Supergirl's Milly Alcock Eats Her Last Meal

Milly Alcock's concept of a 'last meal' is not static but changes with her life's seasons. Her current choice reflects her present self, a more 'elevated' version shaped by travel and global experiences, contrasting with a simpler, childhood-rooted preference from five years prior. This fluidity highlights her belief that identity is constantly in flux, a 'collage' of experiences.

Alcock states, 'This is the present last meal. This is like what I would have right now in my life. But I think if you ask me what my last meal would be like 5 years from now, it would be different.' She contrasts her current choice with a past preference for tiramisu and tarama toast, noting 'I hadn't traveled until I [got out of] Sydney.'

Alcock views acting as the first domain where her emotional dysregulation is treated as a positive asset. She believes artists need a medium to 'purge' or extract deep feelings, and her roles, particularly Supergirl, allow her to channel complex, contradictory emotions inherent to the human experience.

She states, 'acting was the first time that your emotional dysregulation seemed to be treated as a net positive.' Alcock elaborates, 'any sort of artist has that distance and that like disconnect. You need the medium of whatever art you're doing to to purge or to get something out of something deep within yourself.'

Alcock finds immense satisfaction and happiness in the chaotic, high-pressure environments of film sets and professional kitchens. She describes the progression from initial fear to a 'beautiful place' of community, where a diverse crew becomes a 'dysfunctional family' or 'misfit pirates' working collectively towards a demanding goal. This shared intensity and camaraderie are what she truly values.

She details the set experience: 'Week one is scary, terrifying... Week three, you get into a groove. Week four, you're kind of in this beautiful place where you become this community, become this family... Everyone's from somewhere, everyone has a story.' She connects this to kitchens, stating, 'I love that camaraderie that like kitchens have and sets have.'

Playing Supergirl became a surprisingly meta experience for Alcock, where the character of Kara served as her 'Ruthie' (a character Kara helps in the film). Alcock, who struggles with impostor syndrome, found that embodying Kara, a character with similar self-doubt and emotional damage, gave her the gift of self-trust as an actor and helped her step outside her own insecurities.

Alcock explains, 'I surprisingly had this kind of very meta experience while playing Kara... I was someone who was unsure of myself... and Kara was my Ruthie in this weird very interesting way. Like I needed her to have this trust in myself as an actor cuz I kind of didn't.' She adds, 'me and Kara felt very similar as people.'

Alcock believes that the inherent value and beauty of life stem from its inevitable disappearance. This perspective suggests that impermanence makes experiences more precious, akin to how a rare treat like ice cream is more appreciated when not consumed daily. This acceptance of transience helps mitigate the fear of death.

She states, 'I think the beauty of life is the value of its inevitable disappearance, basically... There's beauty in things being fleeting. Cuz if something was forever, you got to eat ice cream every day, you'd hate it. But if you got to eat it one day, so much better in a weird way.'