The Big Picture

Fleming’s experience from The Walking Dead prepared her for her first lead role in IF, earning praise from co-stars Reynolds and Krasinski.
In IF, she plays Bea, teaming up with Reynolds to match forgotten imaginary friends with kids in a heartwarming adventure.
Fleming’s standout moment was a crying scene, where Krasinski created a calm and authentic atmosphere for a memorable performance.

For someone so young, actress Cailey Fleming has already carved out a place for herself in Hollywood. John Krasinski’s family-friendly IF may be her first leading role in a feature film, but Fleming has tons of experience from her breakout role as Judith Grimes in The Walking Dead and landing major Disney projects such as “Young Rey” in the Star Wars universe and “Kid Sylvie” in the MCU series Loki. In IF, Fleming gets to flex her dramatic chops, and while she admits she was a little nervous, co-stars Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool & Wolverine) and Krasinski made it “the best experience all around.”

In the movie, Fleming plays Bea, a little girl who’s dealing with big issues. As she’s managing her day-to-day the best she can, Bea begins seeing bizarre, magical creatures that she learns are forgotten imaginary friends, or IFs, if you will. Come to find out, her neighbor, Cal (Reynolds), can see them too, but he’s none too happy about it. Together, they team up to match the IFs with kids before it’s too late. To provide the voices for this wacky ensemble, Krasinski enlisted the talent of his former co-star Steve Carell (The Office), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer), Matt Damon (The Martian), and tons more.

In this conversation with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Fleming talks about getting to work with some of the best in Hollywood and what she was most excited about when stepping on set. She also shares how co-star and writer-director Krasinski transformed a particularly difficult scene into something unforgettably special, the scene she was most excited to shoot, and why Reynolds made a pretty stellar co-star.

You can watch the full interview in the video above or read the transcript below.

IF (2024) A young girl who goes through a difficult experience begins to see everyone’s imaginary friends who have been left behind as their real-life friends have grown up.Release Date May 17, 2024 Main Genre Comedy

Read Our ‘IF’ Review

From ‘The Walking Dead’ to the Top of the Call Sheet

COLLIDER: You’ve already had a long career in your very young life, but this is your first time leading a big Hollywood movie. I’m curious, what was that actually like for you going from being on a TV show like The Walking Dead to now being number one or number two on the call sheet?

CAILEY FLEMING: I feel like my head is exploding. I don’t know. I can’t even believe that it’s real. I just remember being so excited. And I was so nervous because I hadn’t ever done a leading role before, and I was in almost every scene. It was just very nerve-wracking. It was a new experience. I didn’t know what to expect. But we had the best crew and the best producers and the best cast, and I think it was the best first lead role movie I could have ever asked for. Just the best experience all around. So the first day on set, all my nerves immediately left.

One of the things I read is that you guys tried to shoot the movie as much in order as you could. Talk a little bit about what that brought to you as an actor being able to emotionally see where you were the whole time.

FLEMING: Well, I loved trying to shoot it in as much order as possible. That never happens. Ever. It was really helpful. As Bea kept going throughout the story and growing, I felt like I was growing with her and learning more and more every day. It was really special. One of the things John did is he waited until the end of production for all of our stuff because he wanted us to grow a connection and bond over time, so I think that just made our scenes more real.

How John Krasinski Transformed a Difficult ‘IF’ Scene Into a Special Moment

There’s a crying scene with you in a hospital room. What was it like for you preparing to film that, and how much were you in your head the night before like, “Oh my god, I have to deliver tomorrow?”

FLEMING: I was so nervous. That’s what I was most nervous for. I mean, it’s a very big part of the movie. It was a really special part, and I just really wanted to make sure it hit how I wanted it to. I remember as soon as we started shooting and I read the script, I kept telling him I was so nervous for that day. We called it, like, “The Story Day.” I was like, “The day I have to tell the story. I’m so nervous.” But we waited until the end like I said, and it took me a long time to memorize those lines because I could not read it without crying because it was just so special. But that day, John made it as easy as possible. The mood was very calm. Usually, it’s very happy, “Oh my gosh!” But it was very calm so that we could get it done and over with. I think we only did, like, five takes. We got all the angles we needed. But it was very real. I don’t think it was very much acting for me. Seeing somebody that you’ve been working with for so long and that you love and adore in a hospital bed is not very fun, but we got the take.

You did, actually. One of the things John has talked about is he wanted this to feel like a live-action Pixar movie. So I’m just curious, did you watch anything prior to filming to sort of mentally put you in that place of, “This is what he’s looking for?”

FLEMING: No, I didn’t. That’s a good question. I never thought about that. I guess it was because I had never heard of something like IF since it was an original idea. But I just remember I read the script, and then I read it again, and then I read it again, and John explained everything to me. He broke everything up in detail. The day of, he would always explain what we were doing, and if we had any questions, he would answer those. So, I was prepared.

Which of your friends and family were the most excited that you were gonna be sharing so much screen time with Ryan Reynolds?

FLEMING: That’s a good question. I don’t know. I think my whole family was very excited for me, not just because of that reason, but just because I was so excited. I was so excited to work with Ryan. I mean, everyone loves him, including me, and he’s such a talented actor, so I was excited to learn from him. So, I guess me!

I know you were nervous to film the crying scene, but what was the day you had circled in terms of, “I cannot wait to film this. I am so excited?”

FLEMING: The dance. The dancing scene was my favorite to film. I was also so nervous for that, though. Obviously, all of the IFs were on stage with me so we had a bunch of dancers there and they were in these, like, gray long-sleeves and gray pants and they had dots around their wrists and things like that. So the first few times we did it, it was everyone on stage and then we had to get a clean shot, so we had to do that a lot. I remember the first time I had to do it, it was me and I think there were, like, two knights in the background that were actually there. I don’t know if they made it in the movie, but they were there on the day, and it was three of us, and I was so nervous because there’s so many people on a film set. I was like, “What if I forget it? What if I mess it up? I’m so nervous. I’m on this huge stage. There’s lights everywhere.” But John was like, “Just do it,” because he knew how nervous I was. So I just did it and then it worked, and it was all fine, and then I had a great time and it was so much fun.

IF is exclusively in theaters now. Click the link below for showtimes.

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