One month before Grace Edwards auditioned for the role of Daisy Kelly in Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, she had an impromptu introduction to the director at the premiere of another film. “I was really shy and frightened to meet him,” says Edwards. “It just happened, spur of the moment; I don’t think we had any idea of what to say to each other, honestly.”

A few weeks later, Baumbach and Edwards would have plenty to discuss, as the young actor arrived in New York City to read — for the third time — for the role of Jay Kelly’s (George Clooney) youngest daughter with the Academy Award–nominated director. Despite still feeling the nerves during the meeting, a week or so later, the actor’s representatives called her and requested to speak with “Daisy.” Edwards barely remembers the rest of that phone call.

In Jay Kelly, Daisy is the impetus for her Hollywood star father’s soul searching. Confronted with a long and dazzling career, but less personal accomplishments to show for his life, Jay crashes his daughter’s trip to Europe — an attempt to cling onto their relationship and prove himself a good and present father. “Daisy’s well aware and ultimately hurt about her father’s absence in her life, but she’s also one of the few people left who actually loves him truly,” says Edwards.

Grace Edwards

Playing the daughter of a superstar isn’t new territory for Edwards. After landing roles in an episode of the anthology series Modern Love and the drama Call Jane, the LA-based actor played the child of a movie star in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, alongside Scarlett Johansson. Despite that experience, Edwards didn’t find Daisy’s life (a movie star parent and jaunt to Europe) the most relatable, but she was drawn to “her level of independence.”

In one memorable scene, Edwards, Clooney, and Théo Augier Bonaventure (who plays Daisy’s boyfriend, Guillaume) sit around a table on a European train as the Italian countryside whips by outside. During that seven-minute continuous take, Edwards found herself “intrigued by George’s vivacity” rather than intimidated by Clooney’s stardom. “It was all a bit perplexing, but it wasn’t because George was there per se — it was more because of the elements in the scene,” says Edwards. “There was a seven-minute sequence uncut, and there were a lot of different feelings we had to evoke.”

Luckily, Edwards found herself responding to Baumbach’s directorial style and writing, particularly in those complex and emotive scenes. “We intuitively understood everything we needed to know through the script, and usually Noah would ask us if we had any questions or even suggestions as we went along,” she says. “As a director, he’s rather quiet and methodical. He does like to do a lot of takes. But I think it’s honestly a meditative process for him as opposed to adjusting, critiquing. Sometimes I think he just allows the process to go on in its own time.”

Baumbach is the most recent in a slew of Oscar-nominated directors with whom Edwards has shared a set. “I like that I’ve worked with so many different directing styles in the span of my very short career,” she says. “They have all been so different. I’m very curious about directors, not just in a creative sense, but in a psychological sense.”

So after working on a film about Hollywood legacy, what kind of career does Edwards want to chase? That might be asking for a lot of perspective from a 22-year-old so early in their professional journey, but Edwards has an answer. “There are a lot of artists that I would like to meet or work with — and learn more about their medium,” she says. “People like Charlie Kaufman, Yorgos Lanthimos, Craig Mazin, Sean Baker, M. Night [Shyamalan], Kathryn Bigelow — I really enjoy their work. So if I could one day be in a room with them, ask them questions and get to know what their individual process is, that would be really special to me.”

Jay would tell her to shoot for the stars.

This feature originally appeared in Issue 22 of Tudum Magazine.