Alicia Silverstone recognizes that audiences may imagine themselves the recipients of an acclaimed actress’s reintroduction, but for her, this eclectic slate is just the natural progression of a career defined by a staunch curiosity. “Same deal,” she says matter-of-factly. “They’re just seeing more.” This past year marks a heady time for an actress once immortalized as the inimitable Cher Horowitz in Clueless—and subsequently underestimated by an industry that didn’t quite know what to do with a woman resisting the traditional playbook. Now, at 48 years old, Silverstone is not only acting; she is producing, curating, and fully occupying her place in the spotlight. Safe to say, this is Silverstone’s year of maximalism: no genre off-limits, no mood too strange or sentimental. Steadily building a body of work that resists easy categorization, she has dovetailed into offbeat indies, prestige TV, stage roles on and off Broadway, and more recently, a growing presence behind the camera.

This year alone, Silverstone has played a dangerously seductive lead in Pretty Thing, a heart-on-its-sleeve heroine in a holiday romcom, and joined the cast of Bugonia to realize on screen one of Yorgos Lanthimos’s trademark off-kilter worlds. “I would do absolutely anything with him,” she says about the Greek director, known for his surreal, darkly comic vision. “I love him. He is a brilliant genius.” Bugonia, the sci-fi dark comedy in which Silverstone co-stars alongside Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons (“I have been a fan of both of them for a long time”), tells the story of two conspiracy theorists who abduct the CEO of a powerful corporation, convinced she’s an alien plotting Earth’s destruction. “We were all there, excited to be working on such an inspired project with a very special filmmaker,” Silverstone says of the on-set dynamic, “so the energy was creative and exciting—a feeling of being part of an artistic process in the best way.”

With Irish Blood, a psychological family mystery she both stars in and produces, Silverstone is in full command of her creative faculties. “I use all of my experience in my work, for almost every moment. Being involved as a producer meant having the opportunity to help make a lot of decisions,” she says. “It was rewarding, and I learned a lot.” This versatility, the sense of someone constantly resisting the confines of typecasting, has long been a Silverstone signature. Her early career is often reduced to the ’90s flashpoint of Clueless, but even then, she was producing films by age 18. “I think I was lucky enough to play some really interesting and nuanced characters when I was younger,” she recalls, “but we’re all growing and changing all the time.” In short, it’s not a reinvention, but an evolution that Silverstone wields to define her current wave of work. “I get to bring different life experiences and a different perspective to the roles I am playing now, but my approach hasn’t changed drastically.”

Off set, she’s grounded. Time with her son, plant-based meals, long walks, and sleep are just several of her non-negotiables choosing to refrain from the green juice, guasha-shaped templates that wellness brands love to impose. And yet, for all the genre- hopping and behind-the-scenes work, Silverstone exudes a sense of rare clarity about what she wants to prove (emphasis on want, not need), distinct to a person who has braved Hollywood’s endurance test only to make it out the other end. “As an actor, I love to stretch,” she tells V. And she curates this expansive second act, Silverstone is making sure to take up all the space she requires.

This story appears in the pages of V156: now available for purchase!

Photography Dana Boulos (A Creative Partner)

Fashion Valeria Semushina

Editor/Casting Kev Ponce

Interview Penny Spiliotopoulos

Makeup Fiona Stiles (A-frame Agency) using CHANEL

Hair John D (Forward Artists)

Manicure Olivia de Montagnac (The Wall Group) using Olive and June

Production Long Play Creative

Light Direction Dan Patrick

Digital Technician Ryan Geary

Retouching Maria Smirnova

Location The Kingsley House

Fashion Assistants Lili Mushkudiani, Oksi Belkasemi

Makeup Assistant Yana Kavalerchikyana

Production Assistants Ian Roper, Geoffrey Leslie