Be yourself and don’t try to fit in a box. That’s just one of the many positive messages weaved into the narrative of Emma Roberts’s latest film.
The American actress (33) stars in the Prime Video movie Space Cadet, which is written and directed by Liz W Garcia, whose writing credits include Cold Case and Dawson’s Creek.
The film centres on Tiffany Simpson (Roberts’s character), who is known to friends as Rex, and is a bartender in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
When she’s not wrestling alligators, she’s dreaming about fulfilling her long-held dream of going into space, but without the academic background required to become an astronaut, she’s resigned herself to the fact that space is well, a million miles away.
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Until, that is, her best friend Nadine (Poppy Liu) steps in and embellishes Tiffany’s application to enrol in Nasa’s astronaut training programme, securing Tiffany a place.
But as she starts the programme, sans a fancy science degree, how long can Tiffany fool Nasa programme directors Pam (Gabrielle Union) and Logan (Tom Hopper)?
“We had so much fun on this movie, as you can see by like, I think the feeling people get when they watch it, a lot of that is because it’s so genuine, how much we all loved being a part of this,” says Roberts, who is the daughter of actor Eric Roberts, and the niece of Hollywood star Julia Roberts.
“I just fell so in love with the script, with Liz Garcia, our amazing writer, director, and Rex Simpson, my character, it was just so fun to like play somebody so quirky and unapologetically confident.
“I think I’ve been doing much darker stuff recently, and so it was really fun to come into something that, it almost like reminded me of kind of movies I did as a teen, like Wild Child. It just kind of gave me that feeling again, and I was so excited to do that, and so I’m so excited for people to be able to see it and and hopefully feel good.
“I feel like we all collectively have had a hard last few years, and it’s nice to be a part of a movie that is uplifting and heart-warming and fun”.
Comedy and horror – sometimes together – are things Emma is no stranger to.
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Her most recent TV stint saw her star in Ryan Murphy’s dark anthology series American Horror Story: Delicate, alongside reality TV star and businesswoman Kim Kardashian.
She also previously gained huge popularity in another of Murphy’s gritty series, when she played Chanel Oberlin in Scream Queens.
Her big screen credits include 2008′s teen comedy Wild Child, as well as Scream 4, and 2023′s Madame Web.
In Space Cadets, her on-screen partner in crime and pregnant bestie Nadine is as much of a comedy scene stealer as Roberts herself.
Actress Liu, who has had roles in Better Call Saul, Hacks and more, was also pregnant in real life while they were filming.
“It’s really special to have being seven months pregnant captured in a film. It’s like a live action version of getting pregnancy photos,” enthuses the 32-year-old.
“I can’t wait till my child gets older. And I’m like ‘That was you. You were in there’. So I don’t know that was just special, no matter whatever happened. So for this to be like, imprinted in resin forever is awesome, and I can watch it back”.
They are both in agreement that the film’s wardrobe was a highlight for them, with Roberts saying: “My only regret is that I didn’t take more of the clothes home”.
I feel like we all collectively have had a hard last few years, and it’s nice to be a part of a movie that is uplifting and heart-warming and fun
— Emma Roberts
Rex’s wardrobe is a mash-up of boho chic with a touch of beach culture, denim shorts, faux fur slides, and no shortage of bracelets, while Nadine is not afraid of a sequin or two, and sports some impressively bedazzled manicures.
“I think because they felt bad because I’m pregnant, which is the time to ask for everything when you’re pregnant, people feel really guilty. And I really, really capitalised on that,” says Liu as she reveals she kept some of Nadine’s wardrobe.
The movie is a fun-filled space adventure, and Roberts hopes it encourages people to “literally reach for the stars”.
She says: “I think it’s really easy to get down on yourself, especially as a young woman, and just feel, especially with like, the inundation of social media, to not feel good enough, or not feel pretty enough, or this enough, or that enough, or just stuck.
“I know I’ve been there, and I just feel like it’s never too late I feel like to turn your life around, or to try something new, or to do the thing that you’ve been scared to do. And that goes for whether you know, you’re 16 or 60.
“I think that this movie really captures that in a way that isn’t cheesy and feels grounded. So I love that, and also be who you are.
“Because I feel like, especially as an actress, a lot of times I think, ‘Okay, I have to be like this in order to get this part’, and then I realise, like, ‘Oh, if I had been myself, I would have gotten that part’, but I tried to be something different, and that’s actually why I didn’t get it.
“I think that kind of sentiment goes across all kinds of fields, and you never know when someone is going to want to take a chance on someone. So always be yourself and don’t try to just fit in the box”.
It’s a sentiment British star Hopper (39) echoes.
The actor, who fans may recognise from Netflix series The Umbrella Academy, also says he found his character Logan quite relatable.
“He’s worked very hard to get to Nasa, but the job is now Logan. He’s very by-the-book, he’s very ‘Mr Nasa’, and I think there is a side of Logan that existed before that, a very fun side of Logan, and I think he’s forgotten who that is,” Hopper explains.
“And then Rex comes along, and I think she represents the side of him that he’s long forgotten, and he’s fearful of that, but also it excites him that someone like her could bring that out again.
“I think that’s part of why I love it, because I certainly see friends of mine who have fallen into that trap of forgetting who they are as a person, they just do the job and the job is their identity now. So for me, it was quite relatable”.
The father of two also says a film that makes you laugh but also has a poignant and positive underlying message that makes you think is rare.
He says: “We live in a world of ticking boxes, you fit into this mould. If you don’t fit that mould, and you can’t do that job, and you can’t do this, you haven’t got this qualification, you can’t do that.
“Actually if you take it down to the bare bones, the world isn’t really like that, there is actually other ways to achieve that.
“I did not do well at school and I just wanted to play sport and hang out with girls and do acting and stuff. So education for me was a very different experience.
“I think that’s what it can tell people who watch this movie, that you don’t have to just fit into a box. You don’t have to fit the mould.
“My son is autistic and non-verbal, and going through the school system here in the UK, you have to tick certain boxes to be able to get the education that he needs.
“And it’s like, ‘Why can’t he just, you know, be who you want to be and be free’. And that’s another message of this movie. I think it’s really important”.
