Upon hearing the news that 15-year-old Elsie Fisher received a Golden Globe nomination for her role in the teen angst dramedy Eighth Grade , director Bo Burham texted her in all caps: WHAT THE FUCK?

The question, of course, was hypothetical. If youve seen Fishers devastating performance as Kayla Day , an anxiety-addled middle schooler struggling to get through the purgatorial phase of puberty relatively unscathed, you know exactly why THE FUCK she received the distinction.

In the movie, Fisher embodies the not-yet-fully-formedness of adolescence with remarkable conviction and vulnerability. Some of her awkward physical quirks play like timeless displays (the hunched shoulders, the nervous giggles, the fidgety hands), while others feel very 2018 (the knee-jerk peace sign when a selfie presents itself, the YouTube sign-off phrase Gucci!). Regardless of when you personally came of age, Fisher delivers Kaylas foot-in-mouth gaffes and hormone-driven panic attacks like shes reenacting memories weve all lived through together. In the end, her time on screen amounts to one of the most heart-squeezing and numinous cinematic experiences of the year.

Fisher identifies strongly with her character, but in a recent conversation with the newly nominated actress, I felt like the Kayla in the room. Despite being twice her age, I was the one whose voice lingered at a chirpy soprano register, who managed to speak like a teenage spaz still learning to express herself without feeling like a complete freak show.

In the spirit of Eighth Grade, I opted not to edit my verbal ticks, rambling questions or inarticulate moments from the transcript that follows. As a mega-fan of Fishers work, I was nervous to talk to her. (Come on, teens are terrifying!) And if I learned anything from her movie, its that theres a little bit of Kayla within all of us.

A lot of her, it turns out, within me specifically: