Luckiest Girl In The World

Michelle Randolph is a California girl through and through: It’s in her easygoing chatter, her fresh-faced beauty (it’s no surprise she modeled before pivoting to acting), and her earnest belief in the power of manifestation. But today, she’s found herself in New York City in the middle of February — and though she’s established herself as a solid and sought-after actor, she’s not even trying to fake it as a New Yorker. “I genuinely could be happy never being in temperatures below 70 degrees for the rest of my life,” Randolph says via Zoom from her hotel room, sporting beach waves and a cozy black hoodie that underscore her West Coast vibe. She’ll brave the elements for work, though — and lately, there’s been a lot of that.

The 28-year-old broke out three years ago in 1923 as Elizabeth Strafford, a young woman who must test her mettle after marrying into a Montana ranch family. It was her first brush with the expanding Taylor Sheridan cinematic universe — of which she’s since cemented herself a star in the wildly popular neo-Western Landman. “He’s a genius,” Randolph says of the creator/showrunner. “He balances so much, yet he cares about every detail. I don’t know how he does it. And he gives you time. Like if you need him, he is a phone call away.” On Landman, she plays Ainsley Norris, the spirited college-bound daughter of a Texas oil family who — increasingly as the character moves toward independent young adulthood — has proven her capacity for nuanced moments of depth and kindness.

Next, Randolph makes her studio film debut in Scream 7 (in theaters Feb. 27). Expect even more callbacks to Scream lore than usual in this installment of the already self-referential franchise: Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original film 30 years ago, serves as director for the first time in the series’ history. “I felt confident walking into it, because what better person to tell the story?” Randolph says.

Of course, fans will have to wait and see if Randolph’s character — who in the trailer appears to land right on the Ghostface-masked assailant’s knife after falling from a chandelier — meets the same first-kill fate that Drew Barrymore did in the original. Randolph remembers Barrymore’s “iconic” ’90s bob with bangs from the 1996 movie. “When I booked Scream, I went and watched every single one of them, and I did have nightmares.”

Fortunately for Randolph, her subsequent project is significantly lighter. She’s preparing to film a holiday rom-com, Clashing Through the Snow, which puts her and The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Christopher Briney on a “brutal road trip” in the vein of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles — but soon enough, she’ll return to the warmer climes of Texas for the highly anticipated third season of Landman. (The week after its Jan. 18 finale, the show was the second most-viewed original series on Nielsen’s streaming charts, sandwiched between the good company of Stranger Things and The Pitt.)

Even in the middle of such a momentous ride, Randolph is warm and effusive. She didn’t grow up with showbiz aspirations, she tells me, but has plenty of them now — “I really want to work with women [who] tell stories from female perspective,” she says — and delights in all the actor-y details of her work, down to what comedic beats look like in a script. Preparation, it turns out, has always been her thing.

“I was never one of those kids that — and my best friend is this way — we could have a test the next morning and she hasn’t studied, and I’ve been studying the whole week, and she’s like, ‘Oh, I’m cramming the night before,’” Randolph says. “And she gets the same grade as I do. Or better. My brain doesn’t work that way. I’ve always had to try hard… I don’t know if there would be a difference in my performance, but I wouldn’t feel ready. And I feel that way across everything in my life.”

Though she didn’t come onto our collective radar until recently, Randolph has been honing her craft for a while now. Before booking the life-changing 1923, Randolph cut her teeth in a handful of made-for-TV and indie movies — and in a sweet flourish of invisible string-ism, she once wrote an essay about the Sheridan-penned Sicario while studying film at Arizona State University. “I've been in the business since I was 18. Even if it was more so on the edge,” she says. “But I'm happy that I’ve been able to observe a lot throughout the last 10 years, because it's made me really careful.”

That care has helped Randolph thoughtfully navigate her new level of exposure — viral discourse included. During Landman Season 2, some viewers and conservative press projected praise onto Randolph, personally, after her character questioned her cheer camp roommate Paigyn’s use of they/them pronouns. Did this kind of response make Randolph uncomfortable? “I’m an actor, you know? I was just doing my job on that day. I didn’t know what to do with the reaction of it,” she says, explaining: “Those are the moments I try not to be online.” (In last month’s season finale, Ainsley and Paigyn recommit to dorming together after Ainsley defends them from a group of jeering bullies.)

It’s not just Randolph’s work that has the internet abuzz. Recently, photos of her and real-life Texan Glen Powell — from Miami to a Golden Globes afterparty — have fueled rumors that the actors are in a relationship. When I ask Randolph for her take on Powell as a fellow performer, she praises him as a “wonderful actor” and leaves it at that. “I think my personal life is so separate than my work life,” she says. “And I understand that my job is something public, and I’ve chosen that … but I just think for my peace of mind, I just try to keep those things as separate as possible. And it’s hard, but it’s important to me.”

For Randolph, it seems like that’s what this era is all about: gracefully riding the wave, to borrow a phrase from her teenage surfing era. We get into that — plus Scream, Saturn returns, and the importance of being a little bit delusional — in the conversation below.

The last time we talked, you mentioned that you’d worked with an acting coach who specialized in comedy. What excites you about that?

Comedy is so challenging, especially a rom-com. You have to let yourself be free and be silly. If you feel cool in a rom-com, you’re doing it wrong. Vulnerability comes with that. And good comedy is a rhythm. You can hear it, and it’s actually very technical. I think it’s much less subjective than drama.

Do you have any favorite romances?

I mean, When Harry Met Sally, Pretty Woman, The Way We Were, The Proposal, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days — I’ve watched all of them. I chose my job well, because my homework for this that I’ve given myself is rewatching every rom-com I can think of. Like, this is productive.

