Calah Lane

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I want to be a writer and director, and I want to make movies that make you feel good.

Interview + Photography by Nolwen Cifuentes

Styling by Britton Litow
Makeup by ShaDara Holmes @ Exclusive Artists using Danessa Myricks Beauty
Hair by Tiffany Daugherty @ Frank Moore
Video by Tamara Santos
Photo Assisting by Syd Yatco
Stylist Assisting by Miyu Hirose
Retouching by Regina Davudenko

I started my night as a new mother: putting my 3-month-old to bed, and waiting for the night nanny to settle in before I could steal away for an evening to myself. This time my escape was a 9 PM showing of Wonka. As a devout fan of musicals, I had heard this one was a must-watch. I went by myself and sat in the dark theater, half-expecting to fall asleep in my seat. Instead, I found myself delightfully awakened by the opening notes of the film. Wonka unfolded as a sweet serenade of hope, a much-needed uplift after a difficult year marred by entertainment strikes. 

I had the pleasure of photographing and interviewing Calah Lane who stars opposite Timothée Chalamet in her breakout role. Calah plays Noodle, an orphan girl with a heart full of kindness and a spirit yearning for adventure.

The lyrics of Noodle’s song, For a Moment — “For a moment, Life doesn't seem quite so bad, For a moment, I kind of forgot to be sad,” have since become a melody I find myself humming to my newborn to calm her own tears. 

Calah's conversation with me revealed not just a promising young actress but a thoughtful, aspiring storyteller poised to leave her mark in the entertainment world.

How and when did you start acting?

I got into acting when I was four. I was in the play Annie. I played Molly. Everybody was telling my mom, “you should really get Calah to act.” So then that's when I started acting.

Can you tell us about your first big on-screen opportunity?

The first thing I ever got when I was five was a commercial. It was for the Dallas Cowboys. I was supposed to be in the background of the commercial, but they loved me so much that they pushed me to the front and I was the face of the whole commercial. I got to see myself in the stadium and I was only five. It was a dream come true.

That’s so cool! That rarely ever happens. After that, did you do more commercial work?

I did a lot more commercials. I was a commercial girl, definitely. When I was seven, I got a movie, in the Dominican Republic. It was called The Day Shall Come. After that, we moved back to Texas and then here [California].

Is Texas where you grew up?

Yeah, I was born in Texas. 

You came to California for acting?

Well, my dad always wanted to come to California. He actually lived here since he was a kid. We just kind of came here to try things out. We were only supposed to be here for three months and it wound up being six years.

You were like, “let’s try it out,” and it worked. So tell me more about Wonka, how did that all come about?

When I first got the audition, it was an untitled project, so I had no idea what I was auditioning for. My name was Nutmeg in the script. and I think Willy’s name was Jimmy or something like that. I remember reading the script and not knowing anything about it and just being confused, like, hmmm, I wonder what this is about? I was just reading notes for something that I didn't even know what it was. Once I went to the screen test, that's when we realized that it was for Willy Wonka. We saw in the script, it said chocolate, and then it said Willy. So we were like, this has to be.

They didn't tell you? You were just kind of putting the pieces together?

Yeah, we were trying to put in little pieces to see if I could figure it out. And it worked. Me and my mom figured it out. Once I did the screen test, which was my fourth audition, they changed my name to Noodle. I was like, oh, that's cuter. I think Noodle is a little cuter than Nutmeg.

Yeah, I think so too. I love Noodle. Did you have to sing in the audition?

I had to sing. I remember being so nervous because I had to belt out some parts of the song. They were saying, just go for it. I was just so scared to sing in front of the director — I mean, I’ve never done that before  — and I had to sing a lot.

What song did you sing?

I sang Opportunity from the Annie movie.

Oh, that’s so cool, it came back full circle, that was your first play.

Yeah, exactly.

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Was that whole process on Zoom?

Yeah, it was all on Zoom. It was during the pandemic.

So you went through several auditions, and then was it, months later, you're thinking, oh, maybe I didn't get the part. Or did you find out right away?

Those four auditions were over the course of three months. After I did the screen test, it was two weeks later when I heard that I got the part. We were yelling at the top of our lungs, me and my mom.

I bet. Did you do any screen testing or chemistry reads with Timmy?

I never did any auditions with Timmy because he was busy filming another project. I got a chance to meet him on Zoom, and we had a long talk, like thirty minutes or something. We were just talking about different things, talking about school, talking about living in California. We became friends fast.

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Wow, okay, so you get to England and you and your whole family went?

Yeah, well, my family came, like, a couple of months after me and my mom. We surprised them. They knew we were there, but didn't know we were in the same hotel. We surprised my brother and my sister. It was fun.

I love that. Are you the oldest?

Yeah, I'm the oldest. My sister's ten, and then my brother's seven.

So you get to England, and did you go right into training, what was that like?

Yeah, I had to do ten weeks of training. I was doing wire work for my flying scene and doing training for dancing and singing. I had a dance double, Alex, and Timmy had a dance double, Sam. We were always dancing. I would do dancing with Sam because he was pretending to be Timmy. And then I would also dance with Timmy sometimes. I was a little nervous at first because I'd never done anything like that, but once I warmed up to it, I was having so much fun.

What about the singing rehearsals?

Singing was really fun but kinda hard too. James Taylor, our singing coach, wanted me to sing louder because I was shy about being loud. My mom helped me a lot with it. She'd be like, “You got this, Calah. Just belt it out.” When the director came in, that's when I finally did it really loud, and everyone was like, “You did it, Calah! You really did it!” 

