https://thecineblog.com/tags/comedy-drama/ Recent content in Comedy-Drama on The CineBlog Hugo en-US Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:00:10 -0500 https://thecineblog.com/stories/eighth-grade/ Fri, 01 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://thecineblog.com/stories/eighth-grade/ <p>Hollywood is terrified of actual teenagers. For decades, studios have cast perfectly polished twenty-five-year-olds to play high school students. This cowardice results in a sanitized, plastic version of adolescence. In <em>Eighth Grade</em>, Bo Burnham recognized that to capture the terrifying reality of Generation Z anxiety, he could not hire professionals playing dress-up. He had to hire the real thing.</p> <h2 id="directing-the-performance-actual-children">Directing the Performance: Actual Children</h2> <p><em>Bref</em>, Burnham insisted on casting actual eighth graders. He discovered lead actress Elsie Fisher on YouTube. She had graduated from the eighth grade a mere week before principal photography began.</p>