Amandla Stenberg On Centering Her Character’s Black, Biracial Identity and How That Deepened the Complex Father/Daughter Dynamic in ‘The Eddy’

Speaking with Awards Daily, Amandla Stenberg touched on the responsibility she felt to explore her character’s racial identity – something that was initially absent from the script – and how that opened the door for her and Andre Holland to create a more complex father/daughter dynamic. 

It’s hard to believe that it has been eight years since Amandla Stenberg burst into Hollywood capturing the hearts of millions as Rue in The Hunger Games. Since then, the 21-year-old actress made a name for herself as one of the leading actors of her generation, blending art and activism into everything she does whether its starring in films like The Hate U Give or using social media to begin a dialogue with her fans on issues like cultural appropriation.

Now Amandla is at a point in her career where she is ready to take on an even more hands on approach to every project. In Netflix’s The Eddy she plays Julie, a teenage girl battling PTSD flying halfway across the world to reunite with her estranged father, played by Andre Holland. In the original script, Julie’s race wasn’t mentioned at all, but Amandla knew that if she were to explore her character’s trauma and grief in a substantial way it would be integral to also explore Julie’s Black identity and how that affects her relationship with her father. With that freedom to explore, she and Holland were able to expand on the story, taking it in a direction Chazelle and the creative team had never imagined.

Speaking with Awards Daily, Amandla detailed what it was like to collaborate with Andre Holland creating that father-daughter dynamic at the center of The Eddy. She also touches on what it has been like going from a more traditional Hollywood system into the more creatively challenging verité shooting style on the streets of Paris on a multi-lingual set. The experience ultimately changed the way the young actress looks at acting.

Awards Daily: The Eddy is set in Paris but it doesn’t feature the stereotypical depiction of the city that most Americans are used to. Instead, the Paris we see depicted here is on the outskirts of town and one that highlights all classes and races as well as immigrants. What was that like for you as someone who had never been to Paris before and what did it add to the story?

Amandla Stenberg: When I had my first couple of conversations with Damien about the project, he described it as a love letter to Paris. He has a close relationship with the city and the importance lied in creating an image that was more accurate to its multiculturalism and various aspects of the city.

I think the creative decision opened up the show, introducing us to so many different faces that come from all over and that have different experiences. That really is the backbone of the show; how music transcends all boundaries.

AD: Your character, Julie, arrives in Paris in the middle of the first episode as one of only two American characters in the show. She’s come to stay with her dad and although we don’t know much about her past she is clearly trying to escape something. How did you approach this element of her?

AS: I think what she is looking for is that connection to her father – more than anything she desperately wants that relationship back. I think it’s also difficult for her because of her age and the ways in which she’s been hurt; it makes it hard for her to admit that that’s what she wants. She plays these games that feel, at least to me, reflective of how you deal with interpersonal relationships when you’re a teenager. She’s learned a certain way of seeking out attention and doesn’t know how to express how she feels and be vulnerable. She’s there for her father because she loves him and wants to be close to him but doesn’t know how.

I think she’s also looking for a sense of self. When we meet her she is very confused in a myriad of ways; in terms of who she is, of what she wants, how to navigate the world. Something I was interested in exploring as someone who is biracial is what exactly does it look like to have someone who is biracial but who was raised primarily by their white parent. Someone who doesn’t necessarily have the connection to their Blackness in a way that feels ingrained, especially in such a formative time like adolescence. We had a lot of conversations about Julie and that was a part of her that came up a lot. It became a narrative that wasn’t initially written into the show but became formative for Julie as she becomes closer to her father and gets to rediscover herself and piece together the broken parts of herself.

AD: Julie’s strained relationship with her father [played by Andre Holland] is at the core of the story but it’s never really shown what happened. Instead, it is fully left to the audience to interpret that relaitonship based off of yours and Holland’s performances and onscreen chemistry. What was it like as an actor to create such an integral and intimidate bond that the success of the story relied on?

AS: That was a really interesting part of constructing their characters. When we are introduced to them the audience isn’t conveyed the most clear information in terms of what has happened to them and why we are the way that we are. It required us as actors to lean into this secret invisible world to create their backstories. We had a lot of those discussions when we began filming setting up those backstories and deciding what exactly we wanted to convey.

