Isabelle Fuhrman — The Bare Magazine

Isabelle Fuhrman arrived in New York City via Turkey, where she had been enjoying some downtime, magical vibes and sunshine. Her first stop? The Tribeca Film Festival, where she attended the premiere of her critically acclaimed film “The Novice,” directed by Lauren Hadaway. In it, Isabelle plays Alex Dall, an ambitious competitive collegiate rower. Fortunately, Isabelle’s streak of love and light continued at the festival: “The Novice” won the Founders Award for best U.S. narrative feature and Isabelle won best actress. Read on as the incredibly gifted actress shares how she related to her character’s intense, sometimes self-destructive, desire to be the very best, the challenges she confronted while filming, her Bare essentials (including her homemade sunblock) and the biggest lessons she learned making this superb film.

The Bare Magazine: Tell us how you met/connected with the director of The Novice, Lauren Hadaway?

Isabelle Fuhrman: My agent sent me the script and the audition for The Novice in 2019, and I was initially so floored by the script. I remembered feeling completely bare and seen by Lauren. I felt like I was looking in a mirror — me on one side and Alex Dall on the other. I knew that I had to play this part. I felt like I needed to go the extra mile and show Lauren that I was the ONLY person who could play this role, so I picked another scene from the script that I felt really resonated with me. I just knew the feeling behind that emotional beat in the script because I personally had been in Alex’s shoes, so I had to record it.

I also wrote Lauren a letter about an ultra marathon relay race I had run from Santa Monica to Las Vegas. I wanted her to get an understanding of who I was as a person, but also that I could meet the physical demands of this movie and more.

A few days passed and then she asked to meet me for coffee. I remember we just super connected. We are also both crazy competitive—with ourselves rather than others—so when Lauren explained to me what her vision for the film was, and I told her what I saw, I think we both felt like we HAD to make this movie together. Also she’s a Virgo, I’m a Pisces. We are sister signs, so we knew we would get along! HAHA

Bare: What elements of the script drew you in the most? Why was it a story you wanted to tell?

IF: I was drawn to the script because it reminded me of other movies about grit and ambition that I love, like “Million Dollar Baby,” “Whiplash” and Black Swan. But “The Novice” was different because it wasn’t about a mentor driving the hero to be the best, or a fierce competitor pushing the character to a breaking point—it was about a woman so driven to achieve a goal for herself.

I, myself, had always been my own hardest critic, my toughest coach and my biggest competition in my own acting career. I’d always had people around me telling me how great I was doing, how things will “just click into place,” but mainly how I needed to stop taking it so seriously and relax. Which was so hard for me. As it is for Alex in the script. I deeply resonated with the self-inflicted pressure, anxiety and drive to be the VERY BEST.

From the time I was 14-20, I had too many goals for myself that I wanted to hit in my film career, and I really stopped connecting with people my age. I felt resentful of people who had no clue what they were doing, I felt like no one understood why I was working so hard, and I felt that everyone just was waiting for something to “happen” in my career while my mentality was that I had to make it happen for myself. It put me in a very dark place that I covered up expertly with my acting chops. I tried to seem carefree on the surface because I really didn’t care what anyone else thought of the pressure I was putting on myself, but I also was secretly emotionally abusing myself and constantly trying to figure out what formula would make things click.

Lauren and I spoke about this at our first meeting. She said that people often ask her when they read the script, “What drives Alex Dall?” and like me, like Lauren and I know—like a lot of people—we don’t always know what is driving us. Lauren refers to this movie as her existentialist anthem about how life has no meaning—you create your own meaning.

When I found the script, when I worked on the film, and really up until last year, I felt similarly. I was deriving the meaning in my life from working on films and finishing them, being in plays and getting good reviews, training and then running races, all of them just goals that kept me occupied daily from really sitting down with myself. Ultimately, this last year I realized that I don’t need any of those things to fulfill me. I love them and enjoy them, and they energize me, but my fulfillment has to come from myself, otherwise I just keep hopping from one goal to accomplish to the next. I wish I could tell Alex that, but I am happy I learned that lesson now.

Bare: What was most challenging for you about filming and portraying your character Alex Dall?

IF: The most challenging aspect about playing Alex was truly the physical transformation I had to go through. It ultimately was the most challenging but the most rewarding because I really became Alex while filming. I rowed every single scene and part of the movie. I didn’t have a stunt double, or a rowing double. Every part of this movie is me.

After Lauren cast me, I immediately started training. I was up every morning at 4am, and in Marina Del Rey with my coach Anna by 5am to row from 5-8am. Then I’d have an hour to eat, pee, nap and then I’d be back on the water 9:15-11am. After rowing I’d eat and then drive to Hollywood to train with my trainer Bec Wilcock for an hour and a half with weights to really build the muscle tone I needed for the movie. Some days I’d run in the evenings too.

I was really focused on the same goal as Alex, I had to be the best because I had to show up on set and be able to row every day of this film and not look like a novice. It was the easiest window into my character, but I was so exhausted.

We shot the film in 26 days and every morning I’d go to the tank and row for an hour or two and then go to set and film all day, then in the evenings I’d be back in the gym lifting weights. I gained 10 pounds of muscle, I was sore constantly, and I was so sleep deprived but I was SO FUCKING HAPPY. Something about working on this movie made me wake up every morning so dang excited to go to set, so happy to step into Alex’s shoes, and every night, obviously, going to bed was like the best thing ever!

Bare: Can you share what about this film will be most compelling and impactful for the viewer? How was it meaningful to you both personally and professionally?

IF: I think what is most compelling about this film is it truly is a story about grit, drive and ambition. I think a lot of people understand this feeling. I personally have my own history with this feeling.

I think most people view success from an outside perspective as either easy or hard. It is that polarizing. That either sheer talent can help you achieve a goal, or that people who truly succeed must be the people who show up, day after day, year after year, kick after kick and really make something happen. I think that what I learned through this film is that I had to be fulfilled within myself and love myself truly FIRST.

Now I can work my ass off and not expect anything out of it. I enjoy the work. I don’t even want to call it work, but I enjoy auditioning, I enjoy reading scripts, I enjoy memorizing lines, I enjoy learning new skills for roles and then the movie/show or finished product isn’t a “check” goal accomplished. Rather, each chapter continues onto the next. And I don’t always have to have something next.

I think I had to make this movie, and even see this movie to really learn that about myself. I never was driven to the extreme of physically harming myself like Alex but just like when I read the script, watching the movie, I saw myself looking in a mirror and I had to ask myself, “Why are you being mean to yourself?” I knew that I could still push myself and be hard on myself, but I didn’t have to be so mean. I had to love myself in order for my internal coach to love me too.

Bare: On another note you just returned from an epic trip to Istanbul. What were some of the highlights, lowlights and everything in between!

IF: I have to say, Turkey is an incredibly historically rich, beautiful, fiery and wonderful country to visit. I loved everything about it. I went all over too and still didn’t see enough. I was in Istanbul, Cappadocia, Dembre, Fethiye, Faralya, Oludeniz and Antalya. I would just say that the highlight was the whole trip. It was honestly so magical, I felt like I entered an alternate reality, and then I realized that I created that reality and just brought it home with me.

Bare: What are your Bare essentials?

IF: Good teas, lots of sunshine, daily meditation, daily exercise, a good journal sesh, my homemade sunscreen (made out of Carrot and Raspberry Seed oils), Dr. Bronner’s Lavender Castile Soap, my eyelash curler, Ogee skin oil & blush sticks, Lancôme mascara, Cle de Peau concealer and 100% rose oil as perfume. Oh and a purse to put all my stuff in.