00:00What went through your mind the first time you read the script?
00:04Oh, gosh. Well, I would say,
00:08as a middle-aged actress in Hollywood,
00:10I felt there was a lot to connect to in Hope Goldman,
00:15who is a middle-aged esthetician
00:18trying to stay relevant in her industry
00:21that is obsessed with youth and beauty
00:24and what's new and fresh.
00:26And so I think that was probably the first thing that went through my mind.
00:30I also loved just the whole milieu of Los Angeles
00:35and this world of beauty
00:37and how cutthroat it did ultimately seem to be.
00:41And, you know, I mean, I live there,
00:43like, I'm constantly being bombarded with, like,
00:45you got to go to this person or you got to try this new thing
00:48or you got to do this.
00:49And so I just, I related to a lot of those things.
00:54She reminded me of an esthetician that I had back in the day
00:58on Third Street in West Hollywood,
01:01who's very old school and who, you know,
01:04sold product out of the front of her business.
01:08And then I also felt there was a great existential crisis in this movie
01:14of somebody trying to hold on to the way they do business,
01:20the way they work,
01:21at a time when technology is, like, steamrolling over them.
01:26You know, they just are, they don't even understand.
01:28I mean, at the beginning of this movie,
01:30this character thinks she's going to sell products out of her storefront
01:35at a moment when all of marketing and all of sales were moving online.
01:40And you had to be online.
01:42You know, the young character tells her in the movie,
01:45like, you are the product.
01:47Like, you have to, the product represents you,
01:50you represent the product, like, you are it,
01:52like, get yourself out there.
01:53And the pressure to perform on that level,
01:57I don't, literally did not exist until that moment in time,
02:02and has only become greater as time has progressed.
02:07And so all of that felt very relatable to me,
02:11and all of that gave me a reason to say yes to the film.
02:15Would you describe Hope and Jordan relationship?
02:19And living in Los Angeles, how many Jordans are out there?
02:25There are a lot of Jordans out there.
02:27So Jordan is sort of a, I mean, at the end of the day,
02:31he might sort of be a bit of a lothario.
02:34He's definitely a bit of a con man.
02:36I do find that there are so many, you meet a lot of people in LA,
02:40especially young people who show up,
02:42and their jobs are just to just sort of be helpful, you know?
02:48So like, I know a lot of people that are like,
02:50well, I'll just drive around this really wealthy person,
02:54because they might introduce me to the person that introduces me
02:57to the thing that is my life, you know?
02:59And so, and I also, I know, I don't want to speak for Lewis
03:03or how he developed his character,
03:06but we did together look at some of these online personalities
03:11that like make their business just giving like, you know,
03:14like working out and looking hot and being like,
03:16here's what you got to do, and you got to level up your life,
03:19and you got to, you know, and just like, like get in the club,
03:23you know, it was sort of like inspired by like early,
03:26you know, Joe Rogan almost, you know?
03:28And I do feel like that is,
03:32everybody in this is primed to be taken advantage of
03:36because of their vulnerabilities, including Hope and including him.
03:39And he's somebody who understands how to prey upon people,
03:43and she's not too naive to realize she's being preyed upon.
03:46And I think it creates a really interesting dynamic
03:48between the two of them.
03:51They both need something from each other,
03:54but she doesn't understand what he's taking from her
03:58in payment, if you will.
04:01And what have you learned from Hope, from your character?
04:06I think by the end of this film, one of the things I'm rooting for
04:09is that this is a woman who thinks she's controlling a situation,
04:12and she clearly loses all control of the situation.
04:17But then by the end,
04:19realizes that there's a fine line between fame and infamy,
04:23and she doesn't care because she,
04:25her goal was to get her name out there,
04:28to sell herself, to be known, to be famous.
04:32And at the end, she's infamous,
04:34and that is exactly what she wanted.
04:36So for me, I'm rooting for her at the end
04:38because she's turned what has happened to her,
04:41which is horrible,
04:44into something positive for her.
04:46And that is the kind of bitch I can root for.
04:50You are also an executive producer in the film.
04:53As a producer,
04:55how important and rewarding is it for you
04:58to be able to tell the stories you want to tell?
05:02Well, I think it's something that I take pride in.
05:05And one of the things I was able to do
05:07was really help bring in a great cast.
05:09You know, I've worked with Luis and Ella,
05:13and I've worked with Nathan and Fillion,
05:15and, you know, being able to bring in all of that cast
05:19was so fun for me.
05:21And then really to look at the edit of the film
05:24and talk about, with Austin, who's a first-time filmmaker,
05:27I think, you know, that was a real honor
05:29to just sort of be by his side
05:31as he figured out how he was going to tell the story.
05:33He did an amazing job,
05:35and I'm so proud of what he created.
05:38And I really think that from script to screen,
05:42the movie, it really...
05:45The promise in the script is fulfilled on screen.
05:48That doesn't always happen, but Austin was able to do it.
05:50And that's really what it's about for me,
05:53just feeling like I'm there being as a support system.
05:56You know, I've been doing this a really long time,
05:58so to support somebody
06:00who's making their first-time feature narrative directorial debut,
06:05I just wanted to be a great resource to him.
06:09Thank you so much. Great film.
06:10Thank you, Elizabeth.
06:14Bye.
06:14Adios.
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