(upbeat percussion)
- Hi, this is Mariah Golo from the Hollywood Reporter,
and this is a very spooky Halloween version
of In Studio with Ross Lynch.
- Very spooky.
- How are you?
- I'm doing great.
How are you?
- Good, good!
You are the star of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
along with Kiernan Chipka.
- Mm-hmm.
- So, I would love to talk about
this amazing new show on Netflix.
But first, I want to talk about Halloween with you.
- I would love to.
- Do you like Halloween?
- I love Halloween.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, it's definitely one of mine
and my family's favorite holiday traditions for sure.
- What was your favorite Halloween growing up?
Do you have one that stands out?
- There's a few.
There was one where my entire family decided to be Zoro,
which was really fun.
- (laughs) That's awesome.
- Yeah, that was just really fun, 'cause we were just...
I mean, I'm talking really young.
All of us, and we were about the same height,
which was kind of funny.
But, especially when you become older,
Halloween becomes really, really, really fun.
When you're younger, it's all about trick-or-treating
and getting as much candy as you can.
I remember having four or five trash bags
full of candy by the end a few times.
But, when you get older and you're...
I don't know.
Halloween just becomes really fun.
- You get to go to the parties.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, and in LA,
there's some of the best Halloween parties ever.
- Yeah.
- You've got set designers and makeup artists.
- Mm-hmm.
- People really go for it here.
- Yeah, they're on another level here for sure,
which is why I'm so sad.
I'm actually going to miss it...
Miss LA's version this year,
'cause we'll still be up in Vancouver shooting Sabrina.
- Oh, okay.
- But, we'll probably have fun,
'cause the entire cast...
We're so close.
We're going to have fun.
- You're going to have an amazing Halloween party.
- Well, Vancouver's night life
is not quite the same as LA's.
But, because we're so close,
and because we're all actors,
we all love to play dress-up.
So, it'll be fun.
- Do you have a costume in mind?
- No.
I'm the last-minute Halloween person.
Yeah.
I'll be like, "What do I have
that looks like the joker to me?"
I'll do that.
You know?
"Who's got face paint?" kind of thing.
- Right, right, right.
- That's me.
- Well, I mean, this location for
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is amazing.
You've got really spooky forests.
You have really creepy houses.
The sets are amazing.
What do you experience when you're on that set?
Is it kind of thrilling?
- It's amazing.
(laughs) "Is it kind of thrilling?"
Yeah.
No, it's really, really cool.
Vancouver is such a beautiful place, like you said.
These huge woods with...
It kind of sucks for our crew a little bit,
'cause they have to get all that gear
through mud sometimes, and not the best conditions ever.
But, it's so much fun to work,
'cause when you're not on set,
you're just in a beautiful forest hanging out.
And then, we have these cool houses
that we rarely ever film in.
We have this one location called Dr. Cerberus's,
and it was formerly a yoga studio.
But now, we've turned it into this comic store...
This comic/cafe.
- Excellent.
- And, it's just cool.
It's just really, really cool.
Part of what makes this show so special
is the set design and the costumes,
and the whole world of it.
Really, it's amazing.
I'll take people to set.
I'll take my brother and my agent to set,
and they've never seen...
My agent has never seen anything like it.
- Wow, yeah.
- It's really something special, I think.
- I've heard that they have 150
Clive Barker paintings on set?
- Clive Barker paintings?
- Yeah.
- I haven't heard that.
- Yeah, he actually gave over some of his paintings
to decorate the witch's academy.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
- That makes sense, 'cause there's a lot of
really cool, partly disturbing paintings in those sets
that are amazing.
But, I actually didn't know that.
You find new things about the show every day.
I swear.
It's crazy.
- Yeah, there's definitely a lot of
love and care put into the sets for this show.
- Yeah.
- How much did you know about the franchise of Sabrina?
'Cause, there was the show in the 90s,
and then there's the Archie comics.
Did you know anything about Sabrina before you signed on?
- I was aware of it.
Everyone knows about Salem the Cat and Sabrina,
and things like that.
But, I never watched it or read the comics,
or anything like that.
So, really, the show was my introduction
to the Sabrina universe.
And, Roberto's comic...
Roberto, who created the show,
also had this graphic novel.
It's about...
Maybe 10 comics?
Which are all really, really cool.
So, I read those before we started the show.
But, those aren't even...
The show is...
It's very different than the old Sabrina,
or even Roberto's comic book.
Yeah.
