- All right,
so, the question that everyone has been waiting for,
Lola, are you team Jeremiah or team Conrad?
- I am team Belly.
I'm sorry if people get mad at me for that answer.
I'm team, her journey and, and her self discovery
and independence, go Belly.
- I support that.
- Yeah.
- Yeah. Whatever she feels is right in her heart.
- Oh, I'm team Conrad.
- Yeah, I'm team Jeremiah.
- I mean come on.
- It's not even a question.
- Yeah. Non-negotiable.
- You guys are so basic.
You just went with, like, the basic,
you didn't even create your own answer.
- I'm team Jeremiah because I relate
to him in a lot of ways, personally.
- Well, that's good.
- I am team Conrad because I play him on TV.
Read the books.
- No, you don't?
- Read the books!
- No, you don't play him?
- Yes, I do but read, read the books.
- Do you remember the summer that you turned pretty?
The summer that I guess, like, relationships and
all that became meaningful to you?
- Well, this question's a little not fair
'cause Chris came out of the womb pretty.
- Okay, Gavin.
- Well it can be -
- Gavin said that.
- No, my answer would probably be 16 was when
I really started to, you know
value my relationships a little more
even though it's still so young.
I started looking at it in a different light
when I was around 16.
Actually the summer of - When I was 16.
So yeah, that would be the big change for me.
What about you, Chris?
- I remember the summer after my freshman year
of high school.
I grew like four inches.
So I felt pretty.
(Laughs)
- No, I mean, but, like, kind of, genuinely,
like, when you're in high school,
when you're in middle school, that kind
of, like, means a lot, like, you like, I don’t know.
I find, like, that –
- Yeah.
- You, sort of, equate, like, height and
feeling attractive.
- Yeah.
- Because I did.
- Yeah. What about you?
- Well, I, I always thought of it in more of like a,
especially with, you know, the title of the show
and the book and everything,
I thought of it in more of like a, like an internal shift.
I mean, I guess that's what it is.
Even with what you were talking about.
It's like how you feel about yourself and how
you view yourself.
I feel like when I came back from my, it was actually
the summer that we started filming I guess.
- When I came back from my first year of college.
I just remember feeling really confident and like I
had grown a lot over a year and I, you know, I've always
been a little more introverted and, and sometimes like
I wouldn't be able to, I don't know, feel confident when
having a conversation with someone.
I feel like I'm a smart person, but you know, sometimes
it's hard to, to have that confidence in yourself.
And I remember just coming back and feeling confident
and feeling like I was able to hold my own and conversations
and I just felt like I'd grown a lot.
And I felt, like, proud of the growth that I had
done.
- Guys, what do you think it is about that time
or that instance that makes relationships
and those things a little more meaningful?
And, and how do you think the show captures that?
- Being that age and younger is interesting because I feel
like everything in your life feels like it's the end of it.
You know what I mean? - True.
- Every relationship, every time you meet someone
if you like trip on the way to the gas station.
Everything feels like it's the last thing
you'll ever do.
- Mm-hmm.
- And so I think when you start to realize
that your relationships with people
can mean different things, you know,
you can have romantic relationships,
you can have friendships, you can have XYZ,
you can have relationships with your, your parents,
you know, just like finding out what
like friendships and relationships in your life mean to you
I think can be scary.
- Yeah.
- And I think the show captures that really well
is like how scary just life feels sometimes.
- I mean, like sort of what I was talking about just about
like that period of, of growth and you become a more
mature person and have a more mature understanding of
of what each of your relationships mean.
And, you're sort of like challenging what you knew
about them before.
Like even, you know, with Belly and her mom and -
- Yeah.
- And with Conrad and his mom and Jeremiah and his mom and
like different relationships can have new meanings.
Who was I – Was I talking to you about this, too?
What you were saying about like how it can all feel sort of
like the end of the world, but like, I think the show just
allows that to be and, like, doesn’t do it in,
like, a mocking way.
- Yeah.
- Because that is what teenagers do.
- It just sort of lets it happen, you know?
- I feel like you can also watch this show and be like
"What are they so upset about?"
But then you’re like, I remember that’s how I was.
- But that's, that's how it feels.
- That's how I was, that's how it feels!
- I think you mentioned with both of you,
I think what Jenny did fantastically was like,
allowing, like, that – You can definitely think that,
but then you have that realization of being like,
wait I remember I was in those shoes
feeling everything that they were feeling
and it did feel like the end of the world.
