ONE TO WATCH

Camila Morrone—Mickey and the Bear Actress, Coach Campaign Star & More—Shares Exclusive Photos

Also: for a while, she called Al Pacino her stepfather.


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Courtesy of Camila Morrone

Camila Morrone has never been busier.

Between currently starring in the much anticipated film Mickey and the Bear (out on November 13) and in Coach’s new holiday campaign alongside Kate Moss, Megan Thee Stallion and others, the 22-year-old actress Camila Morrone has, very quickly, become one to watch. (The photos in this story, submitted by the actress to W, are from an exclusive Mickey and the Bear screening in Los Angeles last night.)

Born in Los Angeles to the actress Lucila Polak and the model Máximo Morrone, her parents divorced in 2006. She then grew up calling Al Pacino her stepfather due to her mother’s long term relationship with the actor (however, the two never actually married).

Courtesy of Camila Morrone.

By 2016, Morrone was modeling; she landed the cover of Vogue Turkey that same year. But, as she explains over a phone call from Los Angeles, a model’s life was never the end goal.

“Modeling was a great opportunity to travel, to make some money in high school and it was the gateway to prepare me for getting comfortable in front of the camera,” she says. “I knew that, when the time was right and when I gained the confidence, I was going to be able to make that switch.” Though Morrone saw her acting debut in James Franco’s 2013 film Bukowski, she took a break for five years before returning to star in Augustine Frizell’s Never Goin’ Back in 2018.

In Morrone’s latest film, Mickey and the Bear, she stars as a Montana-based teenager living with a veteran father affected by the opioid crisis. In the heartbreaking drama, Morrone is Mickey, a scrappy teenager navigating a complicated sea of circumstances and emotions.

Courtesy of Camila Morrone.

“There’s a reason why a lot of models turn actors,” she says. “You have to connect with people, talk to people, be able to be far from home, and you have to be aware of the camera in the same way you would be when modeling.”

Morrone, whom the public may also know as Leonardo Dicaprio’s girlfriend, holds a strong interest in fashion. For Mickey and the Bear, she actually added her own personal touches to her costume—namely with scrunchies, which she wears throughout the movie. Her messy, loose topknots seen on-screen were also a self-suggested addition.

Courtesy of Camila Morrone.

“When they were developing Mickey, I had this idea in my head of what she might look like,” Morrone says. Her character wears a wardrobe of loose-fitting t-shirts, sweatshirts and overalls, along with messy hair, throughout the film.

A defining wardrobe moment occurs when Mickey dresses up for her birthday dinner with her father, wearing a vintage floral print dress (from her deceased mother) with a baggy jumper thrown over it and a tiara perched on her head. “The clothing helped me get into her posture, and the way she walks,” adds Morrone. “The wardrobe was really the cherry on the top, when it came to developing this person.”

“The more I get into this world, the more I realize the important role fashion plays,” she explains. “It’s just really so important for an actor to be in the right costume for their character.” As for her personal style when she’s not acting, Morrone says that she alternates between a tomboy look and casual comfortable styles. “I’m always about being comfortable. You will never see me voluntarily in a pair of heels,” she says with a laugh.

Courtesy of Camila Morrone.

What’s next for Morrone? Her dream is to play a role in a period piece, or more specifically, the Austrian actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr, whom she admires deeply.

“I totally fell in love with her when I saw the Bombshell documentary,” she muses of the 1940s star. “So much of the posture of a person and so much of the way you walk, your movement and your energy is based on the costumes in period pieces.”