Chemo Camp, Cringe and Community: Sunny Dancer star Bella Ramsey and director George Jacques on their must-see indie comedy
"I find really challenging, dark stuff really fun."
You’ve seen Bella Ramsey as a survivor in an apocalypse, a noble woman in a high-fantasy kingdom and heard them as a sheep on a mission to solve a murder. But the young star’s next big film adventure is something a little more down-to-earth.
In Sunny Dancer, Ramsey plays Ivy, a rebellious, self-isolating teenager trying to return to everyday life after going into cancer remission. Her parents decide to send Ivy to a summer camp programme, which she dubs “chemo camp,” to inspire her and allow her to make friends with teens who have been through the life-changing experience of living with cancer. Sunny Dancer takes a more light-hearted approach than most other cancer stories, showing Ivy and her campmates doing normal teenager antics like sneaking out of camp and raving in their cabins. And to great effect: it's currently riding high on a 91% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes:
Shortlist sat down with Ramsey and the film’s director, George Jacques, to ask how their collaboration began, the journey behind the film’s iconic dance scene, and why they weren’t worried about audiences finding the wholesome movie too cringe.
Shortlist: What specifically drew you to this film, Bella? And to George, what made Bella the perfect Ivy for you?
Bella Ramsey: I find really challenging, dark stuff really fun. But the idea of getting to do that — do challenging, dark, really emotional things — and also do that at the backdrop of a summer camp where I got to go on a water slide and run around and play games. Yeah, that just felt like a really perfect combination.
George Jacques: Bella's name got suggested to me by our casting directors. So I'm so sad I can't take the credit of coming up with you as my first lady, but that's their job, and I listen to them. But, you know, I never thought Bella would do this film. They had just come off The Last of Us and had huge success.
I watch everything that my actors work on, so from Catherine Called Birdy all the way. And I think for me, what I was so blown away by was just the range. And then what I was so excited and nervous about was putting Bella in an utterly stripped-back world where there was nothing to hide behind. This is very much just on Bella's shoulders, this whole movie. And I was just so excited about that and felt so lucky that they said yes and just felt like I had the best number one ever.
SL: My favourite moments were the scenes where Ivy does the group dance to I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ by the Scissor Sisters with her family and friends. What was the process for creating that dance?
BR: It was facilitated by a choreographer called Polly Bennett, who came and worked with us during the rehearsal week. And it started as just random movements and thinking about how we would hold cancer in our bodies. And then progressed into us being partnered up and doing stupid dance games that I was like, “This is a bit cringe.” And then we did it, and then by the end of it, Polly was picking moves that we'd done and we'd all do them as a group. And she stitched it all together beautifully and created a cohesive thing out of us messing about, basically.
GJ: But that's why she's a genius. I brought Polly on to do movement coaching, as you sort of said, to sort of look at cancer and what I might do. But I remember my producing partner was like, “I don't know if we need a choreographer.” The budget was tight for our movie, and it was like, “George, you could do it.” And I was like, “I can't do that. Like, there's no way.” And it was the way that Polly managed to get you all dancing in a really non-cringe way that you kind of slipped into dancing as well. I was watching this happen and being like, “I didn't even know how you… Now I want to dance!” And hopefully that energy is in the film.
SL: You both mention cringe in the last answer. Were you ever worried the film may cross the line between cringe and not cringe?
GJ: What I love about this movie is anytime it slips into cringe, it's called out. There's a moment where Daniel Quinn-Toye, who plays Jake, Ivy's love interest in the film, says…
BR: "I want you to feel like you can tell me anything."
GJ: Yeah, that's it. And then Ivy goes, “Ew, I was about to start having feelings for you. And then you start saying that.” In some of those young romantic films that we see a lot of, that line would just be allowed to slip, whereas in our film we were like, “Let's call it out.” That's so icky.
BR: And that was why I was worried when I got the script there. I was like, this is either gonna be really cringe or, like, really depressing. And I didn't really know how it was gonna work out, and it just wasn't. And that's what I liked about it. Every cringy moment was flipped on its head and made really funny.
SL: Bella, you are often paired with older, American actors in other projects. Did you feel slightly similar to Ivy on her journey to find her community when you had this rare opportunity to work with a cast of young, British actors?
BR: I, like Ivy, was a bit nervous about it and was resistant to it initially, being like, “I don't know how this is gonna go. And I think they're all gonna get on really well, and I'm just gonna be kind of on the outside and not cool and a bit weird.”
But actually it was not that at all. Immediately it felt like everyone fitted into the different roles within the group, but we all got along really well. It was really refreshing and really life-affirming in a way to be like, “Oh, I can really connect with people the same age. We can go out and go for a drink at the pub and then go home and go to bed and get enough sleep.”
Sunny Dancer hits UK cinemas on 14th August.
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