In Song Sung Blue, Ella delivers a quietly compelling supporting performance as Rachel, a teenager absorbing the emotional weight of love, loss, and resilience unfolding around her. With an instinctive, grounded presence, she brings depth and sensitivity to a character shaped as much by what she observes as what she feels. Her performance adds a subtle but lasting emotional resonance to the film.
Top and Knit Belt: Veronique LeRoy Paris, Leggings: TATA LA, Shoes: Paul Andrew
Sweater and Briefs: Veronique LeRoy Paris, Heels: 3.1 Phillip Lim
Your performance in Song Sung Blue feels incredibly grounded and emotionally precise. When you first read the script, what was the spark that told you this was a story you needed to be part of?
The spark that told me that this was a story that I needed to be a part of was hands down how near tangible that Rachel felt to me, even from the very first time that I read the script, despite not having really any shared experiences in my personal life with hers. That didn’t stop or limit me from just feeling like she was at my fingertips and like I had a really deep understanding of who she is, not even just on the level of the script and through the great journey and arc that Craig built into his screenplay, but also just certain unspoken things that I felt like it picked up on. The idea of getting to portray those on screen felt inspiring and exciting, so it was a dream to get to spend however many days of a shoot actually doing that.
Sweater Top, Knit Briefs, Head Band and Bracelet: Veronique LeRoy Paris, Heels: Anonymous Copenhagen
Sweater Top, Knit Briefs, Head Band and Bracelet: Veronique LeRoy Paris, Heels: Anonymous Copenhagen
Because the film is rooted in a true story, you had the rare opportunity to be in direct contact with the real family behind it, including the daughter whose experiences informed your character. How did that ongoing communication shape your emotional choices and help you protect the authenticity of Rachel’s story?
I do not take for granted what an honor it is to have someone trust that I will handle the portrayal of their real life story with care, and the way that Rachel gave me that trust is something that I’m so grateful for, so I explored a lot of my intuition and who it is that I personally sensed that she was in that time of her life and what kind of color palette she might wear her clothes in for one part of the movie versus the other and how it is that she might style her hair and what her opinions might have been on certain things or what have you. But on top of that, I personally wanted to run those things by Rachel and to make sure that she just felt like she was being portrayed in a way that she was comfortable with and just felt truthful, and so of course something is going to be the movie version, but there are certain little thumbprints that I think should kind of nuzzle their way in there of this real person. And on top of that, yeah, I had her phone number throughout the whole shoot, and I took advantage of that, and I texted her any questions that I had, and I was able to just pick her brain, and she was amazing. She’s the best.
Rachel is a teenager observing adults who are navigating loss, love, and resilience in real time. How did you approach playing a character who is both deeply affected by her parents’ world and quietly forming her own inner life?
In truth, the only way to approach such a nuanced character is to spend time exploring them, to spend time really meditating on each area of their life, each pillar, who it is that they define themselves as. I found on this set in particular it was helpful for me every single day before I stepped into a scene to bring all of it with her, and every person has different fractions of their worries, I suppose, that are towards the forefront of their mind in every situation, but I’m someone that believes that they kind of are always all there in one way or another. So there were deep breaths before the camera rolled everyday, and though something might be towards the forefront of my mind in this one scene, I also kind of allowed myself to breath into the fact that these other things were living inside of me at the same time as well, which I think is accurate to many teen girls and especially one that is put in the position that Rachel was, which was one of a lot of responsibility.
Cardigan: COS Stores, Sweater: H&M Studio, Leggings: TATA LA, Shoes: Paul Andrew
Cardigan: COS Stores, Sweater: H&M Studio, Leggings: TATA LA, Shoes: Paul Andrew
Music plays such a central role in the film, not just as performance, but as emotional language. How did immersing yourself in Neil Diamond’s music influence your rhythm, mood, or even your subconscious while filming?
I gravitated towards listening to Neil Diamond’s music is the transport van on my way to set most days or even sometimes in my trailer on my lunch break, not really for any reason other than I really found it gave me similar either experience or a deeper understanding of what the experience might be like of someone who kind of needs his music to keep going, and I think that it subconsciously burrowed its way into a lot of the pacing of our dialogue and how oftentimes it took on a rhythmic quality, I guess. I’m sure that a lot of that had to do with Neil’s music because I found, through listening to dozens of his songs for the first time, he has distinct melodies, but they always have his signature. They just, they always, you can always tell that they’re him, and I think the same thing, like each of us, I think we each had our own rhythm and part of that was, I think, how Craig wrote us to be really specific and individual people. And then on top that, I’m sure Neil’s music informs that as well.
