A recent screening of Michelle Trachtenberg’s final project featured an emotional tribute to the actress following her death at age 39.
“I had the pleasure to work with Michelle on Spyral,” producer Jennifer Hutchins said on Wednesday, March 12, per People. “I never thought when I would start this journey that this film would become her last film.”
Hutchins added, “She voiced over Michelle Cody White, whose life story [is what] the movie Spyral is about. Being in the room with her, she became Michelle Cody White. We all had to take breaks, we all had to wipe away the tears, and you can hear her breath, you can hear the shakes as she’s reading very intimate letters, diaries and journals from Michelle Cody White.”
Before the movie was shown, Hutchins asked to hold a “45-second silence for Michelle.”
Inside Michelle Trachtenberg’s Final Performance Before Her Death at 39
In the documentary Spyral, Trachtenberg voiced White, a woman who dealt with undiagnosed bipolar disorder while battling addiction. The Gossip Girl alum got involved in the project in 2021, four years before her death.
“It didn’t take much thought to land on the idea of, ‘The perfect Michelle Cody White just walked into the door,’” Hutchins exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this month. “Michelle had told me that she was really moved by this project and wanted to support mental health awareness. It was just when things are meant to be. It was just, like, the doors just opened right up for it.”
According to Hutchins, Trachtenberg completely embodied the subject of the film.
“The amount of energy she put into turning into Michelle Cody White, I mean, it was almost eerie how much she became her,” Hutchins recalled to Us. “I don’t think I’ve ever sat in a room with that amazing [level] of acting where we were all just teary-eyed. She was taking breaks because it had taken her so much. The stuff she was reading was extremely personal and emotional and raw, and she really took that in.”
Stars React to Michelle Trachtenberg’s Death at Age 39
News broke on February 26 that Trachtenberg was found dead in her New York City apartment. Her cause of death was listed as “undetermined” as the actress’ family objected to an autopsy. (Trachtenberg is survived by her parents, her sister and her boyfriend, Jay Cohen.)
“I’ve lived on this journey with this for so long and we were in a recording studio [together]. She’s one of those people that when you’re around her, it feels like an old friend,” Hutchins told Us of Trachtenberg’s passing. “She’s just so sweet and warm and gentle and just such a professional.”
