My old director wanted to make an authentic Gen-Z film

Generation Z can be particularly difficult to please, but 38-year-old Megan Park may have cracked the code.

The Fallout director tackled a new coming-of-age story in My Old Ass that took her back to her Canadian roots on Lake Joseph.

The film follows Elliott (Maisy Stella) as she tries to cherish her last summer before college, but accidentally runs into her 39-year-old self, played by Aubrey Plaza. Park’s second film spotlights Generation Z in a way that feels authentic to the era, something she lacked as a young actress.

“For many years as a teenager, I stood in front of the camera as an actor, telling stories that weren’t always authentic to what my generation experienced, wore or said, and no one ever asked my opinion,” Park told TheWrap. Park added that she wanted to change that when she took the director’s chair. “Just opening the door to asking people what they think is the first step, in my opinion.”

Park’s directorial debut, “The Fallout,” tackled a story that has become more relevant to Generation Z but that many had avoided: school shootings. When asked what sparked her interest in telling stories for young people, Park said that at her core, she just wanted to tell a human story.

“When I try to write younger characters or stories around that generation, I don’t necessarily try to foreground that. I just try to write a human story first,” Park said. “Talking to real Gen Zers – they hate that line,” she said with a laugh as her leading lady Stella interjected, “Hate that.”

Stella, now 20, praised Park for her openness to Generation Z’s viewpoints and her attempt to understand them rather than create a caricature. The rising star, best known for her role in “Nashville” and her viral 2012 cover song “Call Your Girlfriend,” said Park encouraged collaboration on set — particularly when discussing fluidity of expression of gender and sexuality of the characters.

“As an actor, it felt really exciting,” Stella told TheWrap. “Getting the room that you (Park) probably didn’t get.”

Park made it clear that while the film addresses queerness as a theme, it is not the central message of “My Old Ass” – just as for many Generation Zers it is just a part of their identity.

“I think coming out stories are really important, but this wasn’t that story,” Park said. “In ‘Fallout,’ it was like when you talk about going to high school as Gen Z in America, school shootings and the fear of going to school are naturally a part of that conversation. And the queer conversations in this film felt kind of the same.”

In “My Old Ass,” Elliott spends her last summer at home on a lake in Canada. After making celebratory magic mushrooms with two of her high school best friends, Elliott encounters her older self. Elliott tries to heed her older self’s advice, but admits she’ll make mistakes along the way. Elliott embarks on an emotional and funny journey out of adolescence by overcoming crushes and leaving her childhood behind.

The film taps into the nostalgia of Generation Z and even has “Dance Moms” star Maddie Ziegler dancing and Stella singing in one sequence. On her second mushroom journey in the film, Elliott lives out every girl who grew up in the 2000s fantasy: she becomes Justin Bieber’s “One Less Lonely Girl.” The director flipped the iconic moment from Bieber’s “My World Tour” and turned the gender dynamic on its head.

“It was originally written as another sequence that we didn’t get the rights to, and so I went to Maisy and asked myself, ‘What’s that pivotal moment in your childhood or adolescence like?'” Park said.

“It was a gut reaction,” Stella said. “’One Less Lonely Girl’ was super important to me. I was the main audience for this. I literally had a pillow with (Bieber’s) face on it and a speech bubble that said, ‘Sweet dreams.’ Maisy.’ That’s how it was, actually it was a bit much.”

“My Old Ass” is available now in select theaters and opens nationwide this Friday, September 27th.