When we were at the hotel, my mom would tell me to just yell. We’d go into the bathroom and close the door and she was like, “I want to hear you yell loud. Just do it.” I was like people are going to think that I'm dying up here. [Laughs].

Yeah, it was like you had to practice getting comfortable being loud. Not even singing or belting, but just using your voice in this new way.

Yeah.

Did practicing like that help?

Yeah, totally. It made me feel more sure about myself when I needed to be loud and not worry about it.

When we’re watching the movie, we see this magical world, but I imagine it doesn’t feel that way when you’re on set on a green screen.

It wasn't all green screen, just a little bit. It was more like a blue screen. In the For a Moment scene, I remember I had an earpiece in, so I was the only one who could hear the music. And that made it worse because everyone could hear all the cracks in my voice and everything cause I hadn’t warmed up yet. There were so many people in the room. I just remember being like, oh, my gosh.

That sounds nerve-wracking! So you’re singing but no one else can hear the track?

Yeah. I asked if they could put it on the speaker, but they said, no, it's better in the earpiece. I was like “ok.” [laughs].

What about the scene where you’re petting this giant giraffe?

I had to pretend there was a giraffe. It was actually a guy holding a black styrofoam giraffe head. I had to get my brain thinking, okay, this is a giraffe in front of me. The guy was swaying it to make it look real. But, I started feeling bad because it looked like his arms were hurting after a while. I was thinking, “you can put the giraffe down for a second. If your arms are hurting, it's fine. Can we take just a little break for this guy?” He was working really hard.

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Do you have any funny experiences or anything we haven’t touched on in terms of just the shooting experience?

The shooting experience? Well, one funny thing was at the end of filming, before reshoots, me and Timmy were covered in chocolate, and we couldn't really hug anyone except each other. It was the end of filming and everybody was saying bye to each other. Paul [King], he was like, “I can just pat you guys because you guys are covered in chocolate.” I was like, “you sure you don't want to hug?” And he went, “why not?” And then we all just hugged each other, and we ruined his beautiful shirt.

Was that real chocolate you were covered in?

The first time, it wasn't real chocolate, more like chocolate lotion. They said it was good for our skin. But the second time, there was actual chocolate in it. They told us it was edible but not to eat it. It was still tempting, but I wasn't planning on eating it anyway because we were standing in it.

How has the reception been to it all?

People actually recognize me now! Like, at the BAFTA tea party recently, some people had the actual Wonka poster, it was so cool. Fans were outside, and they recognized me. I didn’t expect that. I mean, I’m just a girl from Dallas, Texas. You know, when Beyonce walks past, you know it’s Beyonce. But I didn’t think people would recognize me like that. I was like, “are you talking to me?” I was looking around to see if they were looking at any other celebrities, like Cillian Murphy was there, too. I was like, “are you guys calling him over?” And it was like, no, no, we want you. 

That’s so cool. Yeah, I saw that Funko POP! made a Noodle doll.

Yeah.

That must be such a trip, from being unknown to now being recognized.

It’s off and on. Sometimes people recognize me at the mall, sometimes they don't. There was one time when we watched the movie in the theaters. I had my hair out in an Afro. I shouldn't have done that because in the movie I have my hair in an Afro. And, when I do that, that’s when people easily notice me. I remember hearing some girls, “I think that's her.” They actually asked me in the bathroom, and I was like, “oh, yeah, that is me.” They were like, “what? I didn't know you would come and see yourself in the big screen.” That was so fun.

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Especially now that I have a baby, I'm so aware of how important movies like Wonka are — stories that have magic and themes about making your life what you want it to be. What are your thoughts on the importance of movies and stories that have that kind of message?

I think there are a lot of movies now that aren’t giving good messages. Like, back in the 1960s, movies were about love and enjoying life. Now, they’re getting into deeper, sometimes not-so-good things. But Wonka brings out the good side of you. Paul King’s movies, like Paddington, are all feel-good movies. 

I want to be a writer and director, and I want to make movies that make you feel good. Not movies that make you come out of the theater scared or sad. During the pandemic, everyone was binge-watching shows and movies. Now, people are going back to theaters, but there aren’t many feel-good movies to choose from. 

There are a lot of movies that can leave you feeling rough.

Yeah, it’s sad. I’d like to change that.

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That’s cool that you want to be a writer and director. Who are some of your influences or favorite films?

I like the guy in Rocky because he wrote it and was in it. That’s so cool. I’d love to write my own film and be in it. I’m a huge Disney kid, too. I can't think of any Disney movie that I haven't watched. I love Frozen, Descendants, Zombies, all those types of movies. I love Disney actors and people who started in Disney. Those are my big inspirations.

If you could work with one actor in the world, who would it be?

I’d love to work with Leonardo DiCaprio. I’m a huge fan of his. How is that the only person I can think of right now? 

Not a person, but I’d also like to work in a movie like Annie. I think it’d be super cool to recreate a classic like The Wizard of Oz. I also want to write. I like to write biographies about people. I started one about Rosa Parks. I like to write about people who’ve done really good things.

Yes, we need more of that.

Would you want to do another musical?

Oh, yeah, that would be fun. I have a Disney show called Firebuds where I have a song in it. It’s an animated show and it’s coming out in February.

What’s next for you?

Whatever God has for me. The strike slowed things down, but now that things are starting up again and award season is ending, I think more auditions will come in. That will be cool.

✦