00:00When she's around Conrad, I think she tends to like freeze up a little bit and when she's
00:04around Jeremiah it's more of this playful energy where they have this comfortability
00:09where they can touch each other a lot because that's what their friendship is and that feels
00:13like Jeremiah's love language. But with Conrad there's a lot of like eye contact and she is
00:17pretty physically expressive. Hi, I'm Lola Tung and this is how I became Belly Conklin
00:22in the summer I turned pretty. The audition process for Belly was in, I started auditioning in February
00:34of 2021. I was away in Pittsburgh at college, just did a self-tape with my roommates in our apartment
00:42and sent it in and then from there I did a bunch of chemistry reads on Zoom. Everything was on Zoom,
00:49it was 2021, very early 2021. The two scenes I did for the audition, one was the first scene with
00:54Taylor, with Belly and Taylor, where they're like in Belly's room talking about how Belly's leaving
00:59for the summer and what her plans are. And then the second scene that I did was the scene on the beach
01:07with Conrad in the first episode where I run away and I say, to see about a whale.
01:12Wait, where are you going? To see about a whale.
01:15And I thought that line was very funny and very cute. When I found out it was, it was super surreal.
01:21You kind of just go, is this a prank call right now? You know, they were obviously like,
01:26don't tell anyone. And I was very much like, I can't even tell my grandma. And my sweet grandma was
01:32like looking for summer jobs for me and sending me clippings from the New York Times of like summer
01:37jobs and stuff. Being like, you need to start looking into this.
01:41When I found out I got it, I immediately read the books and I felt like that was obviously
01:48most important step, step one. We made the playlists. Obviously music was a huge thing,
01:54for me at least. It helps me just, you know, get into a scene. First season, I did a lot of journaling.
02:00I like wrote letters to each of the characters from Belly's perspective at certain points in the story.
02:10We read as many scripts as we had and obviously like, did all my drama school script work of,
02:17you know, annotating and objectives. And I think it was just keeping the spirit of the book alive and
02:23being my own version of Belly, but also not feeling like we were trying to stray from the books
02:31completely and do something completely different because the books are, you know, that's the
02:35original material. And Jenny Han is the creator of the show and the writer of the books. She's
02:40obviously watched us now for three years or whatever and knows the way that we speak and
02:45would, when they were writing, you know, add in the way that we speak to the characters,
02:49which I think is really cool and interesting. When she was younger, I mean, especially you can
02:58see it with like the scenes where we're playing like 11 or 12 with my little braces and stuff.
03:03I think she, and I was like this too, is a little more awkward, but also like very physically
03:10expressive, just a little goofier. And even like when she gets angry, I think like that scene at the
03:17bonfire on the beach, it's bigger and lots of, you feel the, the frustration and the anger and
03:23that comes out a lot, I think in the, in the physicality.
03:35I think it's just like natural, um, instincts a lot of the time, but I do think she is pretty
03:40physically expressive. And I think it actually varies more scene to scene than like year to year.
03:45Cause when she's around Conrad, I think she tends to like freeze up a little bit. And when she's
03:50around Jeremiah, it's more of this playful energy where they have this comfortability where they can
03:55touch each other a lot. Cause that's what their friendship is. And that feels like Jeremiah's
04:00love language and maybe her love language with him. And, but with Conrad, there's a lot of like eye
04:05contact and yeah, I think it's very much scene to scene and depending on what her relationships are
04:10like with each other character in the, in that moment. I think my voice was pretty much the same
04:16most of the time. Again, except when we were like baby playing the really young versions of ourselves,
04:22I tried to pitch it up a little bit.
04:24We actually had a whole conversation about that because I think it can very easily go into like
04:37baby voice. And we were like, okay, they're not, they're not babies. So it could be like a little
04:43higher, but you don't want to get too like goo goo gaga with it. I also had swimming lessons for a season.
04:48And I can swim, I can swim pretty well, but you know, it was like, I had to do some flip turns
04:56and stuff and they're, they're far from perfect, but I had a little swim lesson before I started.
05:00The hardest part and also most rewarding part of like, or, you know, of belly that I feel like I,
05:07I have down now is sort of going back to that physicality. And when she's angry and confrontational,
05:15like her ability to just be like, what's going on? She'll just go up and say, you know, what's going
05:24on? Why, why is this not happening? Why is this happening?
05:27I should have known you'd be like this.
05:29What do you mean?
05:32Forget it.
05:33No, say it. Tell me.
