Brighid Fleming

At an age when most people haven’t even given second thoughts to what they want to do with their lives, Brighid Fleming already has an established career on the stage and screen. We got a chance to chat with her about being a multi-hyphenate, her dreams for the future, her love of vegan cooking and how she prepares for roles. Check out more about this amazing actress @BrighidFleming1 on Twitter.

Young Adult Magazine: You're already an established actress, director, writer and producer...Do you identify with one aspect the most?
Brighid Fleming: I feel like I identify with all of them. It depends where I am in the process of creating something. I am probably closer to acting and writing because I have written and acted more than I have directed or produced. I do love directing and producing though. It all makes you feel like you are completing something. When I am watching movies, I think I usually do it with an eye on the director. I am most interested in how the shots are set up and the choices made.
YA: Tell us more about your writing?
BF: I absolutely love writing! It is one of my main passions. Writing is where I am most free, because there are no constraints. I don’t have to worry about how it will be shot or anything. The worry comes later.
YA: You've accomplished so much at such a young age; how do you manage it all?
BF: I have a great support system. I couldn’t do any of this without my mom. I also try to dedicate myself to something 100%. I know that can be hard to do sometimes because you have a lot of things going on but as long as you are focused and dedicated you can accomplish anything. Well not anything but you get the idea.
YA: Have you thought about college?
BF: Yes I have! I want to go to Tisch at NYU. I think it would be a lot of fun and I would get to study something that I’m very interested in.
YA: What was the process like auditioning and preparing for Labor Day?
BF: I sent in a tape and was honestly pretty sure no one was ever going to see it but a couple days after sending it in I got a call saying we had a callback and Jason Reitman was going to be there. After that I had a chemistry read and about two or three weeks after the chemistry read we found out I booked it. To get ready for it, I read the book, and I watched some of Jason’s movies. I used Juno and Young Adult to help me build the character of Eleanor.
YA: Tell us more about reading the book for Labor Day prior to the movie?
BF: I really liked the book and Eleanor’s character, which made me even more excited to start filming!
YA: What are some of your hobbies/interests outside of entertainment?
BF: I play roller derby! I am a Junior Derby Doll at The Los Angeles Derby Doll Factory. It’s a lot of fun and despite what you may have heard it’s actually a very good environment with great people.
I like to cook. My mom and I are experimenting with vegan dishes and trying to adapt our old favorites to something healthier.
YA: Tell us a little bit about what it was like to work with such an incredible cast for Labor Day (Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin). Any standout moments?
BF: Is getting hugged by Kate Winslet stand out enough for you? I had fittings with Kate, but my scenes were just with Gattlin. We played video games and did some sightseeing. When we were filming the grocery store scene, it turns out the guy playing the grocery store clerk went to college with my mom’s cousin in Memphis, TN. How weird is that?
YA: Favorite song/musician?
BF: That’s a tough question. Some of my favorite songs that are playing on the radio now are: Come a Little Closer by Cage the Elephant, Radio by Lana Del Rey, Elephant by Tame Impala, and Kill Your Heroes by AWOLNATION.
But I also have all time favorite songs like: Where is my Mind by the Pixies, Killer Queen by Queen, All Apologies by Nirvana, and Karma Police by Radio Head
YA: What's your motto?
BF: The Dalai Lama said something, it goes something like, when you lose don’t lose the lesson. I like that. Because you are always going to lose, but if you can learn from it, then you haven’t lost completely.
YA: What's some advice you can give to those hoping to get into entertainment?
BF: Don’t give up. I know that’s kind of cheesy but its true. You get knocked down so many times in this business that you have to keep reminding yourself that you can’t give up because you never know what could happen.
YA: What's next for you?
BF: Right now, I am doing a play at The Bootleg called Day Trader that is written by Eric Rudnick. It is a lot of fun and has twists you won’t see coming.
I am also working with the Inner City Shakespeare Ensemble. BAFTA LA sponsors this and we will be working with mentors from Bristol Old Vick, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Julliard, so I am very excited about this opportunity.

Take one look at the upcoming film “Labor Day” and the caliber of the cast is evident.
Kate Winslet. Josh Brolin. Tobey Maguire. Clark Gregg. James Van Der Beek.
Not to mention the film is helmed by Jason Reitman, who burst onto the scene with his sleeper hit “Juno” in 2007.

Yet, with all the Hollywood names in the cast, it didn’t deter Albuquerque native Brighid Fleming from taking a chance and auditioning for the film.
“A friend suggested to me that I should try to get a role in the movie,” she says. “I didn’t expect anything from it. Then there was the callback and I got cast.”
Fleming, 14, plays Eleanor in the film, which is adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard.

The film follows Adele Wheeler, played by Winslet, who is a depressed single mom living with her 13-year-old son, Henry, played by Gattlin Griffith.
While shopping in the rural town, a bloody man approaches Henry and convinces the boy to take him home to look after him. The man turns out to be Frank Chambers, played by Brolin, who is a convict who has broken out of jail.
As Adele and Frank’s relationship begins to grow, Henry develops a friendship with a mature but manipulative girl named Eleanor, played by Fleming.
She manipulates him into thinking Adele and Frank are going to abandon him and he accidentally reveals Frank’s past. She tells the police and collects the reward.

