Raquel Laguna/ SUCOPRESS. Actress EMMA ROBERTS stars in SPACE CADET, directed by Liz W. Garcia. In this interview, Emma talks about “Rex”, her character in the film, and about the message of the movie. Her costar Poppy Liu talks about working with the director and, also about the challenges she had making the film while she was pregnant. In SPACE CADET, ever since she was a young girl, Tiffany “Rex” Simpson (Emma Roberts) has dreamed of hopping on a rocket ship and experiencing the mysteries of outer space. But following the death of her mother, who championed her starry aspirations, Rex’s life has taken a more earthbound trajectory. Now, at 28, Rex is a bartender, sometime alligator wrestler and full-time party girl in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Still, it might not be too late to fulfill her dreams. Determined not to let her limited education and lack of scientific training hold her back, Rex — with the help of her supportive best friend, Nadine (Poppy Liu) gets herself into NASA’s prestigious and cutthroat astronaut training program in Houston. There, she makes both fast friends and bitter enemies of her quirky and competitive classmates, while Rex’s instincts, mechanical skills, quick wits and moxie unexpectedly make her one of the top trainees. Rex also attracts the romantic attention of the program’s deputy director, Logan (Tom Hopper), even as NASA administrators start closing in on the truth about her. SPACE CADET premieres globally July 4th, 2024, on Prime Video.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00What do you like the most about Rex, your character,
00:03and do you relate to her in any way?
00:06I absolutely love Rex, my character in Space Cadet.
00:10Rex Simpson, whose real name is Tiffany.
00:12She is a Florida party girl who is now following her dreams
00:17to be an astronaut through a very unconventional way.
00:20And I just love that she's a fish out of water
00:23and is feeling confident.
00:26And if she's not feeling confident, she's faking it.
00:28And I can definitely relate to that throughout my life,
00:30where sometimes you do have to fake confidence
00:33before you can find it.
00:34And there's nothing wrong with that.
00:36Why do you think people are so fascinated about space?
00:41And now that space tourism is a reality,
00:45would you go on a space trip?
00:49I mean, space is, I think, so fascinating
00:52just because there's so much unknown.
00:54And with unknown, obviously, comes fear, but also hope.
00:58And so, you know, like my son is three,
01:00and we love to go outside at night and look at the stars.
01:02And that's kind of like a little thing that we do.
01:05And there's just something so magical about it.
01:07As far as going to space, I'm very claustrophobic.
01:11So I don't know if I'd make it.
01:13And I get really scared on airplanes.
01:15So I think in a rocket ship,
01:16people would not want me with them on there.
01:18So I don't know about that.
01:22What would you say is the message of this film?
01:25I think the message, I mean, I think there's so many things
01:28that you can get out of this movie,
01:30depending on like where you're at in your life.
01:32But at the end of the day,
01:33I think it really is follow your dreams.
01:36And it's never too late.
01:38What have you learned from your character?
01:40What have you learned from Rex?
01:44I mean, I love that Rex isn't afraid
01:46to say what she's good at.
01:47I feel like a lot of times,
01:49especially like as a woman and when I was younger,
01:53like you feel like you have to downplay
01:56like your strengths or downplay things you're good at
01:59so that you don't sound like you're bragging.
02:00And I love that Rex is not afraid to say
02:03like I'm really good at this or I can do this
02:05or let me show you how to do this.
02:07And so that really like inspired me and reminded me.
02:11And I hope that people also notice that in the movie
02:15because I think it's super important.
02:17What attracted you to this project in the first place?
02:22I love it.
02:22I'm obsessed with Liz Garcia.
02:24I think she's amazing.
02:26Was dying to work with her.
02:28Emma's the best.
02:30I actually got cast in it a year,
02:32like over a year before we actually filmed it.
02:35And I got pregnant in between.
02:37And so I was like,
02:38uh, I was looking forward to this,
02:40but it might not happen.
02:41They might have to recast.
02:42And then Liz rewrote the character to be pregnant
02:45because she was like, no, you're it's you.
02:47You're Nadine.
02:49So it was just the best.
02:51She's just like the most uplifting best friend
02:54who kind of gets you in trouble,
02:56but is like so well-meaning.
02:57Like everyone deserves to have a Nadine in their corner.
03:02Poppy was challenging to make this film while being pregnant.
03:06And I guess the rest of the cast was taking care of you.
03:10They really were.
03:12It's like a film set is not an easy environment
03:15to be on when you're pregnant.
03:17The schedule is really bananas.
03:19You're like in all kinds of weather.
03:22You kind of like put your own personal and self-care second.
03:26And I think for this film set,
03:27I did feel really taken care of,
03:30like by everyone on board.
03:34I felt like, and this shouldn't be rare to feel,
03:36but I felt like sort of a human first
03:39and then sort of like, you know,
03:42after like whatever second,
03:45which I think is really special in this industry.