Odessa A’zion is a hugger. The 25-year-old springs from a sofa on the rooftop terrace of the Chopard Suite at the Hôtel Martinez for a welcome embrace amid a dizzying 24 hours at the Cannes Film Festival. The night before, A’zion made her Cannes debut by hitting the Palais red carpet to face a crush of photographers while standing alongside actor Connor Swindells, French legend Isabelle Huppert and Chopard’s Caroline Scheufele. They then made their way to Carlton Beach for a late night Chopard Trophy ceremony during which A’zion and Swindells were honored by Huppert as next-generation talents in front of Demi Moore, Chloe Zhao, Stellan Skarsgard, Ruth Negga, James Franco, Riley Keough, Nicky Hilton, Xavier Dolan and others. A’zion gave a speech — describing the experience as “really weird, crazy and surreal” — stayed for dessert and ducked out for a cameo at the hottest party in Cannes for her I Love LA co-star Jordan Firstman’s directorial debut Club Kid. Then it was time for bed to get few hours of rest ahead of a full day of Chopard press to honor the occasion, accessorized by sparkling diamonds and a breathtaking view of the French Riviera over her shoulder. Post hug, The Hollywood Reporter spent 20 minutes with the Marty Supreme star to talk about her Cannes adventure, how Josh Safdie’s film changed her life, what she learned from the backlash surrounding her Deep Cuts casting and why she’s fiercely protective of her personal life.

What was your first thought when you woke up today?

“Oh fuck, I have to get ready for all these interviews right now.” The second thought was, “I still don’t understand what’s happening.” I wasn’t able to process any of it, except for maybe a little bit last night when they played the clips. That made me think, “What the fuck is going on?” It was so crazy, weird, insane and really cool.

I’m a sucker for a good clips reel. You said last night during your speech that watching your own highlight reel was “horrifying.” As an actor, is it hard to watch your own work?

I was so embarrassed. I used to always think that the thing to do was never watch your work because everyone says that, so I wouldn’t. And if I did happen to watch something, I would always think to myself, “Oh my God, I fucking suck. What am I doing?” Now I’ve learned that it’s important to watch your own stuff. That doesn’t mean that I’m rewatching projects over and over, but I do watch it at least once when it comes out.

It’s like being an athlete, right? Athletes watch their plays to see what worked and what didn’t work. I feel like acting is the same thing. It’s important to know what works for you and what doesn’t work for your performance, even if it’s just for yourself. From watching myself, I have learned what facial expressions didn’t work and what comes off wrong in the moment. While I’m filming, I will only watch playback if I feel like I didn’t get something right or if I need an idea for a certain direction to go toward.

When you saw all the clips of your projects, what were you most proud of?

Marty Supreme. That was the first time that I ever watched something I’ve done and thought, “OK, that’s not bad. That’s OK.”

How did Marty Supreme change your life?

Oh my God. I don’t even know how to describe it. Josh changed my life. Every director I’ve worked with who believed in me enough to cast me in their project has seen something in me, and I’m so grateful for every single one of them. But it’s a different thing to be a part of a movie like that. It’s hard to talk about without sounding like I’m putting down other things because I’m not. I really am grateful for everything I’ve been a part of, but Marty Supreme feels like something that was written for me without them knowing it. It sounds so cheesy to say.

I’ve never played a character with so many different layers and so much going on. I was talking to [writer Ronald Bronstein] when we were filming and I said, “Thank you. This is such a gift to give an actor by allowing them to do six different emotional turns in the span of two minutes.” She was so fiery but also submissive. I’m so grateful that he trusted me to play a character like her. I’ve always wanted that; she gets fucking shot, she gets kidnapped, she gets pregnant, she has a baby, so much goes on in. I don’t know when I’m ever going to play someone like that again. It was just so special. All of it. Josh was on my list of people I’d love to work with, same for Timothée and A24. Since it was more visible, that means more people have seen it and it will hopefully help with other things.

What are those other things?

Just because the character had so many layers that I was able to do, hopefully that means people will think of me for projects with a submissive character or an insane character who is out of touch with reality or playing someone who is a manipulative ass bitch. I love screaming my head off in a movie and bawling my eyes out. It’s so fun.

The first project that you signed on to after the success of Marty Supreme was Deep Cuts. I was impressed with how quickly you withdrew amid the controversy and how you addressed it. What did you learn from that experience?

Here’s the thing: I was really upset about that situation. I don’t know a lot of people who will read the book until they’re actively filming because there’s just not that much time and we’re all moving around so much. I didn’t think to read the book. I had read the script once. I went in for the female lead and I didn’t get it. Way later, they offered me the second female role. I didn’t think to go back and read her name because that’s the only time anything is mentioned in the script. Her last name was said once. I literally had no idea. Unfortunately, no one at A24 or on my team clocked it or thought to say, “By the way, the character…” If they had, I would’ve said, “You guys are out of your minds. Why would you come to me with that?”

It’s not right. Representation in Hollywood is so important and there are so many other roles that I could play that aren’t that. It’s not a role for me. It was really frustrating and that sucked and people can think whatever they want but I had no idea. I was happy when I learned about it because it popped up for me when I saw a tagged photo of myself and said, “Wait, hold on. What?” I literally called them right away and said, “I’m not doing this.”

Interesting that you caught it yourself on social media. How closely are you paying attention to comments and online discourse?

