Maika Monroe is going from “scream queen” to big-budget screen.

The 23-year-old actress made her film debut in 2012 alongside Zac Efron in “At Any Price,” and has since made a name for herself in indie horror flicks “The Guest” and “It Follows.” Now, she’s starring in her first summer blockbuster: “Independence Day: Resurgence.” The movie, reportedly made with a $200 million budget, marks her biggest role yet. Monroe plays a now-grown-up Patricia Whitmore, the first daughter of the President of the U.S. in the original 1996 film.

We caught up with Monroe before “Resurgence’s” Friday release to talk about working on a studio movie, acting alongside Liam Hemsworth, and what she’s working on next. With six movies already in post-production, expect to see a lot more of this up-and-comer.

WWD: What drew you to this role?
Maika Monroe: Well I was a huge fan of the original one. My dad showed it to me when I was about 10 years old. I always loved what Roland [Emmerich, the director] did with it and [how he] brought comedy to this kind of insane situation. Just the characters I feel are so iconic, with Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum, so when I heard that they were making another one, I was super excited and then on top of that, my character works in the White House and also is a fighter pilot, which is very, very cool.

WWD: What was filming like? I imagine “Independence Day” was much larger in scale.
M.M.: Oh yeah, just the tiniest bit (laughs). I mean it’s a whole different pace to the very “YouTube-y,” indie world. This is a whole different beast, but I mean it’s incredible. You walk onto these sets, with these massive ships, but there’s something really fun about it because it’s almost like a play, because you’ve got green screen around you — a lot is left to the imagination.

WWD: Is it harder to act with a green screen playing such a huge part in filming?
M.M.: I mean, yes it is. It was definitely intimidating at first, but then you get used to it and actually come to like it a little bit. But it’s not easy.

WWD: Do you find yourself preferring the indie world or do you like these large-scale movie productions?
M.M.: I don’t know. Yeah I think it all depends on the project. There’s really awesome indie movies out there and there’s really fun bigger studio films, and I think if you can kind of find a balance and find projects that you really love in either world…I really do enjoy both.

WWD: Can you talk a little bit about what it was like working with Roland Emmerich and also alongside Liam Hemsworth? Did you know them before the film?
M.M.: I met all of them for the first time on the film. Roland is really amazing. He really knows how to make big movies and yet he also cares about the characters, which is definitely refreshing for a film this scale. He’s also just a blast. And also Liam, too — he has just such a good energy and positivity and is just so down to earth and cool. I feel very lucky to have worked with both of them.

WWD: What are you working on now? What’s next?
M.M.: I leave to go to Serbia in the beginning of July to shoot a film called “Tau” that I am super excited about. It’ll definitely be interesting, Serbia I mean. I’ve been to Europe, but I haven’t been to Eastern Europe.

WWD: Seems like a different ballgame.
M.M.: Yeah it’s totally different, a new adventure.

Fox is scheduling double-feature showings of the original “Independence Day” and its sequel “Independence Day: Resurgence” on June 23 as a Thursday night preview showing.

Fans can watch the 1996 film at 5 p.m., followed by the new movie at 8 p.m. with a single ticket, which will be counted in the June 24 opening day grosses. Fox is launching sales through Fandango and MovieTickets.com.

Vivica A. Fox, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Bill Pullman and Brent Spiner reprise their roles from the original film. Liam Hemsworth, Jessie Usher, Maika Monroe, Sela Ward and Charlotte Gainsbourg join the sequel.

Roland Emmerich directed both movies. Dean Devlin, who produced the original film, is producing with Emmerich and Harald Kloser. The screenplay was written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin, and James Vanderbilt, James A.Woods & Nicolas Wright.

The plot revolves around various countries collaborating on an immense defense program to protect the planet, which comes under attack by an advanced and unprecedented alien force.

The original pic was a massive hit, hauling more than $800 million at the worldwide box office.

Based on the decidedly dark movies that have catapulted Maika Monroe to indie fame over the past few years — cult horror film It Follows and campy thriller The Guest, both of which see her confronting the possibility of an extremely violent death — I’d expected her to be a very grim person, a sort of self-serious Rooney Mara type dressed in all black, avoiding eye contact, and staring wistfully at the door. Instead, Monroe is almost absurdly warm and gregarious, bounding energetically into the L.A. office building where we’re set to meet, grinning and wearing a bright pink, dragon-emblazoned letterman jacket from Tokyo that she’s thrilled to expound upon at length. (In short: We agree that owning several insane jackets is important, as they both complement and obscure a boring outfit; she promises to hook me up with a similar jacket when she goes to Tokyo for press.)

