- I know that there are writers who love writing
and that is so cool. - Yes.
- I really like having written something.
(both laughing)
- Like cooking.
It's like, do you enjoy the process,
or do you just enjoy a delicious meal at the end?
(gentle music)
- Hi I'm Jessie Ennis.
- And I'm Charlotte Nicdao.
- And we're on Apple TV's "Mythic Quest".
(upbeat music)
- This is where the magic happens.
- Hey can I get a coffee?
- I'm coming Ian!
- Charlotte plays - I play Poppy
(Jessie laughs)
What is my character's name?
And Jessie plays Jo. I know your character name.
- It's not my fault that these watermelons
don't explode like real heads. Hiya!
- I can get you real heads.
Not human.
I'm so grateful I get to talk to you
in this formal setting.
It's I think from now on we should get this dressed up
for our Facetimes.
- That's the thing that I think is missing
from our friendship, is like just more formality.
- Glam, I need more glam.
- More glam.
(both laughing)
Okay, into the formal conversation portion of the interview.
- Well, for those of you who don't know,
Charlotte and I are incredibly close friends.
We met because we were asked on the show.
- We're forever grateful for that fact,
because not only do we get to be on a show that we love,
but also we got to meet each other and become friends.
- Yeah. I feel like our friendship blossomed so fast.
Like I remember feeling like
you were my friend in the audition.
- Yes.
You know, honestly, I feel like in the audition,
my feeling was more like, I really want
to be friends with that girl,
because you were so cool and confident
and like friendly with everyone.
I feel like you, like we did a chemistry read.
It was like a few people that came
and did this chemistry read.
And I feel like you came into that waiting room
and immediately just like made everyone friends
with each other.
Like everyone was nervous and you were like,
I'm here and we're gonna have fun.
And I was like, we are gonna have fun! (laughs)
- That's so nice, I love hearing that. Thank you.
- There were a lot of women there
and I remember going in, reading with you.
And I remember reading with Ashly.
And then getting in my car, and my manager called
and was like, "How'd it go? What do you think?
Do you think you're gonna get it?"
And I was like, it was really fun.
Really loved working with everyone and meeting everyone.
But I met the two girls who will get it.
It's this girl, Charlotte Nicdao
and Ashly Burch, without a doubt they're gonna get it.
- So funny to me that that was what you said.
Cause it was also what I said to my manager,
when I left. I was like, yeah, I read
with two actresses
that were amazing, and like, they're gonna get it.
And we were both right. In a way.
- Right and none of us got the part
that we thought were.
You didn't- - No, oh no,
Ashly did, Ashly went in for Rachel,
and that was the role that she got.
- What exactly is women's studies.
- It follows the experiences of women
and the contributions they've made to-
- Inquiry withdrawal.
- I mean, it was like, for me, you know,
just a gal from Australia.
I feel like I would go into a lot of those auditions
and be like, oh God, like, this is so like,
this is such a big deal.
And I'm so stressed and like nervous.
And I just felt like you came in with this,
like, as I said, like you came in with this
confidence that wasn't, that was basically
just like, I was like, oh, this person really knows
what she's doing. Like this is a pro.
And I guess my question for you is,
have you always been that way with auditions,
or was it something that you developed
over time, over your career?
- I think I've gotten better at auditioning over time.
And I definitely feel like I got
a really helpful insight into that process,
because my dad's an actor.
And so I went with him a lot to auditions as a kid.
And I got to watch how that whole auditioning process works,
and essentially how frequently you're gonna face rejection.
And I guess I just realized that like,
I get five minutes to act, when I go to audition,
And you also can like make friends.
I think there's this concept that additions are competition,
or that we're all like, you know,
up against each other in a way.
But I've made a lot of friends in the waiting room.
And I just, I don't feel good if I go in there like,
with my blinders on trying to avoid eye contact with people.
Or, sussing out if anyone's like prettier,
or thinner than me, or something.
Like that's never really gonna help my process.
- I feel like you love acting more than anyone that I,
I mean, I love acting a lot.
But you like, I dunno, man.
The enthusiasm that you bring to this job,
is so infectious.
- That's so nice. Thank you, Charlotte.
I think you love acting too.
You're very ??? - I love acting a lot, yeah.
