The New Mutants: Blu Hunt Had an Awesome Audition Experience

Blu Hunt had plenty of acting experience under her belt prior to landing the role of Dani Moonstar [...]

Blu Hunt had plenty of acting experience under her belt prior to landing the role of Dani Moonstar in The New Mutants. However, her career was in its earliest stages and the roles she had played had not paired her with A-list talent in an audition, let alone on set. However, when she met with The New Mutants director Josh Boone, she was quickly testing opposite Maisie Williams who was in the midst of portraying Arya Stark at a time when Game of Thrones was one of the biggest shows in the world. Immediately, Hunt saw the opportunity and knew she belonged, helping her connect with Williams for a great audition and ultimately

"I was mostly excited. I was really nervous," Hunt says of her audition with Williams. "I mean, of course I was nervous because I'm like, 'Oh my God, that's an actress from Game of Thrones,' but I mean, I had already lived in LA for, I don't know, five years and I'm from California. So I think I kind of grew up always like, 'Actors are just people.' I cannot believe not that I was an equal and I'm still an equal to her at what she's done acting wise with her career but I felt like, 'We're in the same room together and I just have to be as good as her and be good with her to get this role,' and immediately just felt like friends, right when we met. And I think that's what helped me get the role is being less nervous and more just kind of excited to meet a professional actor for the first time, a real actor. I was like, 'Oh my God, I get to act with a real actor!'"

It's fitting that Hunt and Williams became close friends instantly. The pair portray Moonstar and Wolfsbane in The New Mutants, a couple of characters who fall in love with each other.

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(Photo: Disney / The New Mutants)

"The characters are super in love with each other and it's adorable and so cute," Hunt says. "They like each other right away. Rahne is the first person that Dani even sees, the first person she sees when she gets there. I don't think she knows what she's seeing yet. As you know, Maisie's powers, so seeing that would be really weird, but they're really great friends too. I think they're kind of relationship goals. They're friends and they take care of each other and they help each other out and they really bring the best out of each other. And without their journey into falling in love with each other, without that, the rest of the movie couldn't have happened at all because it's their belief in each other, I think, that lets them do the things they need to do to handle the situation they've been trapped in. And we became such good friends bringing that to life. It was so much fun. Being on set together was definitely some of the best days on set."

Beyond Rahne Sinclair, Moonstar will also have strong ties to Anya Taylor-Joy's Ilyana Rasputin, the mutant also known as Magik.

"I think that our characters aren't necessarily bonded, but I think Dani and Illyana's characters have, honestly, just as interesting of a relationship as her relationship with Rahne," Hunt explains. "And I don't talk about it a lot, no one really asks about it so I don't think people know to expect it, but in the same way that Dani and Rahne's love kind of brings the plot, moves the plot, Dani and Illyana's misunderstanding of each other and Illyana's kind of hatred of Dani also is the only reason the movie can happen. I think Illyana is threatened by Dani, but refuses to acknowledge that, and is so mean to her, says really honestly horrible things to her. And I think she's almost jealous that Dani could be where Illyana is, but kind of moved through the world with more compassion and curiosity and kindness, where Illyana has become very jaded and angry and kind of aggressive and pushes everybody away. Whereas Dani, for some reason, is very welcoming of people and I think it's really threatening to Illyana."

The New Mutants hits theaters on August 28.

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