By It was in the summer of 2021, during a fitting for the Chanel haute couture show, that actor Margaret Qualley realised she would likely marry the music producer Jack Antonoff. ‘I’d met Jack prob- ably two weeks before, but I was head-over-heels in love right away. I had a sure, knowing feeling that he was my husband,’ Qualley says, beaming. Recalling the moment creative director Virginie Viard pinned her into the show’s finale look: a high-neck, long- sleeved, ivory wedding gown, worn with a polka-dot veil and pillbox hat, she says, ‘I was talking about Jack and said to her, “I think I’ve just met a man I’m going to marry. And, Virginie, if I’m right, will you make me my wedding dress?” I said, “Give me two years...”’
Reader, two years later, the bride wore Chanel: an ankle-length silk slip that moved with as much vivacity as its wearer’s new chin- length bob. Many called it the wedding of 2023. Taylor Swift was there. As were Zoë Kravitz and Lana Del Rey. In fact, the road outside the Long Beach Island venue was shut down due to the mass of fans trying to get a glimpse of the newlyweds and their A-list guests. ‘I think the power of manifesting is real,’ Qualley says, laughing. ‘We wanted it to be a big party with everybody we love.’
‘I’ve always wanted to be married,’ she continues. ‘I was that girly girl who would be on a walk with my sister fantasising about our weddings, or what our husbands would be like. But I don’t think I would have had as much of a big wedding if it weren’t for Jack. I wanted it to be big with him. It was, kind of, Jack needs a big wedding. And it seemed like it’d be more fun. He’s got so many great friends and a huge family, too. I think [weddings] are almost as much for your family and your friends as it is for you. It was sweet and special and just the most magical day of my life.’
For all the editorial columns and Page Six coverage of the nuptials, it was Qualley’s Chanel Mary Jane shoes that almost stole the show. And so, for this ELLE shoot, we asked if she might wear them again. A chance to re-celebrate the day, and to recognise the importance of rewear – but also because they are just some really excellent shoes.
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‘The after party was at this bar. And I think the dance floor can’t have been very clean, because the shoes are wrecked. But I love the way they look. I mean, we almost did a bit of an Amy Winehouse number on them. That’s what they remind me of now; those amazing beaten ballet flats that she’d walk around in. But mine are just from one night of dancing,’ Qualley laughs again.
Over the time we spend talking – 5,000 miles apart, she in Los Angeles and I in London – Qualley laughs a lot. Her Southern chuckle is enough to brighten even the bleakest of winter nights. But then, Qualley has a lot to be happy about. She’s found a great love, has Hollywood spellbound and is out to enjoy every second of it. Like the best of us – famous or not – she is set on chasing good vibes only and surrounding herself with optimism. ‘I’m around a lot of positive, dreaming people,’ she tells me later.
On screen, Qualley is even more beguiling than she is on the phone. It was in Spike Jonze’s perfume advert for Kenzo back in 2016 – which saw her in an emerald dress, riotously shaking and swaying around the foyer of a hotel with utter abandon – that she hooked us all in. Both wild and totally in control, she captivates her audiences, who are never sure where she’ll move next. Her energy is intoxicating, totally alive and fearless. Since then, there have been stand-out moments as Jill Garvey in HBO’s super- natural series The Leftovers; riding shotgun alongside Brad Pitt in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; and as a single mother and domestic-abuse survivor opposite her own mum, Andie MacDowell, in Maid. But when she popped up this year opposite Emma Stone in Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things, we knew her status as a Hollywood breakout was set.
Today, though, Qualley is focused on the Grammys. Later in the week, her husband will go on to win the non-classical producer of the year award for the third time in a row. She’s excited to celebrate him. And the buzz of going to music awards – Lana Del Rey and Taylor Swift will be her table mates – isn’t lost on her. ‘There’s a level of shame baked into being an actor; it’s such serious self-deprecation, where we beat on ourselves so much during these kind of award ceremonies. It’s like it matters so much. But somehow in the music industry, they just seem happy to be there and happy to get the award. It’s not that thought out. We should just go have fun.’
We’re here to talk about her new film, Drive-Away Dolls, a rollicking romp about two horny best friends. Qualley plays Jamie, alongside newcomer Geraldine Viswanathan as Marian, and they head off together on a road trip and become embroiled with some inept criminals. Directed by Ethan Coen and his wife Tricia Cooke, it’s Thelma & Louise meets The Big Lebowski. Beanie Feldstein, Miley Cyrus and ‘Apocalypse Daddy’ Pedro Pascal all make screen appearances, as do karaoke bars and a lot of cunnilingus. Needless to say, no one will get bored watching it. ‘It was truly one of the best times. I adore Ethan and Trisha. I love Geraldine so much. Beanie’s fantastic. It was just a really playful, silly, ridiculous time.’
The feeling from the directors is very mutual. ‘Margaret is up for anything. That was especially good for us: we had a lead character who was up for anything, a real free spirit. But that quality serves Margaret everywhere,’ Coen and Cooke tell me. ‘Anyone who wants to make a movie anywhere, about anything, should think seriously about casting Margaret. And if she doesn’t want to do your movie, you should think seriously about not making the movie. It certainly won’t be as much fun without her.’
Having now worked with some of cinema’s greatest auteurs – Claire Denis, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Quentin Tarantino – Qualley says she realised early on it was a good idea to work with people better than her. ‘If I can work with a director like Ethan, it’s the best feeling in the world, because you get to really let loose and play. You feel so safe that whatever he is going to choose is right. You just get to kind of free fall and drive home without having a panic attack on the way, thinking about all the things you should have done differently.’
