Interview: Ariella Glaser Leads New WWII Coming-Of-Age Film, White Bird

Out this Friday, White Bird is a coming-of-age WWII film narrated by Helen Mirren – and an unexpected sequel/prequel to Wonder (2017). In the starring role is newcomer Ariella Glaser, playing Sara Blum, a Jewish girl living in Nazi-occupied France, who is hidden from the Germans with the help of classmate Julien Beaumier (Orlndo Schwerdt). We sat down with Ariella to hear all about it.

Orlando Schwerdt as Julien and Ariella Glaser as Sara in White Bird: A Wonder Story. (Lionsgate/Larry Horricks)

Interview: Ariella Glaser On White Bird

Hi Ariella, how’s life going at the moment?

Really well, thanks. I’ve just finished my first year of university which has been pretty intense. I’m now very much looking forward to the release of White Bird. I’m spending the summer with my friends, family and cats!

You’re about to feature in White Bird – can you give us a quick fire introduction to the film?

Gladly! It follows the story of Julian’s [from Lionsgate’s Wonder] grandmother recounting her experience of living in Nazi-occupied France, and how love and hope can prevail even in the most unlikely of circumstances. 

You play the lead, Sara – how would you describe her?

We first meet Sara at age 14. She’s very privileged, having grown up with loving, well-off parents, and good friends at school. She plays piano, hates maths, and loves to draw. She leads a very normal life until the war, when her Jewish identity becomes dangerous to her life.

What was it like playing her?

So rewarding. On the one hand, she’s just a teenage girl with teenage problems, and on the other hand she’s living through a world war and hiding from people trying to kill her. The range of emotions I needed to convey her were challenging, especially as it was my first significant film role, but I felt so supported by the rest of the cast and crew. 

What is it like playing the younger version of Helen Mirren?

Such an honour and so daunting. I remember when my mum and I were quarantining in our Prague apartment just before filming started, our director Marc [Forster] would call us every night with an update on casting. On the last day of quarantine, he called to tell us Helen Mirren would be playing Grandmere and we just couldn’t believe it. She’s an absolute icon – you can’t really ask for a more exciting person to play the younger version of. She was there for the last couple of weeks of my filming and while I was in my trailer, I was told that Helen wanted to have tea with me. She was just the warmest person and I felt so lucky. We discussed the character and she asked about any mannerisms that she could incorporate into her portrayal of Sara. I felt extremely disorientated that the Helen Mirren was asking me for advice. I told her that I walked with my hands behind my back a lot whilst filming and you can see Helen also doing that in the film – it was so special to include a little connection like that. 

How did you get into character/prepare for the role? 

I knew it would be really important to understand the history behind the story and to get the best sense of what it would be like living as a young Jewish person in Europe during that time. As a young Jewish person myself, I found it very useful to research my own family’s history and family members that had lived through and died in the Holocaust. 

When getting into character, I try not to over rehearse – I want the scenes to feel fresh and for nothing to seem forced. 

Any stand out moments from rehearsals or filming?

Too many to count but they include: meeting stunt trained ‘wolf-dogs’, running through a real disused sewer, sampling chocolate cakes with Gillian Anderson and falling off old-fashioned bicycles.

What is the cast dynamic? Who was your favourite person to work with? 

I was very lucky to be surrounded by people my age during the filming – we all got so close so quickly. It sounds cliche but, honestly, by the second week I felt like I’d known them forever. We filmed during lockdown so we were all stuck in a hotel together with our chaperones for months (it felt a bit like a shipwreck) – we filmed together, ate together, did school together and hung out every evening. We recreated Hamilton music videos, played an obscene amount of charades, and explored the most beautiful snowy city. It was many of our first films so we were all understandably nervous but it became completely comfortable and fun by the end. I can’t pick my favourite, the others would get too offended…

Are you still in touch with any of your co-stars? 

Oh yes! We’re all pretty spread out globally but that just gives us more of an excuse to travel. I can honestly say I’ve been lucky enough to meet some of my best friends on this set and I can’t wait to see them all again for the release.