- And you put in the work, like,
I really like working with people
who enjoy reading their script 40 times,
and coming up with little hints and secrets for themselves,
and clues for the audience to pick up on and-
- Such a fun thing I suppose about working together,
is 'cause you and I both love that way of working.
We get to like, have a lot of conversations
about character development and like-
- Wow. Yeah.
I loved this season, you really helped me with something,
which is that there's this thing that Rob makes me do
all the time, as Jo, where I'm supposed to like yell
out of nowhere, and I get it. I get that it's funny.
I understand someone just randomly yelling is funny,
- It's funny when you do it.
- Thank you. And she has this rage about her
That's really fun to tap into.
But, I didn't fully understand why it was funny.
And Rob had me do it in scenes
where it like wasn't written.
Like just scream that one line.
And I remember feeling like a little insecure
about it because it was this choice
that we were making a collective choice
that we were making about Joe, that I didn't
I didn't feel completely clued into.
And I remember talking to you
about that and you were like, well, why?
Why do you feel like you don't get it?
It is funny.
And I have said, I have this like the voice
of this acting teacher, just reminding me that like
when you yell, you lose all of your power.
He always said like, if you're in a really intense argument
kind of scene, it's way more empowering to be like
seething. And so instead of being like,
(yells) "You're a dick!"
Be like (lowers voice) "You're a dick."
And I remember thinking that was so cool and
like this really awesome insight into how to play anger.
And I told you that and you were like, right, but that's
about power, isn't it.
And doesn't Joe have no power?
So doesn't it work that she's yelling all the time.
And that she's consistently showing that she doesn't have
control over any power.
And I remember just being like, boom, I completely get it.
You gave me like a totally new 'in' to Joe.
I really, I really appreciate it
- I love so much that you feel that way.
Like, I feel like I learned so many lessons from you
especially in season one.
Like, you know, I- every- look, everyone in our cast is
like amazing as a person and amazing at their jobs.
So I feel like we do just sort of get to go
into this masterclass every day that we're working
and like learn all like really cool new stuff.
I just remember in season one, I really-
I hadn't done any work before where I had to improvise
very much. And I remember like shooting the first episode,
or these scenes with Rob and David
who are firstly incredibly funny and quick,
but also had been working together for, you know
a hundred years.
Cause they're really old.
(laughs)
And - Easiest joke,
- and we make it all the time. - I know.
- We don't even think it, but it's still fun to make it.
And I just remember like, like coming
out of these scenes and being like, I have no idea
not even just how to keep up,
but like how to even be part of what is going on here.
And I remember one Friday night we were driving
after work to like dinner.
We were all going to have dinner together,
and I was like, I don't know how to do
this improv thing, it's really hard.
And you really, I feel in my-
I don't think this actually happened-
but in my mind it was like you pulled over and
you were like, okay-
- (laughs) - you obviously have
all this experience
but like not just improv, but like you're, you're a writer.
You gave me so many tips that I
I feel like I literally just brought
brought in the lesson that
you taught me that night, the next week.
I'm just suddenly like, ah, I get it.
I'll be eternally grateful for that.
- I love that.
Thank you. Do you remember anything I said?
I need that. - Yeah, I do.
I remember the, one of the biggest things
that you said was like
take what the scene is already about and build on it.
Don't like try to make a new thing happen.
Is that like-
- Yeah. - That's the way I remember.
- I learned, I learned that from Steve Mallory,
who's a producer who makes movies with Melissa McCarthy.
Cause I did a movie with her where I was always like
they'd be like, okay, let's do a fun run.
And you guys can say whatever you want and improvise.
And I, and you know, the scene will be about one thing.
And I'd be like, when I was five
my parents left me in a ditch.
Like I would like come up
with these ridiculous stories about my character
and like essentially just insert backstory into scenes
that had nothing to do with me or my backstory.
And eventually Steve was like
you're good at improvising, but you're trying to
insert things that don't help feed the point of the scene.
So just try to like stay on the rhythm
and the wave of the reason why the scene is written.
- Right - Like give more information
to the situation itself.
- Not just weird backstory
- I feel like I've like had so much advice
over the years of like, especially like when I was still
in a phase of my career where I was like
just struggling to get any work at all.
where people would be like, well
if you can't get a job, you should just write something.
And I would be like
I really don't think it's that straightforward.
Like I can't write, like, I don't think it's just like,
Oh of course I'll just write something.
It's like a whole very complicated skill in itself.
