We interview Bella Ramsey and Neil Patrick Harris, stars of Sunny Dancer, about shooting the movie, secretly watching each other act, laughs and tears on the set, and more.
When 17-year-old Ivy (Bella Ramsey, of The Last of Us) discovers that her parents are making her go to summer camp to help her “find herself” again, she lashes out at them. And who can blame her, when the four week-long program they signed her up for, Children Run Free Camp, was made specifically for cancer survivors? Though Ivy belongs to that category, she has a very specific idea of what ‘Chemo Camp’ will be like, and when CRF Camp President Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris, of Gone Girl) tells her that “we’re all weird here, but in a good way,” right after welcoming ‘new campers’ with a corny song, she’s even more convinced she’s going to be miserable there. But there’s more to this community than what meets the eye, and it might just turn out to be exactly what Ivy needs.
In the same way that CRF Camp subverts Ivy’s expectations, Sunny Dancer isn’t your typical chemo drama. Writer-director George Jaques’s film manages to be joyful, authentic, and filled with personality, with plenty of uplifting moments, characters you’ll immediately get attached to, and emotional scenes that come when you least expect. It’s a story that reminds us about our universal need to belong and invites us to embrace the most uncool parts of ourselves, whose protagonists aren’t defined by their illness.
At the 2026 Berlin Film Festival, where Sunny Dancer had its world premiere, we spoke with stars Bella Ramsey and Neil Patrick Harris, who are both phenomenal in the film. They told us about shooting the movie, secretly watching each other act, crying while ‘watching themselves watch something that was making them cry’, and more. Read the interview below!
Bella Ramsey & Neil Patrick Harris on Laughing, Crying, and Watching Each Other Act
Congratulations for this wonderful movie!
You don’t have a lot of time together in the film, but those scenes really help shape your characters, and also the film as a whole. Neil, I heard that you stayed on set for a long time. How did you both work together to give us these poignant scenes, and how did your working relationship evolve as you were making the film?
Neil Patrick Harris: Those scenes were a little singular, because I came into the film a week before I started shooting, to hang out, so that I didn’t feel like I was just showing up, working, and leaving. The rest of the cast had been together for a couple weeks before then — learning, hanging out, [getting to know] each other. So they were getting to have more fun, but then, when I came, it was time to do scene work, and we had to do all of the scenes back to back.
They were emotional for both of us, in different times and in different ways, so I guess I wanted to impress upon Bella and George that I was worthy of… being in the scenes? [Neil and Bella smile]
N.P.H.: It was only my first scene, and I was in this office, at this desk, chastising and arguing, and stuff, and I think it went really well.
Bella Ramsey: yeah, it did.
N.P.H.: I was really impressed by Bella’s focus: they were very locked-in with line readings, with emotion, with resetting. A lot of these scenes start with laughs and then end with tears. And so then, when it’s cut, “let’s go again”, you have to reset yourself to laugh place before you get to tears again.
B.R.: Yeah.
N.P.H.: And that’s a lot. It’s easier when you’re just crying the whole time! [laughs]
B.R.: Way easier!
N.P.H.: You can just stay in sadness! But they’re— [looks at Bella] you’re crazy impressive with that stuff.
B.R.: Why, thanks! I have to say the same about you. I’m not just saying this because I have to, because you complimented me: I didn’t know what it was going to be like, working with you. I wasn’t worried, but I didn’t know whether you’d be more removed, or whether you’d be fully up for it and in it, and… I just didn’t know. You were also the only American on the set, and I didn’t know how that would go. But you were just so part of it the whole time. You’d just be there doing your crossword, in the room with all of us, and playing games.
And watching you in those scenes as well. Do you do that? Seeing you break from the — It’s never a full facade of ‘camp leader’. What I like about it is that you’re still you, Patrick, within it, but I feel so lucky to have been — both as Ivy, the character, and as Bella — in your emotional scenes, where you break and you see the real human behind that. I felt Patrick’s story was very precious, and to be trusted with that vulnerability was an honour; it felt really beautiful. And obviously, it was emotional for me watching, because I know that you have kids.
N.P.H.: [nods] It’s easy to get emotional about the loss of your own children.