“Eleanor is a very edgy kind of girl,” she says. “It’s a role that I’ve never played before and was happy to be a part of it all.”

Fleming and crew filmed the movie in Massachusetts, which she says was quite an experience.
“I’ve grown up in Albuquerque and live in Burbank (Calif.) now,” she says. “The East Coast is very different from what I was used to.”

As for getting advice from her co-stars, Fleming says she learned a lot from just watching Winslet and Brolin.
“That’s the best way to learn things,” she says. “They are professional from the moment the camera is rolling and they get the scenes done quickly. I’m amazed I had the opportunity to be surrounded with these talented people.”

Though Fleming has now made the move to California, the teenager cut her teeth in the Duke City. After seeing “Seussical The Musical” when she was 3, Fleming began to act and snag roles in local theater. She also landed an international modeling job with LaCoste.
“I did shows at the Vortex,” she says. “I also did work with Keshet and was even part of the annual ‘Nutcracker on the Rocks.’ I’ve always been involved with acting in the local community.”

Fleming also has had stints in TV shows such as “Once Upon a Time,” “Weeds,” “The Mentalist,” “CSI: Miami,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “Criminal Minds.” She’s also been in films such as “Gamer,” “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Burrowers.”
Fleming also has forayed into writing and directing a short film called “A.B.S.”
She just picked up a 2013 Ovation Award for best featured actress in “The Nether.” She is also the youngest ever to pick up the award.
“It all means so much to me,” she says. “I’ve always been interested in acting and I’m lucky to be able to do this for a living.”

“Labor Day” opens nationwide on Jan. 31.

The shenanigans surrounding the life of failed LA comedy writer Ron (playwright Eric Rudnick at the performance reviewed, replacing Danton Stone) can be likened to a more low-keyed version of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s macabre 1955 French film classic, Les Diaboliques. Finally having hit bottom in all aspects of his life, Ron’s self-flagellating narcissism finally has led him to concoct a jaundiced plan to create a successful existence for himself, which entails manipulating the lives of his wife (unseen); his 14-year-old daughter, Juliana (Brighid Fleming); his best friend, Phil (Tim Meinelschmidt); and his winsome mistress, Bridget (Murielle Zucker).

However, it is the ladies in the ensemble who steal the spotlight. Zuker’s Bridget molds herself into Ron’s psyche, seamlessly taking on whatever role necessary to make viable his risky plan. She then segues into a tangible portrayal of a soul in crises when having to deal with Ron’s teenage daughter who has weapons of emotional warfare Bridget is not prepared to combat.

It is easy to believe that Fleming’s Juliana has lived a life of constant emotional confusion, existing within a monumentally unhappy marriage. Her every utterance is infused with doubt and distrust. But when she is sure of her ground, Juliana glows within the process of totally vanquishing her foe. Even while triumphing, however, Fleming gives sad credence to the playwright’s inference that Ron’s biggest failure is robbing Juliana of the ability to be a viable human being.

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During a rehearsal of a key confrontational scene in Eric Rudnick‘s Day Trader, teenager Brighid Fleming — playing 15-year-old Juliana Barlow — holds her own against Danton Stone, the actor who plays her 49-year-old father Ron. As Juliana, Fleming — probably the youngest actor ever to win an Ovation Award — is protesting the type of parental pressure children are forever being told is for “your own good.”

When Ron tells his daughter she’s a “well of disappointment” to her mother, the failed scriptwriter is really psychologically describing himself, even as he accuses Juliana of a crime while seeking to scam her. Fleming, however, is subtle enough to suggest that her shrewd character smells a rat — and won’t go gently into that good night.

Welcome to the morally compromised universe of Day Trader, a thriller that boasts more twists and turns than Maui’s fabled road to Hana. Ron Barlow is a failed scriptwriter facing the big 5-0. Playwright and co-producer Rudnick believes many aspiring artistes in Hollywood’s milieu “will recognize themselves” in the characters on display in the premiere of his play, on Thursday at Bootleg Theater.

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Sometimes the past trips you up. It certainly does Frank, the escaped con played by Josh Brolin in Jason Reitman's new drama, "Labor Day." It definitely unravels Adele, the reclusive single mother Kate Winslet makes so fragile. It is already a defining factor for 13-year-old Henry, played by newcomer Gattlin Griffith, by the time Frank comes into their lives.

...What I didn't anticipate is the way the past might trip up the filmmaker... Yet if you can get past the past, which I recommend, what is left is a lovely, intimate film about longing and love.

...The film finds its footing as the weekend progresses and the temperature and tension — outside and in — rise. There is the ever-present fear that Frank will be found. And there are other tight spots to be navigated: the neighbor who drops by unexpectedly, a friend who needs Adele to watch her disabled son for a day and Henry's flirtation with Eleanor (an excellent Brighid Fleming), the new girl in town messing with his mind and emerging libido.