00:00 I was very green, I didn't know what a mark was,
00:02 I didn't know where you're supposed to stand.
00:04 I was really learning very quickly.
00:07 Hi Harper's Bazaar, I am Nina Dobrev
00:10 and I'm going to break down how I brought
00:12 some of my characters to life.
00:14 (upbeat music)
00:16 I'm Mia Jones.
00:20 I was Adlai Kirst.
00:23 - Yeah, yeah, you had a baby.
00:24 - For those of you who do not know who Mia Jones is,
00:28 Mia Jones is a character that I played
00:30 on a show called Degrassi, The Next Generation.
00:32 One of my first jobs ever,
00:34 and you can kind of tell when you watch.
00:36 Mia was a teen mom, she had a young daughter
00:40 and she transferred to Degrassi.
00:41 When I left the show to film Vampire Diaries years later,
00:44 they had to figure out a way to write me off.
00:46 They had Mia become a model and fly off somewhere in Europe
00:49 and go be a high fashion model.
00:52 I have to move to Paris.
00:58 Paris, France?
00:59 So I remember the wardrobe at the time,
01:01 I didn't have the confidence, let's just say,
01:03 because it was my first job to really influence
01:05 too much of the wardrobe.
01:06 I was reliant on the wardrobe stylist at the time
01:10 on the show and so she was very sensible
01:13 'cause she was a mom but she was also a young teenager
01:15 who wanted to look good at school.
01:17 And then as the character evolved,
01:19 it was a little bit more higher fashion,
01:21 a little bit more chic.
01:22 I'll never forget stepping in the hair and makeup chair
01:25 for the first time.
01:26 I was 14 so I remember not really ever really knowing
01:29 what to do with my hair.
01:30 It was just kind of perpetually frizzy and big and wild.
01:33 And so when I sat in the chair,
01:35 the hair stylist took my texture and sort of bumped it up.
01:38 She ended up curling every single hair
01:41 with a really thin iron.
01:42 So it was very curly and very vivacious.
01:45 As she got into more high fashion,
01:47 she sort of like, it got more relaxed
01:49 and more effortless throughout the seasons.
01:51 Playing a teen mom was very interesting.
01:54 I obviously at the time did not have any children
01:57 and still do not have any children.
01:59 So it took a lot of imagination and talking to people.
02:02 But my character was going through a lot.
02:05 It's challenging for anyone to have a young child,
02:09 let alone for someone who themselves is still a child
02:12 to become a mother.
02:13 And so it was a welcome challenge
02:16 and exciting thing to get to play,
02:18 especially for one of my first roles
02:20 to sort of take something on that was so big.
02:21 I was very green.
02:23 I didn't know what a mark was.
02:24 I didn't know where you're supposed to stand.
02:26 I was really learning very quickly
02:29 and was probably very overwhelmed as well.
02:33 But it was also a cast of other kids.
02:36 Like we were all roughly around the same age.
02:38 And so it was really cool to have that built-in community
02:40 and build those friendships that I still have to this day.
02:43 So the show was really edgy for its time.
02:46 This is, remember, 20 years before "Euphoria" came out.
02:49 So we've been surpassed now.
02:51 But at the time, it was one of the first shows
02:54 that swore on national television.
02:56 It was one of the first shows that showed drug use
02:59 and teen pregnancy.
03:01 And so it was very impactful and I think helpful
03:04 for kids to be able to see their own issues
03:07 played out on television, to know that they're not alone.
03:10 And I think it had a really strong impact.
03:12 [dramatic music]
03:14 - You must be Elena.
03:15 - The next character I'm going to highlight
03:22 is Elena Gilbert on "The Vampire Diaries."
03:24 She was a high school student
03:25 who had recently lost her parents.
03:27 So it was a bit of a heavier tone starting out
03:30 in terms of what she was personally going through.
03:33 And throughout the first episode,
03:35 she meets two boys/men that she later falls in love with,
03:40 and they happen to be vampires.
