Emma Roberts and Poppy Liu Discuss the Inspiring Themes of ‘Space Cadet’

Emma Roberts, who is also an executive producer, and Poppy Liu star as Rex and Nadine in Space Cadet. The new comedy will be released July 4 on Prime Video.

Tiffany “Rex” Simpson (Emma Roberts) has always dreamed of going to space, but life isn’t going quite as planned. Determined to turn things around, she aims high and with the embellishing touch of her supportive best friend Nadine (Poppy Liu), her “doctored” application lands her in NASA’s ultra-competitive astronaut training program. In over her head, Rex relies on her quick wits, moxie and determination to get to the top of her class. NASA program directors Pam (Gabrielle Union) and Logan (Tom Hopper) certainly take notice, but can this Florida girl get through training and into the cosmos before she blows her cover? Written and directed by Liz W. Garcia (“Purple Hearts,” “The Sinner”), Space Cadet is a comedy about the power of being yourself, following your dreams and shooting for the stars.

Photo Credit: Eric Liebowitz//Prime Video

“I never thought when I was a teenager that I should direct a movie or produce a movie, that wasn’t even in my mind, and now, Liz Garcia is a perfect example of inspiring me where she writes, she directs, [and] she’s a mom of two. That is so inspiring to me and throughout my career to see more women step into these more typically, or historically, I should say, male roles has really made me think like, ‘Oh my God, maybe I could direct a movie,’ and that never even crossed my mind. So I think to just speak within the profession to see so many more women taking on bigger roles and making it look effortless and being a mom is inspiring to me,” Roberts expressed. “I mean, the fact that Poppy, Liz, and I all have kids and we did this movie, Poppy while she was pregnant, that’s really special and it made me feel less guilty taking time away from my son, knowing that we were all taking time away from our families to hopefully make a movie that will inspire people.”

Liu shared, “I’ve been thinking a lot about my little sister, who’s 15, and we have an 18-year age gap, so I’m 33 now, and just thinking about as young, especially first generation, kids of immigrants growing up, of what we thought was possible for our future. I didn’t even go to school, I’ve been performing my whole life, but I didn’t even go to college for acting or pursue it. I think because, in the back of my mind, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s not practical for me to do,’ and I just realized there’s so much messaging we get that’s so subconscious and it’s so subliminal of just what we think is possible for us. So I feel like with a movie like this, it’s amazing, just that it’s like, in this world, it’s a given that you can be a Florida party girl and you can be an astronaut, you know? Like, when I see my little sister right now, what she thinks is possible at age 15 is so much bigger than what I thought was possible for me and a lot of that is just seeing it, normalizing it.”