And you mentioned something about challenging
about people challenging, like you know who you are,
who they are or what you believe and things like that.
I think it's, it's a beautiful time in your life
where you start to have a different perspective.
And sometimes that perspective change is scary,
but you know at the end of the day
it's what makes us more mature and grown up.
- What was the key for you guys in bringing these
these characters that people already love to screen?
- It was, it's a delicate balance between making
who Jeremiah is in the book and then bringing him to life.
You know, it's hard to fully get to know him
unless you fully see him on, on screen.
And I think that a key to that would just be
making him more real and relatable and yeah,
in the books he seems like this golden retriever
life of the party but he also has that insecure side to him.
And he also has that side that he just wants to protect
and watch over and care for people.
And I think like balancing on that,
all that on screen was definitely super important to me.
And, and I'm sure that it will come
across to everyone as important as well.
- I think, you know, we had talked about this earlier, too
just like the balance of taking from the blueprint,
that is book that we have.
- Mm-hmm.
- And that's so wonderful that we have it and then also
making it our own and bringing ourselves to the characters
and, and also, you know, realizing that, you know
teenage-hood and girlhood is like different
than it was 12 years ago.
Right?
- So true, yeah.
- And so we have a different experience
since we were all teenagers fairly recently.
- He's old, but -
- Well, some of us are a little -
- Fairly, fairly recently.
Or I'm still a teenager.
It was really special having, having the books and
and having like a community that already had
such a special connection to the books. - Right.
- Yeah.
- And, and also then having Jenny with us and -
- Yeah, that helped a lot.
- You know, having her so involved in the process
because -
- You could ask her questions, if you were, like, having trouble.
'Cause there's a lot of pressure -
- Or it feels like there's a lot of pressure.
- And you wanna make people happy.
- Yeah, exactly.
And it feels like you sort of have to.
I mean part of it is just realizing that you can't,
you know, you can't make everybody happy.
- True.
- But you can also be like, Jenny, I
I don't understand why I, you know, X, Y, Z
and she'll be like,
“Well, this is what I thought ‘cause I wrote it,”
you know, she was really generous about -
- Yeah, she was.
- About helping us all.
- And she really - It really felt like, you know,
her vision was coming to life
in the way that she -
wanted it to come to life. - Yeah, I hope so.
- Yeah, I know.
I was like, I was like - I wanna make Jenny proud.
- Yeah, literally.
- Honestly, that’s what it came down to.
- ’Cause we’re serving her - No, genuinely though,
her image of the books.
- Yeah. So, you play Conrad and Jeremiah on-screen. Brothers.
Can you compare your relationship,
your brotherly relationship on-screen,
to your relationship off-screen.
- Our relation is, in real life, less volatile?
- Yeah.
- You know?
- Yeah.
- I feel like we're competitive with each other.
- For sure.
- In a natural way ’cause we’re both
sort of competitive people.
- Yeah.
- But in a healthy way, you know what I mean? Like, in a healthy way.
But, you know, we had, like, Nerf wars
and we played volleyball,
- And you know, we're trying to win,
but it - the stakes are lower
in our friendship. - Yeah. I think, I think
just that brotherly kind of competitiveness
was more what it was.
It was more, like, good-hearted, you know?
There wasn’t anything really at stake for either of us.
We were just kind of competitive people wanting to
kind of, like, beat each other.
In a lot of - In volleyball specifically.
It was cool because, you know, we’re both, you know,
we get along and you said volatile.
I think our relationship is, like, really steady outside of -
- Yeah. Tumultuous.
- And then you can really see the difference, yeah,
on-screen.
It’s so just up and down, left and right,
and it’s hard to, like, really know where each other stands
on-screen, almost.
- Yeah.
- ’Cause some mornings you’ll be great -
- Just drama.
- And the other morning, then an hour later, you’ll be a jerk.
And so,
- OK.
- On-screen, of course. On-screen.
- Uhh?
- No, I’m kidding. [Laughs]
- So, yeah.
Yeah, just the stability is the difference.
- I love watching your scenes together.
With the relationships, again, like, I felt so comfortable
with both of you 'cause we had developed these relationships
even being where we were filming in
Wilmington, North Carolina for two weeks
before we started filming and like just hanging out
and getting to know both of you.
And then, over the course of filming, you know,
like, our relationships only got stronger.
So it was like I - It felt so easy to just act with you guys
and to create these really different, special relationships
with Belly and Jeremiah and Belly and Conrad on-screen.
