Mina Sundwall has been acting since she was a child, infusing her characters with depth and nuance from the very beginning. Best known for playing Penny Robinson in Lost in Space and Lita in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (and, if you’re me, Mia in the Slenderman episode of Law & Order: SVU), Sundwall is now trading in the drama of space and superheroes for something much more grounded inThe Graduates, which premiered at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival last year.

Directed by Hannah Peterson in her feature debut, the film is a sensitive exploration of trauma centering on a high school senior named Genevieve (Sundwall), who is grieving her boyfriend Tyler (Daniel Kim), who she lost in a school shooting. A mentee of Sean Baker and Chloé Zhao, it’s no surprise that Peterson’s film is a beautiful, sensitive, and touching portrayal of a community in mourning. The entire ensemble, which includes Maria Dizzia as Geneive’s mom, John Cho as Tyler’s father, Yasmeen Fletcher as one of Geneieve’s friends, and Alex R. Hibbert as Tyler’s former teammate, is phenomenal, but the movie hinges on Sundwall’s layered and raw performance.

Collider got a chance to speak with Sundwall about the prep work that went into tackling a subject as heavy as this, how Peterson and Dizzia both made her feel safe to let go on set, her own upcoming directorial debut (that includes a few of her castmates from this film), and more.

Mina Sundwall Talked to Real Gun Violence Survivors to Prepare for ‘The Graduates’

COLLIDER: I have to say, as someone who has loved you since your Lost in Space days, I was really excited to see you in this. It was one of my favorites at Tribeca last year and blew me away. Obviously, it tackles a very heavy subject — one that, unfortunately, a lot of people can relate to. What research and preparation did you do for this role in particular?

MINA SUNDWALL: Yeah. I started with the most important part to me, which was talking to people who have unfortunately had firsthand experience with gun violence. There was a lot of listening and conversations and questions and trying to learn as much as I could. And then, [director] Hannah [Peterson] and I sat into a grief circle where we learned from kids and teens who were grieving and in different stages and for different reasons and understanding that also. There’s a lot of really good information and resources out there from firsthand experiences — from documentaries to interviews — that really helped me learn and understand. Because it is something that is so unique and specific in what it is, I wanted to learn as much as I could to honor that experience as much as possible.

I feel like that care really shines through in that preparation. Something that’s interesting is we don’t actually really see flashbacks of Tyler except through a few phone videos, but I still feel like we get such a vivid picture of who he was and what your relationship was like. I’m curious if that provided a unique acting challenge for you and then what the prep work was like for that to develop that background offscreen.

Hannah and I talked about him and their relationship so much that, for me, he was really real. And that is something that, when you lose someone in your life, they don’t become less real to you in any way. They’re still just as real as they were. Just because they’re not there doesn’t make them less real. I think it was really those conversations in creating that character together — that’s what solidified it for us. I’m really glad that it comes through on screen because Danny [Kim], who plays Tyler, was so lovely, and when he showed up, we had all known Tyler for so long that we were kind of meeting him at the same time, so I’m sure it was a really strange experience for him. [Laughs] But when we met him, it was immediately like, “Oh my god — it is this person that we’ve been thinking about for so long.” I think, really, the answer is the conversation that we had in creating this character for the two of us to think about all the time.

The scene where Genevieve pulls over on her bike and has the panic attack makes me cry every time. It catches me off guard and makes me break down. I’m curious how you got yourself there because it feels so raw and powerful despite not having any dialogue.

Thank you. I think those things are such a release when you do that, both in real life when something like that happens to you and also when you are…every day on this movie, we were thinking about it, and it lived with us all the time. It really was a release for me and Genevieve at the same time. It kind of felt like I was right there from the get-go. Also, just being with Hannah and having this really supportive environment and feeling so free to be able to be vulnerable and get to that place and not have to hold back in any way, I think that was the perfect combination of things.

Mina Sundwall Discusses Moments of Levity in ‘The Graduates’
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I feel like something that’s really cool about this movie is that there are moments of levity and even humor. When she tells the chicken nugget story, I feel like that’s one of the most powerful in a completely different way. Why do you think that those moments of humor and levity enhance a heavy story like this?

I think that’s really life. There’s no one tone to any part of life. In really good moments, you can have bad days; and in really bad moments, you can have good days. That’s part of the experience of feeling and being a human being, especially when you’re young and you’re experiencing something. What I love so much about Genevieve is, immediately — when I read the script and when you think about her — she doesn’t not think about the future. She lets herself have a future, think about what’s to come, get excited about things, love her friends, and holds on to the positive moments — and that is really life. That is having feelings. It’s finding that place where you understand that having good days is having bad days, and having bad days is having good days.

You mentioned the relationship with her friends — those are some of my favorite scenes, too, because they just feel so natural. Was all of the dialogue from the script, or was there any improvving in those group scenes? They just felt so real to me.

Yeah, there was a lot of improvving. I think we followed the script, but Hannah is very good about letting us talk and letting us be ourselves, and then you have these connections with each other and just roll the camera. I can’t really remember what percentage of it is dialogue versus improv, but there’s a lot — there’s a lot of improv in there. That group of people are some of my best friends now, so you’re just watching us become really good friends.

