Eighth Grade (2018) on Netflix
Kayla Day is thirteen, in her last week of middle school. Her motivational videos draw few viewers and she struggles to make friends. A classmate's mother arranges a pool party invitation.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.3/1087,541 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes99%
Trailer
Plot summary
Kayla Day is thirteen and in her last week at Miles Grove Middle School in a small New York town. She records motivational vlogs about confidence and self-image, and almost nobody watches them. At school she keeps to herself and her classmates vote her Most Quiet. Her single father, Mark, wants to get through to her and pull her away from her phone. Kennedy's mother makes Kennedy invite Kayla to a pool party, and Kayla panics in the bathroom. She goes out to the water and meets Kennedy's cousin Gabe, then runs into Aiden, the boy she likes, who tells her she should stay. She finds the nerve to volunteer for karaoke.
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Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Eighth Grade (2018)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Burnham discovered Elsie Fisher on YouTube and had her audition three times before casting her as Kayla; 50 teenagers auditioned for the role.
- The Motion Picture Association of America rated Eighth Grade R for profanity and fellatio content. Burnham could have cut the film to earn a PG-13 but decided against it.
- Burnham wrote a letter to Enya asking permission to use "Orinoco Flow" for a social media montage, wanting the song to convey that the experience was religious and spiritual for Kayla; Enya granted it.
- To depict texting, Burnham rejected on-screen bubble effects as used in House of Cards and instead filmed the phones themselves, with Kayla's vlogs shot on an actual MacBook Pro.
- The "truth or dare" scene was shot with only eight crew members plus Fisher and Zolghadri, and Fisher kept the screenplay on her lap to read when her character looked down.
- Actual teachers and students at Suffern Middle School were used as extras, with principal Brian Fox revealing five to ten students were cast; one student said having eczema was her "special talent" and another auditioned by eating a bell pepper like an apple, and Burnham accepted both.
- Burnham and editor Jennifer Lilly did not finish post-production until three days before the film's Sundance premiere in January 2018.
