The unlikely but inspired pairing of boundary-pushing director Josephine Decker (Shirley, Madeline’s Madeline) and comedian Iliza Shlesinger has resulted in Chasing Summer, a fresh take on the homecoming dramedy. The film follows Jamie (Shlesinger), a disaster relief professional who, after losing both her job and her boyfriend, retreats to her small Texas hometown. There, she navigates a messy crossroads of friends, flings, and family, including her bossy sister Marissa and a new, younger love interest, Colby.
FandomWire was on the red carpet at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival to speak with the ensemble cast and creative team behind this vibrant Texas tale. We caught up with stars Aimee Garcia, Garrett Wareing, Cassidy Freeman, Kristin Slaysman, and Lauren Aboulafia, as well as the design team, to discuss bringing this indie comedy to life.
Chasing Summer Sundance Interview
Cast attend the premiere of Chasing Summer by Josephine Decker, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. © 2026 Sundance Institute | photo by Jemal Countess.
FandomWire: Aimee, congratulations on being here. This is your first time at Sundance. Tell us about what you have been doing so far.
Aimee Garcia: Oh, dear. Well, I have been having way too much fun. I have been hanging out with my incredible castmates, Eliza, Tom, Gerard, and Cassidy, and I have met people I admire and love. I love Benedict Wong. I actually just talked to Ethan Hawke a couple of hours ago. I told him that I died when I was four years old, and I came back, so I live a life of no regrets, so I just wanted to tell him he is an actor’s actor.
I just picked his brain and asked how they executed that scene in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Sundance is one of those places where you will meet your heroes. I met Jay Duplass and told him I love Somebody Somewhere because it’s perfection. I feel very grateful to be here amongst my fellow artists and colleagues, whether it is Ethan Hawke or a first-time filmmaker.
FW: Tell us about your character, Amanda. I hear she is a static character that differs from you, so tell us about your role and maybe how your experiences have influenced her.
Garcia: Sure. I play Amanda, a put-together Texan housewife with perfect nails, skin, and a wardrobe. She was the popular girl in high school. But we wonder whether she was mean. Was that just Jamie’s perspective, or was she really a genuine friend?. I guess you just have to watch the movie. Spanish is my first language, so I wanted to incorporate that into her character, and they did so I get to speak Spanish. As far as the bigger picture goes, having died when I was four, I am now just grateful for every single day.
Related: Chasing Summer Sundance Review — Iliza Shlesinger Delivers a Winning Millennial Rom-Com
FW: Derek and Amela, as the hair and makeup head and costume designer, how did you craft a natural look for these characters?
Amela Baksic: It was really important to Josephine for the look to be real and nice, but also distinctive. Because you are seeing the whole movie with the main character Jamie’s eyes, when she comes home and has to deal with her fears from high school, everything is disjointed. The patterns are stronger, and the shapes are stronger, and the colors are stronger. As she deals with her fears and finds herself in the movie, everything becomes simpler and sort of more realistic. So there is kind of a journey to the costumes because it is seen through her eyes.
Derek Robertson: Exactly what she said was absolutely true in her design. I came a week and a half after she had started, and she had a good head start on me. It was very clear what she was doing with the costume, so it just made it extremely easy for me because in my first meetings with Josephine, I knew exactly who the characters were. It was very collaborative.
Baksic: This costume is nothing without hair and makeup. You can have the best costume, but if you don’t have the right hair and makeup, it doesn’t glitter.
FW: What do you hope people take away from the visual language of the film?
Robertson: What I would like people to take away is that I think a lot of films use hair and makeup as a crutch instead of as a tool to tell a story. I hope that people see these women in a very real state and don’t even notice the makeup or even know that they have any on.
There are moments where it is not supposed to look like makeup. It should look like this person is just arriving in town in an Uber, after being out for months working at a tornado camp. This is not a woman who is wearing a full face of makeup. We don’t have to doll her up like she is some beauty pageant queen. Just make the skin look nice and radiant and leave it alone.
Cast attend the premiere of Chasing Summer by Josephine Decker, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. © 2026 Sundance Institute | photo by Jemal Countess.
FW: Cassidy and Garrett, tell us about the specific characters you play in Jamie’s life.
Cassidy Freeman: I play Marissa. I am a woman who, if you were born in 2001, you know this woman very, very well. She is slightly disgusting but also very lovable. I have a lot of tattoos and horrible makeup. I shop at Claire’s. I have inspirational quotes around my home, and I do terrible nails. It is a really exciting time.
FW: And tell us about Garrett’s character.
Freeman: Garrett’s character Colby has such a heart in this movie. You are such a gentleman, which I think is very rare. You show love and care about a woman’s pleasure, her heart, and how she feels. I think that is a beautiful thing to have exemplified in a film.
FW: Josephine Decker has a very specific style of directing, while Iliza wrote a very sharp script. How did you balance those two mechanics?
Freeman: That is an interesting take because, weirdly, yes, the script is all there and the comedy is there.
Garrett Wareing: My improv was shit all the time, but Eliza is on it, and that is what she does for a living.
Freeman: Maybe I felt a little less free with Marissa only because she is such a specific human. A lot of my scenes were more about the sister relationship, which was not as quippy. But yeah, if you had an idea, you could bring it to the table, and everyone was so open to hearing it.
Wareing: I felt very collaborative. I felt like we were free to explore during these takes, and if it didn’t work, it didn’t work.
Related: The Long Walk Review — A Cataclysmic Cinematic Experience
FW: Kristin, tell us about your character Morgan and her relationship with Jamie.
Kristin Slaysman: I play Morgan, one of Jamie’s high school friends. It is one of those feelings where women can be kind of intimidating, but from the inside, we are just friendly hometown gals. I think it is really about Jamie reinterpreting her relationship with her high school friends and also herself at that time.
FW: Josephine is known for a sort of improv-heavy style. Can you tell us about that experience?
Slaysman: Working with Josephine, I feel like we have to take some of these moments that would feel very cliché about coming of age and turn them just a little twist to make them a little bit interesting. We made it a bit more stylized and a bit more from Jamie’s character’s perspective. I think the people will be delighted and surprised by this twist on a classic coming-of-age story.
Cast and crew attend the premiere of Chasing Summer by Josephine Decker, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. © 2026 Sundance Institute | photo by Jemal Countess.
FW: Lauren, can you tell us about your character Lexi?
Lauren Aboulafia: My character’s name is Lexi, and she stayed at home and didn’t leave her hometown in Texas, and just kind of kept with the same friends. She is the person that you think of when you think of someone who never left their hometown of Texas and still lives in that high school life. She is sweet and she is kind, and she means well.
FW: Did you take a certain part of yourself into your character, or are you two very different?
Aboulafia: We are different. I like that she is lighter than me. She doesn’t like to suffer as much as I do as a neurotic Jew. She is like a light Texan who is just thinking everything is so nice. I think that is such a joy to play because what if we all were like that instead of having problems?
Chasing Summer screened at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, which ran January 22-February 2 in Park City and Salt Lake City, UT, and January 30-February 2 online.
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