- 2 days ago
"At a certain point you have to let go and trust that you did the work." From filming her audition tape with her roommates in her apartment to carrying out the third season of the show, Lola truly manifested her acting dreams. Lola breaks down her entire process for 'The Summer I Turned Pretty,' from reading all the books by Jenny Han, finding her "own version" of who Belly is, working alongside Christopher Briney and Gavin Casalegno on set, and so much more.
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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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