MALIABAKERISMAKINGHERDREAMSCOMETRUE

Reprising her role as Chloe Charming in Disney’s newest addition to the Descendants franchise, Baker talks growth and mentorship and paying it forward to other young girls

 

WORDS Eli Peng

 

Interview taken from IMAGINE Magazine Issue Three (Order here)

 

Descendants: Wicked Wonderland has all the makings of a classic fairytale story: the good-hearted protagonists set out to save the world from the evil forces that be. But what makes the Descendants franchise so popular is that it seeks to subvert exactly what it appears to be.

 

One protagonist is the daughter of the Queen of Hearts and the other is the daughter of Cinderella and Prince Charming. Good and evil are shown to be mere one-dimensional facades that fail to encompass the nuance contained within us all. Just as Lewis Carroll intended in his original vision of Wonderland, nothing is as it seems. Malia Baker is the exact person to ask about depth and complexity. She sits down with us to chat about the lessons that her roles, in all their variety, have taught her. Her passion and love of storytelling is the string that ties it all together.

 

Looking forward, her visions for the future are setting her up for a career as magical and kaleidoscopic as Wonderland is. Keep an eye on Baker as she unfurls her wings and takes the next leap of faith.

 

Eli Peng: I’ll start off by throwing you straight into the deep end.

 

I saw you posted a page from Mary Oliver’s Upstream on your Instagram (@maliabakermsb). You chose a quotation about empathy, from a collection of essays on the beauty and mystery of nature and literature. What does the quotation mean to you and is it something you draw on in your acting?

 

Malia Baker: Absolutely. There was this one project called Hair of the Bear I did a year ago. It was so interesting to be able to consume and produce and regurgitate my own version of media, in a way that I identified with. It’s sort of like this weird essay of the self, or a book report of everything that I’ve learned and absorbed from whatever you get to fall in love with. And being able to portray characters is an accumulation of layered stories and versions of the things that I’ve really respected and wanted to emulate over time.

 

Hair of the Bear in particular stood out in terms of Mary Oliver. I’m a big reader, so was influenced by different books that I read at the time. It was a lot of Nietzsche that we were pulling from, to create these characters. It’s a sort of dialect class or artsy-fartsy coaching of “what art do you get to produce in the world”, which I’m a huge fan of. It reminds me of school in a way, which I just love.

 

EP: You’ve spoken about taking ownership of the narrative you want to portray. Having spent your teen years in front of the camera, do you find yourself, now that you’re a little older, gravitating towards certain types of work or in specific directions?

 

MB: There’s a line and a goal within everything that you can do within the industry. When choosing roles, there’s a level of “what’s the next thing that’s going to propel me forward?” Not only in terms of visibility and being able to feel validated as an actor, but also having that movement within myself as a creative, and to feel like “this is the next challenge” to keep learning and growing.

 

At this stage, it’s been really fun to hold on to bits of childhood with Chloe in Descendants, because I’ve grown up with them. It’s a part of me. But it’s more exciting to hold on by keeping those moments in my back pocket and then look straight forward to wherever the future lies.

 

It would be so cool to step into something more reflective of the age group that I’m at and seeing myself as someone that I could be. I would love to do something in theatre.

 

I love independent projects as well. I was a big fan of Obsession. Doing something of that sort would be incredible. They literally made history with that, by making a bet on creativity and on yourself, because you just love a project so damn much despite not being really sure of where it’s going to land or how that budget is going to be placed. The “Oh my gosh, are we going to make all of our money back? Who knows, but let’s hope” projects are the things that I really love seeing thrive, because you get to cheer on even harder. So anything of that sort, I would be quite honoured.

 

“I love the production side of making movies. I feel like such a geek when it comes to it. There’s something so beautiful about being a part of a team from day one and seeing how it rises from the ground up.”

 

EP: You stepped into a different role tackling the darker themes of Hair of the Bear and What We Hide, and also taking on an executive producer role. Would you consider looking towards other roles within production? Or would you ever consider writing your own screenplay?

 

MB: Oh my gosh, don’t even get me started. This is actually going to be such a long interview now.

 

I feel like I could. I love the production side of making movies. I feel like such a geek when it comes to it. There’s something so beautiful about being a part of a team from day one and seeing how it rises from the ground up. You literally see people fight the fight to even get a chance to show what they want to do on a set, and I think that’s really, really cool.

 

And then screenwriting. I love writing. I think it’s so much fun. I have my little connections, to whom I’m like, “Hey, do you want to read this script?” I feel very fortunate to have mentors in my life that are able to guide me in that aspect. Kimmy Gatewood, our director on the last Descendants, has been a big mentor in my life. To be able to have these women who have held me up and made the norms that I’ve been able to experience growing up, I had no idea how incredible they were and how much of a standard that they’d raised literally from day one. I feel very blessed to have those fighters in my life who will take a chance on me.

 

EP: If you could adapt one piece of literature you’ve read, what would you do?

 

MB: I’m like going through everything I’ve ever read. I’m like, “mhm, really, really cool.” Have you ever read The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom?

