You First Met Maisy Stella on Nashville . Six Years Later, She’s Back in a Major Way

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In November 2013, a nine-year-old Maisy Stella walked the CMAs red carpet with her older sister, Lennon, to promote the new season of ABC’s then hit drama Nashville and perform live in front of a Red-era Taylor Swift.

It was a big night for the actor and singer’s career, but the moment Stella, now 20, looks back at with giddy delight is an encounter with Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale. “I was such a Pretty Little Liars girl,” she tells me over Zoom from Lennon’s apartment in Los Angeles. “I was obsessed.”

In a fun twist, I happened to be there to witness that meeting in person. I was hosting Glamour’s red-carpet coverage with Stella’s Nashville costar Chris Carmack when Hale came over, which you can watch below. Eleven years later, the moment is still so adorable.

It’s fitting that we’re going down memory lane, considering Stella now stars as the lead in the critically acclaimed, Sundance darling My Old Ass. The movie, which will be in theaters nationwide September 13, is all about looking to the past to inform the future. For Stella, the past 11 years have definitely been formative ones. But the more we talk, the more I realize the 20-year-old I’m interviewing now is also very much the same as that nine-year-old in the video above—thoughtful, energetic, and grateful.

Nashville went off the air in June 2018, when Stella was 14. Two years later she experienced a (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. Everything stopped, including the work. “I wasn’t taping anything,” she says. “So I was writing a lot and trying to find any outlet to be creative. I was very eager. I went to an art school in Nashville for guitar. I did everything I’d been wanting to do. Those years away from working was really what I needed and wanted to do.”

And then, a few years later, she was sent a script from director and writer Megan Park for a new coming-of-age film. It centered on a young woman named Elliott who goes on a mushroom trip on her 18th birthday that brings her face-to-face with her wisecracking 39-year-old self (played by Aubrey Plaza). Known as her “old ass,” the elder Elliott warns her younger self about what she should and shouldn’t do until 18-year-old Elliot starts to rethink everything about family and love.

Even before the film was bought for $15 million by Amazon MGM Studios at Sundance, Margot Robbie and her LuckyChap production team had come on to produce. When I mention what an amazing reentry this is into Hollywood, Stella agrees.

“It felt very validating and very reassuring,” she says of the film’s positive reception at early screenings. “I could literally cry thinking about it. I was just so excited and so moved and so grateful. It did reassure me that I’m on the right path.”

But in terms of life lessons, Stella is thankful she didn’t know how big the film would become when she first came on board. “The pressure I felt was very small then,” she says. “I felt just so inspired and in love with what I was doing. If I had known any of this—like if I had known even movie theaters were slightly involved in the equation—I feel like my filming experience would’ve been much scarier. Instead, I was having the best summer of my life.”

In Glamour’s latest edition of New Here, Stella revisits that first interview we did in 2014 while looking ahead to what’s next. “My Old Ass has made me realize this what I need to do forever,” she says of acting. “For sure.”

Glamour: When we last talked in 2013, you had just performed one of Taylor Swift’s songs in front of her with your sister, Lennon, at the CMAs. What do you remember from that moment?

Maisy Stella: I remember being so happy. I was literally sunshine and rainbows that whole day, but I don’t remember anything from certain moments of the performance. I blacked out a little bit. Oh, but Taylor Swift kissed me on the forehead and I wouldn’t wash my face for a week after. I was refusing. Please tell me I said that same thing in our interview back then.

You said, “After we sang, Taylor kissed me all over my face and I had lipstick marks. I’m like, I’m never showering again. I’m never showering again. But my mom said, ‘No, you have to take a shower this morning.’ And I said, ‘Dang it. I’m not ready for that yet.’ Taylor even talked to us for 20 minutes and when someone tried to pull her away, she said, ‘No, I’m not done. I’m not done talking to them yet.’ It was so cute.”

So funny. I ran up and jumped in her arms, and she was like, kissing me all over my face. I loved her. We have the same birthday, so I remember being really excited to tell her that. Honestly, I get tagged in little clips of that performance all the time. It was very sweet.

And now it’s a crazy cool fact to say that you performed for her.

It’s so crazy. I was losing my mind…freaking out. I was a very happy little nine-year-old.

Back then, your sister Lennon told me that you are a very giddy person, which makes moody scenes hard for you. You said that you and Lennon would practice lines—even Raina’s (Connie Britton’s)—but it would “get awkward because I’m just talking to the wall.”

Oh my gosh. I can’t with this. This is so funny.

So, how have you changed?

I definitely was a very unaware child, but in a beautiful way. I think Lennon was always almost too aware for her own good when she was a kid and was very observant and knew everything that was going on. Meanwhile, I was just bouncing around. I didn’t really have anything to channel. Once I started getting a bit older and having more [life experiences], acting became easier for me.

