Hailee Steinfeld Gave Us an Exclusive First Look at Her New Action Movie, 'Barely Lethal'!

Hailee Steinfeld, one of the coolest kids in Hollywood, just got even cooler because she gave us an exclusive peek at her life on the set of Barely Lethal, and told us all about what's sure to be your soon-to-be-favorite movie. Our October cover girl stars as a teen who just so happens to be an international assassin, but all she wants is to have a normal life. Except, after she fakes her death and enrolls in a regular-kid high school, she realizes that being a run-of-the-mill 16-year-old isn't any easier than being a murderess with a target on her back because, as Hailee explains, "She's basically starting from scratch to create an identity and live in a way she thinks a normal teen would." And as you probably know, navigating normal teen life is no easy feat.

"I play two very different parts—the trained assassin and the high schooler—and it was fun to go back and forth between the characters," she says. "The best part for me was filming the homecoming scene, because I've never been to a homecoming and neither had my character, so it was me exploring high school right along with her."

But it wasn't all formal dresses and school soirees. She's also, if you recall, an assassin. Which means she does some major, um, assassinating. "One of my favorite things about jobs like this is having the physical training beforehand. With Barely Lethal, I trained for about a month prior to shooting, and I didn't stop training until the film was over," she says. "And now that I'm home? I'm just a couch potato! There's no such thing as working out." But don't let her fool you—she trained for Barely Lethal not long after finishing big-time action movie Ender's Game (fighting extraterrestrials in outer space calls for a whole lotta gym time), which means she's been knee-deep in stunts--and covered in bruises—pretty much nonstop for the last year. "I'm in a bunch of choreographed fight scenes," she says. "It was really tough, and there was a new injury every day." But? Majorly worth it, in part because the totally top-notch cast was all in it together.

The film also stars Gabriel Basso of Kings of Summer, Thomas Mann of Project X, and Samuel L. Jackson of, um, everything. "The set was just the best. I walked away with so many friends," she says. "I'm telling you, I had such a blast with everyone. Thomas Mann, Toby Sebastian, Sophie Turner from Game of Thrones—I swear, she's, like, one of my best friends now."

So take a peek at these outtakes straight from the set. And though the flick doesn't come out until next fall, never fear—Hailee has, like, fifteen equally rad movies coming out between now and then.