03:42 She gets entangled in this dramatic love triangle
03:46 and eventually gets entangled into a sci-fi universe.
03:52 All right, universe.
03:53 Enough screwing around.
03:56 We're ready for the good stuff.
03:57 At this point in my career now, I've been on a show,
04:01 the lead of this new show.
04:02 I definitely had a little bit more say and sway
04:05 in my wardrobe and I collaborated
04:07 with the wardrobe stylist on the show
04:09 and created Elena's look.
04:11 At the time, Elena felt very innocent, sort of sheltered,
04:16 and I wanted her wardrobe to reflect that.
04:19 So Elena was a little bit more buttoned up in that way,
04:21 and then eventually when Catherine was introduced,
04:23 Catherine was much edgier.
04:26 She's been around a lot longer.
04:27 She's a century-old vampire,
04:29 so she's lived through a lot of fashion
04:31 and a lot of different eras,
04:32 and she's a lot more confident.
04:34 Through these two characters,
04:35 I definitely found different parts of myself,
04:38 and Catherine gave me more confidence
04:40 and made me grow up in a way.
04:43 - What's with the hair?
04:45 - I'm impersonating my doll as dishwater doppelganger, Elena.
04:49 She has the worst taste.
04:50 Elena and Catherine were really incredible roles,
04:53 and I'm so happy that I got to play them
04:55 because the show went on for eight years, eight seasons,
04:59 and over those years, Elena was a human
05:03 who fell in love with two men.
05:04 Then she lost her brother,
05:06 lost a lot of her family and friends,
05:08 and so as an actor, there's a lot to pull from
05:11 and work from there, and it really kept it interesting
05:13 and kept it challenging.
05:14 I was very busy, let's just put it that way.
05:17 The show was huge.
05:18 It was extremely beloved.
05:20 The fans were, and still are, so incredibly loyal.
05:25 You know, I'd had a lot of success on Degrassi,
05:28 or so I thought, but I don't think I really knew
05:31 what success was until The Vampire Diaries.
05:35 I wasn't used to that.
05:36 It was actually slightly overwhelming,
05:39 but it was incredible, and it's changed my life.
05:41 It's given me so many opportunities
05:43 that I absolutely would not have had
05:44 if it wasn't for the show,
05:45 and so I'm extremely grateful to it,
05:47 and I know that we all are.
05:48 - So you haven't even met this dude yet?
05:51 - Well, not in person, but--
05:53 - Oh, I take it all back.
05:54 No, I take everything back.
05:55 You should write about this.
05:56 - The next character I'm gonna talk about
05:58 is Natalie from Love Hard.
06:01 Natalie is a journalist, an aspiring writer
06:06 who wants to be taken more seriously.
06:09 Her next big story that she's pitching is a love story.
06:13 Natalie meets a guy on a dating app.
06:15 She decides to surprise him and fly across the country
06:18 from LA to upstate New York to meet him over Christmas.
06:22 Everything appears to be going according to plan
06:25 until she arrives and finds out that she has been catfished.
06:28 - Surprise!
06:29 - Natalie?
06:31 What are you doing here?
06:35 - The wardrobe on this movie was interesting
06:38 because my character at the beginning,
06:40 obviously she lives in LA,
06:41 so she has more of a city style.
06:45 But once she gets to New York, her bags get lost.
06:49 She has nothing.
06:50 So essentially she's wearing the guy's clothing
06:53 and she goes to his family store,
06:55 which is a really tiny town.
06:58 And it's kind of like flannel shirts
07:01 and baggier pants and hiking boots, beanies.
07:04 It's winter now.
07:05 It's not warm like it is in LA.
07:07 And so it's a very different style experience for that one.
07:10 They were trying to put me in more fitted clothing
07:15 despite the fact that my bags got lost.
07:16 And I really put my foot down.
07:18 I was like, "No, it should be all mountain gear.
07:20 "It's gotta be real."
07:21 I didn't wanna look super polished and pretty.
07:25 I wanted it to be real.
