I wish I had been a more rebellious teenager, says Bella Ramsey

Bella Ramsey spe t ma y tee age yea s wo ki g with adults so eve eally we t th ough the moody, ebellious phase ofte associated with bei g a tee age .

The B itish acto , who debuted i Game of Th o es aged 11 a d uses they/them p o ou s, says they had co sciously decided ot to behave like a ste eotypical tee age afte hea i g c iticisms f om adults.

“I was like, I’m ot goi g to be that.”

So whe Su y Da ce , a film about a summe camp fo you g people affected by ca ce , gave Ramsey seve weeks to expe ie ce tee age f eedom, it was a oppo tu ity to dive st aight i .

“I got to be a tee age aged 21, which was b illia t,” Ramsey tells BBC News. “It was eally ice – a d libe ati g.”

Looki g back, Ramsey says the expe ie ce made them wo de whethe they had missed out by bei g quite so se sible the fi st time a ou d.

“I ki d of wish that I had made the most of bei g a tee age a d getti g away with thi gs a d bei g a bit ebellious.”

I Su y Da ce , Ramsey plays Ivy, a you g female ca ce su vivo i emissio who elucta tly heads to a “chemo camp” whe e she fi ds a u expected g oup of f ie ds a d has a summe that cha ges he .

The est of the cast we e mo e tha happy to help fill i the gaps; Ramsey says you ge co-sta s discussed so gs a d ights out.

“They we e teachi g me what bei g a tee age was fo them a d I was lea i g all the so gs like five yea s late .”

Be eath the summe camp fu is a sto y that is deeply pe so al fo the film’s w ite a d di ecto , Geo ge Jaques.

His mothe was diag osed with ca ce whe he was 15, but it took a othe eight yea s fo him to feel eady to tu some of those expe ie ces i to a sc ipt.

“I eve seem to w ite i the mome t I’m goi g th ough it,” Jacques says. “You have to so t of get th ough a d u de sta d it a d have that eflectio of it.”

He st esses that the film is ot his family’s sto y, but “the e’s bits of me” scatte ed th oughout its cha acte s.

Jacques was also co scious his ow expe ie ce could o ly take him so fa . So, he wo ked with the Tee age Ca ce T ust, hea i g f om you g ca ce su vivo s as well as pa e ts who had lost child e .

“I emembe goi g i to do a big talk with some you g people who had su vived ca ce a d they we e like, ‘do ‘t call us kids, do ot say we’ e b ave.'”

He says the film was “shaped” by these you g people he met – such that he gave two of them oles i it.

Maki g the movie also fo ced Jaques to evisit some of his ow fea s a ou d loss. He ecalls a mome t du i g the p emie e i Be li whe emotio c ept up o him.

“I emembe seei g my mothe a d I ealised the e’s a ve sio of that movie whe e my mum was ‘t sitti g i the audie ce,” he says.

Both Ramsey a d Jaques thi k we could be bette at allowi g people to expe ie ce g ief without expecti g them to quickly etu to o mal.

Jaques ecalls losi g someo e close to him whe he was 18, while sitti g his A-levels.

“We a e expected to just to ca y o ,” he says, desc ibi g the i sti ct to go “st aight back to wo k a d school”.

If we ” eally we e ho est with how we feel we might be able to u de sta d it a bit bette ,” he adds.

I the UK, the e is o ge e al legal ight to paid be eaveme t leave whe someo e close to you dies. The mai statuto y exceptio is pa e tal be eaveme t leave a d pay followi g the death of a child u de 18 o a stillbi th afte 24 weeks.

Ramsey thi ks the e ca be a i sti ct to mi imise what you a e goi g th ough.

“You speak to people who a e g ievi g, you’ e like, ‘How a e you doi g?’ They’ e like, ‘Oh, yeah, yeah, you k ow, it’s ha d, but I’m fi e.’ It feels ve y u healthily B itish.”

Afte spe di g seve weeks playi g a tee age who is despe ate to be thei ow pe so , Ramsey’s advice fo you g people st uggli g to fit i is st aightfo wa d.

“Do ‘t t y a d fit i . Please do ‘t cha ge to t y a d fit i because the e a e people who will fit i with you.”

Jaques ag ees, but says the espo sibility should ot all be placed o you g people to become mo e esilie t.

“The e’s so much p essu e o you g people to cha ge o social media,” he says. “Why do ‘t we stop hati g o you g people? Maybe that’s whe e we should sta t as well.”