The one kind of movie Margaret Qualley is dying to make: “I’d love nothing more”
Margaret Qualley can feel like a relative newcomer, even though she grew up connected to the industry through her mother, Andie MacDowell. That perception likely stems from the fact that she originally had a different career path in mind.
It took Qualley some time to pivot to acting. She had initially planned to pursue ballet seriously, but when she was offered a full-time position with a dance company, it became a turning point. That moment made her realise she wanted something different, prompting her to write to her mother, “Look, I don’t think I want to be a dancer anymore, so I’m going to quit ballet and stay here. I will have this and this income next week.”
For a while, that income was generated through modelling jobs, but really, Qualley had realised she wanted to be an actor, but seemed too shy to admit that to her actor mother. She wanted to be taken seriously in her own right and not just be seen as another nepo baby, so she set out on her own.
Qualley then landed her first role at 18, completely by chance, in Palo Alto after visiting a friend on set, and from then on, it was a slow but steady climb until 2019, when Quentin Tarantino cast her in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as a Manson Family member, which broke her through the gates.
However, it was really in 2021 with Maid, where she proved her potential through a deeply moving performance of a young mother escaping domestic violence, but that wasn’t all that long ago, and so Qualley does still feel new and brimming with potential even as projects like The Substance and Blue Moon have been major ones. She keeps on proving herself, but there’s a sense that the world is still waiting for that one moment where she will finally get a role completely representative of her ability to prove it to the world, and in her eyes, she thinks that should come as a comedy.
“There’s your headline: ‘Margaret Wants to Do Comedies—Help’,” Qualley joked to i-D. Despite breaking through in dramas, she’s realising more and more that what she wants is a good laugh, claiming, “I’d love to do something like Lucille Ball”.
Qualley has tried her hand at somewhat comedies before, such as Drive Away Dolls, as well as Honey Don’t, but both were very much Ethan Coen’s off-kilter, wry, dark humour, whereas she wants to do something outright fun and sincere like the classics she grew up with.
“Something in Nancy Meyers’ world” is what she’s looking for, wanting to play a part in a rom-com that is full of heart and silliness, declaring, “Those are the movies that I enjoy watching the most now, too,” as she has settled into enjoying more innocent, inoffensive movies that lighten the spirit. Clearly, it’s having an impact on the direction of her admiration as she admitted, “I’m looking for something that I would both enjoy doing and enjoy watching. I think that latter part is important, and I haven’t thought about that until lately.”
Currently, the prevailing rumour surrounds whether Qualley is going to be playing the next Bond girl, but perhaps we might soon see her as a classic, bright romantic lead in a giggle by the bunch love story.
