Meet Lily Collias, The Rising Star Of ‘Good One’

Debra Granik put stars like Jennifer Lawrence and Thomasin McKenzie on the map with her films Winter’s Bone and Leave No Trace respectively. After Good One premiered in Sundance and then went to Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, there’s a sense that India Donaldson has just done the same thing for Lily Collias. As the positive buzz has built around the movie, the attention has focused on the startlingly subtle and emotional performance given by Collias, who plays Sam, a 17-year-old who accompanies her father Chris (James Le Gros) and his best friend Matt (Danny McCarthy) on a camping trip.

Donaldson’s film offers an accessible entry on a fun weekend in the woods, as the men squabble and Sam, who seems to outwit the pair of them without even trying, attempts to mediate. But as the movie unfolds, tensions ratchet, and Collias is tasked with navigating a character who begins to feel increasingly alone. Donaldson’s debut feature suggests a bright career for both director and lead. Collias made her feature debut in 2022’s Palm Trees and Power Lines alongside Gretchen Mol, and Good One feels like a performance that will attract ever greater opportunities for the future star.

Getting in before she stops returning our calls, Deadline met Collias last month at the Cannes Film Festival, to find out more. Good One releases stateside through Metrograph Pictures from August 9.

DEADLINE: How did you find acting?

LILY COLLIAS: I started really young. My parents weren’t in the industry or anything like that, but I always took an interest in theater. I started around eight and I studied Meisner at this little acting school, and then after that I went to Lee Strasberg, and then I just took random acting classes in Los Angeles. What’s nice about LA is you can do so much at a young age. I was oddly shy about it because in LA, the kids that are in the theater programs take it pretty seriously. But eventually I started going out on auditions.

DEADLINE: Was film a big part of your upbringing?

COLLIAS: There’s this theater in LA called the Aero, that’s under the American Cinematheque. Starting in my freshman year of high school, I went there religiously and saw all of my favorites on 35mm or 70mm. That’s what really changed it all for me. I was always fascinated by acting, but after that, film fascinated me too. And then I moved to New York, like most LA kids do, and saw so much theater, so I became interested in that too. It’s always just all fascinated me so much and I love the world around it.

DEADLINE: How did Good One come to you?

COLLIAS: I’m actually very close friends with India Donaldson’s sister, Octavia. India had been looking for the role of Sam for a long time, but the character was around Octavia’s age, so she asked her. Octavia didn’t know that I acted professionally or anything like that, but she was at my house and we were doing a bit for way too long, so she was like, “That works, let me introduce you to India.” We just met up for coffee and talked about art for so long, and it was so great. I think we understood each other in vibes, and then she wanted me to audition, and she loved the tape I gave her.

DEADLINE: What scenes did you do?

COLLIAS: She gave me two sides. One of them was the restaurant scene early in the movie where they say, “I thought you were a vegetarian,” and the second scene was a confrontation with my dad. I don’t think she’d given me the full script at that point. I like in auditions when you get two sides because it means there are two very specific points to hit that a director wants to see from you. It’s fun to work around that and start to understand the director and what they’re drawn towards.

DEADLINE: A lot of the story of this character is told in looks and glances. There are dialogue scenes that express a lot too, but so much of it is in the silences. What did you make of the whole script once you’d received it?

COLLIAS: India’s so smart; much cleverer than I’ll ever be. When I thought about Sam and all those scenes, Sam doesn’t have a lot of dialogue. It’s all internal. Working around that was really interesting and fun, and as I’m reading the script I’m realizing it’s all Matt and Chris talking, so I’m thinking about what is going through Sam’s head in those moments. I wrote diary entries as her, because I thought that was the best outlet for me to figure out what she was thinking. It was a fun way for me to find that other level of her. There’s so much about her that’s just not on the page.

DEADLINE: Communicating subtext is a key part of acting training. Did it take you back to those classes?

COLLIAS: Yeah, though I was so young when I was taking them that it feels very fundamental and subconscious. There were certain classes I remember just laying on the floor for two hours and meditating. I think India telling me how much the camera would revolve around Sam and her world was another way for me to understand that there needed to be things said without me saying anything.

DEADLINE: Were some moments harder than others?

COLLIAS: There are always challenges. But that’s what’s nice about working with someone like India, is that she’s very open to a conversation about where Sam is in any particular moment, and what she needs to see. So, there were very few moments where I felt unsure, and India could clock things so fast. She would be like, “Let’s talk about this for a moment. Let’s see where Sam’s at.” She was always grounding me and helping me come back. It was such a blessing to work with her on that, because it’s given me such high standards for what to find in a director. I can’t wait to see what India does next, and I hope to be a part of her world for years to come, because I think she’s so authentic. She takes something that can be simple on the surface, and drills a hole down into it until something beautiful comes out.

DEADLINE: Did you imagine the movie would take on the life it has, premiering in Sundance and then going to Cannes?

COLLIAS: It felt like a passion project amongst everyone involved. It was so intimate and small, and we just created a little family. So no, I didn’t expect any of this. I truly had no expectations because I never understood the business and industry side of everything that happens after a shoot. It has been a blessing and I’m so grateful; it has been an amazing journey. But I think it goes to show that when you make something and you have something to say, and there are people who believe in it, you can go far.

DEADLINE: What has been your experience of watching the movie with audiences?

COLLIAS: The first time I watched it, I watched it alone, and I was really nervous. I told myself I’d focus on all the parts of the movie that weren’t me; the score, the cinematography… There’s so much about it that is beautiful that I’m able to separate it from my performance a bit.

The screening at Sundance was incredible. I was sat next to my dad, which by itself was a bit of a surreal moment. But the audience was wonderful, and it elevated the experience of watching it entirely. There’s something really special about sharing the journey of a movie with an audience like that, and so that’s what I’ve been recommending to all my friends who want to see it: “Just wait until you can get to see it in a theater.”