Maddie Ziegler coming into her own
Maddie Ziegler can chart her rise to movie stardom based on what her fans call her when they see her on the street.
Early in her career, they said, “You’re Maddie from ‘Dance Moms’!,” referring to the Lifetime reality show where she started dancing when she was 8 years old. A few years later, fans began saying, “You’re Maddie from ‘Chandelier’!” as Ziegler starred in music videos for pop star Sia.
After working with Steven Spielberg on his “West Side Story” remake and starring in the drama “The Fallout,” the refrain has mostly become simply, “Oh my gosh, are you Maddie Ziegler?!”
“I thought I would only be recognized for one thing my whole life,” Ziegler, now 19, said. “It’s really cool that people are able to find me in other things and not know me just from a reality show.”
“West Side Story” featured Ziegler showing off her years of dance training as the Jets-aligned Velma. She has an even bigger role as Mia Reed in “The Fallout,” which dropped in January on HBO Max. Ziegler’s Mia is a rich influencer who befriends Vada (Jenna Ortega) after they both survive a school shooting.
Working on “West Side Story” served as an introduction to big-budget moviemaking for Ziegler. She was only 16 when she stepped onto Spielberg’s set, which was intimidating at first before she realized that the famous director was “so incredibly nice and grounded and collaborative.”
Since Ziegler was always dancing with a partner on “West Side Story,” she had to build a lot of trust with fellow cast members. Though she and other
female dancers had to perform the movie’s “hardcore choreography” while wearing heels, working on a massive Hollywood movie musical was more than worth it, she said.
“It was the craziest experience ever, and I’ll never forget it . ... I just had the best time ever and I learned so much,” she said
“The Fallout” was a smaller project, but it allowed Ziegler to show off her acting chops. Written and directed by Megan Park, the film deals honestly with “uncomfortable situations and conversations” around school shootings, she said. Ziegler’s dance moves for Mia’s highly viewed social media videos helped her flesh out the character.
“Personally, I feel
like she has a need to be wanted and a need to feel less alone,” Ziegler said of Mia. “I think the one creative outlet in her life and the one part of her that wasn’t lonely was dance. I relate to that in a lot of ways . ... It was the one thing in her life that would always show up for her.”
Though Ziegler will always love dance, she hopes to focus on acting going forward.
“I hope people will see a different side of me and take me seriously as an actor because I genuinely love acting so much,” she said. “I very much hope to continue doing projects, especially ones that have a powerful meaning to them. I’m so open to the opportunities that might come my way.”