Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke are reflecting on their own high school experiences with the release of their new Netflix movie, "Do Revenge."
The pair, joined by director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, spoke to TODAY about creating the movie and the parallels they found in their own lives. The movie, which released on Sept. 16, follows two high school girls, Drea (Camila Mendes) and Eleanor (Maya Hawke), bonding over misfortune and vowing to go after each other's bullies.
"It's a very twisty turny, fun, thrill ride of revenge, but it's actually a movie about healing," Robinson said. "I would say that this is a film about trauma bonding and healing."
But for Mendes, filming the movie meant reflecting on her own high school experiences, for better or for worse.
The actor revealed that when she was in high school, she was similar to her character Drea, saying that she dated the "hottest guy ever" at her school.
"I assigned so much worth to myself at the time as a young girl based off of the fact that he chose me and he wanted me, and then when he ultimately betrayed me, I realized that you can't place your worth on other people and their opinion of you," she said. "And I think that was a very important lesson to learn in high school and also a lesson that I think you continue to learn throughout life."
Hawke reflected that she relates to her character, Eleanor, in the sense of not knowing herself well in high school and trying to figure out who she was and who she wanted to be.
"I throughout high school shape shifted a lot, and I'm still experimenting a lot with the way that I dress and in kind of a journey to find yourself," Hawke said. "But the journey is the goal."
Robinson also revealed some '90s inspiration behind the movie, which has a look and style reminiscent of that decade. The director revealed that she looked to iconic movies like "Clueless," "Heathers" and "Jawbreaker," among others, when writing the script.
"Really, it was like all of the inspiration was there, and then we got to build something new," Robinson said. "And I think that was so exciting."
At the end of the day though, as much as the actors and director see their own high school experiences in the movie, Robinson said she hopes no one in the audience sees themselves in the movie and instead hopes they are simply entertained.
"The thing about this movie that's so fun is that it doesn't live in reality. It's not meant to mirror your experience back to you," she said. "It's meant to be a really delicious, fun popcorn piece of entertainment."
For more from this interview, tune into PopStart Plus at 7p.m. EST only on TODAY All Day.
