Mckenna Grace picked up the Phoenix Award at the Atlanta Film Festival on Saturday night, accepting the honor at the Tara Theatre after a 5 p.m. Legacy Screening of her 2017 drama “Gifted.” The 19-year-old actress shot the Marc Webb film in Georgia opposite Chris Evans and Octavia Spencer, and her return to the state for the festival’s 50th anniversary edition lands at a particularly busy moment, since cameras are currently rolling in Atlanta on her next major project.
That project is “Scooby-Doo: Origins,” Netflix’s live-action take on the Hanna-Barbera franchise, which began principal photography in Atlanta this week with Grace playing Daphne Blake. We covered Netflix’s first-look photo and the title reveal here on Friday. The streamer dropped the cast image, shot by Tom Griscom, on April 24. Grace followed it with a TikTok showing her full Daphne costume, captioning her Instagram reaction, “Oh my jeepers. I can’t believe life is real I could cry all over again just looking at this announcement. So thankful, SO excited.”
The Phoenix Award goes to a performer rising to new heights or stepping into a fresh chapter, per festival materials.
For Grace, that fresh chapter has been hard to miss. “Scream 7,” in which she plays Hannah Thurman, opened February 27 to a franchise-best $64 million domestic and roughly $97 million worldwide, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Tara screening doubled as a Q&A with the actress, with the award presented at the event itself rather than at the festival’s main IMAGE Film Awards Gala on May 1.
“Like Mckenna Grace, we have Josh Brolin coming,” festival director Christopher Escobar told WSB Radio earlier in the week, adding that the 50th anniversary slate will draw “more stars at the Atlanta Film Festival this year than any movie set.”
She’s one of three honorees attached to special screenings rather than the gala. Danielle Brooks accepts the New Mavericks Award on April 29 after a screening of “If I Go Will They Miss Me.” RZA picks up the Originator Award alongside his new film “One Spoon of Chocolate.” The IMAGE Film Awards Gala at Assembly Atlanta on May 1 will honor Will Packer, Brolin, Carrie Preston, David Cross, Hilton Howell, and producer Alex Orr, who receives the inaugural Will Packer Award.
“Gifted,” in which Grace played math prodigy Mary Adler, won the audience award at the 2017 Deauville Film Festival and earned her a Critics Choice nomination for Best Young Actor/Actress. She was 10 when production wrapped in Savannah and Tybee Island.
Grace, who turns 20 in June, has spent the past 14 months on a run of franchise work that’s tough to keep up with. Paramount’s “Scream 7” landed first. Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping,” in which she plays Maysilee Donner, follows later this year. Then comes “Scooby-Doo: Origins,” the eight-episode Netflix series from showrunners Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg, with Toby Haynes directing the premiere and shooting set to run through September in Atlanta.
Last year brought a different register. The Colleen Hoover adaptation “Regretting You” paired her with Mason Thames, her co-star and now boyfriend, with the two attending the 98th Academy Awards together on March 15. She also turned up in “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” and in three smaller dramas, “What We Hide,” “Slanted,” and “Anniversary,” that drew warmer reviews than the franchise titles.
The 50th Atlanta Film Festival is screening roughly 154 films selected from more than 5,500 submissions, running through May 3 across the Plaza and Tara theatres. Brolin’s screening of “Weapons” lands May 1, the same night he’s honored at the gala. Grace, meanwhile, can stay close to home for now. Her next call sheet is across town.