And that’s why I think I’m Team Belly too, because I was,
like, finding all these really special things
in every scene with both of you.
- Yeah.
So it’s really hard to pick ’cause you’re amazing.
- Give it time, let it air out. - Yeah.
We’re gonna wait a while, see what happens.
- I mean, it really is a classic love triangle,
and I think we talked about this on set,
was kind of, like, I don’t know. It’s really just your
preference of where you are in your life
and who do you think would meet your needs the most?
Do you need that best friend
or do you need that kind of more protective person?
And I think everyone in their life struggles,
or has had a moment
n their, like, relationship, career/life -
I don’t know how what to say about that, but yeah,
where they have kind of battled
with those two opposing ideas
and I think it's really cool to just bring that
to screen and to be trusted to bring that to life.
What was your reaction to Belly and Conrad kissing
in the very last scene and how do you feel about that?
What were the feelings that that inspired?
- Yeah, I think when we were filing that scene,
we kind of didn't know what it was gonna look like.
- Yeah.
- I remember it was kind of a cloudy morning
and it was like a race with the sunrise, which was fun.
- That was very fun.
And we were kind of in, like, a little bit
of a goofy mood because it was early in the morning.
- Yeah. We woke up at like two in the morning, I think.
- Yeah.
- But, I remember seeing it.
It was very cool.
I mean, just with all the scenes,
it's so cool to see how they come together in the end,
even when you aren’t feeling exactly,
maybe, how you're feeling in a certain moment in the show.
But, I do feel like it’s such a special moment with, yeah,
with Taylor Swift playing in the background.
- Yeah, seriously. - Like, what?
This beautiful, you know,
moment of, like, they both need each other
and they both want to be with each other, too.
- Yeah.
Like, it’s nothing something where you’re like, oh, you know -
you know,
- That was an accident, they didn’t want you to do that. - Right, right.
- It’s like, they were,
this was
- Intentional.
- Yeah.
- And it was like
this has been a long time coming, you know?
Like, I'm glad they get to have that moment at the end.
Yeah, no, I think it’s a beautiful moment.
I think it's really sweet.
I think they did the great job with it
and, you know, the music
and it's grand and it's been built up for seven episodes.
- That's cool.
- It is cool because I remember
I felt bad about it on the day.
I felt, like, really bad about it.
I had a - I don’t know why.
I think it's because we woke
up at two in the morning, we drove, like, 45 minutes to set.
We get there, wait for the sunrise,
and the sun doesn’t rise ’cause it’s a cloudy, overcast day.
- A very glamorous behind-the-scenes moment.
- Yeah.
Like, it felt like that moment really needed to be grand
and, on the day, it did not feel grand.
But watching it, I think it - I don’t know.
I think it does the job.
- It still has that magic that I think it needs.
- Yeah.
- ’Cause it’s a magical moment.
It's Belly and Conrad.
- Sparks.
- Obviously, you guys and many others have read the books,
so you know the
through-lines of these characters. Belly, Conrad,
Jeremiah, and Steve, and everybody.
For season two though,
what are you guys most excited for?
What do you want to see explored?
- I would say what I'm most excited for is really
getting to explore more of the depth of Jeremiah.
'Cause I feel like you just got a taste
of it, at the end, of who he really is deep down in his heart.
And I think that season two will be an excellent way to
just really deep-dive into him in his heart
and his mind, and where he’s at with everybody.
And it would, you know, be an interesting thing to see
throughout the series or season two.
- I'm very excited for all of the relationship development
and also because, I mean, when we did film the first season,
that was, like, almost a year ago now, you know?
So I think we’ve all grown as people
and it’ll be really interesting to continue growing
with these characters
and to continue fleshing out these relationships.
And that’s what I always love
because you guys are so wonderful, too.
Like, just seeing how these characters navigate
these big challenges in their lives
and big changes in their lives.
- Yeah.
- And how they, like lean on each other through all of it.
So I'm very, very excited to see that
and to do that with you guys.
- Like, for Conrad, for example, like, I feel
like it’s easy to watch, like, a grand finale moment
and be like, “Ah, like, happily-ever-after type energy.”
But, like, Conrad has a lot to learn, as anyone does,
you know, as I do, as, you know, I did when I was 17, 18.
These characters have a lot to learn
and I was just excited to see how they learn it.
I haven’t seen any scripts or anything,
so I’m excited.
- Yeah. It'll be fun.