00:00As a self-proclaimed Disney buff, how psyched were you to join the zombie franchise?
00:05It was unreal. I mean, I've been a fan of zombies specifically forever.
00:11I actually grew up with Meg Donnelly and the City. We did Off-Broadway together, and I'd always been
00:17a fan of the Zombies project because it was my first sort of like friend that I saw sort of make
00:21it. So it was so special watching the franchise and watching the franchise grow and gain a huge
00:26fan base. But for me, I actually met Milo Manheim at the Prompact premiere, and I walked up and I was
00:32like, hi, love zombies. I know Meg, but I'm just like huge fan of you. And he was like, oh, that's
00:37so sick. You know Meg, then we're automatically friends. And he was like, just wanted to let you
00:41know there's a Zombies 4 possibly happening. I was like, that's so exciting. He was like,
00:45you're going to be in it. And I was like, what? Who are you talking to? When I got the audition,
00:49I was like, there's no way that Milo Manheim predicted my future. And I booked it, and he
00:55texted me and was like, did I like predict your future? And I was like, yes, yes, sir,
00:59you did. So it was just a very special moment for me to see these incredible characters come
01:05to life that I'd grown up watching, grown up just like looking up to. So it's an overall
01:10very exciting, very emotional, very surreal journey for me.
01:13Your character Vera is Victor's closest confidant and is just the coolest. You know, fans are loving
01:19her loyalty and take no BS personality. What drew you to her?
01:24Honestly, that. Like, I think how sassy she was, but like how true to herself she stayed
01:29throughout the movie. All throughout the film, she always kept that wittiness, and she was always
01:35by Victor's side no matter what, you know. But I loved getting to play her, and I think that pushed
01:40me a lot too, and I think it almost made me a better person. But what was the cool part is that
01:44I got to bring out, like, my alter ego sassiness. It was genuinely so, so fun. I've never played
01:49a vampire before, never had to fang out before. So Paul Hohan, our director, like, really spent
01:54time, like, nailing the vampire fang out for Vera, because being a vampire is so important
01:59to her. As she says in the movie, like, if I'm not living the nightlife, I'm not living
02:02the right life.
02:03There's this whole world out there, and I want to see all, any of it.
02:08You can keep the world. If I'm not living the nightlife, I'm not living the right life.
02:12But I love how much we got to spend, like, really honing in on how important it was for
02:17her, that vampire life. And I think we got the fang out down, and now it's just, like,
02:23it's just, like, in my body. Like, I'm, like, I'm, like, 1% vampire now. Just be aware.
02:27Vera's look is so cool with the red streaks and the black outfits. Did you have any input
02:34on your look?
02:35So sort of, honestly. It was definitely a long process. It almost started a little bit more
02:41costumey, and I loved that they really took the time to make her feel a little bit more
02:44human in a way. I know she's still a vampire, but what I loved is they almost took her down
02:49to earth a little bit more, which I think was the most special thing that they did to
02:53her character. We slowly, slowly brought her a little bit more human, like, as the process
03:00went on. Like, the hair became a little less, like, wiggy. Like, it went from a wig to, like,
03:06to, like, actually dyeing my hair into, like, a ponytail look that, like, people can recreate
03:10at home. So, like, that was, ended up being kind of, like, our end goal to, like, make her
03:14somebody that, like, kids at home can kind of look up to and be like, oh, hey, I'm gonna
03:18go and, like, put my hair in a ponytail, too, and do that myself. So that was, I think, one
03:23of the most important things about Vera is making her super relatable, too. Just the other
03:29day, I had a cousin of mine that came over, and she was like, oh, look, I'm dressed up as Vera
03:33today, and literally all she had was, like, her hair up, the two hairs down, and, like,
03:37a t-shirt that had, like, some red accents on it, and I was like, yeah, that's, in essence,
03:42like, a part of Vera. Fans on social media are loving the bond between Vera and Vargas,
03:47and it's very clear that you and MK are good friends in real life. Can you tell me a little
03:51bit about your off-screen friendship? I always say that he's, like, my twin flame. He's, like,
03:57the brother that I never had. MK's just, it's hard to describe him, like, in very few words,
04:03he's the comedy that, like, you never know you needed in your life. Like, if you put on a comedy
04:08special, like, it's still not as funny as MK the person. If I need a laugh, I will call MK,
04:13and he will lift my spirits. He's just such a genuine and genuinely funny person, so I'm just
04:21so grateful to have met him, and this cast has just become such a blessing in my life. I think
04:28I've also been through, like, some hardships with, like, college and stuff, so they were always there
04:33to be, like, it's okay. You're going to get in somewhere, and I did get in somewhere, so thank
04:38God. So they've just been a very supportive family. We've all went from, you know, strangers
04:43to family, which was very awesome. And you were still in school while you were filming this. What
04:49was it like to balance school life with set life and work life? Yeah, so I'm very grateful that they
04:54were so supportive about that. Whenever, like, they went out for hangouts or dinner or whatever
04:59after work, I would usually go home and, like, practice SATs or something, which is so fun.
