- I feel almost more digitally connected to people
in this
quarantine than I did before,
because it's now the only way to connect with people
at the moment.
I mean,
shooting 'Little Fires' is really nice
because I think we all try to not be on our phones as much
and really kind of like, live in this world of just
the '90s before the internet and everything.
But it's interesting
to compare it to
the quarantine era, you know?
- Yeah.
- So this show's kind of released at the perfect moment.
And it's interesting, I mean
the show is about how a family communicates with each other
and interacts with each other,
so it's kind of interesting
how that kind of parallels families
having to spend time with each other.
- No, I think it's funny
because I think the show is sort of a guide
on what not to do.
It's like,
if you do all of these things,
your family relationship will probably not be the best.
- [Jade] What was it like for you
as an actor figuring out how to portray something
that was in a time period from when you weren't born?
How did you bring that to life?
- It's always for me,
it's always just tons and tons of research.
Like, 'cause I know nothing about the '90s,
I knew nothing about the '90s.
Being born in 2003, I missed everything there.
But it was, it was like,
there's a show on Netflix I watched
that was all about the '90s,
a bunch of music, articles,
kind of whatever I could find,
and it's so much fun
because I've never actually done a period show
before this.
- Oh, really?
- And it was so cool to try and figure out like how,
everything works a little bit differently.
- I also wasn't born in the '90s,
so I wanted to go back
and do a lot of research
and see what it would be like to live
in that time period through her eyes.
So, you know I watched things like 'Clueless,'
you know what I mean,
because that would be something
that my character would love to watch,
or creating playlists for her
that were filled with Spice Girls, and Backstreet Boys,
and things like that,
that I knew that would sort of bring her to life,
you know what I mean?
It's so funny I was watching this interview with Liz,
our showrunner.
I think her first writing job
was actually on 'Dawson's Creek'
(laughs)
with Josh, which I think is so crazy,
it's so full circle, you know?
I actually didn't watch 'Dawson's Creek.'
I should've because of Joshua Jackson, our dad,
but I did watch 'Cruel Intentions,'
which had both Reese and Josh,
and that was such a trip.
- I haven't seen either,
I'm sort of failing as a, as a son.
(laughing)
Nope.
- So how would you describe Lexie and Moody's relationship
as brother and sister on screen?
- We don't reach out to each other at all.
There is nothin' here,
and then I think as the series sort of goes on,
there's some realizations
that we may be a little more similar than we thought.
- Yeah I agree with that,
I think its really interesting, the sibling dynamic.
You see it in that one scene
of all of us watching TV.
And it's interesting like, how isolated we are
like, we're all going through our own sort of things
and we're in the same room,
sort of trying to seek comfort in that,
but also knowing that we could never reach out to each other
and talk to each other.
Which is really interesting
I think it's definitely
not like our friendship off camera.
I mean off camera, you and I really definitely get along.
So it's kind of funny the dichotomy of that, right?
What was it about your story line,
about growing up and what your character went through
that was most challenging for you to portray,
and what was most different from your particular experience?
- Trying to justify the judginess he has towards people,
and like why just, like a glance
he's like, "No. I don't want to deal with this
I want nothing to do with this."
Like, at the dance for example.
It's something I think
he's always deep down like, wanted to do,
but knows he doesn't really fit in,
so he's come up with these reasons
why he doesn't want to do it,
and so I think he walks in
and looks around and takes everyone in
and then sort of like...
"I hate these people,"
and it was just kind of trying to figure out why.
- I feel like it was the same with my character Lexie
because she's so blind,
and she holds on
to this idea of her never doing anything wrong,
and that she has to be right about things,
and she thinks that she's progressive
because you know she's
got a Black boyfriend
and she's, you know, she's great
and she doesn't see race,
and you know she's perfect,
and she's not.
And for me, I grew up obviously in a different time period
and a very different environment
with a different, very different mentality
and so, as the show progresses,
you know like in episode 5
the whole abortion storyline,
with, you know, how she writes down Pearl's name
instead of her own like,
it's so horrible
and so, for me the most challenging part
was finding the humanity in that
and finding the reason why she acts the way she does
as opposed to playing someone who's just being wrong
or bad or morally gray for the sake of it, you know?
You have to figure out what had to have happened
for her to become the way she became.
'Cause I think that in real life,
I don't think people think
that they're the villain in their own story.
I think people feel like they are their own underdog,
or their own hero
and yeah, if you want to make something real
I mean you have to look at the world
the way your character looks at the world
not how other people look at your character,
you know?
What do you hope that young viewers specifically
get or take from the show?
- I think the biggest thing is,
it's gonna sound sort of cliché,
but not judging a book by its cover,
and I've used that phrase too many times in my life,
but that one I think is the easiest to apply
and would make a big difference in life,
just giving more people more opportunities
and less judgment in the world in general.
- That's so true,
I think that's really what the show is about.
I mean, you never really know
what people are truly going through,
and I think this show
really highlights how many layers there are to a person,
and how many things we hide from each other
and from ourselves.
I hope that young people look at it
and they're
a little bit more able to see themselves
in a clearer light
and are willing to see themselves in a clearer light,
as well as others.
The show just kind of, holds a mirror up to you
and I think that's really interesting
and I think there's a lot of power in seeing a situation,
you know, a town like Shaker Heights
or a person as they really are
and not what they project to be,
and then being willing to change from that
and knowing that we're all flawed
and human and messy
and like you said, to not judge a book by its cover,
I mean, there's so much more to a person, you know?
I love it.