(drumset music)
- I'm Oliver Trevena, In Studio for The Hollywood Reporter,
joined by this young man, Tommy Dorfman.
How are ya?
- I'm well. - That's a lovely little wave.
- I practiced that. - It's a very friendly wave.
- You don't wanna be too abrasive with your waves.
- It was a good wave.
(laughter) You're achieving
a lot right now.
You're good with the waves, and you're good in the show,
which is out now.
Season 2 - It is out!
- 13 Reasons Why. - Yeah, everyone can watch it.
Everyone probably already has watched it.
- Everyone probably has, but I haven't,
because we're actually (stutters)
- 'Cause we're shooting this before the release.
- Yes, in the past.
We're in the past, right now.
- As it so happens.
- So, I haven't seen it.
- No, I know a lot of things.
- And you know a lot.
- I've been sitting on a lot of information
for a very long time.
- How hard is that, with a show that's got
a fan base like this?
- I started working on this show right when
I graduated college, so I really had no idea
what I was doing, and I had no concept
of what a fan base even was, or what a popular
TV show even was, so when this came out,
it was a learning experience.
It was a whirlwind, and now that people
are really hungry for information about season two,
It's been really hard.
We wrapped in December; it's May!
- That's a long secret, that's a tough secret.
- I think I've told my husband everything,
and then had him sign an NDA, and then--
- Yeah, hang on, you actually told your husband.
Did you-- - Yeah, 'cause I could talk
about stuff while I was shooting, you know?
- But you're joking about the NDA?
- I'm joking about the NDA, yeah,
he's a very trustworthy person.
- They're very strict. - Honestly, they're
really crazy.
(laughter) - Okay, got it.
- So, I'm just grateful to have that weight
off my shoulders and move on.
- Right, and it is such a massive fan base.
I'm assuming it's not just fans, it's family people,
friends, everyone's probably asking
for answers. - Oh yeah, everyone, yeah.
They're all trying to sell the story.
I'm just kidding!
(laughter) - This is nice, this is nice.
Good to know.
- Only joking. - Give him a break,
give him a break.
So, season two, talk about it, 'cause I haven't seen it.
- Right, yeah, so season two's exciting.
It takes place a few months after season one
left off. - Cliff hangers.
- Cliff hangers, everyone is back, gratefully,
and basically, it's just about a trial between
the Baker family and the school, Liberty High.
Each episode, as you'll see, since you've watched
the show by now, I hope, follows each character's
testimony in court.
You sort of get to flash back into the past,
you know, that same set up as how we ended,
like we had in season one, you get to see these
character's perspectives and more about
their relationships specific to Hannah,
but also with each other.
You also see how it's hard for people
to move past that stuff.
- 'Cause in the trailer, it says the tapes
were just the beginning, so-- - Yeah.
(laughter) So, we have, as you'll see,
we have some Polaroids, there are some people
in the show, some villains in the show,
who are out to get the people on the tapes.
- Got ya, okay.
- So, a lot of the mystery of this show lies
in who's pranking us, and prank is, like,
a really soft word for what happens.
- I had a feeling it wasn't, like, a fun kind of--
- No one's really having a great time.
- Right, they're not those sort of pranks.
- No. - Right, got ya, got ya,
which, this show, you know, it's this phenomenon,
but it touches base on the issues.
Season one.
- Season two does not shy away from that, either.
- Okay, so, we covered suicide, bullyin',
sexual assault, and now season two--
(exhales sharply) - You know, more bullying,
looking into sexual assault issues deeper,
and responsibility, and owning up to that
or not owning up to that, and what that looks like,
and I think a lot of that, too, is race relations
come in to play in season two because of that,
and money, at the end of the day.
Bryce Walker's family verse the school,
verse those who have been assaulted.
You also see recovery from those things.
- That's good, okay, that's good.
You need some of that. - Yeah, we give a lot of,
there's a lot of, sort of, recovery,
and new friendships made on the show.
- Now, you mentioned graduatin' and going into this show,
and as a young actor, how's that been, you know,
deliverance story lines like this,
and being on a set that's got this huge fan base,
and going into season two knowing now how many--
'Cause, as you know in season one, you don't know
how it's gonna hit, so it's got that much pressure?
- We really were, like, "No one's gonna
"watch this, it sucks."
Not really, but we were, like, who knows?
We have no idea what's going on.
- It's a good attitude to have,
'cause then you aren't let down.
- And then, when it came out and the response
was what it was, and we actually had the opportunity
to see it and realize that, like, it didn't in fact suck,
it was actually a really great show,
we were super excited, I think, and amped up
to come back for season two.
I definitely felt more prepared, I will say that much.
More comfortable on set, and more relaxed,
and more free to do my work. - So, not more pressure?
- No, I actually didn't feel more pressure.
I also shot a little indie film in between,
and just as an actor, I separated, obviously,
the hype of the show as much as possible while shooting,
and I think we really all tried to do that,
and leave our egos at the door, and just come back in
like we had for season one, all fresh faced and ready to go.
- Okay, so what can we expect from Ryan for season two?
What's the deal with Ryan, in a nutshell?
- More of, like, "Get me the fuck out of here."
(laughter)
More "get me out of here."
You know, I think Ryan's journey this season
is really, like, trying to find a way to own up
and be honest, and apologize for things,
you know, wrongs that he'd done,
things that you saw in season one.
