- I'm Dyllón Burnside.
- I'm Indya Moore.
- I'm Angel Bismark Curiel.
- I'm Hailie Sahar.
- Hi, I'm Mj Rodriguez and you're In Studio
with Hollywood Reporter.
(upbeat music)
- All right, nice.
Pose season two is coming to a close.
- Yeah.
- And you have been nominated
for Outstanding Drama Series for the Emmy's.
- Yes.
- How does that feel?
Take it all in.
- Incredible.
I think it's amazing for I think us to be celebrated
in that space and for the world to see
queer and trans people of color being celebrated
not only for our work but, you know,
just because we deserve to be.
- Yeah.
- Our lives are being taken more seriously.
There's not a stigma over our heads as much anymore.
I mean there still has a little bit
but we're working to work past that
and I think our crafts are being taken much more seriously
due to the work that's being seen on the television screen
so that's the best part about it.
- I think it's also good, too,
because in this line of work that we're doing,
we're also able to inspire other people
to know that they can do it, too.
You know what I mean?
So I think it just overall feels like a blessing
and I think everyone can agree with that
that we're in this position and we are being respected
but other people are being ignited
with their creativity as well.
- I wanna talk about season two and how it's changed.
We've gone into almost another era of New York history.
So there are a couple of highlights that I wanna touch on.
One is the activism, which I think Hailie
got her own storyline about activism
which was really fun and just tell me
a little bit about what that's like
kind of stepping into the shoes
of these early AIDS activists.
- I think that for me personally,
I just feel more of an honor to be
telling a story of people
that I'm standing on the shoulders of.
So I think it's important for the rest of the world
just to see how strong and how unique
and how important we are
and our capability of doing things.
So I'm happy that we're telling these stories
and I'm happy that we're in a position to do these.
- And anything that we've ever gotten
throughout the progression of LGBTQ rights,
we've all gotten it by fighting for it.
So that's the only way that progress has ever been made.
No one has ever fought for us and loved us more
than we love ourselves and each other
and care about ourselves.
And I think a large part of
our activism is showing the world around us
that holds so much power around our experiences
that we matter and that we deserve
to access everything else the rest of the world does.
- One of the things that I think is really cool
about the show this season is we get
to see these characters be humanized
in spite of whatever thing that they're dealing with,
whether that be HIV or being queer or trans.
- Hopefully we influence the generations
that are after us and also the viewers
who are watching that they can take some time
to put themselves in our shoes
and actually really try to see if they can fight for us
like how we fought for ourselves.
It's not only an entertaining show
but it's an educational show
and hopefully they can take that away from it as well
and not just focus on the beauty aspect of it all.
There is some realism in this show.
Not even some, there's a lot.
So I hope they take most of that away from it, too.
- Yeah, yeah.
Indya, you had the cover of Elle.
- [Mj] Yes.
- She did.
- Amazing.
Beautiful, beautiful.
You told a really personal story.
How does that feel to kind of be out there
telling your story to the world?
- I mean it's definitely a privilege because
we don't get visibility around our stories or experiences.
We deserve to be a part of everything else
that we see happening around the world
in terms of the mainstream
and in terms of every stream.
(group laughing)
- So I have three scenes that I wanna touch on.
These are three scenes from season two
that I wanted to hear from you
what the experience was filming.
So Dyllón.
- Yeah.
- You know what I'm gonna say.
(group laughing)
The steamy sex scene.
(laughing drowns out interviewer)
What was that day like?
- Oh my gosh.
Where do I start?
So I was incredibly nervous.
I spoke to Angel about his experience with Indya
and their sex scene because they did that
earlier in the season.
He gave me lots of great advice and so Billy and I,
we got a chance to sit and talk before we shot.
We shot really early in the morning.
And he also expressed that he was really nervous
because it was his first sex scene, too.
And so that really helped to kind of ease
some of my feelings around because I had feelings
around being nervous.
Like I shouldn't be nervous, this is my job.
Why am I nervous?
And talking to Billy, that really helped.
We had an intimacy coordinator who really helped as well.
Steven Canals was very communicative and helpful.
One of the things that was really important for me
that Angel actually imparted to me
was if I can remember to focus on the scene
and what's happening between these two people
then that'll help a lot.
And so that was really great bro, I appreciate it.
Because I was more conscious of
what is the dynamic between Ricky and Pray Tell
and what's really happening.
What we really see happening
is two people who are in vulnerable spaces
who wanna be loved and don't know
where in the world they can find it
and they have found strange bed fellows in one another
because of their shared experience.
And so they're embracing that together
and it's a really beautiful thing.
- Mj I wanted to talk about your archnemesis.
Patti LuPone.
(group laughing)
- Well I will say this.
She's an amazing person to work with.
She's totally different from Frederica Norman,
I'll tell you that.
Like I said it's amazing.
You see this woman who is this amazing actress
who is portraying this extreme villainess
who wants her shot to not be run by this woman
who is of the trans experience
and obviously because of other reasons.
One of the biggest ones is HIV.
Knowing that there's a stigma that's going around
about a demographic of people.
So there was a lot that went into that.
Me and her had conversations as well as
the other cast members and it was great.
She's a wonderful, wonderful partner
and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
She's a sweet woman.
- And then Indya and Angel,
your crazy coke binge disco night.
I felt like you went from young aunjanues
to complete junkies in one night.
(group laughing)
What a range, what a range.
What was it like filming that together?
- Yeah, I mean,
it was really mixy.
I think at first before when I first read
that we were gonna do this scene,
I felt really sad because
I just didn't wanna see my character going down that route.
I also was triggered
by the things that I struggled with in my teens
and I think just doing the scene was extremely triggering
and took me back to a really dark space.
So I really had to reground myself in the fun
and the excitement of this new world
that Angel was exploring and stuff like that.
- Well I have to end the interview on voguing
because I assume that you all took classes before.
- [Mj] I mean some of us knew how to vogue.
- Did you do a vogue bootcamp?
- I did.
- I actually came from ballroom.
- We both did so we had to take Leiomy's class
for a couple days.
- Some of you were bootcamp, some came from ballroom.
- Yeah I did not come from ballroom
so everything that you have seen me do on screen
within the world of voguing and the ballroom world
was all very new to me.
Angel and I took classes with Leiomy Maldonado.
I had private sessions with Jamal Milan
who's from the ballroom.
Taught me a lot of voguing stuff.
Working with Twiggy, Twiggy Pucci Garcon,
just in terms of carrying the body and movement.
Working with Danielle Polanco on season one,
those folks all really helped put the movement into my body
so that I could be able to slay for the Madonna audition.
- We definitely had rehearsals together
more so in the first season,
and I think that for me personally,
I had so much fun.
- Yes.
- That was our bonding time away from doing the scripts.
And we would just cut up and just have fun.
So we definitely had runway lessons
and it's been a great, great experience.
- Wonderful.
Well we're all looking forward to season three.
Congratulations and we'll see you at the Emmy's.
- [Interviewees] Thank you.