Samuel L. Jackson, US actor and film producer, speaking of what he'd take to school in a new semester when he was a kid. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"You gotta bring it first day, and my mom would always get me something so rad and so cool," she says. "I would always be coordinated with my sister, who's two years younger than me."

Salma Hayek's favorite back-to-school activity growing up in Mexico was wrapping her books and adorning her homemade covers.

"They don't do it anymore," she says. "Finding the paper to wrap it and the decorations. Now it's all in the computer. Nobody wraps their books anymore. I remember how exciting it was, to do it all neatly. It was a lovely ritual."

Her castmate, Samuel L. Jackson, in the film The Hitman's Bodyguard, says: "I remember hunting down the perfect notebook that didn't fall apart after two weeks."

Co-star Ryan Reynolds had no specific back-to-school rituals growing up, but his oldest daughter is heading to preschool.

"I'm sure I'm the one who needs help, not her," he says. "She'll be fine."

Max Greenfield, who appears in the film The Glass Castle, says backpacks stand out for him and his daughter, one of his two kids.

"She had a good backpack this year. She had a Vans backpack, which was pretty cool," he says. "This year we're growing out of the Hello Kitty backpack and now you have a Vans backpack. I think later on it's going to get terrifying when she's like, I'm wearing this to school, and you're like, no you're not."

Kate Beckinsale, who's in the new film, The Only Living Boy in New York, loved the idea of marking time as the school years passed.

"You could completely reinvent yourself every year, if you wanted to, defined by your backpack and your pencil case. I still like that, the smell of sharpening pencils and all new erasers," she says.

Fellow cast member Kiersey Clemons has three little sisters.

"Taking them school shopping for the supplies and the backpacks and everything, that is my favorite thing," she says with a smile. "I love the fresh pencils and pens and binders. I love that. I love organization."

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