00:00Meeting people in auditions, I was like a deer in the headlights, and I was like, are we friends? Are
00:04we enemies? Am I supposed to love you or hate you?
00:07You've obviously spent a lot of time now together, so I imagine you're all friends, you know each other really
00:11well, but what were your first impressions when you first met?
00:14We met and re-met so many, many a time.
00:18Yeah, because I saw Hayes at my first chem read, and I just thought that you looked so cool, and
00:26obviously I knew immediately that you were in for a debut.
00:29And it took so long to cast me, so many tries.
00:33No, you were cool, and you were so sweet to me too, like you sat next to me, like I
00:36remember we had like a conversation, and then Homer got to meet at my second chem read, and then they,
00:43but they, we didn't, we like, hi, and then they threw us into the chairs, and immediately we were doing
00:50an incredibly intense scene with Ryan Murphy in a boardroom full of people watching us, and getting notes.
00:56So many people in that room.
00:59So very nerve-wracking, and then we got, I had the pleasure of going out to the bar with them
01:05before we started shooting, and that's where we.
01:07That was a very different vibe.
01:08That was such a different vibe.
01:08Meeting people in auditions, I was like a deer in the headlights, and I was like, are we friends, are
01:13we enemies, am I supposed to love you or hate you, or, and then when we finally met, like in
01:18person, I think one of my impressions was that, okay, Ryan has cast this very well.
01:23Yes.
01:23We are all, our characters.
01:24It almost felt like we were all our characters, a little bit.
01:27But in, in, in the best way, I was going to say, in the best way.
01:32We all have a little bit of that in us, of our characters in us.
01:34Yes, you can see it immediately.
01:35I do have a typewriter, to be honest.
01:37In real life?
01:38Yeah.
01:38Wow.
01:38Yeah.
01:39See, I thought the whole time, every day, like imagine if we didn't get along and didn't like each other.
01:44Like every single day on the set, I was like, wow, this would be very different.
01:50We really lucked out.
01:50Yeah, and I think Ryan, like, could tell we would get along so well.
01:54You're saying, though, that there are like elements of yourselves and your characters, but is there something that we don't
02:00know about your character when you first start watching it?
02:02Is there something that you're like, you guys haven't got me sussed out yet?
02:05When you first start watching, a hundred percent.
02:08No idea what you're doing.
02:09I don't think you know anything about anybody.
02:11I mean, you just see this beautiful group of friends and you're like, this is cool.
02:14I want to hang out with these kids.
02:16And then as it progresses, you're like, oh.
02:19Yeah.
02:19Okay.
02:20Done.
02:20The first day of shooting was a friend group scene at the table and it was like the first day,
02:25like they could still fire us.
02:28And Ryan was like, I want you guys to just improv, just be friends.
02:31We were all so close already.
02:32It was all you.
02:33I was just like, meh, meh, meh, meh.
02:35And it all made into the show.
02:36And all that whole scene in episode one is just all improv before Homer walks up to the table.
02:41And I think that that just showed, okay, this is, we're locking in.
02:45It was called day zero.
02:46We didn't even technically call it day one.
02:48It was day zero.
02:49Yeah, it's a little production trick to get an extra day.
02:52They didn't pay you for that.
02:54You're not getting paid for day zero.
02:55We watched the question.
02:58It's fine.
02:59I'm happy with that.
03:00Yeah.
03:02What do you think you guys, yourselves, if you were born in the 80s, well actually growing up in the
03:0780s, what do you think like your hobbies would be?
03:09Because it's very different to now.
03:10There's no smartphones.
03:11There's no, none of that technology.
03:13I can see myself, oh, that was like an accent.
03:20I'm so sorry.
03:21You scared yourself.
03:23I can see myself wanting to have done something like dance off.
03:29Like American Bandstand, I can see myself being like, we're going.
03:32I think I would get concerningly into a weird bar skill like pool and attempt to swindle money out of
03:43people.
03:43Oh, not even just for fun.
03:45He's going for the money.
03:46No, no, no.
03:47I would have wanted to be like one of those early skateboarders like at the beach in California.
03:52With the old, the old decks.
03:55Yeah, with the roller skate trucks and barely movable.
03:59When it was all just coming up just then, that would have been cool.
04:01That was my thing.
04:02I was like, I want to be roller skate.
