What Kathryn Newton Learned From Groundhog Day Before Working On The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things
Hollywood has been revisiting a concept that famously started with 1993’s Groundhog Day within the past few years with Edge of Tomorrow, Happy Death Day and Palm Springs. Amazon Prime’s Valentine’s Day weekend gem, The Map of Tiny Perfect Things, continues the trend through the lens of a sweet coming-of-age movie. A fun bit about the movie starring Freaky’s Kathryn Newton is how it pays homage to the concept by referencing the movies before it.
While speaking to Kathryn Newton and Kyle Allen for The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things, I asked the actors how the movies of time-loop past played a part in the making of this movie for them. Here’s what Newton had to say:
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things is not Groundhog Day. It uses its concept to tell a completely different story, but Kathryn Newton did pop on the 1993 movie before stepping on to the set of the Amazon Studios film. She learned about the importance of rooting a high-concept in a genuine storyline and that definitely comes off in this release.
The movie is about Kyle Allen’s Mark, a teenager who finds out Kathryn Newton’s Margaret is stuck in a temporal anomaly with him. They form a friendship and start to create a map together of notable moments that happen within the span of the same day. CinemaBlend also spoke to the movie’s newcomer Jermaine Harris, who plays Mark’s best friend, Henry, who is not aware he’s living in the same day over and over. The actor offered his take on the time loop element with CinemaBlend well:
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things is a great pick-me-up for fans of the subgenre, for sure, and it’s fun to watch one where the characters are self-aware that it's happened in movies before. The movie is based on a short story by Lev Grossman, who also wrote the script and follows some beautiful themes about appreciating the moments we have and finding the strength to move forward. It's a fun twist on the concept, and feels like a fun sister film to last summer’s Hulu hit Palm Springs. While The Map of Tiny Perfect Things may look like it could be a rerun from the outside looking in, having its time loop movie references on its side actually makes it better for it.
The movie drops on Amazon Prime this Friday, February 12. Look out for more exclusive interviews and check out what else is new in February here on CinemaBlend.
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Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.