Rachel McAdams draws on her experiences as a mother in her latest film project.
Talking to PEOPLE at the Los Angeles premiere Are you there, God? It’s me MargaretThe actress opened up about how being a parent helped her play the mother of the lead character in Judy Blume’s classic coming-of-age novel.
“She’s a great mom. She’s not perfect, but that makes her perfect,” McAdams, 44, told PEOPLE on Sunday of her role as Barbara Simon, alongside 11-year-old Abby Ryder Fortson. Kathy Bates also plays Margaret’s grandmother, Sylvia.
McAdams, who has a son and daughter with her partner, Jamie Linden, adds, “As a mother, it’s not very, very difficult to find the privilege of watching the mess, the growth and parenting of a child.”
“I think this is a really lucky place, a place to be in, and I think Barb feels it,” she adds of the film, which is about Margaret Simon’s changing life after her family moved from New York City to New Jersey. suburbs – “going through the messy and turbulent throes of adolescence with new friends at a new school,” according to one synopsis.
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Lionsgate released a trailer for the movie in January. George Harrison’s iconic 1970 song “What is Life.”
Adds McAdams about her character’s role in the movie, “I think she’s getting over the fact that she still has parents who don’t support her. So she wants to be incredibly supportive of her daughter, almost to a fault,” adds McAdams.
“I don’t think you’ve ever been a suffocating mother,” she adds. Midnight in Paris The star, who wore an elegant red dress with red stripe heels at the premiere, said, “but in some ways it’s almost too intrusive, definitely when it comes to religion. It has its own shadows out there, and I think it gets it. Take a minute to see if Margaret can handle it.”
McAdams recently told PEOPLE that he was excited to have the novel’s author, Blume, on set during the making of the film.
“It was so surreal to watch his book come to life and be a part of it,” he said. “She is the most beautiful lady and therefore I am so honored to be a part of it. She waited a very, very long time to do this, until I felt really good about giving it. I just wanted to do it next to her and give it to her. The best I could do Barb.”
Speaking to PEOPLE on April 12, Blume, 85, explained that watching the movie, shot 50 years later, was “the experience of a lifetime”.
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With Are you there, God? It’s me MargaretThe best-selling author (honored as a “living legend” by the Library of Congress) is also featured in the upcoming Prime Video documentary. Judy Blume Forever (It will air on April 21)
“I don’t know what 85 means,” Blume told people. “But I feel like there’s more I want to do. I love doing it.”
“I am an intuitive writer,” he added, with 29 books for children and adults (90 million copies sold). “I don’t analyze too much and the story comes right away.”
Regarding her own experiences, she added: “Keep moving. Keep dancing! Keep doing everything you can.”
Are you there, God? It’s me Margaret In theaters from April 28.