EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Raffey Cassidy is Molly Moon

By: Lynn Barker

Raffey Cassidy is an English teen actress who played young Kristen Stewart in Snow White and the Huntsman and a young witch in Johnny Depp’s Dark Shadows. You might know her more recently from her bigger role as the android Athena in Disney’s Tomorrowland.

Currently Raffey stars as Molly Moon in Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism based upon the first in a series of novels by Georgia Byng. Molly is an orphan who learns to hypnotize people to do all sorts of things. Most of them better her life and the lives of her friends but a trip to the big city results in big choices for Molly. How far should this hypnotism thing go?

Kidzworld: In the movie Molly hypnotizes the orphanage cook to make spaghetti. If you could hypnotize your mom or whoever does the cooking at your house into cooking anything you want, what would it be?

• Raffey: Oooo, probably green Thai curry.

Kidzworld: Yum! That sounds delicious! Do you think people can actually be hypnotized?

• Raffey: Well, there’s kind of a magic to hypnotism (when it’s used) to help people. I guess it actually does work but not in the sense to get people to do something but it’s fun to believe that people can (be hypnotized to do something specific).

Kidzworld: If you could hypnotize someone, what would you want them to do for you?

• Raffey: Hummm, I’d probably hypnotize my parents to let me stay out really, really late!

Kidzworld: Wow, that’s a good one! Did you make friends with the other kid and teen actors in the movie? Did you do anything fun off set?

• Raffey: Yeah, I made really good friends with all of them. They’re all so lovely and really, really nice to work with. When we hadn’t met, we went to a dance studio and had a little meeting and went to Pizza Hut afterwards and had a pizza which was very nice to get to know everyone. Then, when we were shooting, there were really long days so we didn’t get to go out afterwards. But during breaks we’d all be in the green room playing. Jake (Swift) who played Roger, we’d play doing accents. It was really fun.

Kidzworld: Molly sings a really nice song in the film. Is that you singing “Believe in Myself”?

• Raffey: That was me.

Kidzworld: Molly hypnotizes a huge audience into thinking that she is singing and dancing wonderfully, when, in reality, she can’t dance or carry a tune. Did you have to work on singing badly for the scenes in which we hear Molly singing in her own voice on stage?

• Raffey: How hard was it to sing badly? Unfortunately, I’d like to say that it was difficult but it was a natural thing with me. I just left my dance class singing.

Kidzworld: Molly also dances. So, then you do that normally?

• Raffey: Yeah. When I was younger I did a bit of dancing but we practiced that dance (on stage) over and over again. Then, when I danced really badly, it was fun because I just made it up on the spot.

Kidzworld: There is an adorable pug dog in the film. Did you have to make friends with Petula? Was there more than one dog playing the part?

• Raffey: Yes there were two Petulas. They were really named George and Lola. George was the more relaxed one who would climb into my backpack and Lola was the more energetic one who could do a fight scene. It was really cool. Before we started, I got to spend a little time with them. It was really fun to work with them. They were so cute. I love dogs. It was cool to see how (the trainers) can get a dog to do something weird.

Kidzworld: Molly gets to be a popstar for a while. If you could be a popstar, who would you like to be?

• Raffey: Oooo, maybe Nina Nesbitt (check her out. She’s cool!)

Kidzworld: What music would we find you listening to if you were relaxing on a day off?

• Raffey: I like a band called “Walk Off the Earth”. They do covers of other songs. They do different things with their instruments and it’s really cool watching their videos.

Kidzworld: Molly wears a lot of different types of outfits. Did you get to keep anything? Was there a favorite outfit?

• Raffey: Yes. It was so fun to wear all of the different things. They were all really comfy. I like the orphanage one because that was the real Molly Moon. Then also, I had this little hat she wore at the orphanage. I loved wearing all these Bobble Hats (bright-colored knit hats). Then we did this fashion shoot when she is trying to be a popstar and I got to keep a bunch of really nice things. I got to keep this really cool little blue dress that they handmade. It had little embroidered flowers down the edge of it.

Kidzworld: How was it working with Dominic Monaghan (from Lord of the Rings and the TV series “Lost”) as the bad guy? Was he fun?

• Raffey: So fun to work with Dominic Monaghan because we had so many scenes together. He’s so nice and very caring.

Kidzworld: Did you read the book after you got the part? Have you read more of the books since doing the film?

• Raffey: (Novelist and screenwriter) Georgia Byng gave all of the books to me so I got to read every single one. I’d heard of them. I loved them. They are cute little stories.

Kidzworld: What do you hope tweens and teens will take away from watching the movie?

• Raffey: That friends and family are the most important things. And not to get carried away because you’ll always want to come back to them. Molly thought that the grass was greener on the other side and has to learn that.  

See “Molly” in limited theaters and on VOD now!