Photograph: Christopher Mellevold
From playing Beverly Marsh in It to starring in Netflix’s I Am Not Okay With This, Lillis is building an impressive résumé as she graduates from high school
Sophia Lillis is a bit of an old soul. She has a penchant for the word “rather” that doesn’t quite chime with being an 18-year-old who lives in Brooklyn. If she didn’t work so much, she would take up pottery classes. And she isn’t much for going out – even when the world isn’t in lockdown. It all seems a bit coy for a teenager on the brink of stardom.
Lillis is in the midst of building an impressive résumé. She had her first big hits playing Beverly Marsh in Stephen King’s 2017 thriller, It, and a younger Amy Adams in Sharp Objects in 2018. The following year, she landed the lead in Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase.
Lillis was seven when her stepdad first asked her to star in his class film project. But it wasn’t until she was in high school, finishing the filming of It – her first feature movie – that she finally figured out she wanted to act long-term.
Now she is starring the Netflix adaptation of Charles Forsman’s I Am Not Okay With This. Lillis plays Sydney Novak, an awkward 17-year-old coming to terms with her sexuality while getting over her dad’s suicide. Plus, Novak just so happens to have superpowers that are triggered by intense feelings – like a modern-day Matilda, but less PG.
I caught up with her to discuss her life in isolation now that she’s off set and stuck in New York for the foreseeable future. If we were able to meet in person as planned, we would have gone to Lillis’s favorite Brooklyn diner. She would have ordered pancakes or waffles and a side of sausages, and a vanilla egg cream (seltzer, milk, whipped cream and syrup, in case you were wondering).
Instead, we meet over Zoom, of course, but she tells me she still got dressed up for the chat. For her, that means swapping out two-day old pyjamas for one of her more colorful outfits (she usually just wears black) – a black top with flowers on it and a scraggly yellow jacket. Her characteristic short, ginger hair is tucked behind her ears and she’s wearing a huge grin on her face.
READ THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW AT THEGUARDIAN.COM
And here are the rest of the outtakes of the photoshoot Christopher did with Sophia. Click on the gallery link below to see them full size.
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