05:34I don't like confrontation personally, and I tend to not take risks like that. And I think it was
05:43cool just getting to do that and play that a couple of times and maybe learn from that as a,
05:51as a person. I think I'm just very emotional. I cry all the time. No shame about it. I'm a cancer
05:59moon, lots of water in the chart. No, but I cry a lot and I take pride in it now. I think it's like
06:05embarrassing or feels embarrassing when you're, you know, in high school and you say the wrong
06:12answer in class and you're like, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. But in reality, like, I'm very
06:16grateful that I'm able to feel emotions at such an intense level, I guess. Cause like, I'll cry if I
06:25see a sunset, you know? I literally finished my run in Hadestown on Broadway on a Sunday
06:35at like 6 PM and then woke up the next morning at like 5 AM, got on a flight and went down to
06:41Wilmington to film. Some days you'll be called at 6 AM and, you know, work till 6 PM or, you know,
06:48if you're in hair and makeup, usually two hours earlier. And then some nights you have night shoots,
06:53so you're called at 5 PM and then you work until 5 AM. So it's like different every single day,
06:59which is kind of fun and exciting. Not fun for your sleep schedule, but fun and exciting for life
07:05experience. It can take like half a day to film a big scene. I have no sense of routine. I feel like
07:11when we're, when we're filming a cup of coffee, trying to hydrate and drink water. I try to see the sun a
07:20little bit if we're doing night shoots, you know, get outside. I haven't found the perfect routine yet,
07:25but looking if anyone has tips, let me know. Belly's in college in season three. So there's a little
07:32time jump. I was playing my own age, which was really, really cool. She's with Jeremiah. She's living
07:39her life and enjoying being away from home, but still having her friends around her and having her
07:46boyfriend around her. Yeah. She's having a good time. On the same sort of note as I, you know,
07:52I cry all the time. I also laugh all the time because they're very close. There was a scene that
07:57we were filming. I'm sure it will be talked about this season. That was not funny for any reason.
08:03I think Chris like said a line and then made a joke about the line. That was like the stupidest joke ever.
08:11We couldn't stop laughing. I think I laughed for 10 minutes straight, just tears streaming down my
08:16face. And I felt so bad because you're like wasting everybody's time, but I can't control what's
08:20happening right now. But I think it was like late at night. So it's probably a little delirious. I mean,
08:25I think the fun thing about TV too, and about film is that you get to do so many different takes and
08:33try different scenes completely in completely different ways. And I love that feeling of like going
08:38into a scene. And, you know, sometimes you read it so much and you like overanalyze it and you're
08:43sort of stuck a little. And then when you get a note from the director, that makes you see it a
08:49completely different way. And it feels so fresh and new. And I mean, season two, the scene on the beach
08:54with Chris who plays Conrad. I was very proud of myself because I like, I mean, Belly's a little drunk
09:00in that moment. And sometimes when I do a scene like that, I feel physicality can be hard for me.
09:05And I feel a little, um, like I'm stopping myself from fully going to a certain place. But because
09:11she had this added layer of like, she's drunk and whatever, it allowed me to sort of loosen up a little
09:17bit and feel and be present. And you know, Chris is so great. And then also that same night we did the
09:33like invisible string sequence from episode two, which is so crazy that that happened in the same
09:40night. But I'm very proud of that scene. And I'm happy that people, uh, enjoyed it and quoted quite often.
09:51I mean, costuming and makeup and all of it is such a huge part of storytelling. And, um,
09:57as the seasons went on there, we did get to have a little bit of, of input. I think when she's younger
10:04and spending a lot of time at the beach and in the beach house, you know, she's in her big t-shirts and
10:09in her comfortable clothing. And she's always in a bathing suit because she loves to swim, which is
10:15awesome. And, um, coming from New York and being far away from the beaches was a whole new experience
10:21for me, but I've, I've, I've grown to, to love, um, the beach. Yeah, it was really interesting to see
10:25the evolution and, uh, to see how like Taylor influences the way that Belly dresses and to see
10:33how Susanna influences the way that Belly dresses. And in that party scene, that was a huge moment because
10:38they're supposed to have sort of retro outfits on. And that was really fun to see those colors on
10:43everybody. And there are some moments I think like, no matter what year, like the Deb Ball was a huge
10:49moment. And, and that's supposed to feel like a stepping up moment for Belly and a moment of
10:55growth. Um, so it is nice that it feels very grand and, um, like very different from what else,
11:04everything else she's been wearing, but I was very excited about season three's wardrobe. Again,
11:09don't know how much I can say, but even in the teaser, I think you see there's a slight
11:16preppiness, a sort of classic simplicity and a more elevated shoe occasionally because she loves
11:21her flip-flops, but there were a couple of things I loved and there was one outfit. It's very simple
11:26that like reminded me of like my mom. I just remember I sent it to her and I was like, this is just
11:32in the best way. My mom is very cool and she's very cool style. Um, so I wanted to keep that little
11:37outfit just like a slightly longer denim short, a little bit of a nineties vibe, which I loved
11:45and like a flowy shirt.
11:50Don't overthink everything. That's just a life lesson, I guess, in general with this whole journey
11:57that, you know, started in 2021. But like when you're filming and you film a scene and you leave
12:04being like, I don't know if we got it and I don't know how I feel, just at a certain point, you have
12:10to just let go and like trust that you did the work. And I think with everything, like even with
12:18with interviews and stuff, I constantly overthink everything I say. And at a certain point,
12:24you just have to trust that you are smart enough and like doing a good job and that the people
12:31around you are supporting you. And I, I've got some really incredible people in my life that I'm very
12:36grateful for. And many of them have come from that show too. So I'm overthinking this answer. When
12:41something needs to be talked about or needs to be said or needs to be communicated, especially in
12:45relationships and in friendships, say it. It's important to communicate with the people you love
12:52and to be honest, it will help you avoid far worse issues in the future. Thanks, Belly.
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