That I find extremely impressive.
- Yeah. It's really challenging.
That, that specific piece of advice I've heard
like a million times and my friends, everyone hears
that all the time.
But I do find that like people who are able to write
for themselves create things that no one would have written
for them. You know?
Like I love Fleabag and no one was gonna write
Fleabag for her.
Like Megan Ganz, our co-creator and writer on our show.
She loves writing, and you can tell.
She has a passion for writing.
She'll write around the clock.
She'll write on the weekends.
Like - She gets a satisfaction
from every step of the process, I think.
- Yeah. And she's so fast on her feet with like alts.
I remember when we were shooting Everlight, one night
she texted me and she was like, Hey
I have this all is alt joke for you for tomorrow
but it's kind of long.
So I'm just going to text it to you.
So you have a little more time to learn it.
And it was like 10:00 PM.
I was like, I can't believe she's up right now coming
up with jokes. - And being funny!
- Yeah! after a whole day of shooting that day.
But I want to talk about, going off of this Megan thing,
how Megan and Rob had been so welcoming
to us in every aspect of production.
I mean, I got to spend time in the writer's room this year.
We got to shadow Rob as a director.
You and I got to edit a scene together.
Which was really cool.
Rob left us with an editor
and was like, let them compile it.
And we were both like, are you sure?
- I just remember when he did that-
this is so embarrassing to admit- both he
and Megan had been sort of allowing us
into different parts of the process.
To, to learn about how different things come together.
And I think part of it is
that, and things that Rob has said as well as, like
it kind of makes you a better actor to understand how
things get edited together,
and what it looks like watching it from the other side
of the monitor and that kind of thing.
And, and I just remember, like that day we had been sitting
in and watching him edit and trying to learn stuff.
And then at, at a certain point he was like, okay
well I'm going to go
and you guys are going to stay here and have a go.
And my like instinctive reaction was to go, no!
(laughs) - I was so insecure.
I was like, no.
And you immediately were like, wow.
Thank you so much for the opportunity.
We can't wait to put something together.
And I was like, yes, that- what Jessie said.
- But you're undercutting yourself,
because like three minutes
after that you had a strong take on something that we had to
have in the scene that I was like, we could lose it.
And you were like, no, we're keeping that.
So you gave me confidence to believe in myself.
- You're welcome. (laughs)
Okay. I also want to talk about Rob and Megan directing.
Cause that was really fun.
And last year we didn't get to work with Rob as a director.
Did we? - We didn't.
- No we didn't.
Because he directed the the stand-alone episode
that we weren't in.
- It was fun watching how he, how he works as a director.
He's so fast.
- He's fast. And he's like, so enthusiastic about stuff.
Like, I feel like he makes quick decisions
and he's like very, very into it.
And you know, I even feel like
like this part of his philosophy that we put into the show,
this idea of like committing to a decision.
And then if that doesn't work being like cool
we're committing to something else.
And like being able to just get excited
about whatever the right decision is in that moment.
- Yeah. Yeah.
He's really good at knowing when he's got it.
Like, I haven't-
I don't remember a time when a director was like
moving on and we had done like two shots, two takes of it.
- Yeah. - There was one,
there was one moment in Everlight,
where I remember being like, okay I can do it better.
And he was like you're never going to do it
better than how you just did it.
We're moving on.
And I was like, hi, you're just, you just said, no?
I can't have it on a take?
And also gave me like a huge confidence boost.
- Yes! - You know?
- I know! I know,
It's like, he's, I feel
like he said something similar to that to me before.
And like, as an actor, all your instinct to like, no
I can always do it better.
But to have someone definitively be like, that was good,
and you should, you should be pleased with it.
It's like, Oh, that's allowed?
I'm allowed to just be secure in the choices that I made.
- Yeah. They trust him so much.
Like if he says we're good
then I'm like, okay, he's got it.
- Exactly.
- When we have guest directors on,
we have an incredible group
of people that they bring on as directors.
But, they always have to give them enough options,
so that Rob has what he wants.
- Right - Which is why he's cool.
Like when Rob's the director, he doesn't have to
please anybody with options.
- Yeah. - When he sees what he wants,
- Yeah - He's like, great.
We can move on from this.
- Yes.
- It's cool. - And then similarly,
with Megan this was her first time directing,
which is absolutely mind blowing.
