1 of 3 | Ayo Edebiri attends the premiere of “After the Hunt” at the Venice Film Festival on August 29. The movie is now streaming on Prime Video. File Photo by Rune Hellestad/UPI | License Photo
NEW YORK, Nov. 30 (UPI) — The Bear and Abbott Elementary actress Ayo Edebiri says she tried to keep an open mind when getting into the head and heart of her After the Hunt character.
Now streaming on Prime Video, the contemporary drama is set in the pretentious, competitive world of New England academia. It was directed by Luca Guadagnino, written by Nora Garrett and co-stars Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloe Sevigny and Lio Mehiel.
Edebiri plays Maggie, a wealthy PhD candidate suspected of plagiarizing a paper, who accuses her popular, alcoholic professor Hank (Garfield) of sexually assaulting her and is disappointed when her hypocritical mentor Alma (Roberts) isn’t as supportive as she expects her to be.
“Maggie, for me, was also very foreign,” Edebiri, 30, said during a recent virtual press conference.
“I realized, kind of because of speaking with Luca, that I had a lot more judgments than I realized. And there was something that was really intriguing to me about trying to find this person and meet this person without judgment and with honesty for myself.”
Garrett’s solid script served as a blueprint for Edebiri’s portrayal of Maggie, who has taken to dressing like Alma and who has a trans partner named Alex (Mehiel).
“I felt like there was also such precision in your thoughts and in your questions and interrogations,” Edebiri told Garrett, who was sitting with the cast and director on the panel.
“But also, that was met by a real [sense of] freedom,” Edebiri added. “It was going to be such an exciting challenge and I just wanted to rise to meet everybody.”
The Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actress said she doesn’t know if Maggie would be friends with her in real life.
“She’s very deliberate about who she surrounds herself with and why, and why not,” Edebiri explained.
“Even in some of the scenes with her extended friend group with Alex, Luca and I talked about who was there and why, and why there are no Black women there. That’s on purpose. That’s intentional,” she added. “That’s what working with Luca is like. Everything is deeply intentional.”
Roberts said the cast had ample preparation time, so she and Edebiri were able to get to know each other.
“I felt an instantaneous kinship with Ayo, and we are just the same level of goofball that gave me a huge amount of comfort,” Roberts said.
“I just feel very seen by her and I feel like I see her in a really beautiful way, and it was really quick to be at ease and open and excited to do the really,