Hailee Steinfeld, who has filmed two movies in Atlanta in the recent past, appears in "Begin Again," starring Keira Knightley, Adam Levine, Mark Ruffalo, Catherine Keener, CeeLo Green and Mos Def, in theaters now.
Steinfeld plays Violet, an angst-filled rocker teen upset over her parents' separation and just about everything else, it seems.
“My character knows exactly the game that she’s playing,” Steinfeld said during a phone interview. “She’s not clueless. She’s not stupid. She knows exactly what card to play and when to play it. There’s a reason she does everything she does.”
Violet's parents Dan and Miriam (Ruffalo and Keener) are music-industry veterans caught up in the tailwinds of bad decisions. Knightley's character Greta is adrift following a breakup from her self-absorbed boyfriend Dave (Levine). After Greta and Dan cross paths at an open mic night, they and a bunch of their fellow musicians with time on their hands decide to cut an album right on the streets of New York.
“It was so amazing,” Steinfeld said. “It was my first time shooting in the city. I’d heard many stories about how crazy it is and how exciting it is, and it lived up to expectations. The city plays such an important character in the film.”
Her character blossoms as the power of music manages to transform everyone.
“It does such an incredible job documenting the power of music,” she said.
Steinfeld, who's currently working on "Pitch Perfect 2," filmed two movies in Atlanta: "Barely Lethal," with Jessica Alba, Thomas Mann, Jaime King and Samuel L. Jackson; and "Term Life," with Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Bill Paxton and Taraji P. Henson.
“I have to honestly say Atlanta is one of my favorite cities ever,” Steinfeld said. “We were always looking for something fun to do. It’s such a great, lively city. The people are so awesome.”
She took a shine to a local Stars and Strikes bowling alley; Cook Hall, the restaurant in the Buckhead W hotel; and CVS.
“When we were shooting ‘Barely Lethal,’ a lot of my friends were staying a few blocks from CVS,” she said. “When we were bored, we would walk to CVS.”
The 17-year-old known for a slew of roles including Mattie in the 2010 film "True Grit" said balancing a busy film career with being a teenager isn't hard.
“With what I do I love it so much I forget that I’m working,” she said. “I’m having so much fun.”
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