Sometimes confidence can come off as effortless, but you seem to enjoy doing the homework.

I always say acting is so easy, it’s hard. I’m a Virgo with a Capricorn moon, and I am such a perfectionist. That’s where overpreparation comes from: to be able to be like, OK, I’m confident. I know everything. I’m gonna throw it all out the window and let my subconscious take over. That’s my sweet spot.

I’m glad you mentioned astrology. We’re about the same age; is your Saturn return top of mind?

Sometimes I have these temporary breakthroughs where I’ll have this epiphany, and I’ll hold on to it for a week, or a month, and then it leaves me, and I go back to my baseline. But I hope this Saturn return changes things. I love how much I care about everything, [but] I wish I could care less. Like, life’s short. My mom always says, “You’re gonna look back one day and go, I shouldn’t have cared.” I do repeat the saying a lot to myself: “If you’re not going to care in five years, you shouldn’t care now.”

You mentioned epiphanies — what are some things that you’ve tried and pulled back on?

Starting every morning with what you’re grateful for is such an easy, simple idea — and for some reason, it’s really hard to habitually do that. But every time I do, I feel like it changes my day. Do you remember the TikTok trend, the luckiest girl in the world?

Absolutely, yeah.

I loved that. And so much of life is your mindset. I’m a big believer in manifestation where, if you have a goal, or you decide you’re going to have a really great day, then you consciously notice the things that support your manifestations. Like, we create our own reality.

Is it scary to be in Scream? You know it’s fake, of course, but I could imagine it still being a little frightening.

On set, it’s not scary. But I think your body doesn’t quite know the difference. When you’re convincing yourself that you're about to die, you have to work yourself up physically and emotionally, even though I know that’s not real. It’s hard to come down from.

What scares you in real life?

Spiders. I hate them. My mom has a huge phobia of spiders, and so I’ve been taught to fear them my whole life. I’m afraid of… can I get dark?

You can!

I don't know what I would do without my family. That’s something I’m really grateful for. I know that they'll always be there. My mom especially — I don’t know why, whenever I talk about my mom, it makes me cry. She's just the greatest person, and she's so supportive, and I could call her at any hour of the day, and she would pick up, and she gives me pep talks all the time. Sometimes I have to remind myself to not call my mom during a meltdown. She's gonna think I’m not OK. And when I’m happy, I forget to call her sometimes!

Aw, that’s beautiful. You and your sister, The Bachelor Season 23 winner Cassie, both entered the public eye in different ways. Was there something about your upbringing that gave you the go-getter-ism to be in the entertainment industry?

My parents always instilled in me and my siblings, like, you can do whatever you set your mind to. I always felt that way growing up. And they were always supportive of whatever I was interested in at the time. They never made me feel like I couldn't accomplish something — sports, school, career. I think they supported the delusion.

Are there other avenues you pursued?

I played soccer and volleyball growing up. I ran track. I spent half my childhood playing sports. My family moved to Huntington Beach when I was 16, and Huntington Beach is Surf City, USA. When we first moved, we went to Costco and got the Wavestormsurfboard. My mom was like, “You could be a surfer if you want. You could join the surf team.” And I’m like, “People have grown up surfing, and I’m just now learning at 16. You think I could be a surfer?” She just had so much confidence in me that it made me believe it myself.

You're a Taylor Swift fan, right?

Major.

Have you seen the Kris Jenner meme where she's like, “Why don’t you just call Taylor up?”

The funny thing is, I quote that often because Taylor Sheridan. I know it’s a different Taylor, but like… why don’t you just call Taylor up?

Seeing Ainsley so close with her mom on Landman is really special. What is it like on set with Ali Larter, having that rapport?

She’s the best. I think people often forget that Ainsley has like a week or two before she goes off to college, and she’s choosing to spend her last moments with her parents. Like, how special! At that age, a lot of kids just want to be with their friends. So I think it says a lot about who she is. But I love filming with Ali. I forget we’re at work. There’s a part of me that’s really nervous that I’m not gonna have as many scenes with Ali in Season 3 as I have the last two years. I don’t know if that's the case, but I don’t like it.

Maybe you’re gonna have to “call Taylor up.” What else do you hope for in Season 3?

As much as I love who Ainsley is with her family, I’m curious to see how she changes when she’s outside of her comfort zone. In the [Season 2] finale, I noticed a huge shift in Ainsley. She is so different when she’s with her mom and dad than she is when she’s around her peers, and it’s really nice to see that side of her.

I totally agree. Seeing her stick up for Paigyn in the finale was so powerful. What did that mean to you, to watch it play out?

I was proud of her. You get those scenes and you just think… OK, I have to be really delicate with the way that I play this. And Bobbi [Salvör Menuez], my scene partner, was so fantastic. We had a lot of conversations about the scene leading up to it, so I’m happy it came out the way that it did.

Recently I’ve been hearing that saying about how it takes 10 years to become an overnight success. What are some of the perks that come with having kind of a breakout moment — yet not being totally inexperienced with what the industry entails?

It can be really overwhelming if you don’t have that experience or time to assess from afar. When you’re younger, you’re like, “Oh, I would book one show, and then I’ll work forever.” You could be working straight for two years and then go through a lull. So knowing that it took me a while to get where I am really makes me appreciate it. I know that I’m lucky to be here. I know that it doesn’t last forever. This industry is very fickle. That’s what’s been really cool about the way that Landman’s been received. You pour so much of yourself into this small pocket of time. And everyone from crew to cast to people behind the scenes cares so much — and sometimes people never see it. But when something's received, it's like, Oh! It’s all worth it.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Top image credit: Ducie coat, Albright Fashion Library pants