TORONTO — The cottage country set of "My Old Ass" felt so much like summer camp, the film's cast and crew even had matching anklets.
"We moved into these tiny little bunkies next to each other and we would go for night swims and go on jet skis, and we did all our script prep from a boat house," said Maisy Stella, the 20-year-old star of the film who hails from Oshawa, Ont.
"It was just so special and unreal...my feet have literally never touched so much grass in my entire life."
The Muskoka, Ont.-shot and -set film, which is now gearing up for a wide Canadian release, made waves among international critics when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. It earned praise for its smart humour and fresh take on the nostalgic coming-of-age movie.
The movie follows 18-year-old Elliott's final weeks at her family's cranberry farm before she moves to the big city to attend the University of Toronto. She and her two best friends decide to bid adieu to their childhoods by taking psilocybin, a trip that leads to the titular "Old Ass" – Elliott's 39-year-old self, portrayed by Aubrey Plaza – appearing to her and doling out advice.
Writer-director Megan Park, who is originally from Peterborough, Ont., cites influences like "My Girl" and "Now and Then," sweet movies of her childhood that pack an emotional gut punch.
She also drew inspiration from her own childhood summers, when her family would rent cottages in Muskoka.
"One of my goals as a Canadian filmmaker is to make movies here that are set here, and that are about Canadians," she said.
She also wants to make movies with a cross-generational appeal, though so far the subjects of her films have been adolescents.
Her first movie, "The Fallout," set in the aftermath of a high school shooting, premiered at an all-virtual version of South by Southwest in 2021 where it won both the jury and audience award for best narrative feature.
"I'm not trying to write for young people," Park said. "I'm not going into it that way. I'm just trying to write for a human being."
Still, she said, she consulted with Stella and her young castmates when she was refining the script. She wanted their input on slang, but also on how teens talk to each other.
"I've always said Megan is an expert at riding the line between it feeling timeless and also still feeling relevant and modern, without it expiring the week after it comes out," Stella said.
As for the anklets, which their costume designer purchased en masse from a big box store, they became a sort of talisman for the team making the movie, emblematic of their camaraderie – so much so that the jewelry featured prominently when producer Margot Robbie stopped by the set.
"She was presented with an anklet first thing," Park said.
"We were literally like, 'Your honour,'" said Stella, miming a bow and flourish.
These days, Stella keeps the anklet in a box full of mementoes from shooting.
"This movie will always stay in a very specific part of my brain," Stella said. "It was so perfect and so surreal and so magical."
"My Old Ass" will hit select theatres in Toronto this Friday, before rolling out across Canada on Sept. 27.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press