Are you there God? It’s Me Margaret Kelly Fremon director Craig explains why he loves making coming-of-age stories-Exclusive Image

There’s a big world of movies out there, but if you’re putting together a huge list of the best, most magical, most reliable that’s going to leave you in a puddle of tears, adult film needs to be mixed. ladybug. the breakfast club. Moonlight. We germinate here.

When it comes to adult movies, director Kelly Fremon Craig is one of the best. with incredible charm the edge of seventeen Already under his belt, Fremon Craig’s next project is the Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates-directed adaptation of Judy Blume’s classic novel. Are you there God? it’s me daisy. In the new edition of Empire, writing exclusively about her adolescence, her cinematic inspirations, why coming-of-age stories mean so much to her, and how Blume’s books – and this one in particular – seeped right into her 11-year-old brain. Read a short excerpt from the piece below:

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When I was getting ready to make this movie, I went back and read my sixth grade diaries. Like Margaret, I was an anxious late mature. Margherita prays, even implores, that God makes her breasts grow. I did all of that, plus something. My mother, who was involved in New Age visualization at the time, told me that if I wanted something, I had to picture it in her mind and affirm it as such. I went to bed every night for months trying to think positively about my way to a B cup. Time and time again, I imagined perfect breasts popping out of my flat chest like in a time-lapse photography.

Strained friendships were also a hot topic in my journals. There were always a girl or two in my orbit whose approval I desperately sought and could never get. These girls were never completely mean, but they had a way of making me feel bad about myself. It was subtle, even witty: a sidelong glance, a pause, something slightly unusual in her inflection. Nancy, Margaret’s friend (played by Elle Graham) delivers this kind of subliminal denial so deftly that any girl who has lived through her teens will know and immediately remember her Nancys in her own life.

Maybe the reason I’m so drawn to these stories is that part of me is still trying to figure out my feelings from that time in my life. I’ve done two training films in a row so people are starting to ask me what the problem is. I have to admit it’s bewildering how easily I can relate to teenage girls, as the moment I close my eyes and remember I was that age, the emotions come back so vivid I could roll myself into a ball. Did I make these two films as a kind of sustained therapy? As embarrassing as it is to admit it, it is possible. But I think there is something else at play for me as well. Movies like this haven’t been made much. Growing up, they seemed so few and far between. Like the Judy Blume books, I think they would have helped. On some level, I hope, like you, that I can help.

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To read Kelly Fremon Craig’s exclusive piece in its entirety, pick up the new edition of Empire, on sale Thursday, April 13. become a Empire member now to access the entire digital edition, or request a hard copy online here. Are you there God? it’s me daisy arrives in UK cinemas from 26 May.