For actor Jordan Alexa Davis, making her feature debut alongside Anne Hathaway in The End of Oak Street was a memorable experience. In an exclusive interaction with India Today, Davis opened up about working with Hathaway and being part of David Robert Mitchell’s sci-fi survival film. Having grown up watching Hathaway, Davis said the experience gave her an opportunity to learn from the actor while stepping into a major studio project.

“I grew up watching her, so it was just so surreal,” the 23-year-old actor recalled. “Going to the sound stages, like the first day in pre-production, and just meeting her and being like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is actually happening.’ She’s actually in front of me.”

The excitement soon turned into something more meaningful for Davis. She recalls Hathaway not just as an actor she had admired for years, but as someone who helped make her first film experience feel more comfortable and less intimidating.

“She’s just the sweetest. She’s one of the best people I could have hoped to do my first film with, because she was just such a mentor,” she exclaimed.

For the young actor, observing Hathaway at work became its own form of acting lesson. It wasn’t only about watching how an Oscar-winning actor approached a scene, but also about seeing how she carried herself around an entire film set.

Elaborating upon the same, she said, “Just watching her, I feel like I learned so much. She really knows how to just do her job acting amazingly, but also still be just an amazing person to everyone on set.”

That distinction appears to have stayed with Davis. While The End of Oak Street places its actors in an unusual genre setting — a suburban neighbourhood mysteriously ripped from its surroundings and transported into an unknown, dangerous world, Davis says one of the biggest lessons she took away had less to do with spectacle and more to do with trusting herself.

Working alongside actors with very different approaches to their craft, she learned to leave room for spontaneity rather than becoming overly attached to what had been rehearsed. “I think just learning how to trust my instincts and come prepared with room to also expand on just what you rehearsed,” Davis explained. “Sometimes things will come up in the moment that feel right, and to just go with that.”

One of the biggest lessons Davis took away from The End of Oak Street had little to do with acting itself. The physically and emotionally demanding shoot made her realise the importance of knowing when to step away from work and prioritise herself.

“I learnt a lot about how to just separate work from my personal life. I feel like, especially when you’re working on projects that are so physically or emotionally demanding, it’s really important to learn how to leave it all at the door and learn how to not just totally consume yourself with it all.”.

“So just kind of learning how to set healthy boundaries,” she asserted.

The End of Oak Street is now in Indian theatres.