As someone who loves their job (nearly as much as it loves her), when the SAG strikes last year put a standstill to almost everything for a year, Qualley had mixed feelings. ‘I’m super happy for the writers and actors, but I also have so many friends that are crew members who had a really, really hard time... It’s complicated. I went into it a little bit kicking and screaming. I wasn’t Zen about it from the get-go, but I had a great year to make a home and get things organised.’
With work paused, she leaned into domesticity, moving herself and Antonoff into a new home in New Jersey. Married life, she says, hasn’t changed them. ‘I think we’ve kind of been operating like a married couple since the beginning, so it wasn’t a drastic change, but I really love the security of it. It would be hard for him to disentangle himself from me. I’m glad the law is involved.’
As a self-confessed introverted homebody, her days off are spent at home, listening to music (mostly Antonoff’s, she confesses, or Lana: ‘She’s an angel’), having people over for dinners and riding her new horse, an enormous young Quarter Horse, aptly named Big. ‘I love to hibernate. I love living in New Jersey, because no one else lives in New Jersey,’ she says, laughing some more. ‘I’ve always been a grandma; it’s always been hard to get me out. If I’m out past 11pm, something’s wrong.’
Being in New Jersey reminds her of her own childhood in small-town Asheville, North Carolina. ‘I was on a horse before I could walk. There are loads of photos of me in my mom’s lap on a horse, or in her belly on a horse; even asleep on a horse,’ she says. ‘I’m loving being able to kind of go back someplace that feels like my childhood. When I drive to the suburbs, my shoulders just kind of drop; it’s a slower pace.’
Qualley is the youngest of a close family – her sister Rainey is five years older than her. ‘She’s always looking out for me,’ she says. And her brother Justin is seven years her senior. It was her father, model-turned-property contractor Paul Qualley, who taught her about romance early on. ‘After my parents got a divorce and I was living with my mom, he would cook these ornate, beautiful lunches – often pasta – every day and bring them to my school so we could eat them together. He is a fantastic cook. It was very romantic.’
From her mother, 1990s film icon Andie MacDowell, she inherited the ability to dream big – as well as that same wide smile. ‘I was always super proud of my mom. Her job always mattered a lot to her. She’s a really hard worker. And I think it’s part of the reason why I’ve always been able to dream so big is because of her success. It made me believe that the sky’s the limit,’ she says.
Now, she’s set on pushing those limits as far as they’ll go. A recent pinch-me moment came when Qualley was asked to open this season’s haute couture show for Chanel. Unlike the roster of poker-faced models who rarely smile, Qualley seemed unable to suppress her grin as she walked around the runway. ‘It is nerve- racking, but also I’m not going to pretend like this is normal. It’s crazy. It’s amazing. And it’s so fun,’ she beams. The night before, to prepare for the show, she borrowed some heels at the hotel and spent hours walking around in her pyjamas because – if the wedding shoes weren’t proof enough – she never wears high heels. ‘The last thing I wanted to do is fall while opening the show. I was trying to sort out what a good walk would look like: a bit of a model, but also still a bit of a person.’
Her work with Chanel, she says, has been nothing but a thrill. 'I love all of the women there. I adore Virginie and have so much respect and admiration for the way they operate as artists and as a business. They’re able to accomplish something so contemporary and so classic at once. It’s very impressive.'
The adoration runs both ways. Viard says, ‘I asked Margaret, who had been our bride for the AW21 haute-couture show, if she would walk again and open the latest show. We really adore her. She’s a fantastic actress and, before that, she was a dancer, which tied in with the inspiration for the collection.’
As a child, Qualley took ballet lessons and entered dancing competitions, which this year led to her adding ‘director’ to her resumé, as she made the music video for Antonoff’s band Bleachers’ song Tiny Moves. The three-minute film, a love letter of sorts to her husband, sees her pulse and thrash across a dark car park, flawlessly timed to the drumbeats. She relished the chance to dance again. ‘As somebody who spends a lot of time in my head, dance is a place where it all dissipates. It’s pure joy. I love chipping away, working on something and having it get better. Not everything is so linear.’ Does she see herself directing more? ‘I only directed it because I choreographed the dance. I really love being an actress. I love having a kick-ass director. They say, “Jump”, I say, “How high?”’ she says, laughing.
Qualley acknowledges that the Southern ideals of how to be a woman in the world have informed perhaps too much of how she’s operated over her years. ‘We all have a way that we want to be seen in the world. Even amongst our friends. For me, I’ve always really wanted to be good. A good girl, who is kind and nice and does the right thing, making sure to show up on time and to be polite. So I think maybe I’ve been intentional about wanting to be seen as quiet and good and polite.’
Now, as she approaches 30, she’s learning to let go. ‘I realise the floors aren’t going to fall out from under me. When you spend time with someone in their seventies, a little kid, or even an animal, they don’t give a f*ck. I want to start doing that; caring about the things that matter, but hopefully not being so distracted by the things that don’t. Let’s have fun, right? I’m trying to take stock and enjoy life as much as I possibly can, because I’m super lucky.’
Daughter of a Hollywood dynasty, Chanel haute-couture model, actor, bride or girl on a horse. There is depth behind Qualley’s nice-girl smile. Layers she will peel back for her husband and their closest friends over the dinner table in New Jersey, and for the directors that need her to access that intensity. But for today, let’s leave Margaret Qualley enjoying her good time, saying f*ck it a bit more, and living out her happily ever after.
‘Drive-Away Dolls’ will be in UK cinemas from March 15.
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