How Ayo Edebiri Became the Adult in the Room

This challenging period strengthened the friendship between Edebiri and Roberts, who shared several emotionally complex scenes in the film. “We transformed from relative strangers to friends in no time; it felt surreal,” Roberts expressed via email. “Being around her is truly remarkable—the way she thinks and communicates is incredibly engaging.” Guadagnino recounted a day when a power outage halted production: “I couldn’t edit, shoot, or do anything. Then I received a message from Ayo and Julia inviting me to join them at an amusement park.”

For Edebiri, the toughest day on set involved a scene that they hadn’t rehearsed thoroughly. During a pivotal confrontation at the university, Maggie, driven by anger, slaps Alma—a moment that Roberts insisted be real. “It was daunting,” Edebiri recalls. “I had to slap literally the most talented person, Julia Roberts.”

By then, Edebiri had engaged in multiple discussions with both Roberts and Guadagnino, which led her to feel the emotional and narrative significance of the scene. The final piece was learning to let go—a central theme of the filmmaking journey. “There were times when Luca would challenge me, saying, ‘I see you overthinking or trying to justify it. But Maggie, although she’s smart, follows her emotions.’”

Guadagnino had given assignments to his cast, and for Edebiri, one was to watch Ken Russell’s Women in Love; she was to focus especially on Glenda Jackson’s portrayal of the strong and unapologetic Gudrun. This proved beneficial: “Watching it made me realize that Maggie might be misunderstood,” she notes. “There’s freedom in accepting that people might dislike or not comprehend her actions.” Leading up to the film’s premiere in Venice—where Edebiri wore a chic off-white bouclé suit and a striking red dress with playful ruby buttons from Chanel—she hoped the audience would approach the film with depth, rather than reducing it to mere like or dislike.

This ties back to what Edebiri mentioned earlier about her evolving relationship with fame and how it impacts her work. As her audience expands, the stakes of her endeavors in both stand-up and acting have transformed. “Many artists can become mere characters or ideas to the audience,” she reflected. “When they step outside that expectation, it’s met with confusion: ‘What’s going on? Do we still like this?’”

It appears that she is entering a new phase—one defined by the improvisational principle of yes, and… For instance, Edebiri is developing a film centered on Barney, the beloved purple dinosaur. (“I think it’s going to be exciting” is all she’ll disclose for now.) She is also collaborating on a feature with Boyce—her co-writer on “Worms,” a standout episode from the fourth season of The Bear. “I remember feeling during the first season that this was someone I wanted to collaborate with throughout my career,” reflects Boyce about Edebiri—and she also names Keke Palmer and Teyana Taylor as potential future collaborators.