When the music video for Hayley Kiyoko’s viral female queer anthem “Girls Like Girls” debuted on YouTube 11 years ago, Thai American Myra Molloy was 17 and living with her family in Bangkok. On the corners of the internet of American pop culture, Molloy, an aspiring actress at the time, came across Kiyoko and saw in her an idol. Watching Kiyoko, who is Japanese American, out there doing her thing was inspiring. Ten years later, an audition for Girls Like Girls, the feature film directed by Kiyoko, arrived in Molloy’s inbox. It was a full-circle moment that still has the rising star floored today.
Inspired by the breakthrough 2015 music video and 2023 NYT best-selling novel of the same name, Girls Like Girls is the coming-of-age story following 17-year-old Coley (a fabulous Maya da Costa), who is forced to move in with her estranged father in rural Oregon after the sudden loss of her mother. Grappling with grief, she meets Sonya (a captivating Molloy), a popular girl with an on-again, off-again boyfriend. The two develop an immediate spark after spending a summer together and must confront the truths and fears of their feelings.
In their first lead roles, Molloy and da Casta are fantastic, delivering some of the most authentically vulnerable and heartfelt performances we’ve seen in a while. We immediately zeroed in on Molloy and couldn’t take our eyes off of her. In casting the two newcomers as Coley and Sonya, Kiyoko not only shows Hollywood that two half-Asian women can lead a film with themes of queer joy and identity, but she also turns the spotlight on two exceptional actors who have exciting careers ahead of them.
Here, we speak with Molloy about exercising free will, feeling deeply with Kiyoko, and all the ways Girls Like Girls made her dreams come true.
What was your first impression of the “Girls Like Girls” music video?
Oh my goodness, it’s so nostalgic—that era of YouTube too. I feel like anyone born in the ’90s or early 2000s… YouTube was our home pre-Vine, pre-TikTok, pre–all these things. I felt so transported, and I thought the music video was a cinematic masterpiece. I was like, “This woman has a vision, and this song is a banger,” and it was just so beautiful to watch. It’s such a testament to Hayley’s very crystal-clear vision and perseverance that she was able to take that essence and turn it into a feature film over the course of 10-plus years. I really commend her. I start some things, and then the next day, I’m over it. And she stuck it through in such an insane, beautiful way and really stuck the landing. I’m just constantly in awe of her. It really is so cool that this song was brought to life in so many different mediums and how she was able to expand on the story for each of them. No one’s doing it like her.
I heard you originally auditioned for Coley until Kiyoko saw your tape and immediately said, “She’s Sonya.”
When you get the email as an actor, you see the project, you see the role, and then immediately, my brain was viewing it through the lens of Coley because I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna lock in with what they’re requiring of me.” Even reading the scripts, I was reading it through the lens of Coley, and I was so touched. I was so moved by it. I wrote something out for Hayley, which I don’t usually do because I’m embarrassed, but I think the message for me, if I can impart anything, is we should all exercise our free will more. If you feel something, you should say something. And I expressed to her how moved I was by the script and by Coley’s story. When she told me that she wanted me to read for Sonya, initially I was like, “Oh my goodness. Wait, that never even crossed my mind.” And then reading over it again through Sonya’s POV, I was like, “Yeah, you’re right.” I think I see myself in both characters, and that’s the beauty of this film. … No matter where you stand in the relationship or in your life, you can see yourself in both characters. But I really resonated with Sonya. I was so excited to bring a misunderstood character to life. As humans, we all experience things for the first time, and we make mistakes, and we stumble. I really saw so much of myself in Sonya.
How did all the different mediums of Girls Like Girls influence your performance? Did you have a conversation with Kiyoko that really put things into place for you
Having the reference with you at all times is kind of wild. … Hayley is the director and writer and was always there as a sounding board of like, “Hey, what if we did it this way?” Or I would try something, and Hayley would be like, “Actually, I liked what you did better.” I’m so lucky to have Hayley as my big feature-debut director because she is so collaborative. She’s probably the most empathetic person I’ve ever met. Every time I see her, someone’s crying, either me or her. She just feels so deeply, and I feel so deeply, and the story has such emotional depth. Whether it’s referencing the book or referencing the aesthetic of the song and music video or just her personal story, having her there and being able to talk to her and ask, Does this feel true? Is this working, or is what I’m bringing to the table as Myra and my choice working for what you envision for Sonya? Sometimes, it didn’t work; sometimes it did work. It was an amalgamation of both, but it was just really cool to have her there. Beyond her being the encyclopedia of all things Girls Like Girls, it really shows in a project when a director really cares, when a writer really cares, when the actors really care. And not to be corny, but to be corny, I think that’s [Hayley’s] superpower—being able to conjure the care and love out of people because that’s just who she is. We just wanted to do Girls Like Girls justice.
Talk to me about working with Maya da Costa, who plays Coley. You both are newcomers in this industry.
