If there’s one thing you can take away from watching the new sci-fi-turned-coming-of-age film Voyagers, allow lead actress Lily-Rose Depp to give you a clue.
WATCH: Lily-Rose Depp on her biggest takeaway after filming Voyagers
At 21, the daughter of Johnny Depp and his former partner and French model Vanessa Paradis is already making waves on the big screen.
But distinguishing herself even from her instantly recognisable father is proving rather successful – well, that’s if her new feature film is anything to go by.
In Voyagers, Lily-Rose plays the alpha-female force Sela, who is one of 30 young women and men picked to journey on a space craft to a far away planet, with an aim to colonise a lesser-damaged home for humanity.
The catch? The journey to get there is not quite a routine 90 minute flight to Melbourne. The spacecraft will travel for the length of three generations, meaning Sela and her fellow teenagers’ priority purpose on the ship is to reproduce, so their children can then reproduce, so their children can eventually land the ship on the coveted new planet.
The premise of the film is clever – it’s a sci-fi fan’s dream narrative.
But the film also delves into another, unique narrative – that of youth, identity and coming of age awakenings.
Previously conditioned to believe their sole purpose is to fulfil the scientific needs of the spacecraft’s journey to another planet, the teenagers soon realise there’s a lot more to life than that – even if they are stuck in a metal cylinder for the rest of their lives.
That, in itself, was Lily-Rose’s biggest eye-opener.
Speaking exclusively to Girlfriend, Lily-Rose told us: “For me one of the biggest takeaways – and I hope this will be the case for the audience too – is that your purpose in life, and the kind of person that you want to be is what you make of it.”
As she sheds the shadow of her famous father, her words – and the meaning behind this film – really couldn’t be more perfect.
Adding to that, Lily-Rose’s co-star and on-screen love interest Tye Sheridan, 24, explained: “The film provokes this question about ourselves and the purpose of our lives.
“You see people acting on impulse, and people grappling with their desires. You see people choosing from a place of selfishnesss rather than selflessness – and I think that there are many lessons to be learned from that.”
He’s not wrong. During the film, we see each of the teen characters act upon their most primal instincts as they begin to realise they are unique in themselves, outside of the spaceship operation.
From acting upon sexual impulses, to mood-swings turned genuine anger issues (seriously, Jack needs to talk to someone), each of the teens are faced with the realisation that they can each have their own individual purpose – but the freedom that comes with that is overwhelming.
For the actors who played the troubled teens, the premise in itself was unique in comparison to anything they’d filmed before.
For starters, they were dealing with a cast almost entirely under the age of 30.
“It was like summer camp vibes!” Lily-Rose told Girlfriend.
With the film being shot before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, the cast were able to fully enjoy the benefits of being around talents their own age, with both Tye and co-star Fionn Whitehead also commenting on how the young ensemble became a family on-set.
“It was so much fun, its so exciting to work with a group of actors whose work you really like and admire. It was my first time working in an ensemble group that was all the same age,” Lily-Rose added.
Speaking of talent, Lily-Rose well and truly proved her own with a very believable spark between her character and love interest, Chris (played by Tye).
Their coming-of-age-style romance in the film provides a welcome reprieve as it evolves alongside the ever-suspenseful space mission. Going by the believable display from these two, one would surely think they knew at least a little of each other before filming.
“I’d met Lily once before but she doesn’t remember,” Tye jokingly told us, to which Lily-Rose quickly replied, “He’s lying!”.
“Nah, it was funny, we only met when we were [on-set]. I was maybe the last cast member to arrive,” Tye explained.
Lily-Rose added: “We hadn’t met each other, but we kind of instantly became buddies.”
If that’s anything to go by, it’s patently clear that Voyagers is essentially the perfect movie for Lily-Rose to get stuck into – coming of age, finding her purpose, staying true to herself and paving her own path…. sound familiar?
For someone who was well aware that she’d grow up being known as Johnny Depp’s daughter, she’s certainly making it clear that there’s a lot more to her than just that.
We can’t wait to see what’s next for her.
Catch Voyagers in Australian cinemas from April 8.
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