It’s almost too much; for at least 15 minutes, I assume Monroe is being held at invisible gunpoint by a cadre of publicists. But as we keep talking, I realize Monroe, 22, is genuinely this kind, this goofy, and this unaffected by the Hollywood machine. This is in no small part because of the rare, surreal situation she’s found herself in, a situation she laughs about and marvels at throughout our conversation: Over the course of approximately four years, Monroe has gone from living a low-key life in the Dominican Republic as an unknown, would-be professional kiteboarder to an in-demand Hollywood actress with so many projects on her docket that I have to help her remember them all. The biggest one, of course, is Independence Day: Resurgence, out this July. The ravenously anticipated sequel marks Monroe’s first mainstream, blockbuster movie — though, naturally, the threat of a graphically violent death still looms large.

Read More: MTV.com

One of the newbies in the Independence Day: Resurgence cast is Maika Monroe, a professional kitesurfer turned actress, who plays Patricia, the daughter of President Whitmore (Bill Pullman). Ask Monroe, best known for playing Jay Height in the supernatural cult favorite horror film, It Follows, and she’ll tell you that she can’t wait for audiences to see this summer’s blockbuster. Read on for more.

What are audiences going to be most stunned by in the film?

How massive it is. Roland [Emmerich] blew everyone away when the first film came out in the ‘90s with the technology he had then. Everything he is able to use now is crazier and bigger.

What did you love about your character?

She is kick-ass. She’s a secret service agent who not only works in the White House with President Lanford, but she’s also a fighter pilot. She’s smart, too. I think that’s always something that I really like in female characters. I grew up kitesurfing so the physical aspect of roles is always really fun for me, too.

Can you give us a behind-the scenes take on what shooting was like?

We had so much fun because everyone was so welcoming and Jeff [Goldblum] was especially so pleasant on set all the time. We would be shooting for 18 hours and we got tired. You get exhausted and you’re waiting around a lot, but Jeff was always having us play games and doing fun stuff and keeping everyone happy, which is really nice to have on set instead of hearing people complain.

What sorts of games?

We played a movie game. We did a lot of that where Jeff would name a movie and we’d name the actors and directors. He would have us singing songs and harmonizing, too. All of this makes everything much more pleasant.

So what’s next for you?

I’m about to go to Serbia to start shooting a science fiction thriller called Tau that’s directed by Federico D’Alessandro that I’m super excited about. Right after Independence Day, I shot this film The Tribe of Palos Verdes with Jennifer Garner. It’s a really cool story that should be coming out at the end of the year. I’m excited about it, too. It’s a way different pace from Independence Day!

How do you pick your projects?

For me, it’s first about the characters. I look for a character who is intriguing and challenging and different from what I’ve done before. I like challenges. I think that’s important. Next, I look at who is involved with the project, including the directors and other actors. If I think they’re doing cool work, I want to be part of it. That’s the part that’s so exciting for me.

There’s no shortage of earth-ending spectacle on director Roland Emmerich‘s resume, but his beloved 1996 alien invasion blockbuster Independence Day that first put him on the map as one of cinema’s foremost auteurs of the apocalypse. Now, the director is looking to up the ante with Independence Day: Resurgence. The sequel that reunites most of the original cast, picking up 20 years after the events of the first film when the alien threat returns to earth in full force, launching a new fight for humanity’s survival.

20th Century Fox recently debuted some new footage from the movie at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and Collider’s own Steve Weintraub was on hand and able to sit down for a chat with Resurgence stars Maika Monroe and Jessie Usher. They talked about how 20 years worth of developments in filmmaking technology allows the film to have “larger than life” stakes, meeting Jeff Goldblum for the first time, working opposite their onscreen parents and their most memorable days on set. Check out the time index below for a rundown of what they discussed, and watch the full interview above. And if you’re looking for more Independence Day goodness, be sure to check out Steve’s fun interview with Jeff Goldblum and Brett Spiner here.