[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Turtles All the Way Down.]

Directed by Hannah Marks and based on the bestselling novel by John Green, the drama Turtles All the Way Down follows 17-year-old Aza Holmes (Isabela Merced), who’s trying to be a good daughter, friend and student, all while her own thoughts betray her. As the obsessive thoughts consume her in a spiral she feels helpless to control, it doesn’t leave much time for having fun with friends or getting closer to a crush. If she’s going to find a way to live with her thoughts instead of letting them rule her life, she’ll have to find a way to stop internalizing it all, accept love, and know that not every day will be perfect.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Merced talked about her love Aza and all her flaws, how special the experience was to share the screen with Cree, the challenge of shooting that car fight, and how community and the people you love can help ease your suffering. She also shared what it was like to be on set with the Xenomorphs for Alien: Romulus, her excitement over being a part of Season 2 of The Last of Us, and joining the DC Universe as Hawkgirl.

Turtles All The Way Down

A teenager tries to solve a mystery surrounding a fugitive billionaire.

Isabela Merced Loves Her ‘Turtles All the Way Down’ Character, Flaws and All

Collider: This is such a very emotional movie to experience and it’s easy to care about this character, which makes it really hard to go through the ups and downs of her struggle and to know that it’s so much worse for her to experience. What do you love most about this character? Having played her and spent that time in her head, what did you feel most connected with?

ISABELA MERCED: She has so many things that you can love about her, but I also had no trouble loving her flaws and her shortcomings because they were so relatable. I learned so much through her that I don’t even know where to begin. What stuck out to me the most, and what I love about this and that makes it not like many other mental health young adult movies, is that you see the consequences of her actions, in the sense that you realize the thought processes that she’s having do include a lot of “me” and “I” and “myself,” and not a lot of other people are involved in that. It can technically be considered selfish, and that’s something that I hadn’t realized. I thought, “Well, what if I’m thinking about myself in ways that I can improve myself and it’s not really selfish?” But no, it still is. You have to leave space for not just yourself, but others and the people in your life that you love.

It’s so all-consuming for Aza that it’s hard for her to even see past that, which is why one of the most standout moments in the film is that conversation/argument in the car between her and her best friend. What she’s experiencing is so real, but it’s hard for her to see that her best friend is also experiencing something. What was that scene like to shoot? Was that hard to do, especially in such a confined space of the car?

MERCED: Yeah. When Daisy says, “What are my parents’ names? What’s my cat’s name?,” you either know or you don’t. It’s not like you can go out of your way to find out. It just happens, or it doesn’t. That’s the thing about Aza. I really love that argument. It’s really hard to write a good argument on screen. But Isaac [Aptaker] and Elizabeth [Berger], the writers, are just an incredible writing duo. They did This Is Us and just phenomenal work with Love Simon. The thing that people don’t usually know about car scenes is that they’re shot when the car is usually off, and this was in the summer, so that confined space can get really hot, really quickly. Filming the incline of emotions was really hard because you get heated and you get really sweaty and they have to reset. It was a very long process and a very hot car, and definitely a difficult scene to film.

It feels like when you’re contained like that, there’s also nowhere for the energy to go.

MERCED: It is really hard. It’s a lot of carbon dioxide, for sure.

‘Turtles All the Way Down’ Co-Stars Isabela Merced and Cree First Met When They Were on Nickelodeon

What was it like to explore all that with Cree? There’s something just so special about watching the two of you together on screen.

MERCED: Cree and I could have easily switched places. There are parts of Aza that I see in Cree, and there are parts of Daisy that I see in me. Also, we just have a lot of things in common in our personal lives. We both were on Nickelodeon. We met there when we were younger, at 12 or something. She was actually younger than me at the time. So, we have those past experiences to pull from and that long of a friendship that just shows effortlessly on screen. Back then, we always hung out in group spaces and settings. This was our chance to really be one-on-one and see how our relationship is when it’s just the two of us. I’m really, really happy about it. It’s so cool. Everyone always says that they’ve confused us since our Nickelodeon days, so I think it’s really funny and sort of meta to show us in a movie together.