You’ve spoken about how present and ego-free the set felt, especially working alongside Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman. What did observing their commitment teach you about collaboration and generosity in storytelling?
I think working on Song Sung Blue verified my hypothesis, so to speak, that working with actors who are completely present and who are generous and who will get into the weeds of the scene with you and lost themselves in that world by your side kind of changes everything. The experience of filming a movie like that proved my suspicion to be true. It’s extremely important, and with that, it’s kind of rare, so I’m just super grateful to them and to every person on that crew who was devoted as well. Each and every person was just devoted to this story for one reason or another, and we were able to stretch our wings a little bit.
Sweater and Briefs: Veronique LeRoy Paris, Heels: 3.1 Phillip Lim
You’ve described yourself as someone who’s fascinated not just by acting, but by how films are written, shaped, and ultimately released into the world. How has developing that broader understanding changed the way you show up on set as an actor?
I love this question, let me say that first and foremost. I would say without a doubt, my respect and super deep love for the art and transformative power that film has informs so many choices on set. It just informs the macro perspective that you’re giving. You kind of find yourself zooming out and putting the narrative first, putting the film first, what it is that is important, and a lot of that is removing you from the picture. A lot of that is removing any kind of ego, which is beautiful. I think that it opens up the possibilities for lots of play and for you to kind of take leaps that maybe if you were super focused on your role specifically, you wouldn’t be inspired to take, but it’s important to remember that in the world we do not live in a vacuum. We are not in our own individual bubbles. We are meant to be in community with each and I think the same thing goes for working on a film set. You’re not just an actor in a vacuum. You’re an actor who is serving a story, and that can be a really powerful thing when it’s in the right filmmakers hands.
Sweater Top, Knit Briefs, Head Band and Bracelet: Veronique LeRoy Paris, Heels: Anonymous Copenhagen
Cardigan: COS Stores, Sweater: H&M Studio, Leggings: TATA LA, Shoes: Paul Andrew
Coming from a musical family and having your own relationship to music, how do your different creative outlets, film, music, visual art, inform one another when you’re building a character?
I think one the most exciting parts about my job is the way that it keeps me on my toes. Not only is every single project and every single role different from the last, but with that, the preparation that each role asks of me is wildly different, and that’s exciting. I like to tune in to the radio station of what path the person that I’m going to be portraying kind of leads me down, and what that adventure looks like, even before I step on set, and that adventure keeps going. I think one of my favorite feelings is being partway through a shoot, and all my dreams are just infiltrated by my characte,r really, or just the world that we are in, whether it’s genuinely from their POV or just my thoughts on certain things. Maybe that brings up connections that I didn’t even know were there. So I would say film, music, visual art, paintings, even, you know, architecture, even different plants, different animals, different places around the world. Sometimes I feel like I am inspired by or I feel like I see my character within them, and then I’m just out in the world. But those things always play a part, but it just depends on who exactly that person is, like, which one is it the dominant area or medium that kind of defines them, whether or not people know that. Most of the time it’s not ever something that is spoken. It’s just kind of buried into my bones, and I think it emanates a little bit in scenes and or comes out in ad lib somehow.
Sweater Top, Knit Briefs, Head Band and Bracelet: Veronique LeRoy Paris, Heels: Anonymous Copenhagen
Sweater and Briefs: Veronique LeRoy Paris, Heels: 3.1 Phillip Lim
After seeing Song Sung Blue with an audience and feeling that collective emotional response, what do you hope viewers carry with them long after the credits roll?
I truthfully hope that viewers carry a deep respect for all of the musicians that they happen to come across in a small bar or who are performing on the side of the street, and that they really are able to take a moment to appreciate them and their individual talent and the fact that they are going out of their way to share that with the world whether or not it makes things a little bit more challenging in their lives. I believe that music has power. I believe that film has power. I believe that these forms of art really knit us together, as does family, and family is a really central theme of the film. But I think even beneath that, it’s like how music brought them together, and I think it’s where the invisible string that binds us all and allows us to connect even deeper in a way that oftentimes words can’t do. That’s where art come into.
Top and Knit Belt: Veronique LeRoy Paris, Leggings: TATA LA, Shoes: Paul Andrew
Cardigan: COS Stores, Sweater: H&M Studio, Leggings: TATA LA, Shoes: Paul Andrew
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