Ridgeland girl featured in 'Deepwater Horizon'

Even if you don’t know Ridgeland’s Stella Allen, chances are high that you’ve seen her.

The 11-year-old is featured heavily in the trailer for the $156 million film “Deepwater Horizon,” which chronicles the explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that led to the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Stella plays Sydney, the daughter of Deepwater technician Mike Williams and wife Felicia, who are played by Hollywood stars Mark Wahlberg and Kate Hudson.

The 2010 rig explosion killed 11 crew members, including Mississippians Aaron Burkeen, Karl Kleppinger, Dewey Revette and Shane Roshto, and spilled more than 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf.

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Stella's character eerily foreshadows the potential of an explosion on the rig in the trailer, and the scene is one of three in which the precocious preteen is featured in the Peter Berg-directed film.

“They told us she did a good job in the film and that ‘you’ll know how much we like her when you see the trailer,” Jennifer Allen, Stella’s mother, said. “It’s gotten a lot of views.”

After her mother's comment, Stella seemed to realize the magnitude of her appearance for the first time. “Wait, I just realized that. Over six million people have seen me. That’s really cool; it’s all sinking in.”

There are going to be a lot more people who will see her face. The Lionsgate film is predicted to win the box office when it opens Friday. The film has been praised by critics, receiving over 80 percent positive reviews on the aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, for its technical and emotional portrayal of real-life events.

“People in YouTube comments kept saying how they weren’t heroes, and they were. It wasn’t their fault; it was executives at BP,” Stella said. “For people to say that before they’ve seen the movie really aggravated me.”

Before Allen walked a black carpet in a white dress at the New Orleans premiere of the film last week, she saw the movie in a private screening in Houston with the real life family portrayed in the film.

“(Sydney, now 15) told me after the movie that I played her very well and that was exciting ... because it meant I did well,” Stella said.

Stella and her family went back and forth between their Ridgeland home and New Orleans during the filming last summer. Pre-production included bonding time with Wahlberg and Hudson. The director wanted them to have fun, which included a pillow fight at one point.

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“They’re both really great role models,” Stella said. “I remember watching ‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ thinking ‘it would be so cool to meet (Hudson) one day,” and then all of the sudden she is standing in front of me. I had to take it all in.”

Stella began acting at age 7 when she was cast in short films with students at Hinds Community College’s film program.

“From that first film, I thought ‘this is what I want to do,” she said.

She picked up representation from Flowood’s Action Talent Agency within the year and got lucky on her first feature audition, landing a role in James Franco’s adaptation of “Sound and the Fury” in 2013.

After a recurring role on the television series “The Astronaut’s Wives Club,” Stella was cast in a small role in “Free State of Jones,” sharing the screen with star Mathew McCaughney.

Upon meeting Hudson, Stella told her that she had worked with McCaughney, who was her co-star in “10 days.”

“She said he’s really intense,” Jennifer Allen said. “That surprised us because that’s not the impression he gives off on the screen.”

“He eavesdropped on my conversation with my mom where I told her I didn’t want to eat long string beans, and (McCaughney) told us that I had to eat my vegetables,” Stella said with a laugh.

Her time with Hudson included a conversation where the veteran actress extolled the importance of getting an education and having a back-up plan to becoming a professional actress.

“(Hudson) sat there and told her ‘this industry has its ups and downs. You’re popular one minute and not popular the next,” Jennifer Allen said.  “It was a great piece of advice and I will remind her of that all the time.”

Allen said that she dreams of going to college for interior design, but until then, she’s focused on enjoying her youth.

“That’s what I like about still living in Mississippi. I wouldn’t want to move to L.A. yet, maybe one day, but not now. I feel like I’m still a kid and I still want my friends with me, and normal childhood.”

Contact Jacob Threadgill at 601-961-7192 or jthreadgil@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.