Aza has what she calls the greatest album of all time stuck in her car CD player, and it’s Outkast. What is your greatest album of all time? What is the set of songs that you could listen to in the car and you’d be cool with it only ever being that album?

MERCED: It would probably be a Prince album, or a Tame Impala album, or Absolutely by Dijon, which came out in 2021. It’s fairly new and it’s very good, just the structure of it and the songs.

Mine would be Green Day’s American Idiot.

MERCED: I second that. I’m gonna steal that answer.

What has the last year or two been like for you, booking so many cool projects? Does it feel real? Does it feel surreal? Does it feel like you’re living the dream?

MERCED: All of the above, honestly. It’s also stressful. I would add that, too. There’s a lot on my plate. I don’t have a single day off this whole month. If I’m not working on Superman or The Last of Us, I’m promoting [Turtles All the Way Down], or doing photo shoots. I’m definitely getting the Sydney Sweeney experience. She definitely had a schedule similar to this for Madame Web. I understand it, to an extent, but also, I don’t because I don’t feel like anything has changed. People see these changes, but I feel like, personally, I’ve always been ready to grind this hard. I’ve always been ready to put this much effort and energy into my career and my art, and I hate being bored. I’d rather be extremely busy than extremely bored.

One of the reasons I think so many people are excited for the new Alien movie, Alien: Romulus, is because Fede Alvarez used practical sets and practical aliens. What can you tease about that and about your role and being surrounded by all of that?

MERCED: The team at Legacy really helped us out with it. I was surrounded by pros. The interesting thing is that it was set up for streaming until the middle of filming. Because Fede Alvarez is the nerdy fan that he is of Alien, he really was vouching for this movie. He actually cut the teaser trailer himself, which is very rare. Usually, studios handle that. So, I think it was an absolute honor. I learned so much. Shout out to the crew in Budapest. They were amazing. They were top tier, for sure.

What ended up being the coolest thing you got to do on that?

MERCED: Definitely seeing the Xeno for the first time. They used a robot for that. And also, they used a human being, like a really tall person, in the costume and special effects. We had two Xenos on set, at all times, and they were just terrifying. The detail is incredible. I like the Xeno nails. That’s my favorite part, the chrome nails. I’m gonna get chrome nails for the premiere. You’ll see me with them all around. They were incredible.

How would you say it compares to the previous movies?

MERCED: Well, it’s 1.5, technically. Oh, my God, I don’t even know what I can say.

Just in terms of tone or the feeling that you get. Each of the movies is different, but they all give you that feeling of being terrified.

MERCED: Yeah. I watched a ton of fan reactions to the teaser trailer and a lot of people were saying that it reminds them of Alien: Isolation if it were a movie, because it’s a game. So, I would say it’s very claustrophobic, it’s very dark, and it’s very authentic to the first one. A lot of respect is paid and due to the original. You’re in for a familiar feeling of loyalty and care for this crew of people. On the upside, we do genuinely care for each other and we’ve stayed in touch and we’re really important to each other.

Isabela Merced Played the Second Video Game To Prepare For Her Role in Season 2 of ‘The Last of Us’

You’re also in the second season of The Last of Us. Were you familiar with the game?

MERCED: Yeah. I have been a fan of the series. I actually hadn’t played the game until I found out about me potentially being in it, but I only played the second game and that was such an experience. I had a lot of fun. People say, “How did you have fun playing it? It’s a very sad story.” But it’s just so well-made. When you see the Bloaters, your heart starts racing, your hands are all sweaty, and you can barely hold onto the controller. It’s just an amazing experience. I consider anything that makes my heart rate go up to be a fun experience, so I enjoyed it. Great work from Neil Druckmann.

Was that a role that you fought to land?

