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Q&A | Willa Fitzgerald
Willa Fitzgerald wears vintage cape and dress from NY Vintage and URSA MAJOR rings. ![Willa Fitzgerald wears vintage cape and dress from NY Vintage and URSA MAJOR rings.](https://assets-global.website-files.com/62ee0bbe0c783a903ecc0ddb/6472bbc56558fc6bb112be0f_Flaunt-Willa-Fitzgerald-1.jpeg) Willa Fitzgerald wears vintage cape and dress from NY Vintage and [**URSA MAJOR**](https://www.katejones.us) rings. When [Willa Fitzgerald](https://www.instagram.com/willafitz/) isn’t reading literary classics on her ride through the subway, the Brooklyn based actress is starring in them. While adapting some of literature’s most beloved fictitious icons might sound like an impossible feat, Fitzgerald has beautifully portrayed characters like Meg in the _Little Women_ miniseries, Kitsey in _The Goldfinch,_ and more recently Colette French in Megan Abbott’s _Dare Me_ creating quite a developed curriculum vitae of novel based characters. Enticed by strong complicated language with layers of meaning, Fitzgerald transcends the paged counterparts into real life adaptations for everyone to experience on screen.  Since her breakout role as Emma Duval in the television series, _Scream,_ Fitzgerald has been busy landing meaningful roles like Maddie in _Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings_ on Netflix, where she portrays the feisty young woman who dreams of more that inspired Parton’s hit track “JJ Sneed.” Seeing acting as a way to exploring the darker under belly of humanity, Willa Fitzgerald uses her platform to express and share empathy for the characters she portrays.  In her dark role as Colette French in _Dare Me,_ Fitzgerald compels the audience with her take of the mysterious cheerleading coach. With Megan Abbot, the brilliant mind behind the novel, _Dare Me,_ on set, she was able to use her as a primary source and explore her character’s intentions with the creator herself.  Abbot manages to balance sympathy and real darkness in her characters, while Fitzgerald works as an empath, finding a connection with a character who on the surface may be more distant.  With _Dare Me_ recent’s recent premiere on the USA Network, we caught up with the literary inclined actress who went from Psych major at Yale to a in demand acting career. Willa Fitzgerald wears GUCCI suit. ![Willa Fitzgerald wears GUCCI suit.](https://assets-global.website-files.com/62ee0bbe0c783a903ecc0ddb/6472bbc56558fc6bb112be13_Flaunt-Willa-Fitzgerald-32.jpeg) Willa Fitzgerald wears [**GUCCI**](https://www.gucci.com/us/en/) suit. **Was it always your destiny to become an actress?** Yes, I have always been acting. I have been acting since I was in 5th grade and I think for a long time I wanted to make sure that there was nothing else I wanted to do more.  I knew that I didn’t wanted to go to a conservatory and study acting because I wanted to go to college and get an education outside of theatre and performance.  So, I went to Yale and spent my first three years in the Psych Department and then I wrote my thesis. Then I went to the Theatre Studies Department.  I realized there was kind of nothing else that I really wanted to do as badly as I wanted to be an actor.  It has created such an expansive feeling for me and it is so interesting to me.  I also was able to start working pretty quickly when I graduation and it became a real career that I started and just kept on perusing.  As with anything in the creative field, you kind of know that you have to do it.  If you have any doubts about it, you probably shouldn’t be a in a creative field because it’s always hard and always involves your deepest fears and insecurities.  For me it creates the happiest the moments in my life.  **In terms of adaptations, I think _Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings_ can also be considered an adaption with the series being an anthology of stories that inspired some of her most popular songs.  Especially with growing up in Tennessee, how was working with Dolly Parton?**  It was so fun.  I think that Dolly is really unique in the way where she is a legend regardless of where you’re from.  People, truly all over the world, are obsessed with Dolly Parton.  I just happen to come from the same state that she is from. My interests and love for Dolly isn’t specific to where I grew up.  I didn’t even know how many people are obsessed with Dolly and I think that is kind of an amazing thing to witness.  She is such an amazing inspiration, I think because she crossed all sort of socio economical political lines and just came to people from a place of connection and community and love.  I think that is what is so amazing about working with her and getting to know her a little bit, is that she really is like that and she really is looking for the goodness in people and also wants you to be as invested in your self worth as she did.  She is a very wise woman.  Willa Fitzgerald wears LANVIN dress and NY Vintage boots. ![Willa Fitzgerald wears LANVIN dress and NY Vintage boots.](https://assets-global.website-files.com/62ee0bbe0c783a903ecc0ddb/6472bbc56558fc6bb112be17_image-asset.jpeg) Willa Fitzgerald wears [**LANVIN**](https://www.lanvin.com/us/) dress and NY Vintage boots. **You have truly shown your versatility on screen.  