Orlando Schwerdt as Julien and Ariella Glaser as Sara in White Bird: A Wonder Story. (Lionsgate/Larry Horricks)

You also starred in Radioactive on Prime – what was that like? 

I had the best first on-set experience you can imagine with a wonderful director, Marjane Satrapi, and lead actress in Rosamund Pike. Budapest was a beautiful (and very cold!) place to film. It was eye opening to see how a film is put together and how many incredible people are involved. I developed a proper and ongoing interest in camera work and kept getting told off by my tutor on set who wanted me to focus on studies… I just wanted to watch the filming!

Any other roles in the pipeline that you’re excited about? (If you’re allowed to tell us!)

Nothing I can talk about right now. I’ve been reading a lot of interesting projects and looking forward to what is to come after the release of White Bird.

You’re currently attending university – how do you balance school with acting? 

The big challenge has been trying to film audition tapes in a dorm room. Turns out it involves balancing tripods in sinks and using my friends to read opposite me. It’s very giggly and their American accents have improved significantly. I’m studying Politics and the more I learn, the more I realise how close Politics is to acting. I think films should entertain but also comment on something important and current (as I hope White Bird does). I think that studying Politics can help enhance any work I do in the future.

And how do you balance it all with your personal life? 

University has taken centre stage this last year, and I’ve enjoyed getting into academic life as well as acting in student films. I’m really excited about White Bird coming out and my friends finally being able to see it. They won’t just have to take my word that I’m in a movie and didn’t just disappear for four months during lockdown!

What’s your dream role? 

Female Jack Sparrow – eyeliner and all.

What’s a genre you’d love to try?

I’m not sure about a specific genre but I’ve always thought about how cool it would be to walk away from a film set having learnt a really amazing skill. Like archery, or ballroom dancing, or conversational Spanish.

What did you want to be when you were growing up? 

I wanted to be an astronaut. That dream was quickly crushed when I realised that I don’t like flying or maths. 

How can we all live a little bit better?   

White Bird’s key message is to always choose kindness, which I couldn’t agree with more. You never know the impact that you can make on someone else’s life.

Ariella Glaser. (Photography, Joseph Sinclair; styling, Amy Croysdill; makeup, Andriani Vasiliou; hair, Sophie Sugarman.)

Ariella Glaser Recommends…

I’m tuning into… The first season of House of the Dragon… I had to pause my viewing of the second season and refresh my memory due to all their names sounding too similar. But I am loving it.

What I’m reading… I’ve been reading a lot of Toni Morrison, and just started The Bluest Eye.

The last thing I watched was… I think I must’ve matured in the past years as I’ve recently been enjoying lots of cheesy rom-coms with no hint of irony nor shame. Last night, I rewatched Notting Hill with my mum for maybe the fifth time.

What I’m most looking forward to seeing… Joker: Folie à Deux. Joaquin Phoenix’s performances are always masterful and I will never not turn up for Lady Gaga. Ironically, it is being released on the same day as White Bird. Word on the street is that we’re 2024’s answer to Barbenheimer…

Favourite film of all time… That’s too cruel of a question; my Letterboxd favourites change weekly. Everyone close to me has been forced to watch Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, so it only seems fair to go with that but the full answer to that question would require its own interview…

Band/singer I always have on repeat… Chappell Roan. I don’t want to be that annoying person but would like to remind everyone that I liked her before she became this (deservedly) popular. I have so much time for fun, queer, feminine pop.

My ultimate cultural recommendation… Finding cheap theatre tickets. I spend half my life peering around pillars and spotlights in ‘reduced view’ seats but I just love watching live performances. Theatre is thought provoking and inspiring but in my opinion the whole experience is such an underrated way to spend an evening – I wish people my age were encouraged to go more often.

Cultural guilty pleasure… Spending my weekends obsessively watching the football. If anyone needs an English football team to support, Arsenal are the only way to go. I’ll save the intricacies of their pressing structures and positional play for another time.

What’s next for me is… Exciting things but I can’t say more that that so you’ll have to stay tuned! 

WATCH

Ariella Glaser stars as Sara Blum in White Bird, in cinemas nationwide from Friday 4 October 2024. Watch the trailer below.