She’s the sweetest girl in the world. We got to hang out a bit off set because [Kelowna, Canada] is such a small town. We would spend the weekends going to the lake together. Also, sometimes with Hayley, we would get coffee. We would get to know each other, but I feel like the bulk of getting to know each other was through the story, and by the end of the film, we were really close and had shared a lot of things. It’s special how you get to know someone, and it’s tangential to your character getting to know them too. So it felt method-y in the sense that I’m sussing you out, and you’re also sussing me out, and it’s also happening on film and in my life. But I felt our chemistry and our friendship was always there. Everything felt very divine. Everything felt like it was meant to happen. I felt very lucky and blessed in that situation.
Did you have a favorite scene that you worked on together?
I have favorite scenes I worked on with Hayley, and I have favorite scenes I worked on with Maya. Maya is such a gracious scene partner, and you’re lucky when the coverage is on you, if you get an actor that really delivers and really is still there with you. Maya is such a wonderful actress and scene partner and person, so that was very effortless. Shooting the train track scenes where they’re laying on the ground just having that heart-to-heart, it was truly a moment where I felt the world stood still. You could hear everything, and everyone was so quiet and so locked in, and I was locked in. I was just so moved by Maya, and I thought that was so special.
But also, working with Hayley on the scenes where we had to do pickups was so fun. Hayley was always like, “Myra, my girl, you’re my closer,” because I work super well under pressure. Maybe I’m a masochist. I love working under pressure. Put me in an Instant Pot. I will deliver. We would always do B-roll scenes or extra footage, and I would be at the end of the day, and we would just bang them out, and me and Hayley would be like, “Yeah, we got it.” It was just so fun to do that with Hayley. I really had the best time that summer.
Kiyoko has spoken on how proud she is that both leads of the film are half Asian and to have that representation. What does being cast in this project mean to you?
Oh my goodness. It’s still so surreal. I can’t believe that it’s happening or that it even happened. I think that’s why I went up to [Hayley] at the end of the chemistry read and was like, “Thank you so much. Have a great life.” … I was like, “Maya is half Asian. I’m half Asian. I don’t know if Hollywood is gonna allow that.” I just wanted to be a supporter of the film, so when I heard that I was also cast, I was so shocked because I was like, “Oh my goodness, is this really happening—us in a studio feature representing our culture and our upbringing on the big screen in America? That’s crazy.” That’s something you dream of but never thought would happen because my narrative for most of my 20s was “I’m always just gonna play the supporting best friend. I’m always going to play a small, minor character” because I feel like they’re not ready to see two Asian leads. They’re not ready to see that kind of representation that actually reflects our reality. So when this happened, I was floored. I’m so excited for people to come see the film and feel seen alongside themes of queer joy and coming of age and identity and first love and all that. I’m so glad I get to see it in my lifetime and be a part of it.
The soundtrack for the film is amazing. Do you have a favorite song?
My favorite song off the soundtrack is actually “Lakeside.” It sounds very Imogen Heap–y. I also produced and wrote a song on the soundtrack as well. I scored one of the songs—no big deal. Just Kiyoko making all my dreams come true. She’s crazy for that. She did the whole sound [for the film]. I just don’t know if she’s a human being. Sometimes, I’m just like, “Let us crack under there.”
How was it seeing the finished film for the first time?
It’s so surreal because, of course, when you’re in front of the camera, you have no idea what’s going on behind the camera. It’s not like they’re showing us playback on set because there’s no time, so the first time seeing it was crazy. I always say the film is made in the edit. I don’t think the general patron of cinema knows how powerful the edit is. The editor genuinely can make or break a film, and I think they did a banging job. It really hit me how beautiful the film is—not just aesthetically but sonically and emotionally. The entire world-building of it is so cohesive and so genuinely expressive and colorful, and that’s Hayley in cinema form. I was crying. We were just a small crew, short shoot days. We’re making an indie film. And then you see it, and you’re like, “Oh my goodness, we made a film film. This is cinema.” I just know that’s a labor of love if I’ve ever seen one.
It’s dreamy, summer nostalgia vibes.
This might be the hottest take, but I’m so sick of seeing iPhones and seeing your age. I’m sorry. I don’t wanna see it. But the flip phones, the desktop, the AIM of it all—that was also my childhood, so I was like, “I love that.” Like waiting for my crush to come online.
I was perusing your Instagram and got the sense that you’re very comfortable and talented behind the camera with your photography. Do you have aspirations to direct one day?
This is my favorite question. I’m not even lying. I love framing a shot. Films that people usually don’t like I love because they’re really slow and really beautifully shot. Perfect Days by Wim Wenders is one of my favorite films. I always say in another life, I would have loved to be a cinematographer. I would love to be a DP. But I did say that after seeing [Hayley] direct this film, I never want to be a director. Oh my god, that is so hard. She has the patience of… I don’t even know what to compare it to. I thought I had a lot of patience, but we saw her deal with every department—front, middle, behind, back camera, people not even there—and having to manage and make all these micro-decisions and have it all together and also be emotionally available and support us and have time for herself. I was just like, “Bro, I don’t think I can be a director. I’m happy to assist the director.” So [I’ll] be in front of the camera or help frame something up, but doing the conducting? Absolutely not. I’ll just stick to home videos and film photography. … Shout-out to all the directors.
Girls Like Girls is now in theaters.
Photographer: David Dickenson
Styling: Anna Huger and Lauren Gray
Hairstylist: Madeline Campagnolo
Makeup Artist: Marla Vasquez