- Did you...
How did you feel about your character, Harvey?
Did you get a sense of him right away?
- Uh-huh.
- Did you have to create...
How much of him is you, basically?
- Yeah, good question.
I feel like a lot of this character is me, in a sense,
because there's...
When you think about the character of the show that's
the high school love interest of the female lead,
there shouldn't be too much thought or consideration,
'cause it's just a lovely character.
You know?
- He is.
- I feel like there shouldn't be...
It all needs to be very spur-of-the-moment...
The character.
You know what I mean?
- Right, right.
- So, yeah.
There wasn't a lot of character prep,
or, "He needs to be this way or that way."
I just wanted to be on set,
and to just be charming, kind of,
if that makes sense.
- I mean, this is a huge difference
than your role as young Jeffrey Dahmer.
That's one where you had to really
adopt a lot of affectations
and really dive into
a real person who is extremely terrifying...
Distasteful.
- Right.
- And now, you get to play this sweetheart
surrounded by demons and satanists.
- Right, right.
- Does it feel good to be on the other side?
- It does.
Also, when you're playing someone that actually existed,
there's a pressure to that,
because you want to depict him accurately.
And, when it comes to Harvey...
Yeah.
It's really just about...
Or, at least, in the beginning,
it's about being Sabrina's first love more than anything.
- What do you mean, "In the beginning?"
what changes?
- A lot changes.
- (laughs)
- We'll see.
We'll see, 'cause we're still filming
the second season right now.
- Right, right.
- And, anything can happen on the show,
which is why it's so exciting.
People can die, and they can come back.
- Yeah.
- Not hinting at anything.
- Yes. (laughs)
- But...
- In general.
- But, yeah.
The great thing about making a show about magic
is anything can happen.
So, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to Harvey.
You know?
- Yeah.
So, I mean, do you ever get worried about him?
Because, he is a mortal in a world where there are
demons, ghosts, cannibals, satanists...
- Worried about him as far as him dying?
- Well, yeah.
- (laughs)
- That he's going to lose an arm or something. (laughs)
- Well, not necessarily,
'cause I find that stuff interesting.
If something like such would happen to Harvey,
I think that would be fun.
As an actor, I would be excited
for something unexpected to happen.
But, I actually tease Jaz Sinclair,
who plays Rosalind...
I tease her all the time, 'cause I'm like,
"They're going to cut off Harvey."
And, she gets so mad, 'cause she...
We're really good friends,
so the idea of me not being on the show anymore...
It's really upsetting to her,
so I'm always teasing her about it.
But, yeah.
I don't think that's going to happen.
But, yeah.
- Out of all the scary characters and monsters
in the Halloween world, also in this world,
'cause it's basically, like I said,
ghosts, demons, the devil...
What scares you the most?
- I don't really know.
I guess anything unknown is a little terrifying to me.
I don't know if I actually have any fears
of anything specific.
Sometimes I'll stay up in my bed late at night
with my imagination running wild.
- Well, yeah.
The idea that's it's too quiet?
- Yeah, that something may be in the room, or
whenever you have that hunch, that you're like,
"Something's here."
- Something's in the room.
- That sometimes catches me up.
But, other than that, I'm not very scared of many things,
I don't think.
Do you have a fear?
- Aliens.
- Oh, really?
- Yeah.
- That's so funny.
I was just thinking about aliens.
I kind of like the idea of aliens.
- Yeah, I like the idea of them,
and I also feel like they are the ones
that are most possible to exist.
- Yeah.
- And, that scares me.
- Yeah.
I think it's interesting that, apparently,
they keep showing up where we have dropped
all the atomic and nuclear bombs.
That's apparently where all the sightings have been.
- Yeah, but I also take a lot of comfort in knowing that
sightings of aliens have gone down
since the invention of social media,
since everybody has camera phone.
- Oh, really?
- Less people are seeing aliens or being abducted.
- Whoa.
- Which makes you think, maybe,
that it never happened in the first place. (laughs)
- Right.
- 'Cause, now you have proof if it were to happen.
- Yeah, that's interesting.
- (laughs) Yeah.
Do you notice all of the homages
to different horror movies that's in Sabrina?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Nightmare on Elm Street and Evil Dead.
Yeah.
- Those are...
When we get the script, there's...
Sometimes, Roberto, the writer, will put little anecdotes
from Rosemary's Baby, or reference from The Exorcist, or...