05:05They would always invite me, and, like, they would never leave me out of things, which I
05:08was so grateful about. Yeah, it was my junior year of high school, so I'd still always had
05:13been wanting to go to college, so school was very important to me. The day after I landed
05:17from New Zealand was the day I took my SATs, which was such a bad idea because I was so jet-lagged,
05:21so I definitely had to take it again. But yeah, the SATs were a lot, for sure. So if
05:27you're gonna take your SATs, don't study in a different country with someone in a different
05:32country. I don't recommend. One of my favorite moments in the film is when Vera and Willa
05:36have that fang off. Top that.
05:40You know, what was it like to film that with Chandler Kinney?
05:42Genuinely, one of the most craziest, surreal. I still pinch myself every time I see that
05:48scene. I've seen the movie a few times now. Chandler is just, like, Chandler is God to me. So, getting to do that scene with her was so special. I mean, having
05:50watched those zombie movies, Willa was one of my favorite characters. And I actually also met her as a fan at Disneyland on her birthday two years...er four years ago. And I had a
06:18birthday two years or four years ago three years ago and um yeah i went up to her as a fan i was
06:24like hi huge fan of zombies like can i please get a photo um and i asked her for a photo and three
06:29years later we were working together it was a very insane like mentor like friend sister moment
06:35she's become like an older sister to me and and getting to see her thrive on dancing with the
06:39stars was very special i got to go in person and see her um and just also like seeing her career
06:45thrive and just her as a person thrive we've got to connect in many ways off screen which i'm very
06:50grateful to have um our sisterly bond she's just become an overall very special person in my life
06:56and i learned a lot from her you mentioned dancing with the stars you know chandler was on it milo
07:00was on it yes i think there's room for another zombie cast member next season is that something
07:06you'd ever be interested in doing i would love to be on dancing with the stars it has been a dream
07:11for a long time i've i'm manifesting it milo has manifested it chandler's manifested it they want
07:18me to break the zombies runner-up curse so dancing with stars abc you know who to call you know where
07:24i am you know my number um i even told alfonso because he was at the zombies for premiere i was
07:29like hey if you if you need anyone i'm here it seems like the zombies cast is very very close
07:35i assume there's a group chat who was the most active i think meg's the most active um she loves
07:42sending just random like memes or photos or like videos this is my favorite part of her she's obsessed
07:47with spongebob and she's obsessed with bluey and she's got me onto bluey i love that show now um yeah
07:54so she'll just send like a random photo of spongebob or like a random photo of um usher like flying um
08:00um yeah or like pink flying we all went to the pink concert together and pink like flew in her
08:06concert so yeah we we just love sending like random photos of celebrities flying in their concerts
08:12yeah it's a very interesting group chat milo named it he's very proud of of the name it's new zealand
08:18the set design the props are so cool in the zombies franchise did you get to take anything from set
08:25i didn't and i'm so upset i wish i could go back in time um i know freya got to take some blood fruit
08:32from set which i'm a little bit salty about that's something to make up for it blood fruits oh you got
08:39me a gift my favorite color lead red but i did get to taste a blood fruit which i know only the vampires
08:46got to do the daywalkers did not get to do that so i did i have that special feeling in my heart that i
08:51got to know what a blood fruit tastes like i may not have one with me but i know what it tastes like so
08:56that's very special to me so i don't have any props but i yeah have that that with me forever and what
09:01does a blood fruit taste like it's very sweet i will say it's very sweet they made it out of boba
09:11popping boba and jello so you can make it at home something tells me the zombie franchise isn't quite done
09:18the movie ends on a cliffhanger what would your thoughts be about coming back for a fifth movie
09:24i'm so ready let's go um i would love a fifth movie i would love to see what monster or not monster
09:32they introduce um we would love that we would love to come back uh i love this peep i love the cast i
09:39love this crew um i love the franchise i love the fan base so i'm i'm so down to do a fifth movie
09:46yeah i believe you're going to school in new york in the fall yes um are you going to pursue
09:52filmmaking do you know what you're going to study yeah so i'm going to be studying filmmaking um which
09:56i'm so excited about a lot of uh my mentors did go to nyu a lot of people from succession did go to
10:01nyu um so it's going to be a very exciting journey i've been dreaming about nyu for actually since i was
10:08born i was born at nyu langone and as a kid i would be like i was born at nyu so i'm gonna get in
10:13i did like some short films as a kid at nyu and i i love the campus i loved the way that they taught
10:19film because at nyu they sort of make you learn every aspect of filmmaking and to me that's the
10:25best part of the program so i'm really excited to just take so many things in
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