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From Booksmart to Unbelievable, the rise of Kaitlyn Dever

Photo credit: Mike Coppola - Getty Images
Photo credit: Mike Coppola - Getty Images

From Harper's BAZAAR

By anyone’s admission, Kaitlyn Dever has had one big year. Her star turn in Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart helped create a comedy that mastered the nuances of female friendship, while her moving performance as real-life rape survivor Marie Adler in Netflix’s Unbelievable was nothing short of scene stealing.

At just 23, Dever has serious range, and her talent has not gone unnoticed by Hollywood. Having been nominated for a Golden Globe for Unbelievable, she has also been shortlisted for the EE BAFTA Rising Star award for Booksmart. There have been plenty of big moments for Dever, but you know you’re doing a good job when Tom Hanks – film veteran and kindly overlord of cinema – gives you a pat on the back and offers you his praise, which is exactly what he did at the Golden Globes.

“I was just standing with my family as everyone was filing out after the ceremony and then Tom Hanks went ‘hey, you’ve done such incredible work this year. Isn’t this nice? You’re at the Golden Globes, take it all in,’” says Dever, recounting his words incredulously. “Then he gave me the Golden Globe that he'd just won, and said, ‘hold this, get used to way this feels, you’ll be holding your own soon.’”

Photo credit: Courtesy of Annapurna Pictures
Photo credit: Courtesy of Annapurna Pictures

It’s a reasonable prediction given Dever’s acting skillset. Through her role in Booksmart, she became a hero for young women, as she, along with her co-star Beanie Feldstein, subverted tired high school stereotypes and made them real again. Together, they delivered a deeply believable portrayal of two best friends, whose goal is not to find someone to kiss at the end of the night (although if it happens, great), but to see if it is possible to work and play hard. The two friends have spent their teenage years rejecting party invites in favour of studying, and now they want a slice of recklessness to ring out high school

“My favourite thing about the film is that the two central characters aren’t just after boys,” says Dever. “The goal is not to hook up with a guy at the end of the night. What they’re chasing is fun and changing their story… they’re just trying to prove that they’re fun, and to have a good time as best friends. When I was watching films growing up, there was always this idea of getting the guy at the end. What’s so important about Booksmart is that we can see that women don’t need a man in their life to have passion and drive.”

She’s not saying there’s no space for that traditional narrative, but rather we need a greater range of stories. Dever feels the same about her character, who had been ‘out’ for two years, but who hadn’t kissed anyone yet.

“It’s not a big coming out story, so that’s a huge step forward in the game,” she says. “That’s vital and important to have in a teen comedy – just to have someone be who they are and not to make it into a big deal. We’re not saying come out stories are bad either, but it’s just a different version of telling it.”

The sex scene, in which Dever has her first intimate encounter with a woman, was another game-changer in her eyes, and certainly it feels more realistic than other scenes of the same nature. It doesn’t simply hone in on the sex – there are stop and starts where the ‘action’ stops while Dever’s character unties her converse, for example.

“I’ve done hook-up scenes in the past and sometimes it can be uncomfortable and awkward,” says Dever. “It usually feels very calculated and structured. With Olivia, she wanted to make sure that nothing was awkward, that we were all communicating and all on the same page. It was a closed set and Olivia made sure that actually happened, rather than say it’s a closed set when it’s in fact not. That’s happened to me in the past.”

Only a few months after Booksmart emerged came the harrowing Netflix series Unbelievable. It’s not an easy watch, but it’s an important one, exposing the loopholes in our justice system when it comes to sexual assault victims. It is distressing because it is true – Marie Adler was 18 when in 2008, she was raped by a stranger in her home in Washington State. She reported it to the police, but due to inconsistencies in her account, they began to doubt her and eventually Adler begins to doubt herself and withdraws the allegation. She is charged with false reporting and taken to court, while the rapist continues to rape five more women.

“What I hope people take away from it is that there’s no one way that people respond to trauma,” says Dever. “In police detective training, they are trained and told about just one way as if that’s how everyone would react in a sexual assault situation. I learnt quickly through the story and learning about Marie that trauma can manifest in many ways. We need to believe survivors from the get-go and not treat them as suspects. We have to treat them as real victims.”

Grappling with such dark, upsetting issues wasn’t easy for Dever, but she felt the performance would be more persuasive if she remained in that headspace for the four-month shoot. The series wrapped in November and she took the rest of the year off to process the experience.

“It was a draining process,” she admits. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I’m not a method actor but I stayed in that mood and in that world because it’s hard not to. It’s just heart-breaking. Every day I was thinking about Marie. I felt so sad for what she had to go through. What I was feeling day-to-day just playing her was nothing in comparison to what she felt when she lived it. What I felt will never compare.”

Photo credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez - Getty Images
Photo credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez - Getty Images

Dever shed light on another challenging subject matter in 2019’s Beautiful Boy in which she played Timothée Chalamet’s girlfriend. The film, which tackles crystal meth addiction, saw Chalamet in his next big film following his breakout role in Call Me By Your Name. “I knew from the first time I met Timothée that he’d be big,” says Dever. “You just know when you meet him, that’s the guy. He’s just very talented. He’s also so much fun and such a goofball. He’s one of those people I know I’ll be pals with forever.”

The 23-year-old has achieved a lot in what seems like a very short space of time, but she’s been acting since she was nine when she starred in a Barbie advert that was so low-budget that they used her call-back audition as the final commercial. She was born in Phoenix, but later moved to Texas where she grew up. She comes from a supportive family, who she always liked making laugh when she was small. She and her sisters would stage plays for her parents and Dever would always be the one to adopt a funny accent or to assume different characters.

“I never considered anything other than acting and I don’t think I ever will,” she says. “Acting has always been number one for me. I’ve realised, as I’ve grown older, that it’s an amazing release, and also it’s just so fun for me. I’ve reached a point now where I can'f imagine my life without acting. It’s a love of making people laugh, but also realising I can also move people and inspire people with projects that I do.”

Her parents have been big influences on her. Both her mother and father met as child figure-skaters, and her father later became the voice of both Bob the Builder and Barney the Dinosaur.

“When I was growing up, I just thought of it as a cool thing that my dad did. I didn’t think of it as a big deal,” she recalls. “He was always there to go over lines and to read through things. He always reminded me to keep it real and to be subtle. I could go on about my dad. He’s the best.”

Photo credit: Jon Kopaloff
Photo credit: Jon Kopaloff

Dever doesn’t believe in breaks (“I need to take the opportunities where they come”), although she might take one following awards season so she can focus on her second love – music. She and her sister form two halves of a band called Beulahbelle, in which she sings and plays the guitar while her sister plays the piano and also joins in on the vocals. Their work first appeared on the soundtrack of 2018’s Tully with Charlize Theron, but the sisters will release their first single in February. “Music is a big part of my life too, but acting has been and will always be my first love,” she says.

Next up, she stars in an episodic horror anthology series called Monsterland which airs on Hulu later this year. Dever plays a 19-year-old mother and waitress, who is struggling to find any light in her life. “It’s a very different role for me and an incredible exercise for me as an actor,” she says. “I want to carry on telling stories that move the needle forward for women, that tell our stories.”

As young actresses go, there can be few better vessels for the job.

Voting is now open at ee.co.uk/BAFTA and the winner will be announced at the EE British Academy Film Awards on Sunday 2 February 2020 at the Royal Albert Hall.


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