Wish Upon – Directed by John R. Leonetti

Wish Upon (2017), A Feature Film

.Hollywood wish comes true for Langford

The West Australian
Jessie Papain
Tuesday, January 31, 2017 10:44AM

Landing a role in a feature film alongside a bill of well-known Hollywood names is something most young actors could only dream of.

But this was precisely how budding Perth ingenue Josephine Langford made her international movie debut.

The 19-year-old recently returned home from Canada, where she was shooting teen horror-thriller Wish Upon alongside 90s heart-throb Ryan Phillippe, The Conjuring’s Joey King, American Hustle’s Elisabeth Rohm, Maze Runner’s Ki Hong Lee and Shannon Purser from Stranger Things.

Although Phillippe is perhaps the most famous of the bunch, Langford admitted she was not starstruck by him as she did not recognise him at first.

“I didn’t actually know who he was — I had seen Crash and know Reese Witherspoon and Cruel Intentions but I really only knew his name,” she told AAA.

“Joey was the one I got starstruck with, and Shannon because she played Barb in Stranger Things.

“(Phillippe) was very chill. It’s good because you expect a lot of big actors to be egotistical but he was very down to earth.”

In the movie, described as “Mean Girls with a lot of death”, Langford plays high school queen bee Darcie Chapman, who is the antagonist of King’s character.

“I got to throw a lot of frappaccinos at Joey, which was fun,” she laughed.

“It was so great to be able to work with a cast that was so nice. Everyone got along so well, which is rare.”

Scoring the role was a long time coming for the Subiaco-raised actress, who had spent the previous 18 months sending self-made audition tapes to the US in the hopes she would land a part.

Langford also had callbacks for Neighbours and Home and Away that did not progress — something she said was all part of the job.

“There are certain roles that you really want to get but you need to learn to deal with the rejection,” she said.

“Now I am at a point where I realise that 90 per cent of the time you don’t get a job not because of your acting but because of your look, so you can’t take it too personally.”

As Langford, who is represented by Actor’s Management International, awaits the release of Wish Upon later this year, she plans to travel to Los Angeles to seek out more projects.