When I asked you both to describe each other, you said, “Lennon is pretty, nice, and annoying.” [Laughs.] She said, “Maisy is smart. She knows she’s smart. She’s very aware how smart she is, and she’s quirky, and she’s sweet.”

That’s so cute. Honestly, Lennon was very obsessive with being schoolteacher to me. I did know I was smart because I was so ahead of my grade because Lennon would always teach me what she was learning.

Meanwhile, I asked if you got starstruck as a kid. What do you think you said?

Probably yes.

You said, “I just don’t get starstruck. Actually, wait, with Lucy Hale, I did. I mean, I was like, Oh my God, Lucy Hale. I started crying. I can’t believe you have that on video.”

That’s so cute. Starstruck is a strange word. I definitely have people that I meet that I admire so deeply, and I am such a true fan that I will get really excited and really moved by the fact that I had a chance to be in the same room as them. But I feel like being starstruck is where you are unable to function and speak, and I don’t have that necessarily.

I was probably more starstruck with Lucy Hale than Taylor Swift for some reason because I watched her on Pretty Little Liars, which to me was everything. I think as a kid I got more starstruck over actors than music people, because that was what I wanted to do. It felt very crazy when I would get to meet a famous actor.

Do you keep in touch with any of the Nashville cast?

Absolutely. Chip Esten [who played Deacon] is the first person to congratulate me or celebrate any successes. He’s never missed a birthday. He still lives in Nashville, so he’s probably the one I am in touch with the most. Everyone from that cast was so great to me and Lennon. They really were such a big part of our childhood. It’s a bond that can’t really go anywhere. I also saw Claire [Bowen, who played Scarlett], Sam [Palladio, who played Gunnar], and Jonathan [Jackson, who played Avery] not that long ago. They’re lovely people. And I keep in touch with Lennon a good bit too.

[Laughs.] Okay, good. I’m glad to hear that the most.

I’m in her bedroom right now, actually. It was her birthday the other day, so I came to LA to see her. I flew in from New York.

Where is home base for you now?

I still live in Nashville. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be there, but I’m waiting until I know it’s time for me to go. It just has not happened yet. Whenever I return to Nashville from working, I’m just so relaxed and put at ease. So I’m not ready to leave yet. And honestly, you can really make it happen from anywhere now.

Let’s talk about My Old Ass. What was that casting process like?

I met [director] Megan Park through The Fallout, which was her first movie. I knew I had to work with her for something. I wasn’t right for a role in The Fallout, but then Lennon and I ended up writing a song for the movie. Megan and I stayed in touch as friends, so when she started writing My Old Ass, she would text every young person in her phone and be like, “How would you say this?” so the writing felt really genuine. I had no idea what the movie was about, but I fully started manifesting to be in it. Once she went to cast it, I auditioned and became so obsessed with the script. It was my favorite thing I had read in so long. And then, I somehow actually booked it.

How did you most relate to your character, Elliott?

I always felt very aligned with Elliot. Her friendships felt familiar to me in terms of how much she prioritizes them. Even just down to the way that we spoke, I think, was very similar to Elliot.

What is your favorite thing about her look?

Our costume designer used my Instagram as reference for Elliott. I kept so many of her clothes. I loved the Canadian socks. Those are my favorite. I made Megan Park a sock monkey out of those socks when we wrapped because those socks felt so symbolic to me.

And what was it like working with Aubrey Plaza?

I’ve been fascinated by her forever. Obviously Parks and Rec was the biggest and the best, and that was where my main love for her was born. But I think I was really in love with her in interviews…she’s just the funniest human that’s ever lived.

Were there any superstitions you couldn’t let go of when you were filming?

That’s such a good question. I was getting a lot of signs when I was filming. I don’t know about superstitions, but I had a lot of bumblebee signs. Bees would land on me to the point that people in the cast were nicknaming me Bumblebee because I was seeing them everywhere. I looked up the spiritual meaning of a bumblebee, and it said the worker bee needs to stop and smell the flowers or whatever. And when I was deep in the process, I didn’t talk. I hadn’t touched my phone in weeks. On the last day of filming, there was a dead bee on my counter when I got home. I looked up the spiritual meaning of a dead bee and it literally said, “Your work is done.” I was weeping. I’m very receptive to signs.

What would your on-set superlative be?

Most likely to take a nap. Megan has probably 30 photos of me napping in between setting up a camera lens. I am a chronic napper to the point that I might need to see a doctor. I can nap for 3 minutes, I can nap for 30 minutes, I can nap for 6 hours. I am a professional sleeper. I slept on every single lunch break in Elliott’s bed. So yeah, most likely to nap.

I support that talent. Meanwhile, I’m so glad we got to reunite for this interview.

Absolutely. I wish we could hug right now.

I’m sending you one through the computer! And let’s not wait 11 years for another interview.

We must revisit. I can’t wait. I’ll mark it on my calendar.

Originally Appeared on Glamour