I’ve engaged before and I just feel like honestly, at this point, it’s really weird. People assume that when you’re in the public eye, you know everything about the world at every time in your life. You have to give people room to grow and learn. You can’t assume someone knows everything about everything at all times. I’m always learning new shit every day. You learn about people and events and news that happens in the world and you say, “Oh, I didn’t know that.” Or, “I don’t agree with that.” You know what I mean? We have to give each other room to grow, and not try to stick it to people so fast. It’s not cool to do that. But you can’t control the internet. It really sucks, but you can’t.

One thing the internet loves to do is remind everyone that you don’t work with a stylist or hair and makeup artists. How does that work for Cannes because that was a big carpet you stepped out on here. I know you were dripping in Chopard jewelry though…

I know, that was crazy. That was all Chopard because they let me borrow some stuff. And the suit was Jonathan Anderson for Dior because he let me borrow some clothes as well. I’m wearing him again today.

It’s a great suit.

Thank you. Honestly, most of the time it’s all really last minute. I like to wear what I like. That doesn’t mean I’m happy with it all the time. Because I don’t have a stylist, sometimes I don’t know where to find clothes but I like expressing myself outside of how people see me in movies or shows. Sometimes it’s important to feel like yourself, and other times I like to get out of my comfort zone.

Like when?

Like at the Met Gala. It felt like I was playing a character. I was channeling Tallulah [from I Love LA].

Tell me about Cody Fern’s Mother Courage.

Oh my God. Cody Fern is such a badass and he wrote such a beautiful script. We met at a party and then he hit me up about it a few weeks later and let me read it. I was really, really excited to be a part of it with an incredible cast. The script made me cry and it reminded me of my sisters and me. It was a really quick but fun experience. I love Sarah [Paulson] and Naomi [Watts] so much. It’s so cool seeing their relationship because they have a show together [All’s Fair]. They’re so close and have such good energy. It was amazing.

You also have another movie coming, Justine Triet’s Fonda. What can you say about that project?

She is also a badass and just knows exactly what she wants. I love that. It’s really sick to work with a female director. She’s such a visionary. I’m, like, how the fuck did you write this script? It’s so insane and so cool. I’m not allowed to say much more. But I can say that it feels really cool to be a part of such a sick cast and work with such a powerful script. The story is so original. That’s all I want to do. I want to continue to make or be a part of telling new, original stories.

Let’s talk about Chopard. What has this Cannes experience been like? Did you know much about high jewelry?

Honestly, I don’t know much about jewelry. But I would like to have my own jewelry line one day. That’s all I know. Other than that, I have learned how involved Chopard is with Cannes, and that’s really amazing. I love how much they support film, art, artists and creatives. They created this award to encourage young actors to keep going and that is such a beautiful thing. They’re not just jewelry; they are a company that supports the arts and artists.

You want to start a jewelry line?

I want to do everything. I love jewelry. I usually always wear my own jewelry. I love vintage jewelry. I collect a ring on every project as my personal little anecdote or memento. I’ve lost a lot of them. But I love jewelry, all sorts of chunky, vintage jewelry. My idea for my own line has always been to create jewelry using recycled plastic from the ocean. But I haven’t figured out how to make something beautiful and chic and not like skeevy. But I’ll figure it out one day.

You said, “I want to do everything.” What else?

Oh my God — everything. One day, I would love to have a clothing line. I want to make jewelry. I want to paint and make music.

I’ve heard some of your music. It’s so good.

Really? I only have two songs out now. I have other songs out under a different name.

I saw some clips on TikTok and I feel like people are just rediscovering it.

Because I just dropped a few songs on the 30th.

Is there a world where there’s an album?

Yeah. Hopefully an album is coming. I’m sitting on about, I don’t know, maybe 500 songs or something that I’ve made through the years. I don’t know if I’ll ever release all of them but it’s like my journal. Whenever I’m going through something, I sit down at the piano or take out my guitar and just voice note whatever comes out. It’s scary though because it’s really, really personal. I don’t want people digging around or asking me, “Who is that about?”

That’s the scary part, and why I’m anxious about releasing anything. Also, so many people in the industry have a support system in music and I’m only just now finding mine. Up until a year ago, I had only ever written and made music by myself. I had never gotten into the studio and recorded anything. But now I’ve found incredible engineers, co-producers, co-writers and collaborators to work on music together and it feels really nice.

When people are in the public eye it’s hard to avoid those questions, “Who is this about?” What’s the best thing and the most challenging thing about having more eyeballs on you?

I’m very private about my personal life. I don’t like talking about my personal life that much because I don’t want people to know. I’ve kept relationships under wraps for years and nobody knew. I’ve done that partially because of music so people won’t know who it’s about but I’ve also done it to protect other people’s hearts and their lives. I think it’s important. And I’ll say that a scary part of having more eyes is thinking about how I maintain privacy and secrecy. It’s uncomfortable, but as uncomfortable as it is, I know that it means there is growth in your career because more people are watching the things you do. And that means, hopefully, that I will continue working. I hope that people are enjoying what they’re seeing and I can continue making things.

During your acceptance speech last night, you said that there are so many actors you admire who have won the Chopard Trophy. Is there someone on that list whose work really means something to you?

Isabelle Huppert is the godmother of the Chopard Trophy, and watching her reel last night you could see what a tasteful career she’s had. She really makes art and collaborates with incredible creatives. I hope to have a career like hers one day.