Maisy Stella and Megan Park talk about their wisecracking comedy 'My Old Ass'

I didn’t mean to make the duo behind the coming-of-age comedy “My Old Ass” cry when we met for coffee one August morning in New York. But, to be fair, they made me cry first.

In “My Old Ass,” written and directed by Megan Park, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, teenager Elliott (Maisy Stella) is preparing to leave her hometown in rural Canada for college when she decides to go mushrooming with her best friends in the woods. While extremely high, she’s visited by her future self, played by Aubrey Plaza. “Old Ass,” as Plaza’s older Elliott is cheekily called, puts her number in her younger counterpart’s phone and they’re soon communicating across decades. The result of Elliott trying to follow Old Ass’ advice is an emotional gut-punch that brought tears to my eyes.

“You know, the title and stuff… maybe people expect one thing and then they get pretty shocked,” Park says, adding that even older men have said they are “fucked up by this movie in a good way.” Stella chimes in to confirm that she saw reviews on social media site Letterboxd that she says amount to “Me and this 65-year-old man crying.”

Chatting with Park, 38, and Stella, 20, it’s clear how they can strike such a chord — in part because it feels like you’re talking to two versions of the same person. Both arrive in casually chic style, sporting oversized tops (Park, a big vintage T-shirt and Stella, a big bomber jacket) that complement their blonde locks, Park’s down and Stella’s up. When I ask them what they’ve learned about each other toward the end of our hourlong conversation, they tear up.

“Maisy has really brought a lot of joy to my life and given me a new lease of life,” Park says through tears. “She is so loving and kind to me as an artist and so generous and understanding.” Stella smiles back.

“It was a very beautiful time of my growth,” Stella says of her years as a child star. “I was very lucky. I know that not all childhood experiences are as beautiful as ours.”

(Kate Dockeray / For The Times)

Park and Stella have led strangely parallel lives in the entertainment industry. Both grew up in Canada: Park in Lindsay, Ontario, and Stella an hour's drive away in Oshawa.

Park's parents did not want her to act too professionally at a young age, even though, as she says, “All my friends were series regulars on 'Degrassi.'” After high school, she deferred from college, at which point she was cast in the ABC Family soap opera “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” playing a Christian girl trying to remain a virgin opposite future star Shailene Woodley as the lead who becomes pregnant before her freshman year.

Watching Woodley rise through the ranks of Hollywood, Park realized that while she loved being on film sets, she wasn’t passionate about being an actress. While filming the 2013 romantic comedy “The F Word,” her co-star Zoe Kazan encouraged her to write for herself.

Park made her directorial debut with the 2021 drama “The Fallout,” about a teenager (Jenna Ortega) dealing with the aftermath of a shooting at her high school. While casting for the critically acclaimed film, she met Stella, who was being considered for one of the roles.

“I remember feeling really sad that there wasn’t a role for her,” Park recalls. “But I remember thinking, let’s work together on something else.”

Maisy Stella in the movie “My Old Ass”.

(Amazon Studies)

At the time, Stella, who began acting professionally when she was 8, was just reentering that world after taking a break to finish high school and do all the things she had idealized, like “having a locker and a backpack,” she says. Stella didn’t have those items when she starred in the country music television series “Nashville” alongside her sister Lennon as the daughters of a diva played by Connie Britton. Right after the Stellas were cast on the show, they shot to internet fame when a video of them harmonizing on a cover surfaced. Robyn's “Call Your Girlfriend” song went viral.

“It was a very beautiful time of my growth,” she says, recalling her years as a child star. “I was very lucky. I know that not all childhood experiences are as beautiful as ours.”

But her time away from the business renewed her passion for it. While her sister leaned toward music, Stella fell in love with acting.

That led her to Park. The idea for “My Old Ass” came to Park, a mother of two, when she was living in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. “I got really excited thinking about what I would say to my younger self,” she says. “It’s such a universal and fleeting thought that for some reason I thought I would love to be in that headspace more.”

