Hailee Steinfeld co-stars with Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley in Begin Again, which offered the young actress an opportunity to learn from two pros. “The beauty of what I get to do working with such incredibly talented people is just being in their presence, I’m able to pick up on so much,” Steinfeld told uInterview exclusively. Indeed, her first meeting with Knightley was on set while filming. “It was the first time I ever did anything organic like that,” she said.

Not only did Steinfeld gain some advice for her acting career, she also acquired some new musical skills. In one pivotal scene, Steinfeld’s character Violet has to riff on the guitar. “The fact that [Violet] could play the guitar was really cool, and learning how to play was awesome,“ she told uInterview.

Begin Again is currently playing in theaters.

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Q: You worked with Mark Ruffalo on the film. What do you remember most about him? - Uinterview

I remember learning a tremendous amount from every single day. Just from having conversations with him and working with him alone, everything, there’s so much to take in. He’s so incredibly talented and he has such a presence, and he’s such a great guy. I really enjoyed working with him.

Q: You got to do some bonding with Keira Knightley. Did she give you any career advice? - Uinterview

She did. She shared a lot of advice with me. Again, I had so much to learn from her and the beauty of what I get to do working with such incredibly talented people is just being in their presence, I’m able to pick up on so much. Sometimes at the end of the day, it’s not what they, it’s what they do that really stands out to me. And Keira was just all around so amazing, and I’m such a fan of her’s and to be able to work with her was truly special.

Q: What was the most memorable moment for you to film? - Uinterview

There were many, I think within certain scenes there were memorable moment for me. Something exciting was I met Keira for the first time on camera, which was not necessarily planned, but that was exciting. It was the first time I ever did anything organic like that, so that was pretty cool.

Q: You got show off some guitar skills in the movie. Did you have to learn to play for the film? - Uinterview

I did—I wish I could say that “no I didn’t, that was all me, I was improvising.” But I did have to learn how to play the guitar. But that was also something really exciting because that was something that stood out to me from the beginning when I read the script. This character was overall so great and has so many cool characteristics that I really love, but the fact that she could play the guitar was really cool, and learning how to play was awesome.