 

EP: Yes!

 

MB: Oh my gosh, I need it bad. I love that story so much. There’d be such magical realism in it. And there’s so much depth within the pages. I love his way of writing, it reminds me of The Little Prince and of the prose-poetry that Mary Oliver and bell hooks have.

 

[EP: It has such an unpretentious style of writing about beauty in the world and it sounds like you’d have such a great vision for it.

 

MB: Oh, thank you. I’m honoured. I got the stamp of approval.]

EP: You mentioned the mentorship from a lot of the women around you on Descendants. The whole of Wicked Wonderland is very female-led, with the movie itself foregrounding this friendship between the two female protagonists, Red and Chloe. Can you talk a bit more about this?

 

MB: I feel very blessed and fortunate with those women in particular. I think that they’ve raised me in a way to really want to do justice to the girls I’m able to work with and watch grow up as I get to be a part of these initiatives, but also do justice to myself within these characters. And making sure that the characters and projects that I gravitate towards, even subconsciously, I’m wanting to do right by these girls that I’m very honored to represent, including with Chloe in particular. I’ve literally been doing these movies since I was 12, so it’s very cool to still represent her.

 

EP: In your work with GirlUp and She’s the First, you’ve been vocal about fighting for a world in which every girl believes that she’s the protagonist of her own life. What message do you want young girls to take away from the new Descendants movie?

 

MB: There’s this level of – it sounds so cliché and cheesy – “You can do anything you put your mind to.” It’s a message that’s been so well-versed in our lifetimes for a reason. With the young girls in particular, it’s about having the resources to do whatever you want to do, that’s still heavily lacking within certain different areas.

 

Within these films, I’ve been able to represent what those resources could be used for. Having these really strong characters that are self-reliant means there’s never a moment where they’re asking, “What should I do?” They figure it out themselves. They figure it out with the help of each other. The friendship between Red and Chloe is the greatest love story of these movies. We could add so many cute guys or girls, and at the end of the day, you’re going to still be rooting for this friendship, which is really special and rare in itself.

 

Being able to work with these organisations really brought me into the world outside of playing a character. I had no social media when I was younger and these were the first things that I wanted to use my platform for.

 

“Having these really strong characters that are self-reliant means […] they figure it out themselves. They figure it out with the help of each other. The friendship between Red and Chloe is the greatest love story of these movies.”

 

EP: What was the process like returning from the more serious worlds and intensity of What We Hide and Hair of the Bear, into the more upbeat and kaleidoscopic Wonderland?

 

MB: Oh my gosh, that’s such a good question. Entering the world of “life is sweeter” and pink and cupcakes again was so wild and trippy. And a lot of fun. It was like, “Oh my gosh, we’ve been through so much. Now we’re going to step back into something that’s familiar and comfortable.” There’s a level of comfort that came with it that was really sweet to experience, especially being this age and having these things reminisce about.

 

Definitely trippy though, in terms of, I’d been through so much and had all these life lessons that don’t necessarily hold weight within the current project. The crazy experiences of Hair of the Bear and What We Hide, they trained me for something else that’s out there, which I just had to put on the back-burner stepping into the Descendants world.

 

There’s a lot of scenes within Wicked Wonderland where I was so happy that they trusted us to go in a direction of harnessing those skills that we learned and trying something different, which was so cool. It all comes full circle. I miss that girl. I’ll forever love to say hi to the blue wig. I think she is a part of me, for sure.

 

EP: You’re describing this period of real transition between the indie, gritty, dramatic movies and then Descendants. Do you have anything you’d want to say to your younger self?

 

MB: I’d say, “keep doing it and don’t be afraid to try.” I think that there’s such a fear and worry about putting your heart on your sleeve, and being seen trying and failing. Things not going in a way that you would have hoped for. That’s a key foundation in this job. You will pitch and pitch and pitch, and get one bite, and that’s the sign to keep going. To celebrate the little wins. You don’t have to stay in that waiting period for someone else to take a chance on you.

 

Little short movies and home films go a long way. And you see a lot of creatives and directors following that line because it creates an outlet for following their path, even when others aren’t trusting the path that they’re on. The biggest thing I’d want to do is give myself a gentle slap on the face and go “Hey girl, keep going. Don’t quit right now. I know it’s difficult, but get your ass up.”

 

EP: What a great message to end the interview on. Do you have any final thoughts for readers of the magazine, looking forward to where you might be next?

 

MB: Oh my gosh. First off, thank you so much. These were such fun questions. I feel like I actually used my brain. It means a lot, truly. I love that you also knew Mitch Albom. I was like, “Holy shit, this is perfect!” To have that stamp of approval was all I needed. Honestly, you hit every nail. I was just looking at the photos from the shoot, so I’m excited to see it all come together. And for the next steps, just look out, I guess!

 

Descendants: Wicked Wonderland debuted at #1 globally on Disney+, and its soundtrack followed suit, topping the Billboard Kids Albums chart.