dallas. “I feel that we’re the same person, to some extent. I’d like to think I’m a little cooler, but I think that’s who I would have been if I was in a traditional high school. I’m 19 and still trying to figure out life itself, and being able to express that through this character was pretty cool.”
In the film, Nadine is a social outcast who’s equally uncomfortable at school — where her throwback fashion sense is mocked — or at home, where her withdrawn single mother (Kyra Sedgwick) is struggling to cope with various issues, and her heartthrob older brother (Blake Jenner) has just started dating her best friend (Haley Lu Richardson).
Feeling bitter and isolated, Nadine takes out her frustrations at school with life-isn’t-fair tantrums in front of her history teacher (Woody Harrelson), whose most valuable life lessons come with a healthy dose of biting sarcasm. She also throws her condescending hat into the dating ring, where she pursues a shallow pet-store employee (Alexander Calvert) while virtually ignoring a bashful classmate (Hayden Szeto) who appreciates Nadine’s bright mind.
“She’s her own mean girl. She’s her own worst enemy. She’s her own critic. She’s the only person that’s making her life miserable,” Steinfeld said. “That’s kind of funny, but in a way, we do that to ourselves so often, and sometimes we don’t realize it and will take it out on the first person we see. That’s our family and that’s who loves us. Nadine is unlikeable at times, but that’s her trying to figure out how to be likeable. She learns to deal with that and accept it.”
Steinfeld said she was drawn into the project by the authenticity in the screenplay from rookie director Kelly Fremon Craig, and especially its depiction of Nadine.
“I felt like so much of me was on a few pages,” Steinfeld said. “She put together this story that has a little bit of everybody’s life in it — whether it’s that moment of not wanting to get up out of bed in the morning, or that moment of being in your closet and not knowing what to wear even though you have a million options, or the moment of realizing you’re your brother is not that bad of a person. Every moment in this film means something and it counts. There’s something in there for everybody of any age to relate to and identify with.”
The sardonic comedy could provide a breakthrough role for Steinfeld, who is perhaps best known for her supporting role in the True Grit remake and for the 2013 version of Romeo and Juliet.
The actress hopes the film will connect with contemporary teenagers who might be outsiders among their classmates or have self-esteem issues in the social-media age.
“I really hope that they’ll watch this and feel like it’s not that bad. It’s the time in our lives when it’s OK not to fit in, or feel like you have to conform to what everyone else is doing just to be liked,” she said. “It’s just a small period in our lives. I had a hard time realizing it, and we all do. Once you’re on the outside looking back, your parents were right when they said it’s something you laugh about.”
