Since her breakout role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza in 2021, Alana Haim has continued gaining ground in the film world. Not long after appearing opposite Josh O’Connor in Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind (2025), this spring she co-stars in Kristoffer Borgli’s pitch-black comedy The Drama, alongside Zendaya and Robert Pattinson.
Here, Zooming in from her home in Los Angeles, the actress and rock star talks to Vogue about apologizing to her castmates throughout filming; working out her subconscious rage through her acerbic character, Rachel; and why it’s best to go into The Drama blind.
Vogue: How’s it been navigating a press tour for a movie that hinges on a secret?
Alana Haim: I mean, it’s hard. I’m not good at keeping secrets; this is, like, the only secret I’ve ever kept in my life. I did the LA premiere and I ran into somebody who was like, “I’m so happy that I knew nothing about this movie before I watched it.” I mean, it’s hard now not to see the spoilers—I feel like it’s kind of out there—but do your best, because I do think that seeing it without any sort of information beforehand makes it a way crazier ride.
Are you the type of person who usually looks at spoilers?
I don’t! I think it started when I was obsessed with Game of Thrones. I didn’t watch it from the beginning, and then I was on tour somewhere and they were playing an episode. It was one of those things where I didn’t have anything to watch, so I was like, okay, I’ll try it. And it was the Red Wedding episode, which is literally the biggest spoiler episode of the whole series. I was so mad, ’cause then, of course, I was like, Whoa, this show is fucking nuts. I went back to the beginning, but I obviously knew where we were going and it kind of ruined the first seasons. Never again.
You’ve referred to Rachel as the complete opposite of you. What drew you to her, and was there anyone in your head when you played her?
Rachel is a beast in her own right. In her first scene, you’re looking at Emma, who’s played by Zendaya, and she’s explaining this beautiful memory, and Rachel’s reaction is, “You look ugly when you cry.” That’s where she lives. [Emma’s] having this beautiful moment and Rachel just ruins it with her bluntness.
My inspiration for her…I guess I had rage in my soul that I need to unpack in therapy. She kind of just came out of me. It’s so fun, going on this journey with acting, because you play people who are so out of your comfort zone, and Kris really let me explore and be crazy. That’s really—my whole life, all I’ve wanted to do is make people laugh. To have the opportunity to kind of run free and be crazy and not have someone tell you, like, “Stop,” has been a very, very cathartic experience.
You’ve said that you apologized to Mamadou Athie, who plays your partner, because you were rude to him in the film.
He really is the sweetest man. I mean, I apologized to everybody. What I unpack in therapy—not to bring it up again—is that I’m a people pleaser. I’m like the poster child for people-pleasing. I just want everybody to have a good time, and yelling at people is so not my vibe at all. I mean, I especially apologized to Zendaya, I think, about 30,000 times, because I scream at her all the time. But when you’re in it, you’re like, This is who I am. This is what’s on the page. This is what I’m doing today.
Do you have a fun memory or story from set that you can share?
Oh my God, there are so many. When I was doing the drunk speech where I really just let it all hang out, because [Rachel] was so angry, I would slam my wine glass on the table and I broke, like, 15 wine glasses. The prop person was like, “We’re running out of wine glasses. Can you just lightly put it on the table?”
And shooting that dinner table scene, we shot it all the way through every time. It was just like a play. It was a 22- or 23-minute scene. And we really got lost in it—you go through so many emotions. It was hilarious.
You’re the one in the film who drops the question, “What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” Your sister recently got married; did you ever ask her the same thing?
When I watched the movie for the first time, I was lucky that I could bring my best friends with me. We watched it and directly after, all my friends were like, “Shit, what is the worst thing I’ve ever done?” It really does cause that conversation to happen. I did not tell my sister to do that because I didn’t want to spoil any part of this movie. No one really knew what the fuck I was doing when I was shooting this movie, which was actually kind of nice.
But my sister and her husband are about to see the movie together when we go to New York, so I have a feeling this conversation is looming. I don’t want to be the Rachel in my sister’s relationship, though. I tap out.
What was your relationship to Kristoffer’s work before this film?
I got invited to the premiere of Dream Scenario. We were right in the middle of making our album and my sisters were exhausted, so I went by myself—it was, like, the first time I had seen a movie by myself—and I just became obsessed. I mean, I thought it was so well written and such a beautiful film. Afterward, there was this soirée and I didn’t know anybody, so I’m, like, standing in the corner with a drink. Then Kris came up to me and we started talking. We had this weird chemistry where it kind of felt like we had known each other our whole lives.
We just became friends, and I remember we went to dinner one night. The Drama didn’t have a title yet, but he was like, “I’m working on something,” and he told me about it. He has these insane, crazy ideas, and I was just like, “I want to be a part of it.” Luckily, Kris was like, “Do you want to play Rachel?” He sent me the script a couple months later, and I was in. I mean, the opportunity to work with Zendaya and Robert Pattinson and Mamoudou—I mean, who would say no? What an incredible cast to be a part of.
You’ve worked with really cool directors, between Paul Thomas Anderson, Kelly Reichardt, and Kristoffer Borgli. What is something that you look for in an acting role?
I mean, that’s a crazy lineup—like an insane dinner table. I wish we could all be together and have fun dinner table conversations. I am just picking movies that push me forward. I love playing characters that are so outrageous, and I’ve been lucky enough to work with directors that really let me run free, especially with Paul in my first acting role in Licorice Pizza. There were times where he would just turn to me and go, like, “Go do something funny.” And I’d be like, huh. My favorite words ever to be spoken are “go do something funny.” That’s a dream sentence.
It was very similar with Kris, especially shooting that dinner table scene. Rob was so good at it; I would just be going off of him. It was the improv Olympics between all four of us. I will always say that I’m the luckiest girl in the world. It’s been so fun and I really don’t want it to end. I really, really, really want to keep going.
I can’t not ask you about music. Are you and your sisters writing right now?
We’re constantly writing. I mean, music is obviously my first love. We just got off an incredible tour that was so fun to be a part of. Being on stage is a thrill. It’s like the closest thing I’ll ever get to being on an immense amount of drugs.
We’re always working, we’re always writing music, ’cause it’s just a part of our DNA. We will see if it turns into something. We’re always secretive, but we’re dipping our toes back into the next chapter.
This conversaiton has been edited and condensed.