B.R.: Yeah.
That’s the first time I cried in the film. We meet Neil’s character and we’re thinking, ‘What’s up with him? Why is he so happy? [Neil laughs] And it feels a bit fake as well, you know? And then, there’s this one moment…
B.R: Yeah, it’s amazing. I would walk off because after I leave that scene where you tell me about [something in Patrick’s past], I leave you at that emotional scene. And I then go, and I’m looking at a monitor, watching you like…
N.P.H.: Oh.
B.R: Yeah, I didn’t tell you, sorry [smiles] — but I’m watching you, after, when there’s nobody watching you: Ivy’s gone and it’s just you, living in the experience of that. And I watched take after take of you ending that emotional journey, or living in that for longer, even more when I left. And I found it amazing to watch you not being watched, you know?
N.P.H.: Oh, thank you!
Bella Ramsey on a ‘Meta’ Moment, and Neil Patrick Harris on the Set of Sunny Dancer
Bella, you made me cry so much at the end too!
Bella Ramsey: Excellent.
It’s that scene where you’re just watching something and you’re kind of crying, but also smiling. It reminded me of Perfect Days in a way: there’s a similar scene of a character driving in the car, and really carrying the sadness, like Ivy does here. But you can also see that she’s grown so much. What did you draw from to bring this to us?
B.R: Listen, that scene was — I think we did three takes of it. It was not difficult for me, because of the experience of Sunny Dancer. The filming of it felt so real; it was the best time of my life. I was actually watching an edit of some of the camcorder behind-the-scenes footage that we’d been getting the whole time. And it was towards the end of the shoot. I’d not been with the young cast for a few days and was just in this house, already a bit anxious about the fact that it was going to be over soon [Neil nods], the experience of it.
Then, I was sitting on this beanbag, and it was really quiet: it was just me and Ollie [Loncraine], the DOP, in the room, and George. The set was empty and I was just watching myself have… The best six weeks, basically. I was watching it to a song that I’d written about; I had sent it to Jordan, and he put it over — he didn’t tell me any of this! I didn’t know what I was going to be watching.
And then, suddenly, we start rolling, and I was already feeling emotional before I even started watching it that day. Then they pressed play, and you know, the roller coaster of emotions was… It was very meta, actually, watching it at the premiere in Berlin: crying while watching my— [laughs] crying watching myself watch something that was making me cry.
Neil Patrick Harris: [laughs] Totally! Were you crying watching it?
B.R: Yeah, but crying watching it because of the experience of it!
N.P.H.: That’s very meta.
It must be beautiful to make a movie where you come out of it like that!
N.P.H.: It’s crazy.
B.R: And very rare, I think.
Neil, hearing you talk about this film made me think of It’s a Sin. Both stories depict communities that will appreciate seeing themselves represented on screen, and you also play the role of a mentor in both, with a younger cast. But your role in Sunny Dancer is less ‘tragic’; I really think this is something we haven’t seen from you before. What was it like for you to shoot this film?
Neil Patrick Harris: I was so appreciative of Russell T. Davies for asking me to be a part of It’s A Sin. But that was a job where this younger cast had really bonded, and they were making multiple hours of this longer miniseries. I really came in a few days before, met them, did my work, and left. I’m so proud of it, and of Callum [Scott Howells], who I got to do my scenes with, but I didn’t feel like I was a real part of the series, because I had just come in and left.
And I said to George before [shooting Sunny Dancer] that I regretted it little bit [back then], not feeling like I was part of the company. It’s the nature of the business: I can’t just hang out with everyone for a month while they’re filming scenes that I’m not in. But he did say, “You should come early for this.” So to to rectify my feeling of singularity in It’s a Sin, I was allowed to feel more part of the group here.
Everyone was so lovely, and welcoming, and inclusive. Between takes, no one went to their motorhomes or trailers; we all rode in cars together. George would take us all to dinner after work… I really felt included. I think, for me as Neil, as a human, I really appreciated that opportunity. And that’s also what Patrick wants in the film: to create a sense of community for these kids.
Thank you both so much for speaking with us!
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Sunny Dancer premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on February 13-22, 2026. The film will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on August 14, 2026.