In her latest role, the 23-year-old actress plays a teenager who falls for her soccer coach (James Franco). Roberts talks to BuzzFeed about the film and the controversial relationship, which you can preview in an exclusive clip.
Tribeca Film
Emma Roberts has played her fair share of teenagers, from the iconic girl detective in Nancy Drew to the self-harming Noelle in indie dramedy It's Kind of a Funny Story to Madison Montgomery, the jaded starlet, witch, and "stone cold bitch who loves hard drinking, big dicks, and trouble" from American Horror Story: Coven. Now, the 23-year-old actress is back in high school for her latest role in Gia Coppola's directorial debut Palo Alto, set to open in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on May 9th before expanding into other markets.
But Roberts sees her Palo Alto character, April, a naive girl caught between a fellow student with a crush (Jack Kilmer) and a chancier flirtation with her soccer coach Mr. B (James Franco), as a change of pace. "She's a character I've never played before — so not like me," Roberts told BuzzFeed over the phone shortly after the film screened at the Tribeca Film Festival. "She's not one of these class clowns or mature-beyond-her-years kind of girls. She's a real 16-year-old girl, and she's trying to figure out all these complicated issues that are getting thrown at her."
Tribeca Film
Dreamily shot but grounded in gritty depictions of teenage angst and confusion, Palo Alto is the most recent in a series of indies the former Nickelodeon star has sought out as she makes the transition into more adult roles, films that include her leading turn alongside John Cusack as would-be literary wunderkind Amy in 2013's Adult World and the part of the prickly pop star Rashida Jones tangles with in 2012's Celeste and Jesse Forever. But Roberts isn't in a hurry to leave teen roles behind, noting it's an incredibly rich time in one's life to be able to explore. "The reason there's so many books and movies about being a teen is because it's the beginning of so many things and the end of so many things," the actress explained. "It's just such a magical time."
For April, any magic is interspersed with some very relatable loneliness and uncertainty, particularly in her relationship with Mr. B, for whom she also babysits. Palo Alto depicts what happens between April and her teacher with a sensitivity Roberts was drawn to. "It wasn't just a gratuitous teacher-student love affair — it was really something that had a profound effect on her and probably will for the rest of her life," she said. "If it was gratuitous, then I would have been more hesitant. But it really was a catalyst for a lot of things in the movie for April."
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