From Springfield Auditions To A Venice Trophy: Cailee Spaeny's Wild Rise, Explained

She Booked Her Hollywood Debut By Literally Slamming Herself Into The Ground

Before Pacific Rim: Uprising, Spaeny spent four straight years driving cross-country from Missouri to LA for auditions that led nowhere. For her callback tape, she skipped the standard 'stand in front of a white wall' approach entirely and built her own action sequence out of pillows, a pole, and a step stool standing in for a Jaeger cockpit.

John Boyega Personally Fought To Get Her Cast

Casting director Sarah Finn nearly passed on Spaeny's homemade tape until director Steven S. DeKnight saw it and pulled her into callbacks with Boyega himself. Boyega later said he pushed for her over bigger names because her read was quieter and more subtle than everyone else who auditioned.

One Text From Kirsten Dunst Is Why She's Priscilla Presley At All

Spaeny had been a Sofia Coppola fan since discovering The Virgin Suicides at age 15, but the Priscilla role reportedly came her way after Kirsten Dunst recommended her to Coppola. The offer arrived like a movie scene itself: a casual coffee meeting in New York that turned into Coppola pulling out an iPad of Priscilla Presley photos.

The Whole Movie Was Shot In Just 30 Days

Playing Priscilla required Spaeny to age from 14 to her late twenties, but the entire indie shoot only had a month to capture it all. She's described the schedule as brutal, saying the range of ages they filmed in a single day was almost a joke.

She Won Best Actress At Venice — And Didn't Even Know It Was A Thing

Spaeny took home the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 80th Venice Film Festival for Priscilla, joining past winners like Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert. She was so unaware of the award's prestige beforehand that she admitted afterward she hadn't even looked up who the past winners were.

At 25, She Became One Of The Youngest Best Actress Winners In Venice History

Spaeny took the prize at just 25 years old, putting her among the youngest actresses ever to win the festival's top honor. The win also earned her a Golden Globe nomination months later, cementing Priscilla as her true breakout.

Alex Garland Wrote Her A Bigger Role Because Of A TV Show Nobody Watched

Spaeny first worked with director Alex Garland on his 2020 miniseries Devs, where she played a minor supporting character. He brought her back for Civil War as Jessie, the rookie war photographer at the center of the film, and even wrote in her real-life Missouri roots as the character's backstory.

Fede Álvarez Wrote An Alien Lead Around Her Face Years Before She Was Cast

Director Fede Álvarez has said Spaeny read for him on another project years earlier, and when he started writing Alien: Romulus, he put her photo on his mood board before she'd even landed Priscilla. Spaeny signed on as the film's lead, and the movie went on to post a bigger opening weekend than her Pacific Rim debut.