And I think people, without giving too much away,
I think when they see the episode
that she directed you'll understand why I say that.
Because it was an absolute feat of amazingness
that she pulled off with the direction of that episode.
- It was really cool. That episode,
I don't think it would be a spoiler in any way to say
all of us are in a really, really long scene.
And Megan had to block it like you would a play.
And we rehearsed it like we would a play, you know?
We understood our blocking for like, I feel
like we ran through like 15 pages and then we're like
all right, let's see how far we can get through it.
- Yeah - Like we just tried
to shoot page by page, but there were
there were some takes that were like seven pages long,
which never ever happens in any way.
- I'm so excited for people to see that episode.
- It's gonna be special. - You are so good in it too.
- Like again- - So are you, so are you.
- So are you.
And I remember when we were shooting that episode, Tom,
one of our camera operators who, you know,
was holding a camera
all day long because of the way we shot that episode.
But, he was like wiping his head off his face off
with a bandana.
And he was like, do you like shooting stuff like this?
And I was like, you mean like really special
weird stuff that you don't usually get to do.
He was like, yeah, do you like that kind of stuff?
And I'm like, I love it.
He was like totally out of breath and was like
so passionate.
And he was like, I love shooting it.
It was so cool too.
Cause you know, we
we really become a family with our crew and we're really
- And also your literal, I mean your fiance was on the
on the camera crew this season.
- Yeah. Yeah. That's what I was going to say.
Like we become a family with our crew
and now our actual families are coming into the show.
- Yeah that was such a cool thing
about shooting this season was
that for a variety of reasons, one of which was like
we were obviously trying to like work
with people that we were already living with.
But also I think bigger than that
we were all pretty lucky that our partners are super
super talented.
- Yeah. - Like max is incredible.
- Your fiance is incredible at what he does.
And then
- And your husband Bayden Packward Hine is
an incredible musician.
And we have his song very featured in our first episode back
- Bayden. And it was really cool
that he got to be involved in the quarantine episode
which we shot sort of in the middle
of the year before we started shooting season two.
But yeah, when we shot that episode, there was
like a scene that Rob is sort of supposed to be in
but with a mask on and Baden stood in for him
which was like poor Baden,
- He was like really nervous, right?
- Right. He was really nervous.
And I was like it's like, you couldn't see his face.
And I was like, no, one's even gonna know
that it's you, but like, he's just not an actor.
And he was just sort of like really nervous to be
on camera in any capacity, but it was very sweet.
I was very grateful to him that he did it.
- It was really sweet. And then we had
Ashly and Imani's boyfriends, Chris
and (indistinct) joining our cast this season.
Which was so special.
- And they're very talented actors.
It has sort of become this very like special show that is
not just really fun to work on as an artist that like, yeah
I mean, like we've become, you and I, all of us have
become such good friends and now all
of our families are involved.
It's like, yeah, that's like kind of a special thing.
- Yeah.
- Tell me. What are you most excited
for the fans to see this season?
- I'm really excited for them to see your arc.
I think that the stuff that happens
with Poppy this season is really cool.
And I love how they handle, you know
female empowerment with like an edge of satire.
I love all this stuff that you deal
with with Dana and that relationship that forms.
You have got such a fun arc this season.
And you have a really fun pairing that I think
the fans are gonna get very excited about.
The, the work that you and this other actor are doing.
- It's Danny Pudi. People know.
- Oh we can say?! Oh, good, good.
Yeah, you guys, your chemistry together is unreal.
And I personally just love watching it on set
and I can't wait for people to see it in the show.
- Yeah. I loved working with him.
He's, he's really talented actor and like
so giving as a performer and a scene partner.
- I was jealous, cause I don't get to do as much
with him this season as I did last season.
And I was like, Jessie is getting to have all the fun.
(laughs)
Well eventually I'm sure we'll swap.
- I got to work with, I got, I mean I love everyone
in the cast, so it was like literally no losing.
- I can't wait to get to share it with people.
- Well, thank you for meeting with me today, Jessie
- Yes, thank you, Sir.
It was quite lovely to talk here.
- Thank you. It was just splendid.
If people want to check out the show it's
on Apple TV+, it's called Mythic Quest.
- New Season starts May 7th.
- Uh Huh
- All right, see ya there!
- See ya there!
- Bye Charlotte.
- Bye Jess.
(mellow music plays)