He's kinda lonely this season,
because he's realized he's ostracized
a lot of people by behaving the way he behaved.
- [Oliver] He was naughty.
- Sure, and I think he really misses, he misses Hannah
more than he thought he would, especially now
that the trial, bringing all these memories back up,
all these experiences back up, so you get that side,
and then, you also have these really beautiful
flashbacks between Ryan and Tony, where you see
their relationship kind of come together
and fall apart, 'cause in season one,
and present day, they're not together,
they're not in a relationship, and in the past they are.
So, you have that same sort of thing,
and you also see them come together
as two adults, not adults, but young adults.
- Turning into adults. - Turning into adults.
Ryan's graduating at the end of the season,
he's leaving this school behind, and I think
he wants to do that on good terms,
and you see he's at least making an effort to do so.
- What can you pull from your personal experiences?
When you're portraying a character like Ryan,
how similar, 'cause you're similar, right?
I've watched a little bit, there's some pasts,
the bullying, you were bullied at school
and stuff like that. - Yeah, I definitely
had that experience.
Ryan's way more confident, actually, in a lot of ways,
than I was in high school, and so that was an exciting
thing for me to revisit high school.
- Soon changes, isn't it?
- What?
- The confidence soon changes, you're confident.
- Yeah, yeah, but I mean, I did a lot
of my growing up in my early 20's,
and I didn't have that sort of spit-fire confidence
that Ryan has as a high-schooler.
And so, for me to be able to go back to high school
and experience that with that kind of courage,
and that charisma, you know, when it comes to sexuality,
but also as an artist.
He's a poet, and he's so passionate
about it, and he's so outspoken about it.
I kind of, like, hid in corners in high school,
and just, like, begging to be saved,
and just get out as soon as possible.
Ryan's very affront about, like, "Alright, I'm ready.
"I'm going to college, we're done."
- You can do it all again, the best possible way.
- The best possible way.
- And now, it's completely reversed.
- Now, it's completely reversed.
- You were trying to hide in corners,
and have no success at it. (laughter)
Yeah, yeah, got ya, got ya.
So, in this journey, graduatin' high school,
well, graduating and going into this show,
season two is now ended, what have you learned
in this process, like a big lesson for you personally?
As an actor and person?
- I think, as a person, you know, make time for myself
and my work, and not lose myself in the things
that are important to me, like my family and my friends,
and the people that I sort of came into this industry with.
I've really made an effort this year to come back to them.
Also, not be afraid to make mistakes and not think
that I know it all, 'cause I'm suddenly like
a working actor, now, you know?
I feel like I've seen friends or peers go through
this thing of, like, "Oh, suddenly I know it all."
And for me, every day on set working on season two
is really just, like, another opportunity to learn.
I got to work with Kate Walsh a lot this season,
which I was super grateful for,
because she obviously has a lot of experience,
both in the industry and on set as an actor,
and as a person in this weird world that we exist in.
So, I really took a lot of life lessons from her,
yeah, I really did, I did, and I hope to continue
to take that into new projects that are moving forward.
- Love that.
Do we know about season three?
- You know, no.
- Do you know?
- I don't, honestly. - Do you?
- I really don't.
I really don't, you know, Ryan's graduating,
so I'm not sure--
- You really don't know, then.
- I really don't know.
I'm pretty sure, right now, my focus is, like,
I'm really excited about this show coming out,
and excited to do other things.
Sort of also graduate, in that sense.
- Right, right, moving forward.
We have the THR's Top Five, five easy questions,
or so I think they're easy.
Movie you watched as a kid that you wish you were in?
- Breakfast at Tiffany's.
- Good one, it's a good one. - It's true.
- TV show that you would love to turn into a movie?
- Maybe Creer's Folk.
- Okay. Yeah, that could be a good one.
- Sort of revisit it, now that it's been over a decade,
probably, I think since it's been on air.
- Okay.
If you could cross over and guest star on any show,
'cause a lot of people are doing that nowadays,
what show would you guest star on?
- Oh, I would love to guest star on Handmaid's Tale.
- Handmaid's Tale.
- I could play something just, like, polar opposite
of what I'm doing right now.
- That is really my dream. - I can see you doin' that.
- Or like bring Downton Abbey back, and like,
have an iconic guest star in that.
- I think it's probably more gonna go
the way of Handmaid's Tale.
- Yeah, but listen, I could really do--
- You'll be like me, you'll be in the downstairs.
- Come on, now. - Yeah, you wouldn't
make it upstairs.
Yeah, that's exactly where you'd be.
It's alright, though, it's good.
Obviously, your show's on Netflix,
so last show that you binge-watched?
- Last show that I binge-watched?
End of the Fucking World.
- Are you a binger?
- No.
- You're not, okay.
- I'm a reader.
- Okay, last book you've read, then?
- Oh my gosh, uh, Smash Cut.
It was a memoir by Brad Gooch.
Gooch. - Good one.
You've got enough to check out there.
- Yeah, that's the last book I read.
It's a really beautiful story.
- And in the meantime, anyone who hasn't watched it,
I'm assuming that most people that are watching
this interview right now have already
binge-watched season two.
If you haven't, here's every reason why to.
Why wouldn't you?
(chuckles)
Thank you, man. - Thank you.
- Cheers. - Nice to meet you.