07:26 So the movie title is "Love Hard,"
07:28 but it's a combination
07:30 of the two characters' favorite movies,
07:32 which are "Die Hard" and "Love Actually."
07:34 "Love Actually," worst Christmas movie ever.
07:39 And I've been pitching that for the sequel,
07:40 if we were to do one, should be "Die Actually"
07:43 or "Love Hard 2," "Love Harder."
07:45 One of my favorite scenes to shoot
07:47 was probably our iteration of "Baby, It's Cold Outside,"
07:50 which is a very controversial song.
07:52 So in our film, we altered the lyrics and it was nighttime.
07:56 I think it was like four in the morning.
07:57 We were tired and cold,
07:59 but it ended up being such a beautiful scene and funny.
08:02 It's just like a fresh take
08:04 of this very controversial, older, classic Christmas song.
08:08 [crowd laughing]
08:11 - I wanna do that.
08:14 - In terms of the impact, I mean,
08:16 I know a lot of people love the movie.
08:17 It did really well.
08:18 It was my first time having a movie
08:20 be number one worldwide on Netflix,
08:22 which was really fun and exciting.
08:23 My parents just emailed that they're coming to our wedding.
08:26 - Oh, I get to meet your parents finally.
08:28 Are you psyched?
08:29 You're not psyched.
08:30 Are you psyched at all?
08:30 Is there any psyched happening?
08:32 - The next character I'd like to talk about is Parker.
08:34 Parker is a character that I'm playing
08:37 in a movie called "The Outlaws,"
08:38 which is coming out on Netflix on July 7th.
08:41 In this film, I play a yoga instructor
08:44 who has a lot of tattoos everywhere,
08:47 and she's marrying Owen, who's played by Adam Devine,
08:50 and she's unaware that her parents,
08:52 played by Ellen Barkin and Pierce Brosnan,
08:56 happen to also be outlaws.
08:57 So for this role, I wanted, you know,
08:59 she's a yoga instructor,
09:00 so I wanted her to be a little bit more
09:02 free-spirited and adventurous,
09:06 and I don't have any tattoos.
09:08 I have a love-hate relationship with them
09:10 where I really admire them.
09:11 I think they're so cool, but I'm so scared of needles.
09:13 And so we found a perfect balance
09:15 where we had fake tattoos all over my body.
09:17 They presented me with, like,
09:19 they had all these books of all these different visuals
09:21 and things that we could do,
09:22 and the director and I sat down
09:24 and we handpicked which ones, where they would be.
09:26 We basically did, like, one sleeve
09:28 with a couple other ones and a few neck tattoos
09:29 and some back tattoos.
09:30 But it was really fun to get to test out
09:32 and be somebody completely different than who I am now,
09:35 and I am strongly considering getting my first tattoo.
09:39 I got to work with a lot of really amazing people
09:41 on this film.
09:42 We had the best cast ever,
09:44 and it was all comedians, I feel like,
09:46 between Ellen Barkin, Pierce Brosnan,
09:49 Adam Devine, Michael Rooker,
09:51 and the list goes on.
09:52 There's so many other incredible,
09:54 talented, hilarious people.
09:55 We were just, like, hysterically laughing
09:57 both on camera and off camera.
09:59 Depending on the movie, sometimes you spend lunch
10:03 in your trailer, or if you're done shooting a scene,
10:06 you might go back to your trailer.
10:07 But I feel like on this one,
10:08 we all just stayed on the set
10:10 and stayed in our little chairs
10:12 'cause we were just constantly joking
10:14 and having the best time.
10:16 Everyone in this film, in a way, we're all misfits,
10:19 but we're all perfect exactly as we are,
10:21 and you find your kind of misfits.
10:24 I don't know, I think it's really exciting
10:26 and great to show these stories
10:28 and give hope for the people watching
10:29 that they'll find their misfit too,
10:31 and it'll all work out.
10:32 Thanks so much, Harper's Bazaar.
10:34 I had so much fun walking down memory lane with you.
10:37 (upbeat music)
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