Entertainment Movies Comedy Movies Beanie Feldstein Goes Full Rock and Roll in the First Trailer for 'How to Build a Girl' Beanie Feldstein stars as a teen girl desperate to create a more exciting life in the first trailer for How to Build a Girl By Alexia Fernández Published on April 8, 2020 10:02AM EDT Beanie Feldstein‘s new film strikes a chord with a new generation of young girls. In a PEOPLE exclusive look at the first trailer for How to Build a Girl, Feldstein (Booksmart), 26, stars as Johanna Morrigan, a 16-year-old girl living with her large family in a working-class neighborhood in England. The film is based on Caitlin Moran’s semi-autobiographical fiction novel. “How much longer am I going to have to be here?” she asks as she bemoans her seemingly boring life. “I want to burn, I want to explode. I want to have sexual intercourse… With someone who has a car.” Desperate to grow up, Johanna finds herself the newest music critic at a popular magazine. Attempting to fit into the new lifestyle she’s found herself in, the teen makes drastic changes to her appearance. Courtesy of IFC Films Courtesy of IFC Films “Johanna Morrigan is dead,” she tells her surprised family members. “This is the legendary Dolly Wilde.” Beanie Feldstein on Channeling Her Mom’s Style and Posing Unretouched in New Aerie Campaign The teen soon finds herself in the midst of the rock and roll scene, “crossing over to the dark side” and coming at odds with the person those closest to her thought she was. “What do you do when you build yourself only to realize you’ve built yourself with the wrong things?” she asks. “You rip it up and start again.” Feldstein previously told PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly at the Toronto International Film Festival that she found the experience of making How to Build a Girl “daunting.” “I never thought of myself as a brave person before,” she said. “I just didn’t associate with that. And then, after we wrapped, I thought, ‘Maybe I’m a little bit brave.'” The cast includes Game of Thrones‘ Alfie Allen, Frank Dillane Paddy Considine, Sarah Solemani, Jameela Jamil, Chris O’Dowd, Michael Sheen and Emma Thompson. How to Build a Girl is available on VOD on May 8. Close