With moviemaking in her blood, new roles as a leading lady, and a passion for getting political, actress Zoey Deutch is the
up-and-comer we’ve been waiting for.

That last sentiment happens to be a perfect tagline for Before I Fall, Deutch’s Sundance hit, which was released in March and gave her the big, meaty role she’d clearly been craving. “It’s a gooood part,” she says. It tells the story of Samantha, a seemingly popular high school senior who has to relive February 12th, her last day, again and again and again. Filming the Groundhog Day–meets–YA thriller required that each scene be shot seven times, in seven different ways, during which Samantha traverses the spectrum of human emotion (oh, teenagers!). Deutch got very close to director Ry Russo-Young (Nobody Walks) in the process. “I joke that I hope I can be the Michael Shannon to her Jeff Nichols, and Ry’s like, ‘What about Jennifer Lawrence to David O. Russell?’” she says. “I’ll be whoever she wants me to be! I love her a lot.”

When I ask for specifics on Deutch’s prep for the role, her eloquence disappears. “I don’t know how to answer that. I’m so sorry,” she says. I understand, and frankly, I’m a little grateful. The magic of watching an actor inhabit another person’s life tends to vanish once the curtain is pulled back. “Does it make you feel pretentious?” I ask. “Yes! It really does, because...” she says, and makes a pained face. Later she confesses that her main flaw is that she’s a “walking, talking ball of emotion and vulnerability” and offers a passionate love letter to her career choice. “The truth is, I love my job so much, and you can say whatever you will about me growing up in the business, and I totally get it—if I was on the outside, I’d have a very hard time understanding that I actually chose to be here and this is what I’m meant to do. It is 100 percent my thing, my purpose, my be-all and end-all,” she says. “It sounds dramatic, but I do love it, and I do have a really crazy process that sounds so pretentious when I talk about it. People would be like, ‘Jesus, this girl sucks!’” Needless to say, she doesn’t.

Another thing worth pointing out about Before I Fall: The screenplay is written by a woman (Maria Maggenti) based on a young-adult novel penned by a woman (Lauren Oliver), and the film has a female director and a cast full of women—the rarity and the significance of which is not lost on Deutch. “The whole movie is about a young woman discovering her voice, discovering that what she does matters, and that in one second you can change the course of your entire life and, in turn, change the course of so many other people’s lives,” she says. “To me, that’s very moving and poignant for young girls to watch, and I think it’s a really great message.”

The actress’s family comprises “superwomen,” as she calls them, who distilled that message to a young Deutch. She waxes lyrically about her mom, sister, and grandma, who manage work and family like, well, total bosses. “My mother was breastfeeding me while she was shooting the sitcom Caroline in the City, down the road from here, and people always ask me, ‘Was it hard for you that your mom was working?’ and ‘Did you ever feel abandoned?’ And I’m like, ‘No! What the fuck?’ I’m so grateful her whole universe didn’t revolve around me!” she says. “She always says, ‘Know a little bit of everything,’ and she can do everything.” Deutch’s older sister, Madelyn, is “an amazing singer and writer, she can play every instrument, she’s a great cook, she has an unbelievable interior design and fashion sense, and she’s a great actor.... I mean, it’s literally disgusting.” Her maternal grandmother, Babah, however, is the real star of the show. “My grandma graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design; she had five kids and worked her ass off and still does. She’s 90 years old, she lives in Montana, she sleeps during the day and paints all night,” Deutch says. “She’s legally blind and can barely breathe—she has oxygen. She literally lives for her art. She is a rock star to me.” Lest he feel neglected, Mr. Deutch is “the funniest man I’ve ever met and so supportive of the strong, smart, and independent women around him.” Are you wondering where the trauma lies, the secret dark side of growing up Hollywood? So is Deutch. “Don’t worry, I create enough trauma inside my own life. This right here”—she scans her body with her hands—“is a walking ball of trauma,” she says, and bursts out laughing.