04:03I mean, I did roller skate when I was little around the supermarkets with my dad.
04:06Oh my God.
04:07It's so cute.
04:08I think the LA Tastemaker event's in a roller skate park.
04:11It is.
04:12It is.
04:12We will be skating.
04:13It's the best.
04:14It's the best.
04:15They need to bring stuff like that back because it's not the same with all the technology.
04:18That said, though, your character, you do say kids have it easy.
04:22And I'm curious whether you do actually think kids have it easier today.
04:26So much has changed.
04:28It's just different challenges.
04:29I think all generations have it equally hard in some way in the way that like as an adolescent,
04:38everything that's happening to you feels so huge.
04:42But I will say that very specifically, you know, some of the themes and some of the things
04:47happening in the show, like the murders, you know, that is not, you know, luckily we're
04:52not infested with serial killers today.
04:55So I might disagree with that.
04:56Well, I think even growing up, like we grew up, social media became a thing when we were
05:00probably in like middle school, became like a big thing.
05:03And like even that, I can't imagine having social media like when I was any younger than
05:07that.
05:08So even kids who are 10 years younger than us have it hard in a different way than we
05:13had it.
05:13When we talk about icons of the 80s, your dad does, is one of those icons.
05:19I'm curious whether you think your characters would have been aware of him.
05:25He's in the script a few times.
05:25Oh, yeah.
05:26Oh, yeah.
05:26Is he?
05:27He's in the show.
05:28Yeah.
05:29Yeah.
05:30There was a line.
05:31He's not in the show as well.
05:33His name is said in the show.
05:34Please, the character.
05:35Yeah.
05:36I've not obviously got there yet then because.
05:38Okay.
05:39Yeah, yeah.
05:39I'm not in the show.
05:40We do because, you know, Brett, I believe, referenced him as well.
05:45Brett and I think Wes does too.
05:49Wes's character.
05:50Wait, is that weird?
05:51It's the reality.
05:52I mean, he was like a huge actor in the 80s.
05:54So it makes sense that he would be in the script.
05:56Yeah, great.
05:57A little weird.
05:58That's what you want to hear.
06:00No, it's fine.
06:01It's like, it's your dad.
06:03Yeah, it's my dad.
06:03And let me just finish off by talking about what's it like when you do actually get that
06:08confirmation call saying, you've got this part?
06:10Because everyone who goes into one of his movies just becomes like stratospherically massive.
06:18Oh, God.
06:20Are you not prepared for it?
06:22I did the audition in L.A. and I only read with Igby.
06:27And they said, okay, you can go.
06:29And I thought I completely screwed it up.
06:31And I called my agent and I was like, I completely screwed it up.
06:33I don't know what I was thinking.
06:34I don't know why I did it that way.
06:35And she said, just hang on.
06:37We'll find out soon.
06:39And I got a call an hour later from an unknown number and I didn't pick it up.
06:42And it was a voicemail that said, hey, Homer, it's Ryan.
06:46Call me.
06:46That's such a, you're so good at doing his voice.
06:48Homer, it's Ryan.
06:50Call me.
06:51And I called him right back.
06:53I was like pumping gas or something.
06:55And he was like, hey, I'd really like your audition.
06:57I would love to do this with you.
06:59That's so sweet.
07:00That's so sweet.
07:01Um, I, my audition process was like a feral seven months of just wanting it so bad.
07:07Um, and I was the last to get cast.
07:10Um, you know, I was doing all the auditions along the way with my dad reading as Liz and
07:13then meeting Ryan.
07:14They weren't sure what they wanted from Debbie.
07:16So I thought I didn't have it a hundred percent.
07:18And they got cast that day.
07:20Um, I wrote Ryan a letter saying, can I please try again?
07:23I love your work.
07:23I really would love to know when you figure out what you want from Debbie, hit me up.
07:28And a month later I was on tour in Midland, Texas, and I got to do it again in a
07:32virtual
07:32Zoom.
07:33And I got the role, left the tour, moved to LA in like two weeks.
07:37And then we were at the bar.
07:38Yeah.
07:39It's crazy how fast that happened.
07:40I know.
07:41It was manic.
07:42I didn't know that until this press tour.
07:43Yeah.
07:44Wow.
07:44Good luck with this, guys.
07:45Thank you so much.
07:46Lovely to meet you guys.
07:47Thank you so much.
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