‘The Color Purple,’ ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ and ‘Are You There God?’ Boost Young Awards Season Contenders
variety.comNick Clement The way an actor approaches and prepares for a role can be different with each project, and in some instances, the material presents specific obstacles that make the experience even more personally fulfilling or transcendent.
This is true for actors of any age but is especially notable for a trio of younger talent in this awards season. One of the year’s best performances arrived in last summer’s coming-of-age dramedy, “Are You There, God?
It’s Me Margaret,” from the now-15-year-old Abby Ryder Fortson. Based on the 1970 novel by Judy Blume, the film centers on an 11-year-old girl navigating the early stages of womanhood and tensions surrounding her parents’ interfaith marriage (her mom is Christian, her dad is Jewish).
Exploring a character that’s going through intense personal changes was something that Fortson knew all too well. “It came at the right time for me, because I was going through the exact same things, and it really helped me to look at my younger self with a little more kindness,” Fortson says. “Nobody is perfect, and we’re all just messy humans trying to figure ourselves out.
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