‘Honor Society’s Angourie Rice Reveals She Watched ‘Election’ In Preparation For Her Role
Tracy Flick would be impressed with Honor in the new Paramount+ film ‘Honor Society.’ HL spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Angourie Rice about cracking Honor’s tough facade and more.
Tracy Flick walked so Honor could run. Angourie Rice stars as Honor in the Paramount+ movie Honor Society. Honor is determined to get into an Ivy League college and goes to great lengths to score a recommendation from her guidance counselor. She concocts a plan to take down her top 3 competitors in a move that Tracy Flick from Election may have tried back in her high school days.
Angourie noted that she was well aware of the Tracy Flick energy in Honor Society. “I love Election and I rewatched the movie in preparation,” Angourie told HollywoodLife during the film’s press junket. “Tracy Flick is, I think, fantastic. A huge inspiration for Honor, I’m sure, and for me as well.”
Honor is ambitious, brutally honest, and intensely competitive. However, over the course of the film, Honor’s tough shell begins to soften, especially when she begins to fall for her biggest competition, played by Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo.
“She feels very vulnerable around him,” Angourie said. “He’s the only person who sees through her facade. What I love about the scenes between Honor and Michael is that it’s the first time she barely looks at the camera. She forgets to because she doesn’t need to talk to someone and reveal her true self to the camera because she feels that way around Michael.”
The Australian actress sees a lot of herself in Honor. “Parts of myself that I love and that I’m proud of like ambition and commitment and all of that, but also things that I don’t like to not acknowledge like struggling to be vulnerable and things like that,” Angourie continued. “She really has this wall up, and she puts on a performance for everyone. I kind of really related to that. I think anyone who goes through high school or adolescence can relate to that.”
Armani Jackson and Amy Keum, who play Honor’s other competitors Travis and Kennedy, revealed that all main characters get their chance to shine in the film. “Each character really does open up in a way and show that true, deep passion or that deep deep inner side of themselves that up until we see it in the movie I don’t think they’ve ever really gotten to share,” Amy told HollywoodLife.
Travis also noted, “It’s nice to see every character gets some backstory. Sometimes there’ll be characters that come in, and they do something, but you never really get to hear about them or what they came from or what their goal is. So I think it’s nice that each character has their own arc, each character has their own start and finish spot. I think it’s also great that it’s a kind of a surprise. These other characters might not seem off the bat when you’re about to watch the film. They’ve got a ton to them, and then once you start watching, you’re like, oh, these kids’ character developments are actually very in-depth. It’s not all what it seems.” Honor Society will premiere exclusively on Paramount+ on July 29.