The Eddy is a show that is defined by grief and trauma so a lot of our conversations were centered around those questions; what exactly are those traumatic events, how exactly are they responding to them, and what exactly do they need to move past that grief and trauma and actually start healing. Those conversations became extensive. “So, in 2012 what happened? When does Elliot leave? When does the divorce happen? When does Julie start having issues with substance abuse? What catalyzed those things?” A lot of the time Andre and I were leaning into each other to find that connection within those conversations. That was a really beautiful experience for us.

AD: Speaking of Julie’s identity as a Black and biracial woman, I read that that element of her identity wasn’t initially incorporated into the script but was actually something that you brought to the creative team as something essential that needed to be explored. What was that like fighting to have that part of Julie’s identity thoughtfully explored? I’m also curious of the freedom of the more verité shooting style comfortably lent to that process?

AS: I think it was something that felt like less of an addition and instead more of a responsibility. It’s impossible to play an experience truthfully without reflecting all of the lenses that it’s filtered through. We had an extensive conversation going into filming where we discussed what exactly Julie should be in terms of race. They were in the middle of casting Julie’s mom and Andre had already been attached. At one point Damien and the producers were thinking her mom should be black but I expressed that I felt more comfortable, because of my own identity, portraying somebody who is biracial opposed to doing that cross-identification work of playing someone who is fully Black.

I think it also opened up a lot of intricate dynamics in terms of who Julie is and how her history manifests in her personality. There’s a cultural clash that happens between her and her dad. I think we all agreed that it opened up a lot of meaty stuff and we felt a responsibility to portray these experiences accurately. While it wasn’t something that was incorporated into the show at first, because I don’t think Jack Thorne necessarily wrote the story with Black actors in mind or writing to a Black experience, it just became something that we needed to treat tenderly. That led to us bringing on an additional writer, Phillip Howze, and he helped us shape those facets of the story with authenticity.

AD: We’ve talked a lot about the multi-cultural aspects of The Eddy. One of my favorite relationships to watch unfold was between Julie and Sim [Adil Dehbi]. I became so lost in that dynamic that at times I forgot that there was this major language barrier with Julie primarily speaking English and Sim primarily speaking French and Arabic. What was that like creating that dynamic? Was it challenging?

AS: It was super intimidating at first because I didn’t speak French at all! Something that is really cool is that Adil Dehbi the actor who played him, we had a natural connection that definitely transcended language. We immediately became friends even though we weren’t able to communicate. Throughout production his English got better, and my French got better although I am definitely not fluent.

It was challenging learning how to play scenes when I didn’t necessarily understand everything. It demonstrated to me that language isn’t ultimately the most important thing when it comes to connecting with other people. It’s really cool to hear that it’s something that you felt when watching that.

AD: This is a multi-lingual show that naturally flows between English, French, and Arabic. It’s also clear that music is very much used as language throughout the show as an integral and influential form of communication between the ensemble. How exactly did the music of the show influence your performance? Is it something that happened naturally on set or something you and the rest of the cast consciously worked into your performances?

AS: It was definitely a mixture of both. It’s something that’s written into the script almost as another character. Something that is constantly mirroring and reflecting the events of the story. And then a lot of the reactions on the set were organic because of the way the project was shot; this Verité and French New Wave style. We were given a lot of room for improvisation and a lot of room to find what felt truthful to us in the moment.

Basically, Damien and the producers wanted the medium of the story to reflect the subject. Jazz influenced the entire tone in terms of what we shot, what the environment on set was like, what creative environment was thrown together, all so that we could find those moments of truth and kinetic energy. Having music around all of the time really created that environment.

AD: You’ve been a working actor for quite a while now, but The Eddy took you in a very different creative direction. What was it like for you as an actor to dive into something completely different? Did anything surprise you about this experience?

AS: This experience was liberating. It was gratifying. It was scary. It was challenging. Overall though it was really cool. To be able to work with French actors that have this completely different sensibility and to be inspired by their work taught me how to lean into different styles of acting.

There were things that I had never done before that were honestly terrifying but fun to learn, especially with our second director Houda Benyamina. She would work with me in this intensive and terrifying way. She would spin my body around or say the same thing to me ten times in a row. She worked with me in a way that was raw and it opened up different parts of me that ultimately changed the way that I think about the craft of acting.

That is what was so exciting heading into the project because I am a huge fan of the French New Wave and that particular sensibility and the ripple effects of that style so this was a dream of mine. I feel really lucky that I am getting to a place in my career where I can choose projects that reflect those sensibilities and those parts of cinema that really inspire me.

The Eddy is available to stream on Netflix.