Yeah, they'll do that on purpose,
which is another reason why I love the show,
'cause a lot of these classic horror films,
I haven't seen before.
Or, a lot of these songs that they're putting in the show,
I haven't heard before.
- Right, the music.
- Yeah, yeah.
And, it's really cool to be exposed to this stuff.
It's really cool.
- What's been your favorite surprise that you've heard?
- I think some of the music.
I was telling you there's a song
that I don't know if I should say,
'cause I think it'd be cooler if I didn't.
But, there's a few songs that I put on repeat,
just driving to and from work,
just 'cause I liked 'em that much.
And, I would like to dive more into
some of the horror films that are referenced in that show.
I don't know if I can do The Exorcist.
That one's pretty crazy.
I've actually...
I've pretty much seen The Exorcist,
just not all the way through.
I've seen bits here and there.
- Let's talk about your costar, Kiernan.
What was it like developing the chemistry
between the two of you?
- It seemed to be pretty easy.
We always got along right from the beginning.
My first audition, actually, for the show
was with Kiernan.
- Oh, wow.
- Yeah, which has never happened to me before.
She's incredible.
She works hard.
It's amazing.
Yeah, all the actors have a lot of admiration for Kiernan.
She's really good.
And, we got so lucky to have her as Sabrina.
We always talk about it, just 'cause
if any other actress could've...
She's just really pleasant to work with,
regardless of all the hours
and all the hard work that she's putting in.
She's always super positive,
and just always does a really good job.
And then, we got along great.
She's always working,
so we don't get to hang out all that much.
But, now that we're doing a little bit more press,
we're going to be hanging out,
which is kind of interesting.
We'll be hanging out more now that we're doing press,
and that we're not working,
just 'cause she works so much.
She's Sabrina.
- She's in every scene.
- Yeah.
- Well, you've had this incredible music career.
Do you find it hard to balance both, or are you putting...
Yeah.
It's difficult, huh?
- Yeah.
It's really interesting,
'cause the show wants me to be there all the time,
regardless if I'm working or not.
And then, you want to go play festivals here and there,
but you don't want to also have it
conflict with the show schedule.
And, also, I get so obsessed with the show
to where it's hard to make music,
when really, all I want to do is make the show.
Right now, at least.
So, it's hard to shift your priorities.
And, the music world is really interesting right now too,
because there's so many people that are making music,
and it's so easy to just throw it up on the Internet
and throw it up on Spotify.
Trying to navigate all that right now.
- (laughs) Yeah.
- But, it was really interesting booking this job,
because a lot of my castmates have no idea
what I've spent the last five years of my life doing.
So, sometimes, I'll show 'em
some live footage of me performing.
He'll be like, "Where are you?"
And, I'll be like, "I'm in Argentina in an arena somewhere."
And, they have no idea.
So, that part's kind of fun,
just 'cause, for whatever reason,
the acting world and the music world don't collide.
- Yeah.
- For whatever reason.
- Right.
I mean, it seems like it's two professions where
you have to have a real tunnel vision and concentration
in order to make it in that world.
And, there are a lot of people like you
who cross over and do both.
- Not everybody knows.
- (laughs) You must seem like an alien
to some of the other people.
- Yeah, 'cause they're focused on the theatrical world.
- Yeah, they did school plays.
- Yeah.
And then, the music world's only focused on music.
- Do you feel like you have any...
That there are advantages and disadvantages
to either career, or are you pretty balanced with both?
- The acting world seems to be
a lot more luxurious and comfortable,
which is nice from time to time.
When you're on the road, you're not showering all the time.
Or, at least the road experiences that I've had.
- You had to shower in locker rooms.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And, you're staying up really late,
and you're going out a lot.
Yeah, the worlds are very different.
As far as which one I prefer, I don't really know.
I think I prefer them both.
I prefer having them both,
'cause then I get to change it up.
I like variety.
- Sabrina's about to drop on Netflix,
so is there anything you want to tease out,
or anything you want to say to get people excited?
- I don't even know if I have to get people excited.
All I'm going to say is, when it comes out,
make sure you've got your snacks, pajamas,
and your bed all made comfy,
'cause you're probably not going to leave it
for at least 10 hours,
which is the length of the first season.
Enjoy the binge.
That's what I'm going to be doing.
I'll probably do the same thing.
- (laughs) Nice.
Well put.
Thank you, Ross.
- Yeah, thank you.
- Thanks for being here.
- Yeah, thanks for having me.
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch on Netflix.