Mina Sundwall Says Onscreen Mom Maria Dizzia Made Her “Feel Safe”
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I love it. It makes it feel so much more natural. Even the relationship between Genevieve and her mom — that’s one of my favorite parts of this film because I feel like so many YA movies really neglect that relationship. I think it was really fun to see the ups and the downs and her finally being able to be vulnerable. Can you talk about working with Maria Dizzia to make that dynamic feel so true to life and also have those moments of catharsis that we were talking about earlier, too? I feel like you two, together, had a lot of really nice ones.

Thank you. I love Maria, and every day working with her is so special. She really locks into it, and she’s there, and she’s present. Working with her, you immediately feel like you’re in the space, even before the cameras start rolling — the second you start talking about it. It was easy to create this connection with her and have that experience feel like it’s really been lived in. And she is a mom, so thinking about this situation from her and the conversations she’s having, so much of it felt real for us, too, in those moments.

She’s also just one of the warmest people I’ve met. She’s so sweet and lovely that it’s easy to feel safe with her and feel like you can have those moments — in the same way of that supportive environment of feeling like it is okay to go here right now and it’s okay to feel these things. Just like you would with your mom, where some of the things that you’re defending for yourself are from the inside — not necessarily from who you’re talking to. And she just allowed that space to be.

I feel like that shines through a lot, too. Another one of the dynamics that’s really strong in this movie is the one between Genevieve and Ben. There’s so much hurt between them, but there are also those moments of comfort, too, and you guys play off of each other so, so well. I’m curious how you two worked together to develop such a rich and layered dynamic.

Yeah, we had a lot of rehearsals and conversations before we started filming. I remember I had a Zoom chemistry read with him before I got it, and even in that moment, it felt like there was a thing there — this connection of these two friends who had known each other for so long. We clicked really fast, and [Alex R. Hibbert] is also just such an incredible actor that you watch him…he’s one of the people that I’ve been in the scene with and has taken me out of the scene because he’s doing it so good. I’m like, “Oh my god — that was really good.” [Laughs] But it is that same thing — we walked with each other through it, and having all of those moments together felt really special just because of what it meant to both of us and all of the conversations that we had beforehand. It’s that preparation mixed with that freedom in the moment.

Kind of a random question, but as someone who went to Catholic school, I found the inclusion of the church scenes and the subtle religion of it all really refreshing. It wasn’t super overpowering or messagey, but it was still there. That felt like it added a very interesting texture to it, too. I’m curious if you can talk about that aspect and theme of the film because I feel like that’s not something I see very much either.

I think that comes from looking at different experiences of different upbringings — especially in the US — and kind of looking at what different versions of growing up can look like. I did not talk to Hannah too specifically about what her thought process was when looking at that specifically and looking at the inclusion of religion and the inclusion of being in a church at certain points in time, but I think that, at the core, it is a story about these people who are going through these things, so you’re including parts of their life that do affect them in different ways. How does the community come together in a situation like this? Making it about people and about the community, it’s included in that in most places.

Mina Sundwall on Working with Director Hannah Peterson — And Directing Her Own Projects
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You can definitely feel the community aspect, which I think is something really special about the movie. You’ve mentioned working with Hannah a lot, and the fact that this is her directorial debut is so cool. I’m curious what it’s like for you to get to collaborate with a young female director like herself because, unfortunately, that’s a little bit rare in this industry.

Yeah, it was amazing. I love Hannah, and I want to work with her forever. I tell her all the time, she is such a special person to collaborate with, and she was so loving and caring and personal towards this story that it really was a collaboration. We had conversations about ideas that we had, anywhere from her history to what’s going on in the script to even the way that Genevieve’s hair is — all of these details that really make up this person and this life. Sometimes, it’s still surprising to me that it’s her directorial debut because it never felt like that. She was such an amazing leader and created an environment on set that was so special and supportive. There’s not one moment that I had ever really thought about that in the experience at all. I really love working with her. She’s amazing.

I want you to keep collaborating with her, too, to get more of this.

I know, fingers crossed! Please!

Speaking of directing, I know you are directing right now, and you’re in the process of working with some of your co-stars from this film. Can you tell me about how that came about and the project in general? I’m very excited about that.

Thank you! I cannot say too much about the project specifically right now. My co-stars from this movie are some of my best friends in life — one of them is my roommate, Yasmeen Fletcher, who I see almost every day. I’ve loved development and directing for so many years, and in the last year and a bit, I’ve really dived into it, and I’m very, very excited about it. I cannot say too much, but I launched a production company. I’m very excited to partner with other young filmmakers who are as passionate about these kinds of stories as I am. That project, in particular, is one that I was working on for a while, and Yasmeen is amazing in it. I’m very, very excited for it.

The Graduates hits theaters November 1st.

The Graduates A young woman prepares to graduate high school following the death of her boyfriend to gun violence a year prior.Run Time 1 hr 27 min Director Hannah Peterson Release Date November 1, 2024 Actors Mina Sundwall, Alex R. Hibbert, Yasmeen Fletcher, Ewan Manley, John Cho, Maria Dizzia, Kelly O’Sullivan

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