MERCED: I have to say they offered it to me, which is crazy coming out of my mouth.

Which goes back to the last couple of years that you’ve been doing some really cool projects.

MERCED: Yeah, and I’m processing it every day that I live it. Neil and Craig [Mazin] had reached out to my team and they said, “We wanna meet with her for The Last of Us?” And my team was like, “Hey, for what role?” And they didn’t specify. They just said, “Have her watch the game on YouTube.” And I was like, “I wanna play the game.” And then, we had a meeting and they proposed it at the meeting. Usually, you don’t ever say anything because it could always change. You never know what’s gonna happen. And then, the strike happened. But it was just a mind-blowing instant connection with Craig and Neil. By the way, Craig and I have a lot of issues in common. Our brains work faster than our mouths, and I just love that about him. He’s definitely one of my go-tos for a life guru, in general, now.

What are you most excited about with the character of Dina?

MERCED: I’m so excited for people to see my chemistry with Bella [Ramsey]. Bella and I have so much chemistry. From the first day, it was there. There’s no work to be done. I really respect Bella. I just saw Catherine Called Birdy and Bella has such range and just an honesty about their work. I’m learning so much. I’m very honored to be here.

You’re also in the new DC Universe as Kendra Saunders, aka Hawkgirl. What was it like to find out you landed that role? What are you excited about with that?

MERCED: It was so cool. I was a DC kid growing up. We had the action figures, and most of them were so old and used that the paint had come off. Batman looked poor, which is not what he is. But I really adored Hawkgirl. I had Hawkgirl and Hawkman as part of my collection. Well, technically it wasn’t mine. It was my siblings and I’s collection. We had Hot Wheels too. We just had a really fun, enjoyable childhood with those. So, this is a full circle moment. James Gunn also curated a lot of my favorite childhood movies, like the Scooby-Doo movies. Hello, works of art. And to work with him and learn from him, he’s just got such a solid team and a solid way of just doing it. He knows. He just knows. And he likes me too, I think, so that’s awesome.

Obviously, when you do a role you know there could be movies, TV series, animated series, video games, and all those things. James Gunn has even said that anyone cast could be in that universe for eight or 10 years. You don’t know what will happen for sure, but what is it like to sign on for something when you could be playing the role for a very long time?

MERCED: I would be honored for people to see me on the street and just be like, “Hawkgirl!” They don’t need know my name. I’d be honored because, you know what? It also sounds like, “Hot girl!,” and I’m okay with people calling me a hot girl. I’m good. Continue. Same as I was honored by Dora. Because these characters mean so much to other people, I’m just happy that I could potentially hold a special place in their heart. I don’t care what it’s for or what I’ve done. As long as it means something to them, I’m very excited about that.

‘Turtles All the Way Down’s Isabela Merced Deals With Her Own Stress By Leaning On Friends and Family

Turtles All the Way Down makes a point to say, “Your now is not your forever,” which seems like something that would be meaningful to anyone at any age and at any point in their life. Is that a sentiment that you also feel like you relate to and that you connect with?

MERCED: Yeah, absolutely. In the book, they talk about how community eases suffering, in a way, by just having people with you. That also stood out to me a lot. It’s very true, and it continues to ring true. It’s a lesson that I will continue to learn throughout the rest of my life. You don’t have to be alone. You can rely on your friends and family for help. That’s a really beautiful message that’s told in the story. It’s as simple as, if I stress, I call up a friend. I’ve been thinking about a million ways and a million solutions, and they say one thing with such ease and, all of a sudden, I have a new perspective that changes how I feel about it and how stressed out I am about it. Sometimes you just need somebody to snap you out of it because otherwise the brain just keeps going. And it doesn’t have to be a friend taking it seriously either. Sometimes my friends will be like, “That’s dumb. Why are you worried about that?” And I’m like, “You know what? That is dumb. Why am I stressed out so easily?” I love my friends.