How To Build A Girl Trailer Is Part Booksmart And Part Almost Famous

Beanie Feldstein in How to build a girl.

Beanie Feldstein had a buzzy last year after starring in Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart and finally getting to fulfill her dream of appearing in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Now she’s back for How To Build A Girl, a new movie that’s part Booksmart and part Almost Famous.

Beanie Feldstein’s not the only notable name in the upcoming IFC film. She’ll be joined by The Good Place’s Jameela Jamil, Game of Thrones’ Alfie Allen, Chris O’Dowd, Emma Thompson and more. You can check out the full trailer below.

Beanie Feldstein was born in Los Angeles (she's Jonah Hill's sister in fact) so it's a little offbeat to hear her with an accent from a place like Wolverhampton. In fact, How To Build A Girl is set in 1993--the same year Feldstein was actually born in real life. So the whole thing throws me off a little. However, the general coming-of-age beats and comedy in this stand out, particularly nearer the end when Feldstein character has a publishing conversation with Emma Thompson's character.

Emma Thompson's another actress who has just seemed to be everywhere over the last couple of years. Case in point, in 2019, we saw her in Last Christmas, Late Night and Men In Black International (not to mention she did voice work for Missing Link). Next up, she'll be in Cruella, but for now, we'll have How To Build A Girl to fill the gap.

In addition, thanks to How To Build A Girl's talking wall, fun cameos can be seen in the trailer, particularly Michael Sheen as Sigmund Freud and Lily Allen as Elizabeth Taylor. Did your eagle eyes catch those moments?

How To Build A Girl actually filmed back in 2019 and premiered at the Toronto international Film Festival (TIFF) back in September of last year. IFC films scooped the movie up and now it's one of the few releases that will be coming out in May of 2020. The upcoming film was directed by Coky Giedroyc and is based on a novel written by Caitlin Moran of the same name (she also wrote the movie). It'll be available to families at home starting on May 8 although the U.K. release for the movie isn't expected to happen until July.

This coming-of-age narrative is something that Beanie Feldstein has been known for, but I really do like the Almost Famous in the nineties bent of the first look. In addition, reviews have been promising for the IFC movie, thanks to people having seen it on the festival circuit.  We'll have to wait and see if more people tune in as they are stuck in their homes over the next several weeks, and you can see what else is already available to watch with our full guide.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.