How did you find the transition from playing roles like Emma in _Scream_ to Kitsey in _The Goldfinch_ and then Maddie in _Heartstrings_ to back to something more dark like with Colette in _Dare Me?_** That’s part of my job.  On top of all of this I have auditions frequently and you prep for an audition the same way you prep for a shoot in a lot of ways.  It does mean a concentrated amount of time with a character you might only play for a day. It honestly becomes just like a muscle that you exercise and you become more flexible and to switch back and forth.  I think also like there is something to be said for knowing when you’re deeply connected to the material.  I think that always makes it much easier to do your job and to do you job well.  I also enjoy the process of working on a character and getting to know a character.  It is such a fun part of the process for me.  You know, whether you have a day to prep for a job or a month to prep for a job it is kind of the same, you just have less time or more time. **What can you say is different about your character on Dare Me compared to the novel?** You get to see inside her brain a little bit more and you don’t get to see inside of her brain in the novel, because the novel is told through Addy’s point of view.  You only ever have access to this character in the novel through Addy’s perceptions of conversations.  Where as in the television show you have full scenes of Colette, you have full scenes of Colette and her husband, you have a whole world that is independent of any other character.  I think that a television show kind of takes those three main women and really devotes a lot of time to getting inside all of their heads and understanding why they are making the choices they are making and how it’s impacting them and their relationships.  What I think makes this show unique is that it is interested in all of time and all of the quiet time to really get inside of that, which is sometimes rare in TV.  USA has spent a good amount of time in investigating the thought process of these characters.  Willa Fitzgerald wears dress from NY Vintage and URSA MAJOR ring. ![Willa Fitzgerald wears dress from NY Vintage and URSA MAJOR ring.](https://assets-global.website-files.com/62ee0bbe0c783a903ecc0ddb/6472bbc56558fc6bb112be0c_Flaunt-Willa-Fitzgerald-15.jpeg) Willa Fitzgerald wears dress from NY Vintage and [**URSA MAJOR**](https://www.katejones.us/) ring. **As you mentioned, Colette is your first role that is an adult, how did you find the transition?** I think that it was a unique opportunity that I got to play this character and I think I got this character partially because I still look like I could still be around the same age as the girls.  I think that that’s where a lot of the intrigue and confusion and the blurred lines also come from because the reality of the situation is that Colette is not that much older than these women. She is just in an entirely different life place.  And as you get older, it is not unusual to have a friend that is 10 years older than you when you are in your late twenties. But when you are in high school, it is definitely weird having a friend who is ten years older than you because there are so many life events that happen between the ages of 17 and 27. Those are ages that actually can’t really relate because on some fundamental level because the worlds of your life are so different.  **With all the different types of characters you have played, what has been your favorite role so far?** I love Colette! I think she is so fascinating and it’s such a lucky thing when you’re on a television show, you have that opportunity and hope that you’ll get another season.  Hopefully I get to keep exploring the woman and the decisions that she’s making.  She is also my favorite right now because she is the first adult that I have played.  She has a family, she has a child, there are different concerns in her life than I’ve had before.  I find it just really exciting because it’s new also.  I think for me, the job that changed me the most was Little Women.  _Little Women_ was just a big title shift for me in terms of working on a literary adaptation that was amazingly expansive in my process as an actor.  I was working with a group of actors who I deeply loved and admired.  It was an amazing experience to just learn from each other and be in deep friendship together. And we were living Ireland.  In terms of jobs that have been magical experiences all around, that was maybe the most magical experience because I think we were all in this place of massive growth and change as both actors and individuals.  **What do you hope the new year will bring?** Well, I really hope I get to spend more time with Colette.  I am hoping to get into a play and return to the theatre.  I would love to do a really juicy mini series. I am also am looking forward to focusing on some writing projects.  So lots of stuff; I have lots of hopes and dreams.  * * * Photographed by [Nate Rynaski](https://www.instagram.com/naterynaski/?hl=en). Styled by [Kieley Kimmel](https://www.kieleykimmelstudio.com). Hair: [Creighton Bowman](https://www.instagram.com/creightonbowman/?hl=en) at [Tomlinson Management Group](http://tmg-la.com). Makeup: [Loren Canby](https://www.instagram.com/lorencanbymakeup/?hl=en) at [Starworks Artists](https://www.swa-agency.com/makeup/loren-canby/). Produced by [BJ Panda Bear](https://www.instagram.com/bjpandabear/?hl=en).