“My Old Ass” is a love story – about mushrooms. Stars Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella explain why it’s difficult to make films like this today.

If you could say something to your younger self, what would it be? This question lays the foundation for My old assa wonderful coming-of-age comedy starring Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella.

In the film, directed and written by Megan Park, 18-year-old Elliott (Stella) faces her older self (Plaza), who gives her a stern warning about her love life.

It’s been a while since there was a coming-of-age film with a female focus, one of the last being Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart in 2019. Before that, in 2017, there was Ladybug. My old ass is already a hit with critics and audiences, sitting at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. So why is this genre so overlooked? Plaza and Stella have some thoughts on the matter.

“I think it’s hard to get it right, and I think we still live in a time where statistically there just aren’t that many female directors. Those stories need to get on paper first,” Plaza said. “I think it’s (also) about female voices being heard. I guess we’re still trying to flood the world with those stories. I think that’s happening, but not as quickly as traditionally male stories.”

Stella agreed, saying these kinds of films are “so hard to make.”

“I feel like the younger generation is very excited about films like this and really attached to them,” explained the 20-year-old actress. “And that’s why bookmaker, Ladybug or films like this, they are such outstanding films and such independent films that are so appreciated. But they are hard to get right, they are hard to write and they are hard to make. It takes a lot of trust. I hope we get more of that.”

Fans know Stella from Nashvillebut after starring as Daphne Conrad in the hit series for six seasons, the child star took a break from Hollywood and the music industry. Her four-year hiatus as a “normal” child ultimately prepared her for her film debut with this project.

“The four years in which I was not Nashville and I just went back to school and lived completely without any responsibilities or work, that was literally my preparation,” she said. “I can’t really imagine what it would have been like if I hadn’t stopped working and this happened now. After four summers, it was very similar to what Elliott experienced… just without the mushrooms.” (Plaza’s character comes to Elliott during a mushroom trip the summer before she goes to college.)

Place (The White Lotus, Big city, Agatha all the time) has had the opposite of a break, but says she couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

“It really touched me,” Plaza said. “I felt very strongly that (Megan) had something to say with the film and that she was going to do it right. I think there are a lot of ways it could have gone wrong or things that could have just been done differently. It could have been cheesier… I just felt like I was in really good hands.”

The film is a love story, even if you might not notice it right away when you watch it.

“I hope people feel how this heals everything,” Plaza said. “I think it’s a story about healing and grief. I’m a very romantic person – I want to tell love stories always. I want to be in love stories, I want to see love stories and those are my favorite movies. Even though it’s so sad – there’s something sad and kind of intense happening – at the end of the day it really is a love story. From the front and from the back and from the side. You experience it almost backwards and that just doesn’t happen, but it’s still there. It’s romantic.”

My old ass is now playing in select theaters and will be released nationwide on September 27th.