Her goal was to create a movie like the classic tearjerkers and heartwarmers she still loves, like “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Stepmom.” But “My Old Ass” has a special edge, and not just because of its title. Old Ass tries to convince Elliott to value her family before she leaves them behind, but she may not be so wise in some of her advice herself.

“I was really excited to think about what I would say to my younger self,” Park says of the genesis of his original script.

(Kate Dockeray / For The Times)

Park decided to call it “My Old Ass” before writing the film, and named Elliott’s family, the Labrants, after the gynecologist who delivered her first daughter. The doctor was “a little surprised and maybe offended” by her title, the director says. “I hope he sees it and understands it,” Park adds.

Once Stella officially submitted an audition tape, Park's intuition about her was confirmed. Throughout the process, Park would send the actress parts of the script as she worked on it and ask the young woman how she would express certain things.

“Not only was it [Stella] able to take all the special qualities of herself and put them [them] “She doesn’t just watch herself on camera, she doesn’t play herself either,” Park says. “She became a better Elliott than I could have ever imagined.”

For Stella, it was the first time in her life that a director trusted her to direct a film. “No one had ever taken a chance on my role since I was a sweet eight-year-old girl,” Stella says.

Park also made Stella, who identifies as pansexual, feel comfortable thinking about her sexuality in relation to her career. “From a young age, I’ve always found it stressful to think: If I’m gay, can I act?” she says. “Because then they won’t believe me when I kiss a boy.”

Her sister and parents have always been supportive, Stella tells me, but Park (who is married to musician and “My Old Ass” co-songwriter Tyler Hilton) also reassured her during filming in Muskoka, Ontario, during a Canadian summer. In the film, Elliott, who has always thought she was gay, is confused when she begins to fall for a boy named Chad (Percy Hynes White), who works on her family’s blueberry farm. The fact that Old Ass warns her not to get involved with Chad complicates matters further.

Park says she didn't want to make Elliott's preferences a “big deal,” but she also “loved the idea of ​​a reverse coming out.”

“It was always very important to us that the narrative wasn’t like, ‘She identifies as one thing and then she’s like, ‘I’m straight now,’” Park says. “I talked to a lot of people who identify as bisexual and they were like, ‘Thank you.’”

The film also has fun with gender roles. When Elliott takes mushrooms for the second time, she imagines herself as Justin Bieber singing “One Less Lonely Girl” to Chad. Park wanted a musical sequence, and Stella chose Bieber. “Basically, Megan said, ‘What’s the performance from your generation that would make everyone mad?’” Stella says. It was a sleepover staple, as well as a moment of hope for countless Gen Z girls: During the pop idol’s concerts, he’d invite a lucky fan to come up and sing the song to him.

Even though they had to get Bieber's approval, Stella can't believe he saw her performance. “In my head, his manager saw it and he never did and he never will as long as he lives and we're all fine,” she says nervously.

“No one had ever taken a chance on me since I was an adorable eight-year-old,” says Stella, left, pictured with Park in New York in August.

(Kate Dockeray / For The Times)

It's moments like these when I recognize the generation gap between Park and me (we're both in our 30s) and Stella, who can be disarmingly mature. “I feel like I'm talking to someone my own age, and sometimes I come back to reality,” Parks tells Stella.

Making “My Old Ass,” however, made Stella acknowledge her own youth.

“When I read the script, I thought of him as if he were one of you,” he says, addressing me and Park as the old jackasses in the room. “I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve had all these epiphanies already, like, you know, not taking my family for granted. I’m good. I’ve got this figured out. ’ And I absolutely did, 100%. No “I'll have it sorted out by then.”

In the two years since finishing the film, Stella says she has actively put into action the heartfelt lessons conveyed about embracing the messiness of existence.

“I think a lot of people who have seen it have done the same thing,” he says. “That’s my favorite part of making it. It’s very funny and light-hearted, it’s a comedy and all that, but for me it carries weight.”

And that's why it's likely to make audiences cry, no matter how old they are.