BURLINGTON, N.C. — Two years ago, the adaptation of Judy Blume’s Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret filmed across the Charlotte area.
"I’ve done a lot of theater shows at Studio 1, which is our local community theater in Burlington, since I was very young but I have never done any like TV or movies before 'Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret,' said Alamance County's own, Olivia Williams.
"I saw an open casting call online and me and my mom applied for that, I have always wanted to be on a movie set. It was something I was very interested in. So we sent in two photos and they gave us a callback and they said I can go to set and be a part of that as an extra," Williams recalls.
14-year-old Williams was cast as an extra back in 2021 for the film. For two days, she filmed down in Gastonia for a summer camp scene – but then...
"The second day I came on set, and they pulled me into a room and told me that I was being upgraded to a speaking role, which at the time I had no clue what that had meant," said Williams.
After a costume fitting from Oscar-winning costume designer, Ann Roth, Williams was transformed.
“I play 'the witch', which is in a play at the camp, so when they took me out to the set, that’s when it kind of dawned on me," Williams said.
While the summer camp scenes in the film last for merely a minute in the final cut, Williams has still been working hard these past two years.
"I have done some acting training in a studio called in-STUDIO in Greensboro, and I recently signed with an agency which is really cool and I hope a lot of opportunities will come from that," Williams said.
Her parents have already watched the film, but Williams wanted to wait to see her big screen debut on opening weekend.
“I’m excited to see it myself! And I’m excited for other people to see it, and I hope that they enjoy it as much as I enjoy being on the set. I think [the movie] connects to the girls now and girls fifty years ago, it shows that we’re all the same and the girls have not changed that much," said Williams.
'Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret' is currently out in theaters everywhere.