Academy Award-nominated actress, multi-platinum recording musician, and producer, Hailee Steinfeld wants to produce more content.
“I just can’t wait to do something that challenges me in a way that I haven’t been challenged yet,” Steinfeld told actress Ayo Edebiri on Friday at Tribeca Festival’s Storytellers series. “I would love to produce something that I’m not in. To understand that role in its entirety on its own.”
Steinfeld’s first producing gig was Apple TV+’s Dickinson, which she also starred in. The role earned her a 2020 Peabody Award. Most recently, the actress reprised her role as Spider-Gwen in Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse. The previous installment, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, won a 2019 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
“I didn’t have the opportunity to record with any of the other actors (in the first film),” Steinfeld said. “It wasn’t until we were doing press for the film that I found out that Shameik Moore, who plays Miles Morales (recorded with other people). He said, ‘I had the best time sitting with,’ and he started listing all the people he recorded with. I was like, ‘How do I get in the room with people?’ I didn’t know that was an option.”
Steinfeld ended up recording Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse with Moore, Issa Rea, and Shea Wigham.
During the hour-long talk, Steinfeld told Edebiri that doing voiceover work on Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse was a lot easier than the first installment of the franchise.
“I had so much more confidence coming into the second film,” Steinfeld said. “I understood the process.”
Both Steinfeld and Edebiri lent their voices to the new Spiderman movie, which was released on June 2.
“Our last recording session for Spider-Verse was like three weeks ago,” Steinfeld said.
“Me too,” said Edebiri.
“That was wild,” said Steinfeld. “I feel like I saw the filmmakers bless them, they all look awesome, aging themselves.”
The actress added, “Normally, we will go in and do our part. Then it goes into post-production, and you might hear from (the director) once or twice. Sometimes it’s a little inconvenient to go in and have to do a couple of hours of ADR. But now, I look at going back again and again and again as just an opportunity to keep improving on what you have done. The fact that these (Spider-Verse directors) went up until the last second – until there were people that were pulling them away physically from continuing down the road of perfecting – I have so much respect and admiration for that.”
The 26-year-old made her Marvel live-action debut with Disney+’s Hawkeye series in 2021. A self-appointed protégé to Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye/Clint Barton, Steinfeld plays archer extraordinaire Kate Bishop.
The Dickinson star was nominated for an Academy Award at age 14 in 2011 for her performance in the 2010 film True Grit.
“I feel like it’s not often that I take a step back and reflect on what I have accomplished in my career and how young I actually really was when I did start,” Steinfeld told Edebiri.”It’s a wild thing. But as far as what was like, growing up and working in this world? In a way, I don’t know any different. This is home for me.”